‘What’s wrong, Neens?’ Poppy asked, her little voice instantly close to tears.
Nina held up both hands, stopping Mav in his tracks. She laughed. ‘Nothing. I’m just … This is the first time you guys have acted normal since the …’ She trailed off on a sob. Shook her head. Managed, ‘I’m just relieved.’
Mav went to her. He wrapped his arms around her, kissed the top of her head. ‘It’s okay.I’mokay. One day, our bickering will just drive you crazy,’ he promised.
Nina stepped back, raised one hand to Mav’s face. ‘Do you need to get out?’
‘Desperately,’ he replied with a huge sigh. ‘I am going crazy.’
Nina turned to look at Benji.
‘I’ll make sure he takes it easy,’ Benji answered the unasked question. ‘No bull riding.’ When Nina smiled, he added, ‘Maybe just a quick barrel run or two.’
‘Okay.’ Nina took a pointed, almost slow step back. ‘Go. But only for a little bit, Mav. You should be resting.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘For the love of God, Maverick,’ Sierra snapped. ‘Go! Before she changes her mind and condemns us all!’
Still, Mav waited for Nina to nod. The moment she did, his grin broke free. ‘Thirty minutes.’
‘We’ll wait for you to get back to eat,’ Nina affirmed.
He kissed her once, deeply, and then knelt in front of Poppy. ‘Wanna get out of here, baby?’
‘No, I wanna stay with Neens,’ Poppy replied.
Sierra thought it a testament to their family unit that Mav no longer checked if it that would be okay with Nina; he just gave Poppy a quick kiss, said, ‘Okay. I’ll be back soon.’
Sierra watched as Benji and Mav walked out together. They each hovered well over six foot, their broad backs forming a solid wall, blocking the hallway, but their heads were bent close like two little boys plotting mischief. It didn’t matter that it was seven at night, Sierra knew that Benji would find something for Mav to do that wouldn’t set him back.
Feeling at home, Markus walked to the fridge. ‘I sense that some wine is in order?’
‘Amen.’ Sierra turned back to the invitation she had been working on and exhaled the last of her frustration. ‘There’s a Riesling I opened about an hour or so ago,’ she said over her shoulder as she picked up the pen.
As Markus poured them wine and Nina brought over a plate of chocolate chip cookies, Sierra got back to work. ‘We’re almost halfway,’ she said.
‘How did fifty invites turn into four hours of work?’ Nina said as she greeted Markus with a huge hug and then took her seat.
‘Sacred rule of weddings,’ Sierra replied. ‘Everything is four times as stressful as it should be.’
Without a word, Markus sat and picked up a gel pen. He studied the last invitation Sierra had completed, crossed the next name off the list, and then began painstakingly filling in a card. ‘I stopped accepting wedding bookings the minute I was making enough money,’ he told them. ‘They couldn’t pay me enough to deal with all those emotions – and from strangers too.’ He shot Nina a wink. ‘But I don’t trust anyone else to do yours, so just FYI: You don’t have a choice.’
‘I was literally going to ask you in person as soon as you arrived.’ Nina crossed her heart over her chest. ‘Honestly, after everything Mav and I have been through, it feels silly to stress over the small things. If it was up to me, we’d just get married in court tomorrow.’
Markus gasped dramatically. ‘Excuse me.’
Sierra smiled. But, remembering Benji’s warning that she was bullying Nina, she asked, ‘Do you genuinely not want a wedding? Because we can still cancel – as long as I get to be your witness in court.’
‘Ah, that’s not gonna work for me,’ Markus chimed in.
‘Rock, paper, scissors?’
When Markus raised his hands, ready, Nina laughed. ‘Okay. Okay. It’s not that I don’twanta wedding. But it’s just so much to think about, and after Mav got hurt … It’s just been hard. To focus on anything but him. I swear I get anxious leaving him for even a minute. I keep seeing him lying there, you know …’ Conscious of Poppy, who was listening intently, Nina didn’t finish the thought, but Sierra knew it must have been beyond awful for Nina, who had pressed her own jacket over Mav’s wound as they’d waited for help to arrive.
Just thinking about it had that same fist of panic lodging in Sierra’s throat too. ‘I know it seems overwhelming, but the wedding will give you something else to focus on.’ Wasn’t that why Sierra was throwing herself into it too? Wasn’t she trying to fill those few precious hours she had each day with the wedding planning so that she could stop her spiralling thoughts:What if? What if they hadn’t gotten him to the hospital in time? What if Poppy had been home? What if Mav had died? What if …
‘Maybe you’re right,’ Nina offered.
