No longer was IMadeleine.
Da took the mic to announce it was time to dish up dinner.Everything was family style tonight, tables laden with Ember & Ash’s interpretation of “elevated comfort food.” Buttery brioche burgers, lobster mac and cheese, vegetarian chili, corn bread soufflés, Caesar salad, and the world’s crispiest truffle fries!
Marco and the few other servers circulating were barraged with compliments. “I need to talk to your mother, young man,” I overheard Nana say to Marco. “She needs to tell mewhatis in this chili…”
Katie and Austin, like they always did, ate off each other’s plates. They kept smiling and laughing at each other. I had never seen Katie look so happy and relaxed. Even though we had a professional photographer around, I took a photo when they weren’t looking. Katie was whispering something in Austin’s ear; Grandma Pearl’s ruby ring glittered in the candlelight.
My brother had reproposed to Katie in the horse pasture several weeks ago. They were both in heavy coats and muddy boots, but Tally-Ho had never neighed or flicked her tail so enthusiastically. She’d started headbutting Katie as soon as Austin had gotten down on his knee.
Paris, who?
I went to the bathroom between dinner and dessert, and by that I meant I went and looked for Marco. “I’m on my smoke break,” he explained when I found him outside on the barn’s kitchen doorstep. He took a puff from an invisible cigarette.
“You’re such a dork,” I said, shaking my head. “Have you ever even smoked?”
“No, but Simon has an antique pipe that I want to try at some point.” His smile rivaled the stars in the sky. “Come here.”
Making sure not to run, I impatiently walked into his arms and burrowed my face into his chest when he hugged me close. “You smell delicious,” I murmured.
I felt his lungs expand and contract as he laughed. “Well, Ididjust finish prepping the peanut butter pie…”
“Mmm,” I hummed before tilting my head back to smirk at him. “Like I said, you are delicious.”
Marco smirked back before pulling me back in to kiss my neck. Light and little kisses that made the backs of my knees go numb.
All too soon, we were making out against the back of the barn. Marco had slipped his hands under my sweater, and I could feel them burning through my thin silk dress. When I took it off later, I swore I would see his handprints tattooed on either side of my rib cage. “I don’t want to say goodbye,” I said after an aching kiss. My heart wanted to beat its way out of my chest, pulled toward Marco like a magnet. “But I need to get back.” I ran my fingers through his hair. “I can’t miss the speeches.”
“Then don’t say goodbye,” Marco told me. “I’m not leaving anytime soon.”
“Okay,” I said, then kissed him deeply enough to fog up his glasses.
“My god!” he breathed. “You’re fun to kiss!”
I laughed, recognizing theTender Is the Nightquote. Simon and F. Scott had me hooked. “I’ll see you later,” I said.
***
Da gave an eloquent and heartfelt welcome speech, and then Wit rose from his chair, removing a folded piece of paper from his black velvet jacket’s breast pocket. Meredith stood up, too. “Hello, everyone,” he said. “I’m Wit, and you all know mybeguilingwife, Meredith.” He grinned crookedly at her. “We’ve known Katie and Austin for far, far too long now, so we’ve decided to spare you all the tiny details and instead paint you the big picture in a poem…”
After Wit and Meredith brought the barn down in belly laughs, Reese took the mic and talked about her two-decade friendship with Katie, which spanned from their childhood to adulthood. Katie was the one person who knew Reese through and through, who knew her even better than Reese’s therapist. “It’s true,” Katie told our table. “So naturally, I don’t agree with her therapist!”
I’d requested to give my speech at tomorrow’s reception, so I sat back and listened as the evening proceeded. Groomsmen spoke; more bridesmaids spoke; family members fought over the mic. The love in the room was palpable, the warm hug Katie and Austin so deserved. I swore my brother’s smile was stuck on his face, and Katie’s eyes sparkled with tears. “I wish we could do it,” I heard her whisper after Meredith’s solo speech received a standing ovation. “Tonight is perfect, everything is perfect. I wish we could get married now.”
Something zipped through me.
I wish we could get married now.
“Me too, Kates,” Austin whispered back. “But we have St. Paul’s and Bedens Brook tomorrow.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Katie said, excitedly shaking her head. “We can get married twice. Tomorrow, with everyone, and tonight, with the people who love us most. We can do it, Austin. Let’s do it.”
“You don’t have anyone to officiate,” I said, forgetting that I was an eavesdropper and not a participant in this conversation. “Who is going to marry you guys?”
Austin sighed. “We should’ve invited Father Powell.”
Katie didn’t say anything; instead, I watched her try to flip her hair before she remembered she had an updo tonight.
She flips her hair when she’s deep in thought, I realized after years of thinking otherwise.Not when she’s unimpressed.
