The next few days are going to be a whirlwind, and I just have to remember to stop and savor it.
That’s the advice I got from the very few married people I asked. It’s actually strange how few of my friends and the people who surround me are, or have ever been married. My best friends are all engaged—except Byron and Trevel, but I see it happening fairly soon. They’re obsessed.
But as far as actual happily married people, it was pretty much just Joy’s dad.
Yes, I spoke to Finn Jameson before he left. I was on a mission to ask for advice from people who have been married, because I want to make sure I’m doing it right.
I want to be a good husband, and since I’ve always determined how to act by observing people, I figured the same would apply here.
Finn was the one who told me to be present on my wedding day, after I asked him for advice.
“Make sure yeh stop,” he’d said while we sat in the garden together; me, him and his crew, Joy, Rook, and Velle. And of course, my soon to be husband. “Take a breath, look at yer spouse, and smile. Because ye’ll never get another moment just like that one again.”
Lem and I shared a purely sappy look that made my heart feel weightless.
Joy smiled and swooned, “Aww! Daddy, that’s so—”
“And head,” Finn added. “Lots of head.”
Rook and Velle burst into hysterical laughter.
“Jesus fucking Christ,” Joy sighed, rubbing her eyes.
Then there was Dash’s dad, who was by no means happily married. But still, he’d been married, so I figured why not?
His advice was much less… positive.
“Be prepared in the event that you grow to loathe one another,” Alexander Reznikov had grumbled. “It is much harder to get out of than it is to get into.”
Dash simply rolled his eyes while I blinked and awkwardly gawked.Grim or not, it did sound kinda cool in his thick Russian accent.
Outside of the dads, there was my family. Only Rook and Kemper have been married. Again, neither ending well.
“Don’t marry a woman,” Kemper had said with a slap to my back.
“Don’t marry someone you aren’t head over heels for,” Rook sort of corrected. “I know that’s not a problem for you two. So I guess, just… always be honest with one another. No matter the cost, no matter how you think they’ll react. Honesty in a marriage iskey.”
I liked that one, smiling at him graciously. Lem was sort of staring off into space, but when I squeezed his hand, he peeked back down at me and gave me one of his content little grins.
I’m sure he’s nervous. I know I am, though not about being married. I can’t wait to be his husband. It’s more the act of standing up in front of everyone and displaying the jagged scars of our love.
But I also don’t really care how it looks to anyone else. Because this is forus.
Now, if only we could pull this wedding off without too many issues…
Unforeseen circumstances are to be expected, but the things wecancontrol, I’d like to have a handle on. The Ivory is paying for everything, regardless of his not being physically present. Food and beverage shipments have been coming over for days, but then that’s sort of been happening all week, anyway.
Things have been changing here; people leaving, others staying. Supplies are coming in constantly, not just for the wedding but for everyday life. All thanks to the wealthy criminal former owner of this place.
Two days after the war ended, Ivory and Angel disappeared. We woke up the morning after the bonfire to them having left without a word. It was like they just vanished into thin air, which certainly fit The Ivory’s mysterious illusionist persona.
It wasn’t much of a shock to anyone, yet it was oddly depressing. We’d all become rather fond of Angel in the limited time we had him around. Ivory was a tougher sell, but he really seemed like a new man after his little bird captured his heart. I was sad to see them go, especially before the wedding.
Either way, my number one concern right now is that the wedding is in less than twelve hours and my best man still hasn’t arrived…
I knew it’d be tough for Dash to come all the way back from Tulum after barely a week, but he promised he’d do it for me, and that he wouldn’t miss my wedding for the world. I have to take him at his word, but every hour that passes without his arrival, or even an update, has me stressing.
“He’ll be here,” Luthor assures me while we sit in the garden, beneath the stars and the crumbling stone archway where, in just a few short hours, I’ll be marrying the man of my dreams. “You know he wouldn’t just not show. That’s not him.”
