“Arlene,” my dad said. I heard the fake enthusiasm in his voice through his gritted teeth. Security backed off as soon as my dad spoke her name.
I held back a chuckle at my dad’s tone, but it made me feel good to know at least one person in the yard understood what it was like to deal with my mother.
My mother greeted my dad by kissing the air around both of his cheeks.
“It’s been too long,” my mom said, smiling at my dad. She pulled back to look at me, and I could have sworn I heard my dad say “Never too long” under his breath.
“Darling!” My mother smiled as she turned her attention to me and then rushed toward me.
“Mother!” I said, imitating the inflection in her voice to give her the sense that I was excited to see her.
I wasn’t.
The only thing about her that had really changed since the last time I’d seen her was her hair color. I looked more like my dad than my mom. She had brown eyes and chestnut hair that was now streaked with blonde highlights.
She grabbed me in her arms and air kissed both of my cheeks, too. Overdone make-up and a thick coating of hairspray gave her an air of a tacky imitation of a sophisticated world traveler.
“Where is this boy you’re marrying?” she asked, an accent tinting her American voice. She couldn’t have been in England for more than a few months. I hardly thought she’d actually acquired a British accent.
“He’s a man, mother, and this is Parker.”
He smiled warmly at my mom. His was the only genuine smile in our small circle.
“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, ma’am,” he said.
Ma’am?
“Please, call me Arlene,” she said, air kissing both of his cheeks, too. “Tell me, Parker, why are you marrying my daughter so fast?” She led him slightly away from our group, as if she wanted to talk to him privately.
I rolled my eyes at my dad, who was stifling a laugh. My eyes met Jadyn’s, and she looked like she was ready to murder my mother.
God, this was awkward.
I was just thankful that getting married was only happening once in my life, because I was certain I couldn’t take my mother in the same room as my dad and his wife again.
Parker and my mom chatted for a few minutes. “Can you get rid of her?” I asked my dad.
He laughed. Loudly. “No, I can’t. I had to fly her in for this. She doesn’t go back until next Wednesday.”
“And she’s staying here with us,” Jadyn said, her sugary smile phonier than any smile I’d ever seen in my life.
Maybe Jadyn and I had finally found something in common.
But I still thought she was somehow involved with Randy. I still thought it had been her who had taken my journal. Somehow she made my dad happy, though, so I was trying my best to put it out of my mind.
Our rehearsal began shortly after my mother’s arrival. I loved her—I had to, because she was my mom—but all she did was get in the fucking way. Between “too much white” and “roses are so blasé” and “Delilah, what about this?” I was ready to put her back on a plane to London myself.
I was pretty sure she was going to give me an ulcer. If I heard her opinion on one more thing, I was going to throw something. More than once during the evening, I felt Parker’s hand tighten over mine. Painfully.
He was making the point that I needed to shut my mouth, because he knew I’d regret it if I said something.
And that was why I was marrying him.
When Kimmy and Fitz arrived, we pulled them into my dad’s office and asked them to stand up in our wedding. They were both honored. Kimmy flat out cried, while Fitz and Parker shared a hug. As Parker introduced his sister to his best friend, my mind switched to matchmaking mode. I saw the way Kimmy’s eyes met Fitz’s, and I wanted to gently nudge—or push—the two of them together.
When we left the office to rejoin the rest of our guests, it was like Parker could read my mind. All he did was shake his head as he directed a smile toward the floor. I took it as a green light to play Cupid to two of the most important people in Parker’s life—and our life together.
twenty-five
Damien and Katie were both there. They were smiling as I walked down the aisle toward Parker.
I wasn’t sure where my dad was. Katie was my maid of honor, and Damien was Parker’s best man.
I was walking down the aisle all by myself.
Where was my dad?
He must have been running late. Everything was fine.
It had to be.
It was my wedding day.
I repeated the mantra in my head: Everything’s fine. Everything’s fine. Everything’s fine.
I smiled at Damien, standing in a tux and looking handsome next to my fiancé.
It was so bright out. Too bright. We were getting married at dusk. It was too early.
Maybe Delilah forgot to tell my dad the time changed.
When I looked closer, I saw that Damien was crying.
Only instead of tears falling from his eyes, it was blood.
His nose was dripping blood, too.
It felt like I was in an episode of True Blood, only Damien wasn’t a vampire.
I looked in terror over at Katie. She was crying blood, too.
I looked around for my dad. He was supposed to be walking me down the aisle and I didn’t know where he was.
My mom was in the front row, and she stood.
She was the only guest on either side.
I supposed no one else knew that we’d changed the time of the ceremony.
Why had we changed the time?
The sun was shining, and my mom was wearing all of these sparkles. Rhinestones, crystals, bedazzled beads… she was so bright, she looked like a mirror reflecting the sun.
“Where’s Dad?” I called to her.
She glanced around and shrugged.
I looked at Parker next, and he shrugged, too.
I silently giggled at Parker’s shrug.
That was my move.
I looked toward Damien and then over to Katie.
When they answered my question, they spoke in unison.
“He’s with us.”
twenty-six
I still hadn’t written my vows by the time I’d woken up the morning of my wedding. I had this premonition that I’d magically come up with the words when I needed them, so I figured I had time. I’d gone to sleep the night before hoping I’d wake up with a clear mind, ready to marry the man who’d been assigned to protect me but who ended up being everything I never knew I needed.
But instead of waking with a clear mind, I awoke with the fog of a nightmare hanging over me.
When Parker stayed with me, I slept more soundly. Maybe he somehow protected me from the demons residing in my mind.
But true to tradition, we slept apart the night before the wedding. Neither of us was traditional, yet for some reason we agreed to it.
We wouldn’t see each other until he was standing under the arbor where we’d be married. We agreed that we wouldn’t even talk to each other.
But I wanted his comforting arms around me after the nightmare.
At first, I couldn’t remember what it was about. I knew it was bad, but the details were missing.
It was when I thought about seeing Parker waiting for me at the end of the aisle that the details came rushing back to me.
In order to see Parker, I’d have to take my dad’s arm as he escorted me down the aisle to give me away.
And the moment that thought flashed through my mind, all the morbid details of that dream washed back over me.
Kimmy had slept over in my guest room. I had invited her to stay, and she said it was obviously a maid of honor duty to stay with the bride the night before the wedding.
We stayed up later than we should have laughing and drinking wine. I didn’t get drunk because I didn’t want a hangover for my wedding day pictures, but I did get to know her better.