Chapter 4
4
Lincoln
His baby girl was married.
It was a day he’d imagined more than once when she was growing up, but he hadn’t expected it to come so soon… and he definitely hadn’t expected it to be to a man older than he was. Lincoln hid his cringe every time Wiley touched Rebecca. He couldn’t even look when Wiley kissed Rebecca.
There was more awkwardness during the family photos following the ceremony when Wiley’s daughter Ashley couldn’t be found. Wiley had been upset, and Rebecca had been angry, demanding someone find her. When Janet started revving up too, Lincoln and his brother Harris stepped in to calm them both down while Wiley’s brother Kellar handled him. A quick reminder that Rebecca had already lost some hair to the girl and that the photos were probably best done without her if she didn’t want to be involved was all it took on his end.
Wiley was more upset, but then… what the hell did he expect when he’d cheated on his wife with his daughter’s best friend, then married her the day after his divorce? It was enough to turn someone’s stomach, even without all the extra details or Ashley’s relationship to both of them.
“What a shit show,” he muttered under his breath while Wiley and Rebecca took some pictures with Janet’s parents. Like Janet, they didn’t blink twice at the relationship.
“Tell me about it.”
Lincoln jumped a little. He hadn’t realized anyone had been listening, but it was just Kellar. Unlike his Wiley, Kellar seemed to have a pretty good head on his shoulders. He’d seemed to be supportive of his brother, though, up until this moment. Lincoln gave him a questioning look, and Kellar grimaced.
“He’s my brother.” Kellar shrugged. “I might consider him a fuckwit for cheating on Sara, divorcing her, and getting married so quickly—no offense to your daughter—but he’s still my brother. I’m stuck with him.” He ran his hand through his hair, rumpling it slightly. “The fact that he pressured Sara into pressuring Ashley to be here…”
It answered a question Lincoln had been wondering. He’d heard a lot about Ashley, from both before and after she and Rebecca had their falling out, but he hadn’t seen enough of her to garner his own impression. Mostly, he felt sorry for her and worried she’d only showed up to try to ruin the wedding. Why else would she want to be here?
Unfortunately, what Kellar said made sense and made him think even less of Wiley than he already had. While he understood a man wanting his daughter at his second wedding, there were such things as extenuating circumstances, and this definitely covered it. It seemed more like a power-move than anything else.
Kind of like Rebecca and Janet wanting Ashley to have to come smile for some ‘family’ pictures.
“Is she okay?” he asked quietly.
Ashley Vaughn might not be his concern, but as it appeared her dad didn’t give a fuck about her feelings, someone had to.
“Who, Sara or Ashley?” Kellar shot him a wry grin. “Honestly, I think they’re both a mess and covering it as well as they can. I’m more worried about Ashley than Sara, though. Sara’s a wreck, of course, but Ashley blames herself since she’s the one who introduced Wiley and Rebecca.” He paused again and Lincoln got the feeling the other man was carefully checking his words.
Which made sense. He probably had his own opinion of Rebecca, just as Lincoln had his of Wiley. He wouldn’t bad mouth Wiley in front of Wiley’s brother, so he appreciated receiving the same in return. Even if there were times when he maybe didn’t like his daughter so much, he still loved her and would defend her against anyone else.
She was his baby.
And she was happy, which was all that mattered.
Is it, though?
The thought wriggled into the back of his brain and stuck there. All the pain this marriage had caused, that the affair his daughter had chosen to have had caused, was the fact she was happy at the end of it really what mattered?
Wiley had made his own choices, but what about Wiley’s daughter? Rebecca’s supposed best friend?
What about her happiness?
Wasn’t it just as important as his own daughter’s?
Just because Wiley didn’t seem to think so didn’t make it true.
Lincoln had no idea what to do about it though.
“Okay, one last big family photo. Everyone over here!” The photographer turned around, gesturing at the clumps of people. “Then I’ll take the bride and groom to do their own photos and the rest of you can go enjoy the cocktail hour, along with everyone else!”
A drink sounded really good right now.
“Where is Ashley? Is she still not here?” Rebecca asked in a shrill voice. Beside Lincoln, Kellar winced, and Lincoln felt another wave of guilt go through him, along with a bit of anger at his daughter.
Why was she incapable of letting it go?
Kellar’s jaw clenched against saying something, while Wiley looked away from Rebecca as if ashamed, but he didn’t say anything to stop her, either. What a sorry fucking excuse for a father. The idea he might eventually be the father of Lincoln’s grandchildren was both depressing and infuriating.
“I said we should send someone to look for her,” Janet said, putting her hands on her hips.
“Absolutely not,” Lincoln snapped since apparently, Wiley wasn’t going to protect his daughter. Pathetic that someone else had to step up to do it for him. “Just leave the poor girl alone.”
Rebecca’s eyes widened with outrage, and Janet’s nostrils flared in the way they always did before a major fight. Lincoln steeled himself, but beside him, Kellar was already nodding.
“I think that’s for the best,” he said, moving to Wiley’s side. Lincoln couldn’t see his expression, but something about it made Wiley lean forward and say something in Rebecca’s ear.
She looked madder than a wet hen for a moment, but then her eyebrows unfurrowed, and she took a deep breath.
“Of course. I’m sure we can get some another time,” she said, her voice saccharine sweet.
Good grief, what was wrong with her? Lincoln wanted to ream her out, but this was hardly the time or the place. He still made a mental note to have a private talk with her as soon as he could. Preferably without Janet around, because she seemed to be siding with Rebecca.
He was starting to think his daughter had an issue with Ashley that went far beyond her bad reaction to the news that they were getting married. Although why Rebecca and Wiley would have expected a good reaction was beyond him.
This whole wedding was beyond him.
“Let’s just get moving,” he said gruffly. Something in his tone must have warned his wife and daughter that he wasn’t in the mood for their shenanigans because they both jumped right into the pictures.
By the time it ended, Lincoln felt nothing but relief. He might love his daughter, but he wanted to get away from her and her new husband. Whatever feelings he had about his cheating wife had definitely changed in the past week. The less time spent with her, the better.
It was hellish pretending everything was fine under normal circumstances and ten times worse when it was at their daughter’s wedding, and she was encouraging Rebecca to act like a bitch.
He needed a drink.
“You doing okay?” Harris asked, coming up to his side as they headed to the area where the cocktail hour was. Even if he’d lost Marshall, at least he had his brother. Only a few years younger than him, Harris had also been friends with Marshall until now.
“I’ll make it through.”
Walking into the cocktail hour, he pasted on a smile to accept the congratulations of various guests as he moved to the bar. Harris peeled off to go talk to someone he knew, leaving Lincoln to himself, which was actually how he liked it. His brother knew him well enough to know when he wanted space.
Reaching the bar, he asked for an old fashioned. Wine or beer just wasn’t going to cut it right now.
“Another martini.”
The harsh demand made him bristle on behalf of the server as the person ordering it brushed up next to him, sliding their empty glass across the surface, before he realized who it was. His reaction to the rudeness softened when he recognized Ashley Vaughn.
She didn’t look up at him. She stared straight ahead at the bartender, who shot her a sympathetic look.
“Right away, hun,” the older woman said. Either she knew something of what was going on, or she recognized a soul in need.
As the man he’d ordered from put the old fashioned in front of him, Lincoln watched Ashley and tried to remember everything he knew about her. She was a year older than Rebecca and she’d graduated with the same degree. Her hair was a warm, medium brown, and she had a smattering of freckles across her nose. The low-cut navy dress she was wearing clung to a figure with curves in all the right places.
In short, she was beautiful.
Which made him feel like a dirty old man for realizing it, but part of him felt almost a righteous vindication for noticing. Wiley had noticed Lincoln’s daughter’s beauty, after all. And acted on it. Fucked up, but there it was.
“Can you get her a water to go with that?” he asked the bartender as she placed the martini on the bar.
Blinking, Ashley looked up at him, her doe eyes filled with accusing anger, then blinked as she recognized him.
“Mr. Black?” she asked incredulously.
He smiled at her. It wasn’t a completely sincere smile—he was mired with guilt about what his daughter had done to her, as well as disgust at his attraction to her—but he felt like he should smile. Smiling was the polite thing to do.
“Ashley, right?” Even though he knew the answer, asking also seemed polite.
He wasn’t surprised when she scowled, considering that he’d just ordered a water for her without asking, but he was surprised at the next words out of her mouth.
“Are you talking to me because Rebecca told you to?”