Chapter 26
Brooke
“Don’t you two look fantastic.” Deidre greets Tobias and me as we come through Titus and Mariah’s front door. She reaches out to smooth down the lapel of Tobias’s suit. “So dapper.”
She can say that again.
Tobias Bradshaw in a suit should be illegal. No one should look as good as he does right now. The worst part is, I can’t even really enjoy it because I feel like I’m going to throw up.
“And you.” Deidre turns to me, taking in the clean lines of my turquoise, ruched, sleeveless gown. “Stunning.”
“Thank you.” I slide one hand into a slit hidden in the side seam. “It has pockets.”
Deidre brings her hands together in a single clap. “Brilliant.” She points Tobias to the front room, where his brothers and father are collected around a group of chairs set into neat rows of two. “Go make sure Titus is doing okay.”
I can’t imagine Titus is anything less than ecstatic. His love for Mariah is undeniable and unmissable. There’s pride on his face as he stands next to the officiant, grinning like he’s having the best day of his life.
He probably is.
Seeing Titus like this actually makes it a little easier for me to breathe, because it’s so different from how I imagine Matt was on the day of our ill-fated ceremony.
I don’t actually know why he was so determined to marry me. I never seemed to be good enough in any capacity. I wasn’t thin enough. Smart enough. I wasn’t a good enough cook or housekeeper. His friends didn’t find me to be charming enough and his mother said I had a funny looking nose.
“Come on, honey.” Deidre hooks one arm through mine, pulling me away from the front room and up the stairs. “Let’s go check on our girl.”
We go to the only door on the second floor not covered in plastic. Deidre gives it a sharp knock before letting herself—and me—in.
Mariah is sitting in a chair while Maren curls her long blonde hair.
She looks absolutely radiant in a pale cream, floral printed chiffon maxi dress.
The ruffled sleeves barely cling to her shoulders, displaying the lines of her collarbones.
Her skin there has a slight shimmer that highlights the elegant curve of her neck.
“You look beautiful.” I can’t stop looking at her. The genuine smile on her face. The happiness oozing out of her pores as she chats with Maren and presses pale pink nails onto the tips of her fingers.
This scene is even more different from what I experienced than Tobias and his brothers were from Matt and his friends. Because Mariah isn’t marrying a man who spent years making sure he was all she had.
Deidre moves close to where the bride sits, reaching out to take one of her hands. Her expression is serious when she asks, “Are you sure you want to do this?”
Mariah’s clearly confused, her brows pinching as she turns her head as much as possible with a chunk of hair wrapped around a curling iron. “What?”
“I’m asking if you’re sure you want to marry Titus.
” She says it gently. Calmly. The same way she spoke to me the day she found me hyperventilating in a venue I didn’t choose, wearing a dress I hated, hair twisted into an updo that was picked out for me.
“It’s important you know you can always change your mind.
It’s never too late to decide something isn’t right. ”
I swallow hard, because there’s not a doubt in my mind Deidre would get Mariah out of here if she said she didn’t want to go through with the wedding. She would whisk her away even though it’s her own son waiting at the altar.
I’ve seen it firsthand.
In contrast, if it was my own mother who’d found me mid panic attack that day, she would have done whatever she could to force me to go through with the wedding. She would have run to tell Matt, knowing what would happen.
What he would do.
Mariah gives Deidre an almost amused smile. “I appreciate the offer, but there’s nothing in this world that will keep me from marrying Titus.”
“Don’t say that.” Maren sighs, rolling her eyes as she shuts off the hot tool and sets it on the card table someone likely pulled in just for today. “Now your water’s going to break.”
“Don’t care.” Mariah stands up. “We’ll go to the hospital after the ceremony.” She reaches a hand out for me. “Wanna help Maren walk me down the aisle?”
I wait for the sick feeling that assaulted me when she and Titus announced their plans, but it doesn’t come. Instead, a tiny bit of happiness blooms, making it surprisingly easy to take her hand. “I would love to.”
Deidre hurries out of the room, and Maren and I help Mariah smooth out her dress and double check to make sure her hair and makeup are perfect. I honestly don’t think she cares though. She would probably walk down those stairs and up the aisle in a robe and no makeup.
Once she’s primped to Maren’s demanding standards, we step out into the hall. It’s not possible for us to go down the stairs side-by-side, so I go first with Maren and Mariah behind me. We reach the bottom, and link arms as the string quartet set up in the office begins to play.
It’s so crazy. I really thought today was going to be a struggle to get through.
Instead, I find myself smiling and laughing as I walk with my friends into the front room where everyone is lined up.
The first thing I notice is the way Titus is looking at the woman next to me.
The love emanating from him is palpable, and it honestly chokes me up a little.
Not in a bad way. In a happy way.
A way that hopes someday a man will look at me the same way.
The aisle is short but wide, so Maren and I are able to stay at Mariah’s side all the way up to the area designated as an altar. After passing her off, I turn, ready to find a seat.
I lock eyes with Tobias. He’s standing at his brother's side, but his eyes are only on me.
And what I see in them is terrifying.
“Come sit right behind me, honey.” Deidre takes my hand, ushering me into the seat directly behind where she and Ted are sitting.
I lower into the spot, putting my eyes anywhere but on Tobias as he and his brothers begin to disperse, leaving only Mariah, Titus, and the officiant standing.
When someone sits beside me, my belly does a weird little tumble, because I think it’s Tobias. I look over and discover it’s Maren, eyes misty, her lips curved in a wistful smile as she watches the ceremony.
I don’t look around. I’m not quite prepared for what I might see. I’m certainly not prepared for how it will make me feel. It’s a perfect example of ‘be careful what you wish for.’
The ceremony is short and sweet. In just a few minutes, Titus is pulling Mariah as close as he can with her pregnant belly between them, kissing her in a way that might border on indecent, before scooping her up and carrying her out of the room.
The officiant, Deidre, and Ted follow right behind them.
“What is it with you guys and carrying women around?” Trevor’s voice cuts through the cheers. “I don’t get it.”
Maren leans around me, continuing to clap as she shoots Trevor a glare across the aisle separating us. “That’s because you’re an asshole.”
“You think I’m an asshole now, just wait.” Trevor dishes out a threat I don’t quite understand, and I’m starting to wish I wasn’t the one standing between them. “You have no idea what I’m capable of.”
“I’m sure that’s what you tell all the girls.” Maren smirks. “Right before they experience the most underwhelming thirty seconds of their life.”
I was worried getting through this wedding would be a struggle because of how it would make me feel. The memories it would trigger. Now, I’m a little concerned my emotions are the least of the problems unfolding.
Tucker steps around Trevor, pushing him back a step. He looks between him and Maren. “What is it with you two?” He scoffs. “Just fuck and get over it with already.”
Maren gasps loudly, her jaw dropping open. “Never in a million years.” She shakes her head almost violently. “Not even with someone else’s—”
Deidre steps into the room, clapping her hands with a smile. “Time to eat. Everyone come on.”
Tucker plants one hand in the middle of Trevor’s back, shoving him toward the door. Maren continues glaring at him until he’s gone, then she flips her hair, picks up Mariah’s bouquet, hooks an arm through Walker’s, and drags him out of the room, chin high in the air.
Leaving only me and Tobias.
Looking everywhere but at him feels silly now, so I suck it up and meet his eyes, a little relieved when he’s not still looking at me the same way Titus looked at Mariah. I give him a small smile. “That was fast.”
“That’s what she said.” He tips his head toward the open doorway. “She being Maren.”
I laugh. “What is it with the two of them?” I find myself moving toward Tobias without really meaning to. “Did they have a thing and it ended badly?”
“Pretty sure Trevor hasn’t had any ‘things’ in a while.” Tobias reaches out, snagging my hand as soon as I’m close enough to touch, pulling me close. “We think that’s why he’s so pissy all the time.”
“Hmm.” I look up at him, lifting a brow. “Is that your way of telling me if I hear stories about what an asshole you used to be, there’s a reason for it?”
“I always looked like a delight compared to Trevor, so I don’t think you have to worry about defending my honor.”
“I would, you know.” Music carries in from the main part of the house where everyone has moved to, and I find myself swaying along with it. “Defend your honor.”
“Aren’t you a prince charming?” Tobias links his fingers with mine, tucking our joined hands close to his chest as he moves with me, dancing to a song no one else likely notices.
“I do what I can, princess.” I feel weirdly light. Like a weight has been lifted.
Definitely not the way I imagined today going.
Not the part where I smiled walking into the room. Or looking down the aisle to see the face of the man who makes my heart skip a beat. I certainly didn’t expect to be standing with that same man on the altar, dancing to a string version of “The Night We Met”.
I thought I never wanted to experience another wedding. That I would never even consider moving down that path myself.
But I think if maybe the man waiting for me looks at me the way Tobias does, I would have a tough time saying no.
“Are you guys coming?” Maren comes to a stop in the doorway, propping both hands on her hips. “Mariah wants cake, and she’s not cutting it until everybody’s there.”
I turn to my friend. “Cake first?”
“Do you want to be the one to argue with a pregnant lady?” She shakes her head. “Because I sure as heck won’t.”
She’s got a point. And cake does sound really good.
“You can come back in here and make out later.” Maren waves us on. “Let’s go, let’s go.”
Tobias shoots me a grin as we follow her out of the room. “I think she missed her calling as the head of crowd control.”
“I think she missed her calling as a celebrity gossip journalist.”
Tobias and I tuck into a spot at the edge of the kitchen where the food and cake are set up. I catch sight of my friend through the small crowd. “Does it look like Maren is plotting something?”
Tobias looks from the cake knife gripped in her hand to where Trevor is standing close by. “You don’t think she would stab him, do you?”
I tip my head, considering. “Nowhere lethal.”
Tobias chuckles. “That’s fine. He probably deserves a little jab or two.”
Tobias wraps an arm around my back, pulling me against him as Mariah and Titus take their place behind the double tiered caramel cake. He leans down, voice low enough only I can hear. “How are you doing? You holding up okay?”
“I actually am.” I watch as Titus carefully places a bite between Mariah’s lips. “It’s so different, it doesn’t even feel like the same thing.”
“I can imagine.” He presses a kiss to my temple as Mariah tries to work a bite that’s a little bit too big into her new husband’s mouth. “If you get to a point where you’re ready to go, just let me know.”
I shake my head. “I think I’m okay.”
It’s true. For the first time I really feel like I’m okay.
I still have a lot to deal with, including the feelings of blame I still try to put on myself, and the lawsuit Matt refuses to drop. But those things seem smaller today than they were yesterday.
Hopefully tomorrow they’ll feel even smaller.
“Are you kidding me?” Maren’s voice cuts through the air, dragging my attention to where she’s still standing at the kitchen island next to Trevor. They each look ready to kill the other one, and I’m a little worried bloodshed is going to ruin Mariah’s day.
But instead of shanking him with the cake knife, Maren scoops her hand under the plate he’s clutching, shoving both his arm and the serving of cake upward, planting caramel colored goodness in the center of his face.
I watch as she storms past me, going straight to the front door and walking out. Turning back to Trevor, I leave Tobias’s side, and go to where he’s trying to wipe frosting out of his eyes. “What did you say to her?”
I haven’t been confrontational in a long time, but there’s no way I’m letting Trevor be a dick to my friend. Especially at his brother’s wedding.
“I just told her I wasn’t sure if we were going to be hiring her once the contract with the temp agency is up.” He flips a scoop of cake smash into the sink. “And she freaked out on me.”
Now I’m the one thinking of stabbing him with the cake knife. Nowhere vital of course.
Maybe just in the brain.
“You’re an idiot.” Tobias shakes his head. “Can’t even keep from showing your ass at your big brother’s wedding.”
Trevor has finally managed to clear the cake from his lids. His eyes narrow as they fix on Tobias. “Fuck you.”
Then he storms out just like Maren did.
And Deidre has been watching the whole thing.
I see Tucker grinning from the corner of my eye. He looks thrilled about the whole fiasco, which confuses me.
Until he says, “I think Trevor just saved my ass.”