Page 90 of Reckless

“You’ve had years to get used to it.”

“And yet somehow you keep getting worse.”

“I prefer to think of it as refining my craft.”

She rolls her eyes, but she’s still smiling. A real smile. The kind that reaches her eyes.

And just like that, Ghost, the highway, and the photograph quietly drift into the background.

Today belongs to Marley.

So, I am going to focus on her, Nitro, and the fact that in a few moments, they’re going to be saying ‘I do.’

Queenie appears in the doorway clutching a tissue in one hand and the edge of the frame with the other, already crying so hard she’s forced to take a steadying breath before she can speak. “Marley, honey, it’s time.”

Ro immediately starts fussing with the front of Marley’s dress again, muttering something about one curl sitting differently from all the others while Victoria smooths imaginary wrinkles from the train for what has to be the twentieth time.

Beck abandons his camera just long enough to fuss over her veil, tugging it a fraction to the left, then back to exactly where it started, before pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “You look unbearably beautiful, and I’m saying that as someone with genuinely excellent taste.”

Penny quietly presses the bouquet into Marley’s hands.

Marley stares at herself in the mirror, blinking rapidly before letting out a shaky laugh. “I’m actually doing this.”

I step up beside her, adjusting one of the tiny flowers tucked into her bouquet more because I need something to do with my hands than because it needs adjusting. “I mean, you are wearing the dress. It’d be awkward to back out now.”

She laughs through the nerves. “I hate you,” she says again.

I lean in, pressing a tender kiss to her cheek. “No, you don’t.”

“No.” She reaches for my hand. “I really don’t.”

Queenie sniffles loudly behind us. “If anybody needs me…” she announces to the room, “… I’ll be over there crying with dignity.”

Ro snorts. “You’re literally crying into a centerpiece.”

“It’s my emotionally supportive centerpiece.” That finally breaks whatever tension had settled over the room.

Laughter ripples through all of us.

Even Marley.

She closes her eyes for a second before letting out one long breath. “Okay, let’s do this.”

I squeeze her hand. “No.”

She frowns at me. “No?”

I shake my head, waiting until she looks at me instead of her reflection. “You don’t have to pretend you’re not scared.”

Her shoulders sag a little. “I am.”

“I know.”

The room seems to fall away for a second.

Ro is still fussing with curls somewhere behind us. Penny is moving flowers around for what feels like the hundredth time. I can hear Queenie sniffing into another tissue.

But all I see is Marley.