“Thank you. It was good seeing you.”
“You too, Dean. Don’t be a stranger.”
I waved goodbye and climbed back into Evelyn’s car. It was already eight thirty, and we needed to be at the courthouse in a few hours. I hit the steering wheel with the heel of my hand, irritated that I was chasing my father down to talk some sense into the man, so he didn’t fuck up his own marriage and hurt my bride in the process.
It took twenty minutes to cross town and go where I knew he would be. He saw me pull up behind his car and climb from behind the wheel, but he didn’t move from the spot where he stood.
I took a deep breath before crossing the grassy field that was filled with headstones. It had been a long time since I came to see my mom—even before I left after graduation, I avoided coming out here. He only ever came here on her birthday, their anniversary, and when he and I would have a fight.
Instead of lighting into him for being a heartless bastard, I stood beside him and looked down at my mother’s headstone that read ‘Lynette Foster, Beloved wife and mother, an angel on earth and in heaven.’
We must have stood in silence for ten minutes before my dad finally spoke. “She would be so mad at us.” His voice croaked.
“Yeah,” I agreed, ruefully. “Mostly at you.”
Dad half chuckled. “How that woman ever loved me and put up with my shit, I’ll never know, and then she sent Evelyn to me.”
“You’ve been lucky to have two amazing wives. I’ve been lucky to have two wonderful mothers.”
Dad sniffed and cleared his throat. “Evelyn read me the riot act last night before I left for my office. She’s mad because I didn’t show you support.”
“I know.” I answered simply and honestly.
“It’s not that I don’t love Nora. It’s because Idolove her as if she were my own daughter. If something went bad between the two of you, it’s not just the two of you who will be affected. It’s the whole family. She has called me Dad for over two years now.”
I looked up at the sky and then back at the headstone. “I heard Nora refer to you as Dad the other night. You know what my reaction was?”
“What?”
“To pull away and revert into myself. Doubt what I feel for her, and worry about the effect all of this would have on you because we both call you Dad.” I paused and smirked, remembering her words. “And do you know what she asked me?”
“What?”
“She asked me if she were any other girl and I married her. What would she call you, anyway?” I sighed and ran my hand through my hair.
“She’s not some other girl, though.”
“Trust me, I know that. I know that better than anyone, Dad. If I thought there was even the slightest chance that I could love another woman as intensely as I love Nora, then I wouldn’t have come back, and I wouldn’t be getting married today.”
“You love her that much?”
I nodded. “Enough to risk losing everyone else I love.”
I watched as my dad shook his head and ran his fingers through his graying hair the same way I do mine. “I can’t support this, Dean.” I felt like I’d been sucker punched in the gut at his words. “I can’t support this unless I’m able to give the bride away.”
Relief poured through me. “Nora would like that, and so would I.”
CHAPTER19
NORA
“You’re not disappointed we didn’t have a big wedding?” Dean asked as we drove toward Savannah in my car.
“Not at all. Everyone that I wanted there was there.” I leaned my head back and smiled at Dean. Our hands were linked together over the center console, and I was still in my wedding dress as we went to our small weekend getaway before he had to hop on a flight back to Korea. “I can’t believe Dad got us a hotel room for the weekend so we could spend as much time together before you go back.”
Dean chuckled. “I’m pretty sure Drew had something to do with that as well.”
“You’re probably right. I never realized how thin the walls are in the house.”
