Page 61 of Well Played

“It’s time to make you my daughter in law.”

My eyes blurred with tears I willed not to fall, worried Tia’s work on my makeup would be ruined.

“Thank you,” I whispered, looking past her to where Luca looked on with a small smile tilting his lips.

As we headed toward the cars in the driveway, my phone pinged in my hand. I scanned the text from Violet quickly, then checked again.

“Violet says Cam texted her a change of venue.” Despite my confusion, I gave the new address to Oscar’s mom and sister, who were traveling separately in their car then had Luca put in the same address for us.

“Shotgun!” Mateo shouted, moving to cut me off, but a warning look from Luca was all it took for him to cut the jokes and slide into the back while I took the front passenger seat and tried to call Oscar’s cell. After a couple of rings, the call dumped to voicemail and I hung up without leaving a message. He was so paranoid about the ‘no contact’ tradition, I half wondered if he was avoiding my calls. I dismissed the thought almost immediately. Oscar was reliable, and I knew if he thought I needed him, he’d be there no matter what.

As I sat and tried to calm my nerves, the landscape flicked past the window in flashes of green interspersed with the occasional red brick or weatherboard siding of houses. I imagined owning one of those properties we passed. Could picture Oscar steering a ride-on mower while I drank iced tea and watched from a porch swing. Maybe one day there would be kids running around too.

Or maybe Oscar would be drafted to somewhere cold, and we’d have to get used to hot cocoa and shoveling snow for months of the year.

There was a time when those imagined futures full of domesticity would have made me break out in hives. The thought of a normal relationship without abuse or substances had been a pipe dream that I never believed until him.

Oscar barged into my world and flipped it upside down just by being the man he is. Unapologetically genuine.

The knots in my stomach lessened and my heart rate slowed as the reality of my situation hit me. I got to keep the best thing that ever happened to me, and in just a few minutes, I’d be standing in front of everyone we love to make it official.

“Are we far off?” I asked, craning my head to check the map. Luca grunted, flicking on his turn signal and slowing to take a corner onto a dirt road.

“We’re here,” he said, rolling slowly along until a sweet cottage came into view.

On the front porch, clasping and unclasping her hands as though she weren’t sure what to do with them, stood Violet. The second we rolled to a stop and stepped out of the car she rushed toward us.

“Thank god, you made it. Everyone’s waiting down in the garden. Are you ready?”

I had no idea where we were, or why we’d moved the ceremony here, but if it was time to see Oscar, there was only one answer.

“Yes.”

We moved as a group around the house and through the most beautiful garden full of flowers and fruit trees and stopped beside a large hedge.

“Everyone’s waiting on the other side so stay here and wait for the signal.”

Tia, Mrs Cavanaugh, and Mateo each gave me a hug and wish for luck and went to find their seats while Violet started down the aisle as my maid of honor.

The smooth twang of an acoustic guitar broke through the chatter of voices and Luca crooked his elbow for me to take.

“If you need to escape, let me know and we’ll be in Mexico by morning.”

I huffed a laugh that was a little more choked than expected and wrapped my hand around his arm. As the lyrics started to Train’sMarry Me, we stepped out from behind the bush to see rows of fold out chairs had been arranged either side of a strip of grass to create a makeshift aisle. Every face was turned toward me, and the warmth and love I felt from our friends and family almost made me stumble.

“Breathe,” Luca mumbled, tightening his arm to remind me he was there.

Breathe. It seemed like too simple an instruction when we were in the middle of such a life-changing event.Life-affirming, I corrected as my eyes locked on the one person I missed more than anything after only a few hours of separation. He wore a button down that was a little too short in the torso so that the tails stuck out over the top of blue jeans. His tie was bright red and slightly skewed and I almost laughed at how neither of us wore traditional wedding day clothing. His hands were fisted by his sides, as though he were willing himself to keep still, to not reach for me. But his eyes…

Tears shone in eyes that were so firmly fixed on me, I wouldn’t have been surprised if he forgot we weren’t alone. The love I saw there carried me down the aisle more surely than my feet.

His sandy hair flopped across his forehead as he swiped a hand down his face, but even the tears didn’t dim his smile.

As we stopped in front of him, Luca offered his hand and they shook before he turned and cupped my shoulders. Pressing a gentle kiss to my cheek, he gave me a final squeeze before stepping away.

“Hi,” Oscar said, as soon as I caught his eyes.

“Hi,” I said, my cheeks already starting to ache with the smile that stretched my face.

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