Chapter 23 My Favorite View Emmett
THERE’S ALWAYS BEEN SOMETHING SPECIAL about Christmas in Vancouver.
Twinkling lights that dazzle like diamonds across the city and up into the mountains, snow-covered peaks vibrant against an icy-blue sky.
Crisp air kissing your cheeks, and breathing in the fresh scent of evergreens.
The subtle crunch of the fresh-fallen snow as a deer wanders through a frosty forest, and the heat from the hot chocolate in your hands and the fire by your feet as you sit back and revel in something that, more often than not, feels like a miracle.
There truly are no words to describe the sheer beauty of all this nature during the most magical time of the year.
No words to describe the sheer beauty of my wife, either, as she appears with a bouquet of white and sky-blue roses at the edge of the lantern-lined aisle she set up herself hours ago.
I wink at Cara, but my heart stops as she draws closer, her blue eyes so icy and vivid, like they belong right here in this winter wonderland.
Her shawl slips slowly from her shoulder as she steps below the arched altar, rustic beams wrapped in chiffon, and I can’t stop myself from stepping forward, fingertips drifting over her cool skin as I shift her shawl back into place.
Rosy heat blooms in her cheeks, and I have the strangest urge to shove the groom out of the way and marry my bride all over again.
Something tells me Garrett and Jennie wouldn’t appreciate that, though.
Honestly, Cara wouldn’t either. She’s been planning this wedding since Garrett and Jennie got engaged exactly one year ago on Christmas Eve.
Not only is every detail meticulously planned, right down to the underwear on every single person in this wedding party, she’s also prepared for just about any and every scenario that could potentially go wrong.
Essentially, she’s prepared for Carter, not for me.
So I begrudgingly pull my hand back, but not before she hits me with the arch of her brow.
“You’re lucky,” she murmurs as she makes her way to the other side of the makeshift altar.
“You have no idea, Mrs. Brodie.”
I get back in line with Garrett, Adam, and Jaxon as the procession of beautiful women continues, Rosie, Lennon, and Olivia, followed by Emily, Jennie’s maid of honor.
Garrett’s three kid sisters are next, and then Ireland and Lily come dancing down the aisle, one of them tossing flower petals into the air with grace while the other crushes them in her teensy fists, chucks them at the ground, and then stops to pull a half-crumbled Oreo out of the pocket of her fluffy white dress (guess who’s who).
Connor walks down the aisle much more studiously, blushing and waving to everyone before he rushes over to Garrett and hands him the ring box.
Holly is next, escorted down the aisle with Hank on her left and Axel on her right.
From her bouquet hangs a small locket with her late husband’s initials, same as the one Cara fixed to Jennie’s bouquet too, earlier this morning.
The music fades, and I chance a look at Garrett, trying desperately to blink away the tears that keep gathering in his eyes. His tie is a mess, again, and Jaxon seems to notice at the same time I do, stepping in front of the groom, straightening his tie for him.
Garrett releases a shuddering breath, smoothing his hand down the silk.
“Everything’s fine. Everything’s great. It’s gonna be great, right?
” He laughs, shrill and panicked, and I reach behind Jaxon, giving Garrett a gentle tap on the back of his head.
“Hey.” Glowering at me, he rubs the back of his head. “What was that for?”
I flick my head down the aisle as their song starts. “That’s your bride, dude.”
His turquoise eyes follow mine, and he falls still as Jennie appears at the end of the aisle, her arm linked with Carter’s. The corner of his mouth lifts, and a tear carves a silent path down his cheek. “That’s my bride.”
Remember when I said Cara prepared for everything today? Well, I was wrong. She prepared for Carter, don’t get me wrong. Prepared for all of his shenanigans, including the ones he doesn’t even consider shenanigans. Even prepared for his tears.
What she didn’t prepare for, though, was the way this man’s raw emotions would affect everyone else as he walked his sister down the aisle toward her soulmate.
Because when they reach the altar, the two of them embracing so tightly, Jennie’s hand fisted in his suit jacket, Carter’s in her veil, the tissues start making appearances throughout the rows of guests.
But it’s when his voice breaks, his words a hoarse whisper as tears streams down his face, that everyone loses it.
“Thank you for being my best friend, Jennie. I love you, and I’m so honored to walk you into this new chapter.”
And Cara did not appropriately prepare for moving along a wedding ceremony where all eighty guests—and the bride and groom—are sobbing uncontrollably.
I WISH I COULD SAY it ends there, but it doesn’t.
Sometime after the sun sets, when the guests are gathered around the food trucks and the bonfires along the edge of Capilano Lake, Santa arrives at the reception, carrying a sack of presents over his shoulder, one hand on his full belly as he tosses out ho after ho, gift after gift.
Except Carter is conveniently missing, and when Santa’s white beard gets caught on a branch and momentarily dislodges, a confused Ireland says, “Daddy?”
And when his sack is finally empty and the rest of us blow out a sigh of relief, he announces he has one more gift, a special one for the bride and groom.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Cara growls out as Santa reappears with something large, black, fluffy, and… alive.
Olivia buries her face in her hands as the gift starts barking. “I am not responsible for him.”
Emily grabs a fistful of marshmallows from the hot chocolate station, dropping them in her cup. “I don’t remember Santa and his baby reindeer being on the guest list for tonight.”
Rosie giggles, then snaps her mouth shut when Cara glares at her. “I had no hand in this. That puppy definitely, one hundred percent did not come from the shelter where I work.”
“Special thanks to Rosie for introducing me to Bones!” Santa Carter calls, waving at her from across the way as Jennie squeals, scooping the oversized puppy against her chest while Cara—and now Garrett—glare at Rosie.
Lennon snickers, snapping a picture of Jennie and the dog, who seems to be named Bones, which is odd, because I’m 99 percent sure Garrett’s mentioned a certain toy belonging to him and Jennie, named Indiana Bones.
Lennon seems to read my thoughts, because she asks, “Does Carter know about Indiana Bones?”
“Not yet,” Jaxon says with a low cackle. “Len, honey, make sure you have a clear shot when I tell him he unwittingly named his sister’s new dog after her favorite dildo.” He steps in his direction.
“Take one more step, Jaxon,” Cara threatens lowly, “and you’ll come home from your next road trip to find your precious Mittens with a new haircut.”
Jaxon gasps. Stops dead in his tracks. “You wouldn’t dare.”
Cara lifts a single brow. “Oh? Wouldn’t I?”
He blinks. Once, then twice. A third time, and then he sidesteps behind me, as if I’d ever get in my wife’s way.
Cara turns back to Carter with a sigh, watching him and Jennie as they roll around with the dog in the snow. “What if we’ve all just been underestimating him all this time? What if he knows exactly what he’s doing?”
Olivia crosses her arms over her chest, narrowing her eyes at her husband. “Are you saying he ate the Oreo Blizzard I had stashed in the freezer at home for later tonight on purpose?”
Cara snorts a laugh. “What?”
“My Oreo Blizzard. We went yesterday, and I got two. I said I wanted one right away, and another for tonight when we got home from the wedding. He said that was a good idea, and I said he should also get two, then, because he wasn’t having any of mine.
He insisted he didn’t need it, but guess where my Blizzard was when I went to check on it this morning?
” Olivia throws her outraged arms in the air.
“Gone!” Her face twists, like just thinking about it makes her angry all over again.
“ ‘I only meant to have a bite,’ he cried when I asked him why there was hot fudge sauce in his beard!”
“Hey.” I reach over, squeezing her shoulder. “Care and I will take you through the Dairy Queen drive-thru on the way home.”
“Dairy Queen is closed, Emmett! Don’t you think I know their hours of operation by now?”
“Uh, McDonald’s? A McFlurry is basically the same—”
“Don’t,” Olivia whispers on a shaky, violent breath, and are those fucking tears brewing in her angry, betrayed eyes? “Don’t you dare.”
I inch toward Cara for protection. “I—I didn’t… I don’t…” My eyes widen when Olivia’s lower lip wobbles, and when she blinks, sending those tears cascading down her cheeks, my mouth gapes, words escaping me.
Rosie shuffles over as best she can, a sweet little waddle reminiscent of a penguin, her belly colliding with Olivia’s when she wraps her arms around her. “That was unnecessarily cruel, Emmett,” she says in a voice that manages somehow to be both soft and scolding.
Adam shakes his head, reaching into his pocket.
“Don’t mess with a pregnant lady’s ice cream.
” He produces a handful of mini chocolate bars and tiny bags of Swedish Berries, grinning carefully at Rosie and Olivia, slowly extending his offering.
“Hey there, beautiful ladies. Would either of you care for a sweet treat?”
“Your heart was in the right place,” Cara murmurs, soft lips touching the shell of my ear, the kiss of her fingertips drifting over the back of my neck as she presses her chest to mine.
“They’re so scary,” I whisper back, Rosie and Olivia ripping through the candy like scavengers. Jaxon nearly loses a finger when he tries to sneak a pack of Swedish Berries.