Chapter 18
River
Gabriel and I stand at the bedroom window, frozen to the spot at the scene before us. Sebastian, Alec, Henry, and Oliver are in the driveway, scowling, stepping out of Sebastian’s car like foxes about to enter a hen house.
Thank goodness I had the wherewithal to get dressed a moment ago.
I leave the room and go open the front door before they have a chance to ring the bell. They enter our home silently, barely meeting my gaze. By the time they’ve filed into the great room, Gabriel has joined us.
I offer them a seat, but they don’t move.
“I’ll sit then,”
I say and before I can even ask him to, Gabriel’s beside me on one of the love seats.
No one says anything, but there’s a whole lot of looking back and forth at us. Finally, Oliver opens his mouth.
“Look, I don’t mean for us all to be in your face and whatnot, but we’re . . .”
Oliver’s head whips around, looking at his brothers on either side of him, a whiff of Can I get a little help here? on his face.
“You’re in a state of shock,”
Gabriel supplies, his dimples nowhere to be found.
“I know,”
I say to Oliver. “I don’t blame you guys for feeling this way. It’s a big shock.”
I offer a laugh. “Gabriel and I are also shocked.”
Gabriel and I. Sounds like we’re an old married couple.
Sebastian’s mouth is bunched up tight and I get the distinct worry that maybe he’s going to fire me. Is what I’ve done a fireable offense? Probably.
Henry also stays silent, but Alec starts in, his brow furrowed.
“So, last night, huh? You got married last night?”
He emphasizes the night, and that’s when I notice his face is starting to turn red.
Oliver pats him on the shoulder. “Dude, it’s okay. They’re adults. They’re in love.”
He swallows hard, like it’s hitting him that his younger brother eloped with Tate International’s PR director.
“We decided to get married, so we got married.”
Gabriel lifts a shoulder, like, I don’t know why you guys are so confused right now.
“It’s—”
Alec sighs. “Why? I mean,”
he glances over at Oliver. “I get the whole, ‘you fell in love’ thing. But why get married at the county courthouse at five o’clock on a Tuesday evening?”
“Actually, it was at four-fifteen, but—”
At their bewildered stares, I wave my hand. “Semantics. Doesn’t matter. Anyways, I’ve sold my house to pay for my sister’s living situation. She has a disability and needs some extra help. But I had to move out and didn’t have a place to go, so Gabriel and I decided to . . .”
I swallow to try to get the tightness in my throat to ease. “. . . get married.”
“You got married because you needed a place to live,”
Alec states. Like it’s a completely unreasonable thing to say.
“No. I mean, it sounds so strange when you put it that way,”
I say. “It was more just a funny little timing thing. We were already headed in that direction, but it made our decision for us, basically.”
See? That’s not really a lie. I have sold my house. I didn’t have a place to live. This whole thing has been quite funny as far as timing is concerned. Or delusional. Whatever you want to call it.
“Guys, we shouldn’t have confronted them like this.”
Oliver glares at his brothers and then at Gabriel. “It’s not fair.”
He looks at me, and his expression softens. “River, sorry to barge in here. I think our feet moved quicker than our heads.”
He stammers and scratches his nose. “We got the text and then Alec called me right away and Sebastian and Henry tracked us both down. And—"
“I get it. Of course this is quite the shock. But we love each other.”
I hate lying. I glance at Gabriel and slide my hand across his back. His heavy brows ask, are you okay? as if I’ve had a nasty fall and he’s assessing me for bruises.
The door opens and in walks Milo, his hair damp.
I guess we’re past the point of needing to knock now?
It might be nice having Milo’s presence. He looks a little like he’s holding a press conference to inform the world they’ve discovered the cure for some terrible disease, all self-important and excited. Still. I’m glad he’s here.
“I was in the pool,”
he says. “But congrats, you two.”
Sebastian’s glower continues, but he finally opens his mouth. “What is going on?”
His stare at us all is menacing.
“We’ve told you.”
Gabriel offers as much of a smile as he can muster. “We’re married.”
He drops a hand on my knee, and I grasp it with both of my hands, like a tether, hanging on for dear life.
His hand is warm, firm, his fingers longer than mine. I stare at them a moment, weighing the realness of the braiding of our fingers. If I could draw at all, I’d want to draw our hands just like this.
Since I can’t do that right now, or really ever, I meet the brothers’ gazes again. “I get that you might disagree, but Gabriel and I stand firm in our decision.”
I toss a glance at Gabriel, silently asking, We are standing firm in our decision, right? “And frankly, we don’t have to explain ourselves to you.”
I offer a smile. This isn’t about hurting them. It’s about doing what’s best for us. They’ll come around eventually, won’t they?
“She’s right.”
Gabriel scrubs his face as he untangles his other hand from mine and wraps that arm around my waist. It’s such a natural movement, like we’ve been together for years. “We don’t have to explain anything. We’re adults who made some important decisions.”
His gaze flicks to me. He takes a wisp of my hair that’s gotten stuck to my cheek. We share a look while he tucks it into the rest of my hair.
“Why didn’t you say anything before you did it?”
Alec says. “Mom’s going to be disappointed that she missed your wedding.”
Thoughts of Celine are a snag in my brain. “Yes, and we do feel bad about that,”
I say. “And about the discomfort. But we know it’s the right thing for us, so we’re hoping she comes around. She’s a reasonable person. She’ll understand.”
“It’ll hurt her,”
Sebastian counters.
Gabriel and I hesitate, allowing Oliver to jump in.
“Hey, I know.”
Oliver chuckles. “Why don’t we throw you a nice reception? And you two can get dressed up again and we can have food and cake?”
“I don’t know.”
Gabriel tightens his grip on my waist.
“It would be nice for Mom,”
Alec says.
“Since you didn’t invite her to the wedding, it’s the least you can do,”
Henry says, his strong, military-style arms crossed over his chest. He turns to the door right as the doorbell rings and opens it. Oakley appears in her workout clothes.
“Sorry I couldn’t get here any sooner. I was with a client.”
Oakley glances at everyone in the room. When she’s not studying or doing clinicals, she does personal training and injury prevention sessions with guests of the resort.
Before I can say anything to her, she steps to me. “As surprised as I am, and confused, I’ll be honest . . .”
She bends down and envelops me in an embrace. “I’m just happy for you guys.”
When she pulls away, I see the alarm slipping through her smile.
Yeah, I’m alarmed, too, Oakley.
“Thank you,”
I tell her.
Oakley takes a step back and Alec wraps an arm around her. “We can forgive your spontaneity, but I’m guessing you’ll understand if it takes a little time,”
Alec says.
Oliver chimes in. “Yeah. River, we don’t have anything against you personally. We’re just surprised.”
“I get it,”
I say and then I feel all dumbed up. I can’t think of a single other thing to say.
“Are you going on a honeymoon?”
Oakley’s mouth curves into a smile.
Oh. Another thing we didn’t consider.
“Later,”
Gabriel says with a firm clearing of his throat.
He moves to stand, and I join him. We resume the position; stitched together along our sides, holding on for air. “We want to call Mom and Dad now. So out with ya,”
he says, motioning toward the door.
“Dad’s out of town,”
Milo says. “But yeah, I’m sure Mom would love to know more.”
His pointed look could get us all in trouble, if any of the brothers sensed he already knew.
“I’m surprised she hasn’t called yet.”
Gabriel looks down at his phone.
Elianna, Sophie, and Quinn all have other jobs, which is probably why they aren’t here right now, but I wonder how they’re coping with the breezy, to-the-point text. Will they be as accepting as Oakley?
They’re my sisters-in-law. I freaking have four freaking sisters-in-law.
This crazy scheme of ours has to work. And looking at Gabriel’s face, feeling the warmth and weight of him against me, I suddenly feel like maybe we really are a team, that my air high five, silly at the time, was actually meaningful. Because there’s a flicker of knowing in the back of my mind, of really and truly caring about Gabriel succeeding. He wants Foundations Financial. And if I can, I’d like to help him get it.
Is all this actually going to help the cause?