Page 82 of The Hardest Part

“You’re happy?” It seemed so, but she needed to hear her say it. Emily placed her hand on her cousin’s belly, hoping to feel the babies kick.

“So happy, Ems.” Arien’s soft palm covered her own. “I don’t even want to imagine a life without them.”

Awestruck, Emily felt life move within her.

“Is everything all right?”

“Yeah.” She nodded, swiping wetness from beneath her eyes. “I just feel…I dunno…guilty?”

“Why?”

She hesitated.

“For going ahead with the wedding so soon after losing their mom.”There, I said it.“They didn’t want to postpone it, though.”

“And why would they?” Arien looked at her like the thought alone was ludicrous. “They’ve only been waiting forever to marry you.”

“Because they’re sad,” she reasoned, throwing her hands in the air. “Victor is sad. Justin is sad. Everybody’s sad, and I don’t know how to make it go away.”

“You can’t. And you shouldn’t even try.” Arien took hold of her shoulders and released a sigh. “They’re always gonna miss her, Ems. That will never go away, but it doesn’t mean they can’t feel joy.”

Nodding, she bit into her lip.

“Just love them.”

“That’s what Grams said.”

“Listen to her, Ems.” Arien winked, and then she grinned. “You know she’s always right.”

Billy thought he was ready, but nothing could have prepared him for the feelings that bloomed in his chest when he saw her.

In a simple gown of creamy white, he’d never seen her look more beautiful.

The years of waiting had been worth it, and he’d do it all again to have this moment. To share a life with her. To make Emily his wife.

He glanced at Victor and Justin. Billy patted his breast pocket. They smiled and did the same. Jake clasped his hand, and with thoughts of their mother, his vision blurred. Each man carried a square of cloth from her wedding dress, a symbolic way to have her with them. Matthew Brooks gave his father theidea. He gave Arien a ribbon from Jennifer’s dress the day she married his sons.

Billy felt her spirit.

The mountain hummed.

In his heart, he knew she was here.

And as Emily walked toward them, glowing in the fiery hues of the setting sun, Billy wiped the wetness from his face. He thought of their first kiss when he was fifteen. Bike rides. Sandboxes. Haylofts and bonfires.

Then her mother placed Emily’s hand in his, the other in his brother’s.

This was the important part, the moment the three of them had been waiting for, and with the purest intent and absolute love in their hearts, he and Jake took Emily as their wife, and she took them for her husband. Mind, body, and soul. Together, as a triad, they became whole.

It was good.

It was right.

And it was perfect.

Three hours into the party, after dinner, and dancing, and Maizie’s lemon buttercream cake, Jake traded a look with him, then he swooped Emily into his arms. She shrieked. “Where are we going?”

“Home.”

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