TWENTY
ON THE EVE OF THE WEDDING, both brides and their maids of honor shared dinner and wine at the brownstone, letting the stillness of the evening settle around them before the chaos of the next day.
All four of them were lounging in their pajamas on the terrace as Maddie watched Caitlin and Gemma in their final hours before officially becoming wives.
Soon, Gemma would head back to Hayley’s so that she and Caitlin wouldn’t spoil the surprise of seeing each other until the walk down the aisle. Meanwhile, Maddie would stay there with her best friend, having one last sleepover, just the two of them, for old times’ sake.
“So, you two ready to officially tie the knot?” Maddie asked as she topped off each of their glasses, emptying the second bottle of wine.
The couple exchanged a giddy smile, both charged with devotion.
“I’m so ready,” Gemma beamed. “Are you kidding? I’ve been waiting sixteen years to marry this woman.” She laughed and laid a soft kiss on Caitlin’s lips.
“As far as I’m concerned, tomorrow cannot come soon enough,” Caitlin murmured, her eyes still on Gemma. “I love you, Squish. I can’t wait to make you my wife.”
Maddie glanced at Hayley, who had been even quieter than usual all evening.
There seemed to be a storm raging behind her dark eyes, causing unease to tighten in Maddie’s chest. She wanted to reach for Hayley, to ask what was troubling her, to pull whatever it was out into the open, but it didn’t feel like the right time.
After the wedding, she assured herself, they would finally voice everything they hadn’t been saying.
“We should probably get some sleep,” Gemma suggested as she finished her glass. She stood, reaching down to guide Caitlin off the couch. “I’ll see you in the morning, my beautiful, blushing bride.”
As the flames in the fireplace subsided in solidarity, the four women walked to the front door together. While Caitlin and Gemma drew each other into a long embrace, Hayley brushed her palm against Maddie’s, briefly entwining their fingers.
“Goodnight, Maddie.” Hayley gently kissed her cheek before following Gemma out the door.
The air caught in Maddie’s lungs, suddenly unable to expand. The idea of ever facing a day without Hayley flooded through her, sharp and overwhelming. She hid her trembling hands in her pajama pockets and swallowed hard against the thick lump rising in her throat.
Maddie forced her lips into a mask of a smile and took her best friend’s arm. “Last night before you’re a married woman. Should we break out the good stuff?”
Caitlin grinned. “You get the glasses, I’ll go grab the Macallan 30 from the bar.”
With a two-finger pour each, they settled into the warmth of the dark aged liquor.
“I can’t believe it’s finally happening, Mads.
If you had told me twelve years ago when we first met that this would be my life, I wouldn’t have believed you.
” Caitlin’s shoulders dropped as she exhaled, as if a weight had finally slipped away.
“I spent so long thinking that I had lost Gemma for good, and I—” She shook her head, her voice cracking with emotion.
“She’s my soulmate. I can’t believe I get to spend the rest of my life with her. ”
Maddie felt tears well up behind her own eyes. “I’m so happy for you, Cait. You deserve this, you both do. You’ve loved each other for more than half your lives.”
It was still hard for Maddie to wrap her mind around the fact that they had met when they were just high school sophomores. She thought of the women she had dated since she was fifteen and laughed internally. There was not a single one that she could have imagined staying with, let alone marrying.
Until now. Thanks to Caitlin’s fiancée, there was finally one woman whom Maddie could see in her future with absolute certainty.
“Daydreaming about Hayley?” Caitlin asked, smiling.
Maddie let out a soft sigh. “I’m hoping to talk to her after the wedding. I just want to know what happens next.”
“For sure,” Caitlin agreed, nodding encouragingly. “I get the impression that it’s hanging over both of you right now.”
It was, even if the answer scared Maddie more than the unknown.
“Enough about me, soon-to-be Mrs. Caitlin Quinn Stone.” Maddie waved a dismissive hand, determined to push her worries aside. There was nothing that could be done about her fears right now. “What do you want to do tonight?”
“Actually, I need your help.” Caitlin’s face lit up, her eyes sparkling with a secret plan. “Since our honeymoon isn’t until next month, I want to do something here—something cute to surprise Gemma for our wedding night.”
“What do you have in mind?”
Over the next hour, Caitlin and Maddie transformed the outdoor terrace into a breathtaking fairytale escape.
With meticulous care, they arranged the pieces Caitlin and her assistant had discreetly gathered and stashed away over the last few weeks.
They wove more delicate fairy lights through the overhead trellises, casting a soft golden glow that chased away the deepening darkness.
Mini electric tealight candles dotted the perimeter, twinkling like a ring of captured stars.
At the center of it all stood a long dining table draped in a pale orange linen runner.
Gemma’s cherished Diptyque Baies candles lined its length, the scent of blackcurrant leaves and rose lightly perfuming the cool evening air.
Sixteen opulent bouquets waited nearby, each one a cascading blend of fragrant white lilies and velvety white roses—one perfect arrangement for every year Caitlin had loved Gemma.
By the time they stepped back to take in their work, the terrace had become a romantic oasis, glowing with Caitlin’s dedication to her bride.
“Lara’s going to slip out of the reception a few minutes early tomorrow night to make sure all the lights and candles are lit.
I have a bottle of champagne inside that I’ve asked her to bring out and put on ice, along with the crystal flutes I had engraved with our names and wedding date.
She’s also going to bring back two slices of our cake—in case we don’t get to eat any.
I just want everything to be perfect.” Caitlin twisted her engagement ring, a hint of nervousness creeping into her voice.
“It will be.” Maddie put her arm around Caitlin’s shoulders.
“Oh!” Caitlin grabbed a nearby box. “And I wrote her this.” She pulled out a small frame holding a lined sheet of paper, filled with Caitlin’s looping script. “I wanted her to have a new letter, one to hopefully replace the memory of that stupid note I left back in college.”
If Maddie could have bottled the adoration her best friend felt for Gemma, she would have.
The intensity of their connection was staggering, the kind of unflappable devotion that was impossible to ignore.
Every wide, sincere smile on Caitlin’s face tugged at Maddie’s heart and stirred a fresh ache of longing.
It would be enough, she thought, if Hayley felt even half of that steady, unstoppable love for her.
“It’s beautiful, Cait. She’s going to love it,” Maddie assured.
“I’ll try to stay out of your way tomorrow night.
I’ll probably end up sleeping at Hayley’s anyway.
” She told herself it was to give her best friend some privacy on her wedding night, but the truth was much simpler.
She really just wanted to savor every last moment she could with Hayley.
“You’re never in the way.” Caitlin nudged her arm affectionately. “You can always be here. Just… maybe not out here. Things will not be PG,” she giggled, and Maddie held her glass up to Caitlin in a toast.
MADDIE’S ALARM JOLTED HER AWAKE. SHE wandered into the kitchen expecting Caitlin to be asleep, but instead found her standing on the kitchen counter, arms outstretched, shouting, “I’m getting married today!”
Caitlin was happier than Maddie had ever seen her—and that included Christmas Day eight years ago.
Maddie had celebrated the biggest payday of her career by giving Caitlin an early birthday present.
She could still remember the confused look on her best friend’s face as she’d handed her a polished silver Thunderbird keychain.
Maddie had led her outside, and there in the driveway sat a 1966 Ford Thunderbird Convertible, painted in the same iconic Tahoe Turquoise as the one that Thelma and Louise had driven across the country.
Caitlin had jumped onto Maddie’s back in excitement, screeching so loudly that the neighbors had come to investigate.
Now, watching Caitlin nearly brush the kitchen ceiling with her fingertips, Maddie doubled over in laughter, fighting for her breath.
Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” filled the house, and her best friend spun in place, belting out, “Ohhh, I wanna dance with somebody.” Caitlin didn’t miss a beat before switching the lyrics to “I wanna feel the heat with my wiiiiife.”
Maddie joined in, shaking her hips as she made coffee for them, letting the day’s excitement settle into her bones.
Caitlin’s assistant arrived within the hour, moving with practiced efficiency as she unfolded director’s chairs and set up ring lights for glam. She double checked the wedding dress hanging in its plastic covering, making sure everything was ready for the moment her boss had been dreaming about.
The weeks leading up to the wedding had blurred together in a haze of white lace, last-minute decisions, and endless checklists. Maddie had drifted through it all like she was watching someone else’s life, not living her own.
Standing in front of the mirror now in her maid-of-honor dress, Maddie felt the air grow unexpectedly heavy with the weight of it all.
Her hands, usually so steady, trembled against the fabric. Just thinking about seeing Hayley soon, walking toward her down the aisle, made Maddie’s legs feel weak.
She looked at her reflection again and lifted her chin, a steely determination settling into her eyes. She drew a long, slow breath into her lungs and headed to the kitchen to wait for Caitlin’s big reveal.
Another fifteen minutes later, Caitlin stepped around the corner in her white gown, and Maddie’s vision blurred as she fought to keep her makeup intact.
“I said I wasn’t going to cry,” she sniffled, plucking a tissue from the box she had set on the counter earlier, fully aware that this moment would get the best of her. “Cait, you’re beautiful.”
“My maid of honor looks absolutely stunning as well.” Caitlin leaned in for an air-kiss, so they wouldn’t undo the hours they’d spent getting ready. “I can’t wait to see Gemma!” She bounced on the balls of her feet.
Maddie understood the feeling exactly.
“Let’s go get your bride.” She smiled, thinking only of the other woman who would be waiting at the end of the aisle.
Maddie crouched and carefully lifted the end of Caitlin’s lace train, then followed her best friend out to the white limousine waiting for them.
——
Once inside the Upper West Side penthouse, Maddie trailed close behind Caitlin toward a room where they planned to wait until the guests had all been seated. They were giggling, tiptoeing down the hallway like schoolgirls when Maddie’s world came to a halt.
Around a corner, speaking to someone she couldn’t see, stood the most gorgeous woman Maddie had ever laid eyes on. Her champagne suit, cut from the same cloth as Maddie’s own dress, had been flawlessly tailored to trace every curve of her figure. And her lips…
Oh God, her lips.
Hayley’s full, softly parted lips had been painted with a smoldering shade of red that reminded Maddie of the satin lingerie set she had worn on the night she’d claimed Hayley.
Maddie’s pulse kicked hard, a sharp rush that made her need to catch her breath.
As she watched Hayley disappear deeper into the penthouse, a clear conviction settled over her.
No matter the cost, she would lay it all out on the line to Hayley after the ceremony—she loved her, and going back to LA was no longer an option.
She would stay there, in New York, right by Hayley’s side.