What Happens in Summer
Page 26
“It’s been a long time coming,” Emma said and then grabbed Carlo’s hand and dragged him to the front of the group of people waiting for the trip down the aisle. “Let’s get this show on the road,” she said and motioned to the cello player at the front of the room to start playing the first of the wedding marches.
* * *
Jonathan had caught a glimpse of his wife-to-be as she’d walked across the foyer to chat with someone on the opposite side of the space. Some might say it was bad luck for the groom to see the bride before the wedding, but if it had been up to him, she’d have never left his side after waiting so long for her to be his.
As the cello player pulled his bow across the strings and began to play, Jonathan rocked back and forth nervously, eager for the arrival of his wife. And his baby. It was almost impossible to believe that he was going to soon have both in his life. And in the place he’d felt was home for so long, he thought, looking down at Dudley, who sat at his feet and whined in excitement. He had a jaunty look to him with a bow tie around his neck, and as the pup looked up at him, Jonathan swore there was a smile on his face.
He smiled and glanced around at the house that was already getting new life. Happy colors had replaced the eggplant purple and gray. Brightly colored mums had blossomed during the fall, the plants exchanged for the painfully pruned bushes along the perimeter of the home. Some of the hardier mums were still in bloom but being dusted with an early snow. Come the spring, more of the boxwoods would be gone, and flowers would be in bloom there once more.
Maggie and Owen strolled down the aisle first, their smiles so joyous that they filled the room with brightness despite the growing gloom of the snowy December day. Tracy and Andy came next. Andy winked at her playfully, but the smile on Tracy’s face was forced and didn’t quite reach up into her eyes.
Emma and Carlo hit the aisle next, looking perfect together. Her pale skin, reddish hair, and pixie-like features complemented Carlo’s handsome, chiseled face and dark hair and eyes. As much as Emma might deny the whole happily ever after, hers was standing right beside her.
But then Jonathan’s breath hitched in his chest as Connie and her mother came to the center of the aisle. She’s so beautiful, he thought and couldn’t take his eyes off Connie as she hurried down the aisle, apparently as eager as he was to be married.
He stepped forward to take Connie’s hand from her mother but couldn’t wait another minute to show her just how much he loved her. He wrapped his arm around her waist and kissed her, earning applause and laughter from those gathered for the ceremony. Dudley barked excitedly and raced around them in a circle, clearly happy.
After he released her, she reached up and wiped away the traces of her lipstick from his mouth, and Dudley took a spot between them, a grin on his puppy face.
“You’re very impatient, Mr. Pierce,” she said, but her smile was bright, and her gold-green eyes sparkled with pleasure.
“And you, soon-to-be Mrs. Reyes-Pierce, are irresistible.”
“Which means we should start this ceremony and get you both wed,” the priest said with a stern but playful glance.
“We definitely should,” they said in unison, joined hands, and stood close together as the priest began the introductory rites for the wedding celebration.
The words were a blur, since Jonathan was so focused on the woman beside him and the fact that she would soon be his wife. So much so that Connie had to squeeze his hand to prompt him for the traditional “I do.”
At her strongly voiced “I do,” it was all he could do not to drag her close for another kiss. His hand shook as he slipped the wedding band on her finger, and Connie’s hand was none too steady either. The priest continued with the blessing of the rings and after, they recited the Lord’s Prayer together before the nuptial blessing. Finally, happily, the priest said, “You may now kiss the bride.”
He did, hauling her tight against him and digging his fingers into her artfully arranged hair to hold her tenderly as he kissed her. She kissed him back but withdrew at the minister’s warning cough. Smiling, she said, “I love you, Jon. As long as we’re together, we will always be home.”
Grinning, he nodded and said, “Always, Connie.”
About the Author
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Caridad Pineiro is the author of more than fifty novels and novellas and has sold more than one million books worldwide. Caridad writes romantic suspense, military romance, contemporary romance, paranormal romance, and vampire suspense. Caridad is also a Jersey Girl who loves to travel, cook, and spend time with family and friends. Visit her at caridad.com.
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