Page 57 of At His Wife's Behest

No one spoke up. All he noticed were smiles coming in their direction.

“Then by the power vested in me, I now pronounce you wives. You may kiss your bride.”

Kellan clapped, a broad smile coming as he watched Emma and Amanda kiss for the first time as a married couple. The newlyweds turned to the applauding crowd and raised their hands in victory. Emma lifted Abigail into her arms before the trio raced back down the aisle in near identical white gowns toward the tent erected nearby for the reception.

Connor sidled up in front of him, pressing a kiss to his cheek. “In case I didn’t tell you yet, you’re the sexiest maid of honor I’veeverseen.”

“Technically, wouldn’t I be the matron of honor? I have been married before.”

“Either way, you’re the only maidormatron of honor I’ve ever wanted to kiss.”

Kellan grinned. “What’s stopping you then?”

Connor leaned in to steal a kiss that had been his all along.

“You two need to get a room,” Emma’s wedding planner murmured as she moved past. She paused and fished something out of her pocket. She handed Connor her business card. “When you two want to make it official, just give me a call.”

Connor snorted, shoving the card into the pocket of his dark gray suit.

“I have a nose for which couples I meet at a wedding who’ll end up hitched. Just a matter of time for you two,” she said asshe marched closer to the crowd to make an announcement. “If you’ll proceed to the reception, we have a lovely, air-conditioned tent and plenty of food and drink to celebrate the brides’ nuptials.”

Kellan turned to Connor knowing he wanted nothing more than to walk down the aisle with his boyfriend. Some day. He wasn’t rushing to get married again anytime soon. Not that the last marriage was bad, but he was still working on fixing himself and wanted to wait until he was more a finished product before getting down on one knee.

“Ready to party?”

Connor scoffed. “Always.”

They linked hands and wandered behind the crowd toward the humongous tent.

They’d weathered the coming-out firestorm, the divorce, his father’s weak character assassinations, and condemnation from the conservative world, and made it out the other side relatively unscathed. His therapist had helped. She’d even provided a few joint sessions with Connor and/or Emma when the chaos had been at its worst.

Entering the tent, Kellan gasped. He’d not expected the lavish decorations or the fact it felt nothing like a tent on the inside. It was stunning.

“Wow,” Connor murmured. “They went the extra mile.”

“Yeah,” Kellan said.

“Good to know she does good work, hmm?” Connor said, tapping his jacket pocket.

“Where’s my matron of honor?” Emma yelled from the other end of the tent. Her gaze landed on him, and she waved him over. “Come here, ex-husband! And bring your hot boyfriend.”

Connor shook his head. They made their way through the small crowd and stopped beside the newlyweds.

“What’s up?” Kellan asked.

“I put you and Connor with us at the head table. Amanda’s maid of honor and her girlfriend, too, so it’s all balanced,” Emma said. “So come on. Let’s eat. I’ve starved myself the last two weeks to make sure I fit into this dress. Now I can strap on the feedbag.”

Kellan took his seat between Abigail and Connor. Away from the main table, there were only four large round tables of ten each. The crowd was much smaller than their spectacle of a wedding, but that’s the way Emma had wanted it. All the glitz and glamour—with a more intimate crowd.

After the meal, Amanda’s youngest cousins came for Abigail, who already called themhercousins. They were all about the same age, and he was happy their daughter had new family members to grow up with. Amanda brought them over often to swim or play, leaving Abigail less lonely. The trio had already become thick as thieves over Thanksgiving and gotten into their fair share of typical trouble most kids did.

Emma was still salty over the haircutting incident, particularly since it was a week before picture day. Abby’s second-grade portraits were hysterical to all but Emma—whoalmostlaughed but wasn’t quite there yet.

Kellan watched as Emma and Amanda had their first dance, buoyant witnessing his best friend so happy. Emma deservedthat and more. He turned to Connor, sliding his hand into his boyfriend’s.

“Wanna dance?”

“Absolutely,”Kellan replied.

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