36. Henry
Text from Melanie
How could you hang up on me, Henry?
After the life we shared, and the love I thought we shared, I would think that my existence as the mother of your son would rate an invitation to the wedding.
I have apologized so many times that I have run out of ways to say I’m sorry. But I am, and I will be forever.
Haven’t you ever made a mistake? All I’m trying to do is be in his life.
Please.
Henry shook his head. On what should have been one of the happiest days of his life, the day of his only child’s wedding, his ex was bombarding him with angry, hurt texts.
Although this mode of communication was preferable to the phone call he had mistakenly answered from her immediately following Josh and Effie’s ceremony.
“Henry? They’re looking for you to take pictures.
” Charlotte placed her warm hand on his arm, and he drew her close, pressing his mouth to hers in a deep kiss.
Hand in hand, they walked to the gazebo, where Josh and Effie stood across from the photographer, along with Diadema, Burnside, and Hamilton.
Before he ascended the stairs, his mouth grazed Charlotte’s hand.
He caught DD’s gaze on him before she quickly averted it.
The photographer said, “Okay, now how about one with just Dad and the happy couple?”
Posing with his son and his new daughter-in-law, Henry’s heart expanded seeing Josh not only so in love but also at ease, making him prouder today of his son than he ever recalled. After moving on from so many things that could have brought him down, Josh was truly happy with his life.
Josh suggested, “How about one with Charlotte in it?”
“I don’t want to intrude.” Charlotte’s cheeks flushed the color of a ripe peach.
“No, Josh is right. You belong up here,” Effie insisted.
“I don’t know.” She hesitated, looking up at Henry, who rushed down the stairs of the gazebo to wrap his arm around her.
“I think it’s a perfect idea,” he assured her, and his arm encircled her waist, keeping it there are the photographer took the photos.
“Now, both sets of parents.” Henry regretfully let go of Charlotte as the photographer took a drink from a stainless steel thermos, while DD and Burnside began walking up the steps.
“Sorry, but maybe I can sit this one out?” Burnside panted, his hand on his chest.
Effie asked, “Burnie, are you okay?”
“I’m fine, just a little winded. I guess the stairs are too much for me.” Burnside sat down in the front row of chairs. Hamilton jogged over to a cooler behind the gazebo, pulling out an icy bottle of water for his dad.
As the photographer called for more members of the bride’s extended family to be added to the photos, Effie’s Lakota family came forward, most of whom had dressed in brightly colored garments with intricate beading and traditional patterns.
Henry hugged Aurora, Effie’s paternal grandmother, and shook the hand of her grandfather, Chaske, as he passed them on the stairs.
Charlotte smiled at Henry as he walked over to her, and her beauty awed him.
“You look like you need a refreshment.” With a kiss on his cheek, she laced her fingers in his, leading him around the back of the gazebo to the cooler.
Bending, she pulled out two bottles of Amstel Light, icy from being at the bottom of the cooler. “I hid these for us.”
“You know what I need more than this?” He took her beer from her and placed both bottles on top of the cooler.
“I have an idea, but I can’t wait for you to show me,” she responded with a throaty chuckle, fanning herself with a wedding program.
Henry pulled her to him, groaning as her lush form melted into his solid frame.
“I don’t think I’ve told you enough today that, with the exception of my new daughter-in-law, you are the most exquisite woman here.
” He mouth explored the underside of her jaw and then her neck, exposed to him thanks to the intricate braid she had wound her hair into that morning.
Slowly stroking a path following her curves, his hands settled on her hips as her mouth opened under his.
Charlotte’s fingers slid into his jacket, her nails scoring his back through his shirt.
“I would hope I don’t outshine the bride on her big day.
You, on the other hand, are by far the sexiest man here.
” Charlotte’s tone made sweat break out on his forehead that had nothing to do with the heat of the day.
“Why don’t we run back to your house? I’m sure no one would miss us for half an hour. ”
On the verge of agreeing with her, even if she wasn’t serious, his phone pinged in the pocket of his trousers, and he crashed back to reality.
He didn’t want to look at it, let alone respond, but he worried that if it was Melanie again, left unanswered, she would escalate things, as she had earlier.
“Sorry,” he said with a kiss to her forehead, “let me just see who this is in case it’s about the reception,” despising himself for misleading the most magnificent woman on the planet, but what else could he do?
He’d tell her everything tonight, when they were lying in the afterglow of the mind-blowing sex.
Charlotte reached up and straightened his tie, smoothing down his jacket when she was done.
“Why don’t I take these back to the seats with me?
” She picked up their beer bottles. “I’m sure they will be ready for the Livingston family photos soon.
” After one last deep kiss, Charlotte pulled back, rubbing her thumb over Henry’s mouth.
“I want you to remember, later tonight, when you’re making your speech to the bride and groom, how I almost lured you away so I could have my hands all over you…
how desperate I was for you.” Henry gaped at her as she rounded the gazebo, full hips swaying as she walked to the front.
Taking a minute to himself, he leaned against the back of the gazebo and closed his eyes, willing his pulse to stop throbbing.
As his breathing leveled, Henry looked at his phone, relieved to see it was Cait, texting that everything was good for the reception.
“Excuse me?” A young blonde woman, probably in her twenties, stood in front of him.
He wondered who she was, then recalled having noticed her earlier that afternoon.
“Yes? How can I help you?” Tall, with bright blue eyes a few inches below his, she was a stranger to him; and yet, for some inexplicable reason, a pit in Henry’s stomach expanded. “I’m sorry, do I know you?”
“You’re Henry Livingston, right?” He nodded, and the young woman held out a hand to him. “I’m Sophie.”
Perplexed, Henry looked down at her hand. Before he could respond, Ruth called to him from the gazebo, “Henry, please tell me you’ve seen Liam?”
“No, I’m sorry—not since the ceremony. Cait texted me, though, looking for him as well. Is something wrong?”
“It’s time for pictures with the wedding party, and no one has seen him since he went to change his pants,” Ruth explained.
At his quizzical look, she added, “Don’t ask.
Just know that he’s been gone way too long.
” When he turned back to Sophie, he found she had disappeared as quickly as she had appeared.
Cait arrived, mumbling about her brother’s lack of respect, timing, and family obligations, making George laugh; Nora, however, was not as amused as her husband. “Where do you think Liam is?” Charlotte whispered. “I heard Cait found him with Lana.”
Henry grinned, rubbing Charlotte’s back.
“If that’s true, I am ecstatic he missed the photos.
I know Josh and Effie don’t care. Look at them.
” With their arms wrapped around one another, they only had eyes for each other, unbothered by any chaos around them.
He folded Charlotte’s soft hand into his. “Let’s head over to the reception.”
With her arm in his, he escorted Charlotte over to the restaurant, conveniently located across the street from the park.
He had just handed his beautiful date a flute of champagne when Liam finally arrived with Lana on his arm, mere minutes to spare before he was expected to make his best man toast to the bride and groom.
In typical Liam fashion, he charmed the audience before giving a sentimental speech that had the bride and groom each wiping away tears.
After he finished, Josh joked his cousin had been late because he’d probably been getting engaged himself.
Surprising no one and delighting everyone, Liam raised a glass of champagne, confirming that he had proposed to Lana, and she had accepted.
The announcement almost brought the house down, and warmth spread through Henry that his nephew had gotten another chance at happiness with the woman he had loved desperately for two years.
Normally, a bride and groom might be upset by another couple getting engaged on their wedding day, but since Josh and Effie had been instrumental in bringing Lana and Liam back together, they were elated, even making a toast in their honor before they cut the cake.
After dinner was over, Josh and Effie swayed to their first dance as a married couple, and when the band segued into the second song, they invited everyone onto the dance floor with them.
“Dance with me?” Henry raised Charlotte’s hand to his mouth, tenderly kissing her knuckles, and her smile made him want to weep in gratitude.
All of his emotions were in overdrive, and he stroked a finger down the cheek of her stunning face while circling her to the outskirts of the dance floor.
“Do you want to leave soon? Head back to my place? Or yours…I’m not picky.
” Henry yearned to be alone with her and slid his thumb over her parted lips, still moist from their kiss minutes ago.
Everything about her made him absolutely primal, and his chest swelled knowing that she tasted of him.