Page 12 of Breathe Again

I had no regrets. Olivia lived an often-isolated life and Sirius was a good little friend, maybe the best kind of friend for her.

After the shelter, Olivia did indeed curl up on the couch with Sirius to watch Harry Potter and draw on her iPad while the girls and I moved into the sunroom. I made us tea and grabbed a tray with our three mugs. I loved my pottery. They were glazed an ocean blue with a cresting wave coming from each bottom. I could taste the sea just looking at them.

“Well Bride-to-Be? How’s it going?”

I passed Bex her mug. Her real name was Rebecca, but it was only her fiancé, Rhys, who ever called her that.

Bex shrugged. “Good. Easy-Peasy.”

“I think you must have a record for most laid-back weddings.”

Willa was referring to her first marriage that took place at a restaurant for lunch with only a handful of guests. This one promised to be equally relaxed.

“You’re probably right!” she laughed. “This one is going to be at our place. If there’s roasted marshmallows over the fire pit after dinner, I’ll be happy.”

It would still be cold at the end of April, so having the fire pit at night would be perfect.

“In all seriousness, what’s left to do?”

“The pastor is booked. Jeanie really wanted her pastor to do the ceremony and neither Rhys nor I have any objection to that. Rhys bought himself and Cole a suit. I’m taking the little queen out to shop for her dress this weekend,” she smiled and looked down for a moment, gathering her emotions. “A mother-daughter day she says.”

She looked up and her eyes were shiny. The little queen’s real name was Amelie, and she was the female half of Rhys’ twins from his first marriage. His first wife died in childbirth and Bex was the first woman he had ever introduced into the twins’ lives. They took to her immediately, and so the story goes, she fell in love with their picture before she even met them.

I leaned closer and smiled into her happy eyes. “That’s wonderful, honey.”

“I need to shop for my dress…”

“We’re in!”

“Excellent, we’ll have to set up a date, or a few dates for that. We’ll shop for you guys at the same time.”

I was going to be Matron of Honor, again. Barrett, Rhys’ brother, was going to be Best Man.

“What else?”

“Willa, we don’t need invitations, it’s only going to be you guys, and Zale of course, and Rhys’ immediate family, but I’d like something to commemorate the day, something for Rhys and me to keep.”

“Like your story in a little book?”

“Yeah, something like that, but I’d also like there to be space for all of you to write something, like a mini guest book?”

“I’d love to put something like that together for you.”

“I’ll pay you of course…”

“Re-bec-ca!” Willa’s glittering blue eyes narrowed. “You will not. It will be my honor to do this for you. Mara has a key role, now I feel like I have something important to do for you, too. I’m thrilled to do this for you.”

“Thank you, Willa, so much.”

“We’ll get together to work out some details, we’ll discuss colors and look at some fonts, and you can leave the rest up to me. Okay?”

“That would be fantastic! Thank you, chickie.”

“Is there anything else left to do?”

Bex nodded. “I want gifts for each guest, not favors, something personal for each person. So, I’ll take ideas and suggestions for Zale and Olivia, Rhys’ parents, Jeanie and Calum, Barrett, and the twins, of course.”

“This is going to be like Christmas!” Willa chirped.

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