20. June
JUNE
Nine Months Later
June stood in front of the full-length mirror in Willa’s guest room and pressed a hand carefully against her stomach.
The nerves weren’t settling. They’d been climbing steadily since she’d opened her eyes that morning, and now, with only a few moments of quiet left to herself before everything began, her heart was beating with a slow thud as she was about to step across a line she’d been approaching for a very long time.
She drew in a long, careful breath and dabbed gently beneath her eyes with the edge of her fingertip.
She couldn’t cry. Not yet. Not now. Not after all the work Margo had put into her makeup this morning.
June’s mind wandered, as it had been wandering all week, over everything that had happened in the past nine months.
Had it really only been nine months since that morning at the lighthouse, when Rad had quietly walked out of the living room and left her standing alone with Holt?
Since the moment Holt had set those two leather-bound albums carefully down on the cabinet beside him and said her name as though the word had been caught in his throat for thirty-eight years?
Nine months since everything they’d lost had started coming back to them.
June’s eyes filled again and she blinked hard, quickly, to keep them from spilling over.
So much had happened since that morning.
Her Miami law firm was now being run by her new partner, the son of the partner who had finally retired.
The young man was doing beautifully. Sully had joined the firm the week after his Harvard Law graduation and had immediately started bringing in new clients with the quiet charm of a young attorney who was genuinely delighted to be practicing.
June smiled to herself as she thought about Sully.
Dagwood had called her personally to thank her, which was the longest phone call Dagwood had ever made to anyone in his life.
June would still take the occasional case from Sandpiper Shores, but the firm was in very capable hands.
Grace had been accepted to pre-law at the college of her choice.
June’s chest swelled with pride every time she thought about it.
Her oldest granddaughter wanted to be an attorney and eventually take over the family firm.
June knew, with complete certainty, that Sully would mentor Grace the way she had once mentored him.
The four Airbnbs in Miami were thriving beyond anything June had expected.
Victoria had found an unexpected passion in running them.
She oversaw the bookings with the fierce, careful attention of a woman who had finally been given something she could build with her own two hands.
The properties were booked almost year-round now, particularly June’s old family home, which was extremely popular with large family groups.
Alfred managed the housekeeping rota and the property maintenance.
Even Tony had thrown himself into the business, handling repairs, driving guests to and from the airport in the bulletproof town car that Victoria refused to give up, and keeping a watchful eye on June’s Miami investments while she was in Sandpiper Shores.
The three of them had become an unexpected little team.
June’s mouth softened into a smile at the thought of them.
And then there had been the weddings.
So many weddings.
Tom and Lucy had been the first. They were now living in Tom’s family home, which Tom had lovingly restored in the months leading up to the ceremony.
Then Lacey and Dean, who had settled in Lucy and Lacey’s family home after Lucy had moved in with Tom.
Then Barry and Judy had delivered an absolute surprise to the whole town by announcing their engagement and getting married one week later.
No one had seen it coming. Judy had been radiant.
Barry had been quietly, thoroughly happy in a way that had made June’s heart hurt for the decade he’d spent grieving.
Carmen and Zane had been fourth. They were now living in the beautiful beachfront house they’d bought between Willa’s and Ace’s, close enough to both that Carmen could walk over in her slippers in the morning with coffee for her niece.
Then Rad and Margo had married at the lighthouse where they now lived with Mina having settled happily into the small flatlet built onto the side of the lighthouse.
Mina had declared the flatlet the most perfect home she’d ever lived in, which had made Rad so quietly proud that he’d had to turn away to clear his throat.
Holt had moved in with Ace until Willa and Ace had gotten married. Once Ace had moved into Willa’s house to be with Willa and the children, Holt had rented the McKenna family house on the other side of the bay.
June’s heart was so full her chest could barely hold it.
Everyone she loved was happy. Everyone she loved was settled. Everyone she loved had found their way home.
A soft knock came at the bedroom door.
The door opened, and Victoria stepped in.
Her best friend looked lovely in a soft pale yellow dress that caught the morning light beautifully. Her hair was pulled back elegantly. Her eyes were warm.
“Are you ready, June?” Victoria asked gently. “Everyone is waiting for you.”
Her eyes traveled slowly over June from head to toe.
“Oh, sweetheart. You look breathtaking.”
“Thank you, Victoria.” June turned to the mirror one last time, smoothing the front of her dress with both hands. “I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.”
“Good. Then let’s get you down there.” Victoria crossed to the dressing table and picked up the two bouquets that had been waiting there all morning. She handed the smaller one to June and kept the other for herself. “Rad is waiting for you at the patio doors.”
June nodded. She couldn’t quite trust her voice.
The two women walked together down the hallway and through the open living area of Willa’s house toward the set of double glass doors that opened out onto the patio. Rad stood beside them in a crisp black tuxedo, one hand in his pocket, his dark hair neatly brushed back, looking so handsome.
He turned as he heard them approach.
His face softened at the sight of June.
“Hi, Mom,” Rad greeted her warmly, his voice genuine and low. “Are you ready?”
June’s throat closed.
She didn’t trust her voice yet. She nodded instead.
Rad smiled at her and offered his arm. June slid her hand carefully through the crook of his elbow. Victoria stepped up to the doors and placed her hand on the handle.
“Here we go,” Victoria murmured.
She opened the door.
June sucked in her breath.
She hadn’t been allowed to see what they’d done to the patio and the stretch of beach beyond, and now, stepping out into the soft morning light, she understood why.
The entire length of the patio had been transformed.
White roses and trailing ivy wound up and around the columns of the pergola.
Soft blue ribbons rippled in the light sea breeze.
The wide wooden steps leading down to the beach were lined on either side with small white lanterns, already lit despite the bright sun, each one waiting for the evening when they would glow.
A long aisle of white rose petals led down from the patio steps across the sand to a simple wooden arch standing a few yards from the waterline.
The arch itself was draped in ivory silk and more roses, and the chairs for the guests had been arranged in neat rows on either side of the aisle, each chair tied with a small blue ribbon.
The ocean sparkled beyond the arch, gentle and endless in the morning light.
And standing beneath the arch, waiting for her, was Holt.
June’s breath caught in her throat.
Her eyes lifted across the sand and found his, and for a long, suspended moment, everything else faded.
He looked so handsome it actually hurt. A classic black tuxedo. His silver-threaded hair neatly trimmed. His eyes already shining at the sight of her.
Rad gently tugged her forward.
The music began to rise.
June’s attention was suddenly caught by the rows of smartly dressed guests rising to their feet and turning toward her.
The soft, wondering murmurs. The quiet smiles.
The beaming faces of people she had loved most of her life, and of people she had only learned to love in the past year, all turning toward her at once.
“Here we go, Mom,” Rad whispered beside her.
She stepped out onto the beach with her son at her side.
Holt
The moment the patio door opened and Victoria stepped out, Holt turned.
He barely registered Victoria, or the crowd rising to their feet, or the music beginning to swell, or anything else at all.
June stepped out with her hand tucked into the crook of his son’s arm, and Holt’s breath caught.
She was wearing a soft ivory dress that skimmed the line of her collarbones and fell in gentle, flowing layers to just below her knees.
The dress caught the morning sun in a way that made it look like it had been spun out of light.
Her dark hair was pulled back softly at the nape of her neck with a single white rose tucked behind her ear.
A delicate silver chain hung at her throat, the small pendant glinting.
She carried a simple bouquet of white roses in one hand.
Her eyes were already filling.
Holt’s own eyes were filling too.
He’d spent a lot of time over the past thirty-eight years picturing what this moment would have looked like if things had gone differently the first time.
The courthouse they’d married in had been small and brown and practical.
They had been young and so convinced that real weddings were for other people that they’d signed the papers, kissed each other in front of a bored judge, and gone for burgers afterward.
He’d never minded. The truth was, he’d loved her completely and entirely from the moment he’d met her, and standing in a courtroom had been enough for him.
But he’d always wondered.