Page 60 of All The Happily Ever Afters

I never questioned whether or not I would love her still. I always knew I would. There’s nothing that could have taken me from her, or so I thought.

Ella disappears down a small hall, heading down the back stairwell, and so I turn around, going back the way I came.

Running a hand down the stubble of my jaw, I take the path that leads me to her. Taking my time so she’ll be there before I am.Although, I didn’t come for her, I have to remind myself.

My knuckles rapped against the door to the suite, knock knock knock.

“Who is it?” a few voices call out at once and someone tells me, “If it’s the groom tell him to fuck off. He can’t see her yet!”

A genuine smile is stamped on my face when the door opens two inches. “I’m serious,” Lauren says, and I respond, “It’s just me. Should I fuck off too?”

She cocks a brow and takes a peek behind her. I know she’s looking to find Ella and the smile slips. Soon they’ll look at us differently. They’ll never understand, but they won’t deny what she is to me.

Soon everything will go back to the way it was supposed to be.

“Her husband-to-be isn’t anywhere near.” I pick up the small black, velvet box from my pocket and hold it in front of me, “I just have a gift.”

Vivian pushes Lauren out of the way, pulling the door open wider and staring up at me with wide eyes, “From Jason?” she asks breathlessly.

My brow cocks as I say, “Maybe ‘gift’ was the wrong word.” I clear my throat and give her a tight smile as the excitement drains from her expression. “I was told the ring was needed. For the ring bearer?” Jason needed someone to deliver it, and I was more than happy to oblige.

I’m not sure Vivian ever liked me, even though Jason was my best friend for as long as I can remember. She took him away when we were in high school, but she gave me something in return during our first year of college.

Ella. Her friend she thought would hit it off with me. She had no idea how right she would be. Sweet and quiet, but full ofvulnerability, Ella was perfect for me. It only took a single date, a single kiss to know it. Even if she did make me wait for months to have her.

Still, she was perfect and I knew one day she’d be my wife.

The thought splinters the barely-healed crack in my heart. The pain of losing her never leaves.

Vivian turns her back to me, searching in a large cardboard box for something, not bothering to tell me to come in, so I stand where I am, waiting.

When I broke up with Ella, knowing it was what I needed to do when I came back from the war, Viv didn’t hide her hate for me. And I get it. She found out who I was related to on the same day. Ella told her everything, so she knew the moment that Ella knew. A sad smile tugs at my lips. Viv didn’t know everything of course. How could she? She wasn’t Ella; she couldn’t read the truth between the lines like Ella could.

I wish I could take it back. I wish I could change it all.

It took years of therapy to learn you can never go back. You can only take advantage of the day you’re living. Tomorrow is never promised.

“I’ll take that,” the bride’s sister-in-law tells me, slipping closer to me and yanking the box from my hand. It’s her son that’ll be walking down the aisle. “I’ve already got the box,” she tells me.

I can feel Ella’s gaze on me, begging me to look at her, to speak to her, to give her more than I am now.

Scratching the back of my head and attempting to make Viv a friend again, I tell her, “You look beautiful, Viv. The blushing bride suits you well.”

As if she truly wanted to play the part, she blushes shyly. “He’s going to go crazy when he sees you,” I add.

“We have a bet going that he’s going to cry,” Lauren says, leaning against the back wall and grinning.

“Do you really think so?” she asks genuinely and I nod.

“He’s lucky to have you, Viv,” I tell her and mean it. What they have is love. I know exactly what it feels like and what it looks like. When you can’t go to sleep because you only want to sleep next to one person who’s miles away. When you hear their voice and everything else goes quiet so you can focus on the cadence of their voice and try to remember the sound for as long as you can. Jason didn’t join the Army; he didn’t go through a long-distance relationship like Ella and I did. But he looks at Viv the same way I used to look at Ella.

The way I’m trying not to now.

My gaze scans the room and I tell them all, “You all look stunning.” My eyes land on her, on Ella, as I watch as those sweet lips part and add, “Gorgeous.”

ELLA

The camera flashes as we all stand around Viv in front of the window. The light floats across her features beautifully, highlighting the dress we’re holding up.

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