10. Magnus
“Is everything all right?” I asked Evelyn when she joined me after checking on Valentina and Aria. Once the worst of the wind and rain had passed, we were ushered to the main tent, and now guests mingled and chatted, waiting for the bride and groom to reappear.
“They’re happy as clams,” she confirmed. “Jess has them eating dinner with Colton, Noah, and the other nannies.” If there was such a thing as angels, Jess was one of them. We could have never gotten by without her organization and energy.
“And how are you?” I asked before placing a lingering kiss on my wife’s upturned mouth, only stopping when a telltale twitching in my pants told me I wouldn’t be able to get away for much longer without an embarrassing public hard-on. There was something about her that made me lose control of myself.
She offered a secret, knowing grin once I let her up for air. “Better now,” she purred, chuckling softly. “Something has you in a very good mood.”
“I’m sure it has nothing to do with you looking like living, breathing sex in that dress.” I leaned down, nipping her earlobe with my teeth before whispering, “I can’t wait to get you out of it later. What do you say we make an early exit?”
Her groan told me she was genuinely entertaining the idea but saw it wouldn’t work. “You know how it is. If the bride or groom needs something…”
“I know.” I didn’t have to like it, but I knew. We had a job to do, even with countless staff members and two frantic wedding planners running around. We all had our jobs lined up tonight. My job was to make sure Ari’s grandmother was taken care of, was feeling well, and to help her up to the room where she would spend the night if she were too tired.
After kissing my wife again, I decided to check on Farrah. As it turned out, I didn’t need to. She was holding court with countless guests, telling stories of some of the clients she had dressed over the years. “I don’t want to name names,” she insisted, and somehow her voice rose over the giggles and questions coming from all directions. “I can’t risk a lawsuit at my advanced age.”
I managed to get close enough to lean down. “Can I get you anything?” I asked. “Something to eat? A drink?”
Although it wasn’t technically time to begin dancing, the band had begun to play to keep the mood festive. I vaguely recognized the old song and the sound of it made her eyes light up. “How about a dance? It’s been a long time since I’ve had the pleasure of cutting a rug with a handsome young man.” I knew better than to refuse, and something told me she wouldn’t care much that it wasn’t time for dancing yet. When you were Farrah Goldsmith, you didn’t need to rely on ceremony.
I led her across the floor laid especially for the event and stopped close to the bandstand, so we would stay out of the way of staff crisscrossing the space carrying trays of hors d’oeuvres and drinks. “Thank you,” Farrah murmured once we were far away from the crowd. “You gave me the perfect getaway.”
“You mean you don’t really want to dance with me?” I frowned and stuck out my bottom lip. “I’m disappointed.”
“You are too handsome and charming for your own good, but that’s true of all you boys. And I suppose we ought to dance if only to keep up appearances.” I was chuckling as I drew her closer, one hand at her waist while she closed her fingers around the other. We swayed slowly to the music while I made it a point to support her in case she felt weak. She put on a good show of being vital, but I knew what it was like to put on a show for the rest of the world.
Until I met Evelyn and figured out she was the only woman for me, I had done my share of pretending too.
“I have to say, it warms my heart to see all of you settling down with such wonderful girls.” Her eyes might have faded with age, but they were still sharp when she looked up at me. “All of you did entirely too much running around. Naughty boys.”
“We were young,” I reminded her. “Nobody can say we didn’t live.”
“No, that much is true. Now it’s time to settle down and build something real. I never doubted Aristotle had what it took to run the company, but he only started showing good sense when he recognized what a wonder Olivia is. I could finally rest easy when I knew he had found his partner… someone who would encourage him to be his very best. It seems like your Evelyn has done the same for you,” she observed.
We looked across the room to where Evelyn sipped champagne while chatting with Lourde. Whatever Lourde said made Evelyn throw her head back and laugh, and I couldn’t help chuckling at the sight and sound. She was the textbook definition of someone who had come out of her shell, and I was so grateful she had. Not only for my sake, but for the rest of the world. She had so much talent, intelligence, and empathy to offer. Some people were hardened by their struggles, but Evelyn chose to use her experience to help others find the kind of fulfillment she’d found. It was a self-perpetuating loop since every person she helped left her more confident and determined to find others in need.
“We needed each other,” I concluded. It was funny how easy it was to admit that to her. I wouldn’t have been able to get the words out in front of my friends, and we had been through everything together. Maybe that was it. They knew me too well. Confessing to this kindly old woman was freeing in a way.
“It’s a wonderful thing. Don’t ever take it for granted.” The song ended, and she patted my cheek with one gnarled hand, her skin paper thin—a reflection of time. “Thank you. That was delightful. Don’t be surprised if I flag you down later the next time I’m cornered by gossip hounds.”
I tucked her arm in the crook of my elbow before escorting her across the dance floor. “They were admirers,” I countered. “They’re dying to hear every word from your mouth.”
“Again with the charm.” She didn’t have me fooled. The way her eyes twinkled told me she enjoyed a little charm now and then. “But I’ve spent too many years around people like that to see them as anything other than hungry little gossip hounds. I suppose I’m showing my age, becoming a curmudgeon.”
“Don’t sell yourself short.” I kissed her cheek before murmuring, “You are never too young to be curmudgeonly. Ask my wife. I can be pretty grumpy, myself.” Farrah was laughing when I left her sitting with Ari’s parents. His relationship with them was friendly enough, if not exactly warm or loving. The same seemed to be true of their relationship with Farrah, but I guessed it had something to do with the fact that they were never in town for very long, always jetting around the way they had been all of Ari’s life.
That was one thing I would never do. My children would see me. They would know me. I had no interest in being an absentee parent.
That was one of many areas where Evelyn and I agreed. There were different reasons behind it. She had suffered for years under the cruelty and abuse of her monster of a father. There were still times when it amazed me that she and Barrett turned out as well as they had. Some people looked to their parents as an example of the kind of parent they wanted to be. She approached it from the opposite direction. She would be the parent he could never be. Our girls would never know what it meant to be openly mocked and ridiculed by a parent. They would only ever know love, support, and patience.
Lourde noticed something over my shoulders as I approached them, and the wide, knowing smile that spread across her face told me who I would find when I turned around. “It’s about time!” she called out, teasing the happy couple as they entered the tent. Once the guests registered their presence, a round of applause rose along with the clinking of cutlery against champagne flutes. It only got louder when they kissed as requested, and the cameras flashing was almost blinding.
Once the commotion died down, they joined us and gladly accepted champagne from a passing server. “It is all so beautiful in here,” Olivia sighed as she looked around the space. I couldn’t pretend to disagree with the countless strings of lights strung up overhead, the over-the-top floral arrangements adorning every flat surface, and the candlelight. The effect was magic.
“You have a lot of very happy, impressed guests,” I told her and Ari. “People are going to be talking about this wedding for a long time, and not only because we had to make a run for it when the rain started.” The storm was nothing but a memory now, and the clouds were beginning to break. The air was cool and sweet, the only way it could after a storm that intense. It would be perfect for the elaborate fireworks display set to start later on after Ari’s surprise guest arrived.
First, there was a matter of dinner, meaning we had to take our seats while fresh champagne was poured. The wedding party sat at a long table draped with floral garland and lined in candles and crystal from one end to the other. Once we were settled, I peered down the table and found Barrett standing with his champagne flute in hand. Somebody handed him a microphone which he tested before speaking. “This is around the time the best man tries not to make a fool out of himself,” he began with a chuckle. “I promise not to embarrass either the groom or the bride. I promised my wife I would take it easy on the drinks until after my speech.” He looked down at Lourde, who didn’t bother pretending he wasn’t telling the truth as she shrugged.
Once the laughter died down, he got serious. “There’s something special about watching one of your best friends getting married. Ari, Magnus, Connor, and I have decades of friendship between us. We’ve seen each other through all of life’s ups and downs, and I have no doubt we’ll continue doing so for the rest of our lives. I’m that sure of my friends. They’ll be there for me just like I will for them. The way we always have been.”
He looked down the length of the table, and his gaze softened. “The only difference is nowadays, we don’t have to support each other alone. I don’t have to worry about my friends because I know they’ve all found their true partners… their soulmates. That’s not a word I would have used before finding my own. If you know me, you know how true that is,” he added, and those of us at the head table could only laugh knowingly. “But it’s true. Ari and Olivia were meant to be and one of those things that’s written in the stars. They found each other when they needed each other most, and the same was true for the rest of us. I’ve had the pleasure of watching all of us become the men we were meant to be, thanks to the presence of the women we were meant to be with. Looking down this table, I couldn’t be prouder to be part of this group. Here’s to many more celebrations like this one. Here’s to many years of love and happiness for Ari and his beautiful bride, Olivia.”
I couldn’t have said it better myself. We all had found our true center after years of searching for what we never knew we were missing. With these women by our sides, there was nothing we couldn’t do.
When Barrett raised his glass, we all did the same, toasting the happy couple and the many years ahead. “Now,” he concluded with a grin, “… let’s eat so we can get the party started.”