Page 87 of Peaches

Mom squeezes my hand, and I look to find her expression soft. “She’s beautiful,” she says quietly.

I nod, shifting my focus to my older half-sister.

A sister.Threeof them.

My father had written so much about them in his letters to me over the years, and I’d always felt ambushed by it. But to see the way he beams at them, the way I’ve even caught him looking at me in just the short time we’ve been here . . .

Well, I suppose maybe I better understand now.

Céline wears a traditional white dress drenched in gossamer and beaded jewels. Her long raven hair curls all the way to her elbows, crowned in a garland of white carnations that her mother designed herself. Colette owns a flower shop in Charleston and designedallof the arrangements here today, including the bouquets Amelie and Claire hold as they stand at the altar across from Nathan in matching floor-length mauve dresses.

All three of my sisters are stunning.

“You’remorebeautiful,” a low voice says close to my ear, the warmth of his breath sending goosebumps across my bare shoulder. I look up to find Rhett smirking at me, his pale eyes sparking.

“Shush.” I swat at him. “This isn’t about me.”

He kisses my temple. “Don’t think I don’t haveallsorts of plans of getting you in a white dress too, peaches.”

My eyes fly to his, and it’s the steady seriousness in them that nearly does me in. “Rhett Bennett,” I whisper.

“What?” He shrugs. “My brother can’t have all the fun.”

I roll my eyes. We both know damn well Kasey ishardlyhaving fun.

I watch his mouth lift higher. He’s danger and chaos wrapped in a gorgeous black suit that has my heart skipping like rocks on the creek. He recently had his cowboy hat cleaned and shaped, and now it rests low on the mess of dark waves that I want to wind my fingers through andpull. I love seeing him like this, cleaned up and polished. And though it suits him—he looks like a true southern dream—I’m counting down the minutes until I can get him out of all the finery. To pull his tie loose from his throat and press my mouth to his skin. To feel the rough scraping of his calloused fingertips against my thighs.

When I’d braved another email to ask Céline if I could bring asecondplus-one, she assured me it wasn’t an issue at all.The more the merrier!she’d written in her response.I think Dad and Nathan would be happy with some more male energy!

Once I’d gotten her okay, I asked Rhett. And even though I know it’s not a good time and there’smorethan enough going on at the ranch that requires his attention, he didn’t skip a beat in wanting to be here with me. To support me through this big and monumental life moment.

I don’t know what I expected from any of this—I really didn’t have expectations at all, to be honest—but finding Rhett down at the hotel bar last night with a not-so-sober Nathan, both of them laughing and animated in conversation . . . I swear, my heart swelled four times its normal size. He’s not just here to stand beside me. He’s invested in the outcome, in leaning into this whole new family too. Because he knows how much the opportunity means to me.

Though, he hasn’t exactly warmed up to my dad yet. I think Clive has some work to do on that front.

I’d been most nervous about how things would go between Clive, Colette, and my mother, but I never could have imagined the outright emotional reunion she’d had with my father or the warm support given to both of them by his wife. Colette is a force in her sharp confidence and raw beauty, completely unshaken by any of what would undoubtedly shake most women to their core.

“I’m so glad you’re finally here,” she’d said into my hair when we first hugged. “He’s been waiting for this for a really long time.” When she pulled away, she gathered my hands in hers. “Of course, it’s always been for you to decideifandwhen, but he’s held on to a lot of hope.”

“How can you be so kind about it all?” I ask, unable to stop the question from spilling out. Somewhere along the way, I’d let myself believe it was her that had stopped him from communicating in the beginning, but I’m realizing he might have been fighting more with himself.

She shrugs. “Love islove, Olivia. I love my husband, for better or worse, through anything life throws at us. He’s not perfect, but I know he’s a good man. And helovesyou. He always has. Your mother too. I can’t be mad at him for choosing love over fear or resentment. From what I know, your mother is a good woman. My goodness, she’s here with you, and that says plenty.”

We’d spent nearly our whole first night here in that living room, taking the time to ask questions and share stories and simply exist together. Rhett had opted to hang back at the hotel to give us all that time. But he’d come to the rehearsal dinner last night when we were introduced to Nathan, Céline, Amelie, and Claire, and he and Nathan hit it off immediately with their shared love of motorcycles.

The ceremony is charming and quick, and soon the wedding party is pulled to the side to take pictures with the newly married couple. I’m surprised when Céline insists I join them for the family shot, unable to hide the tears welling in my eyes after the flash strikes.

“Are you okay?” Céline asks, concern in her eyes.

I nod, springing forward to hug her. “Can I have a copy of it?”

Her arms wrap tight around me. “Of course.”

She eventually pulls away with a promise to find me on the dance floor later when Nathan’s family swarms for their own sets of pictures. When later comes, I’m delighted to find the Calhoun family goeshardwith a live band, and we spend hours dancing beneath the bare edison bulbs that line the trees above us, washing away the darkness of night like a smattering of amber stars.

Even Mom pours her heart out in the way she moves, and I can feel the relief spilling out with it. When Clive asks me to dance, I oblige with a sense of wonder ballooning in my heart. A hope for a better future with a man I’ve always kept just on the edge of my life. I watch him spin my mother around in a dance after, eyes glued to the way her cheeks flush. And it’s not with an air of romance that he moves against her now, but with a sense of love all the same. Maybe Colette was right, that he can still love her through the history they share. Through a child they made together, even when the circumstances were all wrong.

“She seems good,” Rhett says, drawing my focus back to him as we sway back and forth. His hat shadows most of his face from the twinkling lights above.

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