Chapter Four
Ella
“Surprise!” Rhia squeals, opening her arms wide.
My jaw drops. Just moments ago, I was lamenting having to spend Christmas without her, and now she’s standing right in front of me.
My eyes well up. Damn hormones. I hate being so emotional.
Rhia closes the distance and hugs me.
“I see those leaky tear ducts are still playing up,” she teases, pulling me a little tighter.
“They’re the worst. I need to have them checked out,” I quip back, soaking in my best friend.
“How come you’re home early?” I ask into her hair.
“Well, we need to uphold our traditions. And it looks like I’ve just made it in time.”
“You did,” I say.
In more than one way. Emotion wells up again, and I hold on tighter.
Holy crap. Maybe now we can pull off this wedding after all.
The stars are aligning, and all in a matter of hours.
“But what about your family? You were looking forward to spending Christmas with them.”
“Well, we decided it was best for them to go home,” Rhia says with a small shrug.
“It would raise suspicion if they all stayed in Atlanta of all places. They’d be missed back home, and that would lead to questions, especially so soon after Lex’s and my supposed deaths. That’s not a risk we can take.”
She pauses, then adds more lightly, “So we had our Christmas with them early. Plus Con and Reece are meant to spend Christmas with her family this year.”
I peek over at Claudette, who’s beaming at us and giving me a wink.
Did she know about this?
As if reading my mind, she shakes her head.
Lex and Tiero enter the room. I let go of Rhia and move to hug her boyfriend.
A low rumble comes from beside us, and I chuckle. It seems Tiero still doesn’t like another man touching me. Even if that man belongs to my best friend and has eyes only for her.
“Welcome back,” I say to Lex, then add with a smirk, “The cabin next door was way too quiet without you guys.”
When I pull back, I catch the faintest blush on Lex’s cheeks.
“You might as well admit you were bored,” Rhia quips, and I roll my eyes at her.
Realizing I haven’t even greeted my love yet, I fly into Tiero’s arms and pepper his face with kisses.
“I’ve missed you,” I tell him with a goofy grin.
Tiero cups my face in his hands and wipes away the last of my tears with his thumbs.
“I’ve missed you more,” he says before kissing me, not caring who’s watching.
I pull away before the kiss can deepen, aware of our audience. Though they’re probably used to it by now.
“Were you in on this surprise?” I ask my fiancé, resting my forehead against his.
He shrugs, not giving anything away.
“I know how much it means to you to have the people you love here with us for Christmas. Plus, you wouldn’t want to get married without Rhia, sì?”
He nudges his nose against mine, and my heart swells with love for this man.
“Get married?” Rhia echoes a decibel or two higher from across the room.
“I’ve been gone only a few days. What happened? Last we talked about it, you guys wanted to get married in spring?” she exclaims, jutting out her hip, hands on her waist.
Mimicking her stance, I retort, “When should I have told you? You’ve barely arrived, and we just finished hugging.”
Rhia reluctantly nods, conceding my point.
“Besides, Tiero only suggested moving the wedding up a couple of hours ago.”
I glance at my fiancé, my cheeks turning crimson as I remember what we did when he brought up the subject. Noticing my blush, Rhia lifts an amused brow.
“I want Ella as my wife before the year is over,” Tiero says, his gaze never leaving mine.
Rhia joins Lex’s side and winds her arms around him.
“Starting the new year as husband and wife… you’re quite the romantic, Tiero. Who would have thought?” she teases, her eyes taking on a faint, watery sheen.
I watch her carefully, wondering where her proposal plans are up to. With everything that’s happened since our Sicily trip in August, we’ve never had the chance to brainstorm the perfect proposal for Lex.
I’m still baffled she wants to get married at all. She was always adamant they didn’t need a piece of paper to make their love legitimate. Then again, she never saw herself in a long-term committed relationship either.
Oh, how the mighty have fallen.
I should pull her aside, have a heart-to-heart, maybe spend an afternoon crafting an epic proposal together.
I’d love to be a fly on the wall and see Lex’s face when she asks. Like Tiero, he likes to be in charge. But so does Rhia. Their constant battle for dominance is always entertaining to watch.
“Well, I love it,” Rhia exclaims, rubbing her hands together, her momentary funk forgotten as her excitement returns.
She’s so good at letting nothing bother her, at focusing on what’s good instead. She scratches her head, the wheels in her mind clearly turning.
“We have eight and a half days until New Year’s Eve, but between the five of us, and with me as your wedding planner, we can pull this off. It’s going to be amazing.”
The moment Rhia learned about this spontaneous wedding, it was inevitable she’d take over. Thank God for that.
Rhia loves planning and organizing. It feeds her creative soul, while it would frustrate mine to no end.
Claudette sidles up to me and smiles. “See? It’s all coming together.”
“But you two,” she says, pointing at Tiero and me, “better get going and secure that marriage license. In fact, I’ll come along to make sure my license is still active and valid.”
Everyone in the room turns to her.
“Your license?” Rhia repeats.
My hand finds Tiero’s, squeezing it a little tighter as I gaze up at him.
“Turns out Claudette is a marriage officiant,” I tell them.
“No way!” Rhia exclaims, jumping up and down on the spot. She’s loving this craziness.
“Way!” Claudette replies.
“That’s out there,” Rhia says, staring at me.
“I know, right?” I can’t help but laugh at my bestie’s awe.
Tiero tightens his grip on my hand but doesn’t say anything, his expression, as so often, unreadable.
What is he thinking? Is he okay with Claudette marrying us? It’s not like we have a lot of options.
But even if we did, I love the idea of someone marrying us who knows what we went through to be together. Claudette truly cares. I get now why Miriam would have asked her.
On the other hand, Claudette is unpredictable. God knows what will come out of her mouth. But even if it’s quirky and unconventional, that would make it more memorable, right?
My excitement builds. There are still obstacles, but one by one, they’re disappearing.
I can’t wait to see how the next piece falls into place.
“Well, while you guys are out on your wedding license mission, I’ll get some planning done.”
Her gaze drifts to Lex. They’ll have the whole property to themselves, which means a license to be as loud as they want. Yeah, they’re not going to pass that up.
I walk to the kitchen and open the cupboard beneath the sink where we store the cleaning products. Taking out the window spray and a cloth, I hand them to Rhia.
“Just in case you decide to do your planning here against the window,” I tease. “I want to see no evidence.”
Rhia’s mischievous smile only grows.
Yep, just like I thought.
“By the time you’re back, I’ll have a to-do list and try to source whatever we need.”
She takes my hands, twirling us on the spot. “It’s going to be amazing, El. A winter wedding with a Mediterranean hunk… so romantic.”