Chapter Forty-Three
Forty-Three
THE SUN SEEMED TO RISE early on Presley and Beckett’s wedding day, like even it couldn’t wait to watch them finally walk down the aisle.
To make the morning easier, Gray had stayed at Jilly and Levi’s last night even though he wanted to talk to Charlie.
She needed this time with her mom, and he felt like he needed to focus only on his brother’s wedding for now.
Beckett would arrive soon to get ready, and then they’d all head to the venue and, finally, his brother would be a married man.
Jilly walked into the living room as he was folding the blankets he’d used on the couch.
“How’d you sleep?” She had a mug of tea in her hand.
“Good. How are you feeling?”
She sat on the chair next to the couch. “I feel good. I can’t believe Beckett is getting married.”
Gray sank down onto the couch cushions with a deep exhale. He ran a hand through his hair. “Me either. But they’re meant for this. When I met Presley, I never would have imagined believing that, but it’s true. She’s his other half. Like Levi is for you.”
God, he was happy for his siblings.
“And Charlie is for you,” Jilly said softly.
He stared at her, resisting the reflex to argue because he’d told himself there was no one for him. Instead, he nodded.
Jilly smiled. “She might not want to admit she feels the same, but she does, Gray.”
“Maybe not everyone gets a second chance,” he said, voicing the worry he’d been dodging like an annoying mosquito over the last two nights.
“I’m sure they don’t,” Jilly said.
Gray’s hopes wilted. Shit.
“I mean, if a person doesn’t give it their all, then there’s no chance of them getting what they want and deserve. People who get a second shot have to be willing to risk being hurt again.”
He stared at his younger sister. She’d been hurt by her marriage, her divorce, and struggled to restart. They had a lot in common there. And yet, here she sat, pregnant, glowing, and ready to marry a man who’d once been her teenage crush.
“What you’re saying in your mom-code is if I don’t try, I won’t know,” he said.
She grinned. “That’s not mom-coded. It’s just life. You can’t always choose the ending, but you can decide where to start and which way to go.”
“I love you, Jill. I’m proud of you.”
Jillian stood up. “Back at you, big brother. Now, let’s go get ready so we can watch Beckett get married.”
Grayson stood up, feeling somewhat lighter, even though the nerves refused to sleep. He put an arm around his sister. “Who do you think will cry first? Him or Presley?”
She tilted her head back with a sassy smirk. “You.”
JILLIAN WAS WRONG. SHE’D BEEN the first to cry.
Gray saw her tears as he stood across from her at Beckett’s side.
Presley’s best friend, Rylee, stood just a bit in front of Jilly.
Lainey, whom Presley had grown close to, stood just behind his sister.
On Beckett’s side of the aisle, there were Ollie, Levi, and Gray. Happiness permeated the air.
The music swelled and people stood, turning to watch Presley come into view with her parents at her side.
Bernie sucked in a sharp breath and Gray lost the battle right after Jilly.
He wiped a tear from his cheek. In that moment, his eyes found Charlie.
She sat at the back, her hair pulled up and her gaze on him. His heart swelled.
Beckett murmured something under his breath as Presley started walking down the aisle, but Gray didn’t catch what he said.
Presley wore her hair up in a swirling bun that made her look like a movie star.
Instead of a veil, she wore a tiara and the way the sun hit the jewels sent rainbows in all directions.
Her gown was off-the-shoulder, tight around the top, and, with some steps toward them, looked pale pink more than white.
From the waist, the gown flared out into a full-bodied swaying skirt that suited the happiness of Presley’s personality.
Beckett wiped a tear from his eyes as she neared. When she was close enough, she passed her small clutch of pink flowers to Rylee. Both of her parents kissed her cheeks and shook Beckett’s hand.
“Please,” Bernie said, his voice a little rough with emotion. “You may sit down.”
Everyone sat. Grayson’s gaze wandered again, and he saw that, even though Charlie’s mother was leaning into her, whispering something, Charlie was focused on him.
Even from across the room, he felt her presence, their connection, like a vital part of himself.
He looked at his brother and Presley, and this time, a calm certainty joined the happiness crowding his chest.
“I can’t tell you what an honor it is to be standing up here, saying the words that will lead these two into marriage,” Bernie said.
His voice became stronger and prouder. “These two are a perfect example of how life can lead you to the most unexpected of places and people and ultimately change your course forever.”
Bernie continued talking about finding your place and person, about learning who you are from those two things, and deciding who you want to be as you move forward with that person by your side.
It gave Grayson a lot to think about while he watched his brother and Presley, both bursting with untamed excitement, promise each other a lifetime of support, affection, trust, admiration, and unconditional love.
Gray knew the last few years had made him jaded.
But as they said I do, he absolutely believed it was forever for these two.
Their feelings were so palpable, they wrapped around everyone in attendance.
Gray didn’t know if he wanted to stand up in front of his friends and family again one day, but he knew that he wanted Charlie to look at him the way Presley looked at Beckett, how Jilly looked at Levi.
He wanted to be the person she ran to, not from.
The person who shielded and protected her.
Accepted her for who she was and who she wasn’t.
Who she’d become as life and experience changed her.
The one whom she’d never have to question when it came to loyalty or support.
As Presley and Beckett kissed, sealing their future, Grayson clapped with everyone else.
He’d spent all of this time worrying about not repeating the past, but he couldn’t do that because everything about Charlie was different than Lana.
He was different. He didn’t think he could go through it all again, especially with the threat of failure looming over his head.
But he’d been thinking about it wrong. He’d generalized the feeling of love.
He and Charlie had barely begun to go through it, barely begun their journey, and it was like no other because who they were together hadn’t been defined, and what had happened before her didn’t define his ability to love again.
As hard as getting a divorce was, maybe it had helped shape him into the man he’d become.
Every molecule that existed inside of him hoped like hell that he was a man Charlie could love.
But first he had to find her and tell her how he felt.
He knew that, no matter what she felt toward him, he had to lay it all out, make it clear, that without a doubt, she was his person.
That he was more scared of losing her than of loving her.
That she’d woken him from a dark sleep and brought the sunshine back into his world.
As the bridal party headed down the aisle, Grayson scanned the crowd, smiled, and said hello to people they knew. Ollie walked beside him, a vibrating bundle of energy. He had only a split second, in passing, to lock eyes with Charlie. But he hoped, in that second, she saw what he felt.