Page 181 of You Found Me

Lizzie frowned at them. She’d become much better at it now that she had a daughter.

Della dutifully focused her attention on the happy couple.

Adam took Mattie’s hands in his and started to sing. “Martha Lee Bellamy, I love you with my whole heart. I love you with my entire soul. Today. Tomorrow. Always. On this day, I promise to stand with you through the storms. I promise to catch you when you fall. On this day, I promise to share with you all that I am and all that I will be. On this day…and every day…from now and for always…I’m yours.”

Adam slipped a ring on her sister’s finger.

Della’s eyes welled up, and she saw Piper reach for the tissue Lizzie pulled from the bouquet she held for Mattie.

She couldn’t see Mattie’s face when she said her vows, but her sister’s voice carried on the evening breeze, clear and certain. “Adam Paxton Brooks, I love you. You are the song of my heart and the joy of my soul. On this day, I promise to be a light in the dark, a comfort in the cold, and a shoulder to lean on when life is too much to bear on your own. From this moment on, I stand with you. From this moment on, I am yours.”

Della could almost hear her sister singing those words. They were perfect.

The official smiled his approval. “Let no one and nothing come between you, and let the vows you’ve made to each other give you strength. Let the road rise to meet you. Let the windsguide you, and let your family and friends, witnessing this day, provide you comfort. You are, now and forever, husband and wife.”

“Hell yeah,” Adam said as he swept Mattie into his arms for a long kiss.

“You may now celebrate,” the official said with a laugh.

The audience leaped to their feet and cheered as her sister and Adam walked back down the aisle, radiating joy.

The groomsmen paired up with the bridesmaids and followed.

Della waited for Ward at the end of the aisle. It didn’t take him long to work his way through the crowd to her. She held out her hand to him. “Come on. I want to show you something.”

“Show me what?” His lips quirked. “I think that fancy dinner your sister put together with her chef comes before the party.”

“Wouldn’t you rather inspect the shoreline with me?” She wiggled her eyebrows just in case he didn’t get the implication.

He leaned in as if for a kiss, then bypassed her lips to whisper in her ear. “When I inspect something tonight, it won’t be the shoreline.”

His breath on her ear kindled a fire that promised all kinds of interesting things.

“Della!” Lizzie called out. “We need you for pictures.”

The fire winked out, replaced by a knot of frustration. Della groaned. “How long do you thinkthatwill take?”

She eyed the photographer, who was setting up cameras and lighting by the arch, and the people waiting for their turn in front of the camera, and groaned. It could take all night.

“Duty calls.” Ward put his lips against her cheek. The kiss was chaste, short, and entirely unacceptable. “Chin up, Lucy. Go be with your sisters. I’ll wait for you.”

She leaned her forehead against his. “I love it when you call me that.”

“I know.”

Della kissed him with the enthusiasm of a soldier going to war. “Don’t dance without me.”

“Della!” Lizzie shouted with a little more impatience.

Della left Ward standing by one of the unused dance floors and hurried back to the beach. “I’m here. I’m here. Where do you want me?”

The photographer, a tiny dark-haired woman in bare feet and white linen called Berenice, waved Della over. “Let’s do some sister shots first, then we’ll add the groom back in, then we’ll branch out to the rest of the extended family. Okay, baby sister, you go to the right, Lizzie to the left.”

Della dutifully stood next to Piper in the lineup. She peered around Piper at Lizzie. “I’m not sure I’m comfortable with the baby comment.”

Piper poked her in the ribs. “Get back in line.”

“The sooner you settle down and pose, the sooner we can eat,” Lizzie reminded them.

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