Chapter 16
Duck
Ava turns around to look at me and smiles. “Check out how nervous Marius looks standing up there. He’s so cute!”
I look past her from the doorway out to her patio and see him looking around like he isn’t sure I’m going to show up. My mother probably said something to him that’s making him worry. Thank God he loves me or that woman would have chased him away by now with her asinine antics.
“He is adorable, isn’t he? I guess I’ll keep him,” I say with a giggle.
My best friend gives me a strange look. “You better. I like having you as a sister-in-law.”
She doesn’t have to worry. I wouldn’t give up Marius King for anything. It’s not every day a woman finds a man who has everything she’s ever dreamed of in a husband.
I hear the music I chose for her to walk down the aisle before me and nudge her shoulder. “That’s your cue. See you at the altar!”
“Ooh, wish me luck. I hope I don’t fall.”
Typical Ava. She gets a pair of kitten heels, and she thinks she’s going to trip. I’m wearing four inch heels, and the thought never occurred to me.
“Good luck!”
I watch her walk to where the priest, Matthias, and Marius stand and wait for the wedding march to begin. My father waits by my side, silent as he often is but the strong presence he’s always been in my life.
“It’s almost time, Dad.”
He nods and gives me a little smile. “You know, honey, I like Marius. He’s a good man. Don’t worry about what your mother thinks. She’ll come around.”
I lean in and press a kiss to my father’s cheek. “Thank you, Dad. I’m not worried about Mom. Marius can handle himself.”
Laughing, he nods again. “That he can. I think he’s had a good bit of practice with you.”
As much as I’d like to disagree with him, the truth is I am a lot like my mother. We’re both stubborn and decisive. We also both know we’re high maintenance and don’t care.
And we’re both women who speak our minds. She just happens to have taken a dislike to the man I love because he’s not Sicilian. Unlike my father, I don’t believe she’s ever going to get over my husband’s heritage.
I don’t care. Where the King family comes from doesn’t mean a thing to me. I care more about what kind of man he is, and in that area, he’s got all I’ve ever wanted.
When I hear the first notes of the wedding march, I take a deep breath and step out onto the patio with my father as everyone turns to look at me. “It’s time.”
He gives me a smile that if I didn’t know better is tinged with sadness and slips his arm in mine. “I just want you to know I’m not giving you away. You’re still my little girl.”
In his dark eyes, I see the love he’s always shown me. My father may be the opposite of Marius, but to me, he’s always been a good man.
“Thank you for everything, Dad. I love you.”
“I love you too, Eden. Time to go upset your mother and get you married.”
It’s a beautiful summer day with the sun shining and not a cloud in the sky, and for one day, I want to believe all is right with the world. Since I see my mother in the front row practically glaring at my husband as he waits for me, that’s not the case, but besides her, everything is great.
I smile as I pass my brothers, all of whom look like they can’t believe the little girl they still think I am is getting married. I guess that’s the cross to bear for the youngest. Ronan’s brothers probably thought that the day he married Kate right here last year.
My mother holds Lily, and right on cue, my daughter begins to scream like a banshee. And to think she thought a baby should be part of the wedding.
When I reach the altar, my father lets go of my hand and kisses me on the cheek. For the first time today, I struggle to hold back the tears.
Marius looks like he’s about to explode, so I lean in toward him and whisper, “Nice to see you here, handsome. I heard there was a sexy guy standing next to a priest, so I thought I’d come check you out.”
That makes him smile, and he says, “That sounds like the beginning of a joke.”
He always knows how to make me chuckle. We turn to face the priest and listen as he begins to speak about how important marriage is. Marius and I already know that, though. This past year showed us how hard marriage can be, but we came through it stronger on the other side.
By the time we say our vows, Lily has stopped wailing for long enough for us both to say I do. We kiss when the priest says we can, and I swear I can hear my mother begin to sob.
Marius looks over at her, and in his way that never fails to make me love him even more, he says, “It’s official now! Mom!”
Everyone laughs, except my mother, who looks mortified. Thankfully, Lily begins to scream again, forcing her to hurry into the house.
Our guests gather around to congratulate us, and I can’t deny I’m happy we had a wedding all our friends and family could attend.
Marius in his typical fashion tells everyone it’s time to party, and his brothers let out a cheer that the one of them they never thought would settle down finally and officially walked down the aisle.
I lean back on the hotel bed further away from the window and look over at Marius.
After a wedding, a reception that went on into the night, a next-day flight at eight a.m. that felt like it took forever to reach Naples, and then a two-hour drive to get to our hotel on the Amalfi Coast, I’m struggling to keep my eyes open, even though I slept on the flight.
“How are you doing there, Mr. King?” I ask, knowing he’s at the very least hungover after all the partying he and his brothers did at our reception.
“Good, good,” he says, but I hear the exhaustion in his voice.
“You know, my mother actually smiled when she found out where we were going on our honeymoon. It’s not Sicily, but it’s Italy, so I guess she was happy.”
Marius pulls me to him, and I rest my head on his chest. The sound of his heartbeat in my ear makes me want to drift off to sleep, even though this is the first night of our honeymoon.
He slowly strokes his fingers through my hair and lets out a heavy sigh. “A smile, huh? Maybe we should buy a house here. That might make her actually like me.”
I lift my head from his chest and smile. “That’s nice, but you don’t have to worry about her opinion of you. I like you. That’s all that matters.”
“And your father. Don’t forget him. Thank God too, or I’d likely be sitting on the bottom of the East River.”
Rolling my eyes, I kiss him and return to resting my head on his chest. “I know we’re supposed to be doing something else since it’s the first night of our honeymoon, but I’m having a hard time keeping my eyes open after that pilgrimage we had to take to get here.”
I feel him press a kiss to the top of my head. “It’s okay. We have two weeks to do nothing but stay in bed and have sex. We can start tomorrow.”
“Are you sure you’re not disappointed?”
When I look up at him, I see he’s already fast asleep. I don’t blame him. It’s been a long time since it was just Marius and me. Being parents is exhausting. Planning a wedding with a mother like mine is even more exhausting.
We can start on our honeymoon tomorrow. It’s okay. We have the rest of our lives together.