“You are related to Heather?” the woman asked.
“No.” Sadie shook her head.
“Friends with Jason?”
Well, she knew Jase, but they weren’t tight. Sadie shook her head.
“You are not family,” the woman decreed. “Yet you are here. Vhy are you here?”
“Uh. No. I’m not family. It’s a long story. I’m here helping my brother out. He’s in the wedding. Eli. You know him? I’m his sister, Sadie.”
“Ahh, you are Marlee’s friend.” The woman put it all together, suddenly becoming upbeat.
“You know Marlee?” Sadie asked, hoping the woman’s line of questioning was over.
“She is my good friend. The best. My best friend.” The woman pulled her hand from Sadie’s and clapped. “Now you are friend, too. Friends are family.”
Sadie was going to let the best-friend thing go, since she was secure in her best-friend status with Marlee.
Sadie could’ve sworn Roman cursed under his breath before he said, “Sadie, this is my grandmother, Nadzieja. Everyone calls her Babushka.”
“And you vill call me Babushka.” The solid once-over she gave Sadie felt like the older woman’s X-ray vision saw straight through to Sadie’s bones.
That was an interesting feeling. Usually, Sadie was the one sizing others up.
“Babushka, shall we?” Roman stepped around Sadie, his body brushing hers ever so slightly.
Her body responded with an intense desire to melt into him like icing on a well-muscled cinnamon roll.
Bad Sadie. No touching.
“We’ll catch up later.” Roman’s eyes caught Sadie’s, holding her world in place. Pinning her there so she couldn’t move. Not forward. Not backward. This was a promise from him. One that made her heart beat faster.
“Nice to meet you,” Sadie called as Roman shuffled the woman back to the sanctuary.
“She has good hips. Vill make good babies,” Babushka said as they were about to turn the corner.
Um…come again?
Roman glanced back at Sadie, and holy goodness, he winked at her.
Chapter Four
Despite what his siblings thought on a regular basis, Roman was not an idiot.
Well, yes, hewasa bit of a moron. He’d walked away from Sadie. Thought he wanted something else. Had a different dream.
He’d just put his focus on the wrong thing at the wrong time.
Turned out, no, he’d screwed that chance. He’d also accepted the consequences of walking away and losing that brief flicker he’d felt when they were together.
He was lying to himself. What they had was more than a flicker, but he didn’t have the time to dig out that skeleton from his closet, since he was currently one of his brother’s groomsmenandthe wedding reception photographer.
Roman held Louise in his grip and snapped candid photos of his brother with his new wife. The shutter punctuated his thoughts of Sadie. As it had through the years.
“Jase!” he hollered, grabbing his brother’s attention.
Jase’s hand pressed against Heather’s back as he glanced at Roman, his expression filled with happiness and love. Roman snapped the photo just as Jase looked to Heather and she stared at her new husband, mirroring that exact same lovey-dovey look.
