Page 77 of Came the Closest
I follow where he points. Clad in suit and tie, Grayson Adair sits with two well-dressed people who must be his parents. I gently lower Milo’s hand and quiet my voice. “It is, buddy. Let’s try not to point, though, okay?”
He arches his back off my lap and peers up at me. “How much longer? I’m hungry.”
“Only a little while,” I assure him, leaning forward to grab my tote. “How about you sit on your chair and have a little snack? Ember and Graham are going to exchange their vows, so we need to be quiet and listen.”
Those words have little relevance to a four-year-old boy who would rather jump off the dock than sit still. I can’t blame him for that—I wouldn’t expect his attention span to last long. But I will continually nurture the manners Indi has already instilled in him.
Indi.
Just thinking about her makes my chest twinge uncomfortably.
“How about this,” I say, squeezing his knee. Partly out of affection and partly to secure his attention. “Let’s sit still until they start walking back down the aisle. Then we’ll get a bottle of bubbles, and you can blow them. Does that sound good?”
Milo looks unconvinced, but he slides off my lap and grabs the toy sailboat he dropped. He kneels by his empty chair and zooms the boat around on the padded white seat, chin propped on his palm. I hold out a Ziploc bag of goldfish, but he shakes his head. He blows wind noises through his lips while he coasts the boat across my lap, but I steer him back to the seat when he tries to sail it along a woman’s shoulders in the row before us.
“The bride and groom have written their own vows, so it is now that we ask them to share them with us,” the officiant, Mayor Leonard Mason, says. “Graham, take it away.”
I have to toggle my attention between Milo and the ceremony, but I still smile as Graham accepts the microphone. I never could have pictured a more perfect match for Graham than Ember. Her bubbling personality softens his sharp edges, and his no-nonsense life outlook seems to ground her a little. They also make a striking couple appearance-wise, especially today; Graham, in his sharp blue suit with a pink rose boutonniere, and Ember, in a flowy white gown with a floral crown nestled into her dark curls.
“From the moment I saw you five years ago, Ember Lauren Bryant, I knew my life would never be the same.” Graham pauses to smile softly, and he reaches up to tuck a curl behind Ember’s ear. “When I say that you have completely turned my life upside down, I mean that in the most epic, incredible, plot twist kind of way.”
Of course, he would write something bookish. The consideration that went into his vows turns me into a mush.
“I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it for the rest of my life, but you are the sun to me, Lou Lou. The one who makes me smile, the beautiful woman my world orbits around, and the reason my life is so warm. To quote your book—the one all of you should read,” he adds with a pointed look at the attendees. Everyone laughs. “Your love, Ember, is patient, and timeless, and endlessly good. I don’t know how I ever deserved you in the first place, my love, but I promise to spend the rest of my days standing within your beautiful rays.” He pauses to accept the ring from Ember’s nephew, and he kisses her finger after he slips it on. “I love you, sweetheart.”
“Well,” Mayor Mason teases, clapping Graham on the shoulder, “that set the bar high for all future grooms, I have to say.”
Merriment murmurs through the chairs, through people young and old, and Graham’s cheeks flush pink as the mic is passed to his bride.
“I was told by my sister, who’s also my matron of honor, that I have to start my vows off by apologizing,” Ember says. Her fingers clasp the mic so tightly they’re white, and her voice wobbles, but she beams up at Graham. “I have to apologize for insulting the project that put us together, but I will never apologize for where it’s led. And I promise I will continue to write love stories almost as incredible as ours.”
Graham’s shoulders shake with laughter, and Ember pauses to turn the page in her tiny pink notebook.
“You, Graham Alexander Del Ray, have shown me the true definition of love,” she continues. She pauses when her lips quiver, and her head tilts to the side as her eyes well up. Graham brushes the pad of his thumb tenderly across her cheek, leaving his hand to cup her jawline, and it must give her the courage she needed. “You are kind, you are gentle, and you are incredibly selfless. You’re also ridiculously handsome. But beyond that, you are the one who constantly supports me and who pushes me to be the best version of myself that I can be. You are my best friend, my business partner, and most of all, you are the man I love, and I vow to love you for the rest of my life.”
She hands the mic back to Mayor Mason. Her sister, Sarah, helps her son hand Ember Graham’s titanium wedding band. Ember’s hand trembles as she slides the ring over Graham’s knuckle, and I sense the way he grounds her when he squeezes her hand.
Mayor Mason brushes at the wrinkled skin beneath his eyes. “The kids these days, am I right? They learn all the mushy gushy stuff from us old geezers, and then they still make it their own.” He shakes his head, winks at the bride and groom, and then sobers. “Well, I guess this means we’re to the part Graham has been waiting for since Ember walked down the aisle, aren’t we?”
Pink that is decidedly not from the hot July sun creeps into Graham’s neck. He laughs, and Ember’s cheeks turn rosy.
It takes significant effort to keep my gaze from wandering to the best man.
“By the power vested in me,” Mayor Mason booms, “I pronounce you as husband and wife. Graham, please kiss your lovely bride.”
The youngest Del Ray brother doesn’t waste a single breath before he slips his ring-adorned hand into the curve of Ember’s waist. His other hand supports the delicate arch of her neck, and he dips her with practiced ease. His slacks-clad thigh presses into the satin of her dress, her hand rests daintily on his forearm, and his dazzling kiss elicits whoops and whistles. His grin twinkles and her cheeks are pinker than the roses in her bouquet when he straightens her, his hand never leaving her lower back.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Mayor Mason says cheerfully, “for the first time, and certainly not the last, it is my great honor to present to you Mr. and Mrs. Graham Del Ray!”
Colton whistles with his fingers, Jordan whoops into cupped hands, Jolene twirls in her blush pink dress, and Sam’s smile is one of undeniable fatherly pride. Milo holds his arms up for me to lift him, and he claps his hands together. When he sees how Colton’s whistling, he tries to imitate it, even though only air puffs through his lips.
I love him.
That truth burning in my chest, I watch Colton escort Sarah Bryant Taylor down the aisle. He turns his head just long enough to blow a kiss in our direction, and my heart somersaults with another truth.
I love him, too.
Chapter Twenty-Four