Book 26 Hurricane After Dark #13
“Which has them wondering what the heck is going on.”
“Let’s go tell them. Wait for me.”
Deacon gets out of the truck and helps her out. Then he gets Pupwell from the back seat.
Katie meets them at the front door, her face going slack with surprise when she sees Julia wearing “the dress,” as she’d referred to it when she showed it to her twin. “Oh, my God, you guys! You’re getting married!”
“Yes, and we’re keeping it quiet because we didn’t invite everyone,” Julia says. “We’ll do it again with a big party next summer. But for now, we just wanted to be married, and with Jeff in the hospital and after what almost happened to Deacon…”
“You don’t have to explain it to me.” Katie hugs her and then Deacon. “I get it.”
Frank hugs Julia and shakes hands with Deacon. “Shall we get this done?”
Owen comes in the door a second later. “What’s going on?”
“Julia and Deacon are getting married!” Katie says.
“Now?” Owen asks.
“Right now,” Deacon says.
Julia goes to her brother. “We were going to just have Katie and Shane with us, but I couldn’t exclude you. The three of us…” Her throat closes on a lump.
“The three of us are a team,” Owen says softly as he hugs his sister.
“I couldn’t do it without you.”
“I’m honored to be here.”
“Will you give me away?”
“Never, but I’ll happily escort you.”
She takes a moment to get her emotions in check and begins to sing the song she’s chosen for Deacon.
“Can’t Help Falling in Love” perfectly summarizes what he’s been to her and what he will always be to her.
She sings the opening verse before she and Owen appear in the doorway to the kitchen and find Deacon wiping away tears as Pupwell sits at his feet, seemingly wondering what the heck Mom and Dad are up to now.
She sings the second verse from the doorway, her gaze locked on his, and finishes the song as she and Owen walk into the living room.
Owen kisses her and joins her hand to Deacon’s. “Take good care of our Julia,” he says gruffly to Deacon.
“Always,” Deacon says.
“Friends, we’re here today to celebrate the love of Julia Lawry and Deacon Taylor,” Frank says.
The Irish invasion occurs as scheduled on Thursday when Slim flies Shannon and Seamus’s parents to the island.
Shannon, Victoria and Seamus are at the airport to welcome them to the island, which has been restored mostly to rights after the storm. They’re still waiting for the power to return. However, with the ferries operating again, they’re able to fuel the generators and keep things running.
It’s been a tense week of emotional highs and lows, but now that the folks have arrived, Shannon tries to let it all go so he can enjoy a moment he’d once thought would never happen for him.
“Aw, Mam, what’s with the waterworks?” Shannon asks.
“I’m just so bloody happy to see you.”
“Same. It’s been too long.” He holds out a hand to Vic. “This is my incredible fiancée, Victoria Stevens. Vic, meet my Mam, Breeda, and my Da, John.”
His mother envelopes Vic in a fierce hug, which he’d warned her would happen.
“I’m so happy finally to meet you in person,” Vic says as she returns his mother’s embrace. She’s gotten to know his family through FaceTime calls. Next, she hugs his father and then Seamus’s parents. “Thank you all for coming so far for us.”
“We wouldn’t have missed it for all the world, love,” Breeda says, with a tearful glance at Shannon.
Saturday dawns bright, sunny and cool, a perfect September day for a wedding. The best wedding gift they receive is the return of power to the island around noon.
Hallelujah, Seamus had declared in a text, along with photos of him stringing lights through trees in a finishing touch they’d expected to have to forgo without power.
When Shannon steps outside with his mother and Seamus, he’s surprised to see a huge crowd waiting for him.
The entire town has turned out for them, or so it seems. He walks his mother to the front row of the chairs they set out earlier and kisses her before he hugs his dad, uncle and Aunt Nora, who is already dabbing at tears.
When they’re in position, Shannon signals to Evan McCarthy and Niall Fitzgerald, who are providing music.
Daisy comes first, wearing a champagne-colored dress. He’s learned from Victoria that champagne is a color.
While Evan and Niall play instrumental music, Victoria takes David’s arm to begin the walk down the aisle.
She’s radiant, her smile bigger than it’s ever been as she comes toward Shannon on the arm of her best friend. After David delivers her to him, Shannon takes her hand, kisses the back of it and stares at the face of his beloved. “Thanks for coming, love.”
“Wouldn’t have missed it for the world.”
Frank gives them what they’d requested—a quick and simple ceremony that makes their commitment to each other legal.
In a matter of minutes, he’s declared them husband and wife, and Shannon is kissing his bride, his forever love, his happy ending.
As the wedding is winding down, Kara gets a call from her mother that she and Dan need to come home to Maine. Her brothers have been charged with murder.