Page 43 of Brother to Brother

She slipped out of the bedroom in that white tank top and those blue and white striped short boxer things she slept in and not for the first time, I felt my cock stir in my own shorts. I sat down with her on the couch and let her drive, as she carefully flipped through pictures of Noah on her phone, mostly ones she’d taken since she’d got here.

“I have more on a couple of flash drives, pictures of us in the hospital that one that the nurses took, but I don’t have anything to plug it in to, so I can show you.”

I blinked and took the phone gently from her fingers, staring down at the picture she’d just swiped to of me, passed out on the couch, Noah sleeping soundly on my chest.

“I’d like to have a copy of this one. Can you do that for me?”

She looked up at me with those true blue eyes of hers beneath the veil of her long lashes and nodded gently, “What size?”

“I want one for the wall of our new house, but I want you to get me one of those wallet size ones too if you can.”

She smiled, the first genuine, warm, smile that was purely Mel, light and free, the kind I hadn’t seen since AZ, the kind she used to waste on my brother, Grind, all the time who clearly hadn’t deserved a single damn one of ‘em, abandoning his family like he did.

“Sure,” she murmured and with that smile? I felt like we’d finally cracked the ice some.

“Thanks,” I muttered back and let her resume scrolling through, all the way to the beginning of the photos on this piece of shit go-phone. It was another thing I needed to replace for her, even if it was only to get a better camera for her. I learned something new about Mel that night that I probably should have learned a month or more ago… she liked to take pictures. A lot of pictures… It was actually kind of nice; I liked it.

Chapter 21

Melody

I sat in front of a mirror on a little dressing table and stared at my wide eyed reflection in the glass and felt more than a little shell shocked at the woman looking back at me. She was beautiful, in an elegant, classy sort of style that I’d never before possessed. Her hair was perfectly coifed into a French twist, the ends hidden and tucked neatly, the seam where her hair was pinned was lined with these tiny, deep purple, and superbly fragrant little blossoms that smelled like vanilla, or some kind of pie.

Her makeup was subtle and she had this natural glow about her, and I couldn’t help but turn this way and that, surprised every time that the woman in the mirror matched my movements because I was her.

The dress was a vintage nineteen twenties satin affair, floor length with a slight train and a sweetheart neckline. It had a lace and light gauzy overlay with short sleeves and was entirely appropriate for the warm, early summer weather outside. The overlay lay in what I would describe as petals, falling to my knees and a little past, the hemline asymmetrical and giving me a long, luxurious silhouette. The material a light cream with age as the dress was the real deal, found by Hayden in an antique store in the older part of town.

Ashton had paid not only a small fortune for the dress itself, but also a small fortune to have it taken in on time by a professional tailor that hadn’t been afraid to touch it. They’d found the dress something like five days ago, but had only found the tailor something like the day before yesterday.

I wish I could say I felt guilty, but the girls had slowly, but surely, been eking me out of my shell and they had been absolutely right about one thing… I was only getting married once. When Archer said forever, he meant it, and so if this were my one shot at what was supposed to be the happiest day of my life, I had better take it, and so I had, and now it was here, staring me in the face and all I could think was how much I wanted it over.

I was terrified, but there was certainly no going back now, and there was certainly no pretending that this was a happy occasion. At least not in that moment, not for me.

While I had certainly accepted that this was going to happen, I still felt like I was about to marry a perfect stranger. Archer and I were talking a little bit more, I’d even shared some photos with him a little over a week and a half ago. Still, despite our impending marital status, he had resolutely and in quite the old fashioned manor, remained on the couch. A fact I still didn’t know if I was grateful for or not.

Hell, we hadn’t even kissed!I realized, horrified. Our first kiss was going to be in front of all of thosepeoplewaiting downstairs, which was, admittedly, just the club, all of the ol’ ladies and a few of the waitresses and my boss from the diner. Shelly had invited them, while I just as soon as never told them I was getting married at all. Still, somehow it’d helped me, for now I felt as if I must keep up appearances, which was something I was accustomed to doing thanks to Phil and my mother.

“Honey, breathe,” Everett said gently and I looked past my reflection to hers in the mirror. “It’s going to be okay.”

I nodded and she smiled gently, asking me, “Are you ready?”

“I think so,” I said and stood, smoothing my sweating palms against my dress, wishing I had something to do with my hands, grateful when Everett thrust a bouquet of more of the sweet smelling, tiny, deep amethystA blossoms into my hands, their deep, dark green foliage striking against the cream of my gown.

“What are these flowers?” I asked her breathing them in, deep.

“Heliotrope,” she said with a smile.

“I love them,” I told her and she smiled bigger.

“Then you’ll love what I got you for a wedding present.”

I hugged her tightly and let go and she smiled broadly at me, “Come on, Dray is waiting.” I nodded and tried not to get teary, slipping out the bedroom door in the old Victorian era bed and breakfast that Ashton had found and rented on such short notice so that my wedding could be held in the back yard.

It’d been decided that since Dragon, the President of the chapter was officiating, that it would be weird for him to walk me down the aisle, too. I had no one to give me away, and so Dray would do it as the chapter’s Vice President.

He gave a low whistle when I stepped out onto the staircase. Nox and Rush waiting with him with Ashton and Hayden who they’d be escorting down the aisle.

“Wow, Mel…” Nox said, his voice trailing off.

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