by Kate Moseman
She’d said she would miss him. She’d said she wanted a friend.
Could it be? Andy looked at her again, this time more directly.
She noticed. She smiled at him—and the sadness became clearer.
Andy barely noticed the bride and groom retreating down the aisle.
When the guests left the sanctuary for the reception hall, Andy followed Erin and Joyce. As the crowd mingled, he spotted a familiar face.
Make that two familiar faces.
Phoenix, dressed in an unusually conservative suit, and Raya, wearing an uncharacteristically demure dress, swanned through the reception hall as if they belonged there.
Andy slipped away from Erin and Joyce to intercept the wedding crashers. “What are you two doing here?”
“What does it look like we’re doing?” said Phoenix. “Loading up on the free drinks.”
“And free food,” said Raya.
“You realize, of course, that this is a dry wedding?” said Andy.
Phoenix looked at him in disbelief. “A dry wedding? Who would do that to themselves?”
“At least there’s lemonade.”
Phoenix made a face.
Andy crossed his arms. “Do you want to tell me why you’re really here, Phoenix?”
Phoenix leaned in and gripped Andy’s shoulder. “Wouldn’t leave you alone at a time like this, mate.”
Raya patted the wand disguised as an accessory in her hair. “Plus, weddings are full of magic. Good place to stock up. Never know when it might come in handy.”
“Try not to cause any trouble,” said Andy.
“Oh, I can’t make any promises.” Phoenix grinned as Raya dragged him to the dance floor.
Andy found Erin at the refreshment table with her mother. He had to raise his voice over the rising noise of the crowd and the music. “Would you like to dance?”
“Sure!” said Erin. She reached for his hand.
He took it.
They skipped onto the dance floor and ran into Raya and Phoenix. Raya hugged Erin and lavished compliments on her new dress, before demonstrating a few of the latest dance moves, causing Erin to burst into a fit of giggles.
The foursome continued dancing to the reverberating pop music until the newlyweds finally made their appearance.
Genevieve stepped up onto the makeshift stage with her bouquet in her hands. She did a visible double take as she caught sight of Erin, smiling and laughing, one arm draped around Raya, the other around Andy, with Phoenix capering nearby like a madman, oblivious to anything else. Then she turned her back to the crowd as the DJ announced the throwing of the bouquet.
“Excuse me for a moment,” Andy said to Erin. He made his way to the side of the stage and invisibly extended his wings. He watched Erin’s gaze leave Genevieve and settle on him, taking in the view of his wings.
The look on her face was priceless.
Phoenix whispered something in Raya’s ear, and they both stepped behind Erin, Phoenix giving Andy one more thumbs-up sign.
Genevieve flung the bouquet over her head without looking.
Andy flapped his wings once, hard, with a precision developed from centuries of flight.
The bouquet tumbled and changed direction in mid-air, buffeted by the wind from Andy’s unseen wings, to land neatly at Erin’s feet.
Erin, stunned, bent slowly to retrieve the bouquet. She wasn’t looking at Genevieve at all. She looked only at the bouquet—and then she looked at him.
Even across the room, he found himself lost in the light of her eyes. Ignoring the stares of the crowd, he closed the distance between them and swept her into his arms. “Erin,” he said, “you deserve everything. Every joy. Every happiness. And if I can share that with you—as your friend, as your inamorato—”
Erin made a sound like a laugh crossed with a sob.
“As whatever way you’d have me, I’d consider myself the luckiest of demons.”
Tears streaked her cheeks, but she smiled—oh, how she smiled! “Andy, I don’t know what eternity holds—but here and now, I want to hold you.” Matching words to action, she held him even tighter, resting her head on his shoulder.
He could have held her until the sun flamed out, but the sound of Phoenix clearing his throat interrupted their blissful embrace.
“Disgusting, aren’t they?” said Phoenix.
Raya punched him playfully in the shoulder. “I called it first.”
“Thank you, Phoenix, for thoroughly ruining the moment,” said Andy, drawing back from Erin, who laughed softly.
“Better me than her mother, who looks very interested in what you two are up to.” Phoenix nodded in Joyce’s direction as she made a beeline across the room.
“That’s our cue to leave, I think. Shall we?” said Andy to Erin.
“Definitely.”
They ran to the exit, laughing like schoolchildren, and escaped through the doors and into the bright light of the afternoon sun.
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About the Author
Kate Moseman is a writer, photographer, and recipe developer who lives in Florida with her family.