Was she thinking about Miles? How he wouldn’t be at her side when it was her turn under the arbor? How he’d never get to exchange vows himself?
A gunshot went off, and I startled.
I looked over at Nash, at Nolan, at Nate. Their postures were relaxed. Their expressions easy.
The gunshot had been in my head.
I closed my eyes, trying to rein in my runaway pulse.
Babe? What is it?Liam’s voice broke me out of the spell.
As I searched the torch-lit obscurity for him, I licked the little dots of sweat coating my upper-lip.I found him standing at the very front of the assembly, flanked by his OBs and my parents, Storm bundled in his arms.
Nikki?
I’m okay,I mouthed.
Is it your stomach?
I shook my head.
A breeze caught in the tulle draped around the columns. The gauzy fabric billowed and grazed my back, a gentle caress reminding me that Camilla was gone and I was here.
As the other bridesmaids and groomsmen took their places beside us, my pulse quieted. The music, too, calmed. And then it stopped. WhenThe Grandpopslaunched into a melody of such beauty that tears warmed my lids, everyone turned to watch my best friend take her first step toward my brother.
Almost everyone.
Liam hadn’t turned around. His attention remained on me, his eyebrows drawn, his forehead grooved. He evidently didn’t trust that I was okay. I smiled, then turned my smile toward Adalyn and her grandmother, and the sun igniting the sky behind them in dabs of oranges and pinks and periwinkle. I took a mental snapshot of that moment, because I wanted to paint it for Adalyn and Nash, to immortalize tonight. Even though they were already mates in Lycaon’s eyes, tonight they became mates in everyone else’s.
Grandma Reeves released Ads into Nash’s care and retreated to where my parents stood, her eyes as glossy as Mom’s, as Gracey’s too. Adalyn reached out and squeezed her sister’s hand, mouthing a quickI love you, which made Gracey’s tears brim and spill over her cheeks.
As Nash and Adalyn exchanged their vows, the moon rose, and with it, my heart, as though someone had filled it with helium and set it adrift among the stars. My stomach, though . . .
I dropped my hand to it. Unlike my chest, my abdomen felt as though someone had sucked all the air out and stomped over it. I breathed through the discomfort.
Was I about to be sick? What if I’d contracted a stomach bug?
I gritted my teeth and lifted my bouquet to quell the nausea, but instead of lavender, I smelled Liam. The man had not only gotten under my skin but all over it. Then again, we had made out in our future kitchen, bedroom, living room, walk-in closet.
Our. . .
“Are you okay?” Bea murmured.
I swallowed and gave her a quick nod that didn’t seem to reassure her in the least considering her thin eyebrows remained smooshed together.
A flutter behind my navel, followed by a gentle tug, robbed me of my next breath.
Oh . . . no.
No, no, no, no.
Horror surged behind my breastbone as my childhood dream turned recent nightmare came to fruition.
I turned wet eyes toward Liam, the ruckus of applause and howls ensuing Adalyn and Nash’s first kiss as man and wife fading to static.
He was smiling, that slow, steady smile of his. Soon, my news would snip his smile. Even if he had a plan, no male wanted to hear that the female they wanted was intended for another.
Chapter 68
