I very wisely sat still, with my mouth shut, and listened. I could probably explain half of what Brandon did to Lachlan just fine, but that wasn’t the point of this conversation. Lachlan was feeling his way forward. I was proud of him. All of my friends seemed to have this trait of knowing how to tackle challenges, of not flinching in the face of one.
And working with Seiji would be a challenge. Not because of the man himself, he was a dream to work with, but because of what his job entailed. It wasn’t an easy life. But neither Seiji or Lachlan were built for easy careers and being home at five. That wasn’t where they thrived.
Honestly? If anyone could keep up with Seiji, it would be Lachlan.
I couldn’t wait to see how this panned out.
So I sat, and I listened, and I made a few bets with myself. I played a little on my phone, texting Mom and my sister about the possibility of getting married in Arkansas in one month. Got a few excited responses. I’d need to send my family a little money so they could afford to travel and dress up for the event. I didn’t want them financially stressed trying to make it.
Then, because I was still too excited about the wedding, I started looking up color schemes and online checklists of what wedding planners needed to know. Turned out it was a lot of things I’d never have thought of. Hell, Brandon would need to chime in on some of this, as I had no idea what he’d choose.
And the idea of greeting the new year married to this amazing man? Oh, what a sweet fantasy indeed.
Epilogue
Standing in the wings of the Crystal Ballroom at the Crescent Hotel, I could feel my nerves building. I absolutely wanted to marry Mack, I was just a touch nervous being the center of attention. I’d never been wholly comfortable with so many eyes on me.
It had been a whirlwind getting to this moment. Mack’s estimate of taking another two to three weeks to finish clearing Black Rock had been right on the money. We’d finished in two and a half weeks and done a damn good job of it to boot. Therewere barely any ghosts left behind, just the good ghosts who hadn’t wanted to move on. Those, we could leave alone.
We’d all been tired after a month on the job, but I was very satisfied leaving the area and knew we wouldn’t need to be called back. It let me shift focus and face forward. First step was settling Gwyn in. She’d met Abby and Skye, my siblings, parents, and so on. She got along great with everyone, which didn’t surprise me much. She was a pretty amiable kid.
Her parents had slowly started coming around. They texted her now and again but still tried to guilt trip her into coming home. Gwyn shut them down, then I shut them down harder. They hadn’t talked to her in the past week, and I could tell it hurt her. I wanted to shake sense into them, but right now, best I could hope for was they’d come fully around in time.
Her grandparents were awesome, already picking up the slack and tutoring her. They wanted her for Christmas, which I thought only fair, so we had plans to put her on a plane about three days before Christmas.
Once we were home, we’d entered wedding prep mode, which was mostly people getting travel logistics nailed down and buying fancy outfits. Mack and I had no time to get to the hotel, as we’d only had a week and a half between wrapping up the case and the wedding, which was much closer than I had planned for. No helping it now, though. We did a video tour, signed contracts online, and just hoped for the best. They had a great package for our guest list size that included catering, cake, officiant, and everything. Mack was relieved to only spend $6,000 on our wedding. I think he’d read too many Reddit stories because he was expecting it to be a lot more.
I knew he’d sent money home to help his family come up for the wedding, and I didn’t say boo about it. He could spend his money where he pleased, and I knew his family could usethe help. I was happy to have them here. I wasn’t going to ask questions and make it awkward.
We’d come in yesterday, and by we, I mean everyone. Friends, family, colleagues, they’d all arrived the day before. Our wedding started at 10 a.m., which I thought was a fairly reasonable time and gave everyone a chance to doll up before the ceremony.
I was also thankful for the early hour because I wasn’t sure my nerves could have handled it if we’d have had to wait until, say, three in the afternoon. I really wanted the ceremony over with so I could relax and enjoy the party.
With two grooms, we chose to get ready together. It was fun, honestly, helping Mack with his tie, him fussing with my collar. Our groomsmen were in here too; not that we had an official wedding party, but family was in here getting ready with us.
I caught Don with a glass of bubbly in hand, sitting by the window, watching everything with a small smile playing around his mouth. I approached, poking him in the shoulder. “What? Whatcha smiling about?”
“Just remembering my own wedding.” Don took a sip of bubbly, his smile broadening a little. “It was a fun party, for sure. I didn’t expect much of my relationship to change after. Jon and I were already pretty solid. But it somehow did.”
“Really? How?”
“Our relationship became sweeter. He’s never said it, but I think those vows reassured some part of Jon that needed to know I wasn’t going anywhere. Some last part of his insecurities died on our wedding day and I’m ever so thankful for it. Married life’s just kinder, like we’re somehow investing more in each other.”
I hadn’t expected that. They had bonded and even lived together a solid two years before marrying. It made me wonder, would Mack respond the same? Our relationship was alreadypretty great, I had nothing to complain about, but it did make me wonder.
In any event—“I’m glad for you two that was the outcome.”
“Me too. Ah.” His head came up and he abruptly straightened, putting the glass down. “I think that’s our cue.”
I turned to see a coordinator in a staff uniform beckoning to us. It seemed it really was our turn.
The family was brought together, the ladies coming out of their getting-ready room, and my parents led the walk down the aisle. The officiant asked for all to rise as family filed in first, sitting in the first row. At the tail end was Mack and me.
I offered him a hand and he took it, beaming up at me. He was all spiffy today, hair styled for once in a swoop off his forehead, in a charcoal grey suit altered to fit him perfectly. He looked like the badass he was, and my heart might have skipped a beat as he took my hand.
I kept my eyes forward as we walked the red carpet, but my attention was solely upon the man at my side. It felt like I blinked and was in front of the officiant.
The officiant started off with the usualdearly beloved, we are gathered here todayspiel. I tried to pay attention. I did. But I kept getting lost in Mack’s brown eyes and the love shining in them. I couldn’t look away from him. I never wanted to.
