“Yeah,” Michael says. “He told us he separated from Dena five months ago, that they’re divorced, and that he didn’t want to ruin our wedding with the news. Then he told us about you.” He shakes his head ruefully. “He’s an idiot. He should have told me about his divorce. I knew things weren’t great in his marriage, but I didn’t realize how bad it was. I wish he hadn’t gone through all that alone.”
I gape at them, a strange combination of relief and frustration rippling through me. After everything that happened, hetoldthem?
“Dad didn’t take it very well,” Michael mutters, running a hand over his beard.
“Wait.” I set my tea down. “He told your parents too?”
Michael nods, reaching for his cup on the table. “Yep. Dad flipped out, but I played the wedding card—I told him it was my wedding and he needed to stop making a scene. It worked pretty well.”
“Wait,” I repeat, in utter disbelief. “Luke announced itatyour wedding?”
“He did.” Alex blows on her tea. “Once you’d gone, we tried to carry on. We danced for a bit, but Luke looked so miserable. I actually thought he was going to cry.”
I glance wide-eyed at Michael and he nods. “Yeah, he was pretty cut-up once he realized you’d left.”
“Really?”
“Dena asked him to dance and he lost it,” Alex says. “We could hear him yelling, but we didn’t know what was going on. Then he went out into the corridor and I followed him to see if he was okay. I think he felt really bad because he apologized for making a scene and tried to pull himself together. But I told him to sit down, and I went and got Michael, and we stayed with him until he’d told us everything.”
I stare at her, my head spinning.
“I lost my shit at him,” Michael says with a grimace. “You’re Alex’s younger sister. It just felt so… wrong.”
I let my gaze fall to the floor, ashamed. “I know. I should never have—”
“No,” Michael says, and I’m surprised by the sharp edge to his voice. “Heshouldn’t have gone after you.”
“Michael was looking out for you,” Alex explains. “You’re basically his little sister now.”
“Oh.” I think back to the dinner before the wedding, when Michael said he was happy to have me as his sister-in-law and called me his “new little sister.” And what Luke said, about how he didn’t want to tell Michael we’d been sleeping together… Wow, I don’t think I realized just how protective Michael actually feels of me. God, now I reallydofeel like his sister. I look at him and cringe. “I know it’s weird, me sleeping with your brother. But it wasn’t Luke’s fault—he didn’tgo afterme. We both, I mean, we—” I break off, my throat too clogged with emotion.
“I know,” Michael murmurs, softening. “I didn’t realize that at first. I just started yelling at him about how inappropriate it was for him to pursue you. And then… I don’t know. The more I spoke to him, the more I realized it wasn’t like that. I tried to tell him to go and talk to you, but he said he wasn’t going to leave my wedding. So then I told him he needed to at least tell Mom and Dad, to stop worrying about my wedding and just get it over with. And then it was like once he had my permission, he just went for it. He told Dena he couldn’t keep the act up anymore, then he told Mom and Dad everything.” Michael gives a grim little laugh. “I’veneverseen him talk to Dad like that.”
I wince, thinking of the horrible things William probably said to him. I wonder if he was as awful as Luke said he’d be. There’s a tug in my heart at the thought of Luke hurting, and my eyes well with tears.
Alex puts an arm around me and squeezes me into her side. “I shouldn’t have been so hard on you. I’m sorry for what I said. I didn’t know the full story, and now I can see you were protecting him. You were just keeping your word.”
I nod, wiping my eyes and trying to collect myself. “I’m so sorry this blew up at your wedding. We never—I never… I didn’t want it to ruin everything and it did.”
Alex smiles. “It didn’t ruin everything. Please don’t think that.”
I let my breath out in a long exhale. Hearing Alex say the wedding wasn’t ruined—knowing she isn’t mad at me—makes the block of tension that has been sitting heavy in my middle since her wedding lighten ever so slightly.
“Besides,” she adds, “that wasn’t even the most dramatic thing that happened. After that, there was this huge blowup with Mel and Mark.”
“What?”
“Apparently Mel has been having an affair with some married guy for the past few months. The wife must have found out, because she called Mark at the wedding and told him everything. He got super drunk and got up on the mic and told Mel he never loved her because he still loves Cat. It was crazy.”
“Oh my God,” I mutter. I think of how Mel called me Luke’s “dirty little secret” and said that he was hiding me because he didn’t care about me. That wasn’t about me at all—it was abouther.
“But you’re not totally off the hook,” Alex says, her lips quirking playfully. “Michael and I will figure out some kind of high-jinx to pull at your wedding to get you back.”
I give her a funny look. “Mywedding?”
“To Luke,” she says, reaching for her mug again and taking a sip.
“What?”
