Page 86 of Free to Dream
35
Cassidy
It’s 7:00 p.m. The announcement of the newly married Ryan and Jared, the first dance to a beautiful arrangement of Lady Antebellum’s “I Run to You,” and the first two courses are all completed on time. My family is murmuring quietly in my ear about the toasts and cake cutting being up next. Phil, who’s sitting next to Jason at the Lockwood family table with me, gives me a brief look.
So far, so calm.
That was about the best we could hope for with Mildred Lockwood knocking back martinis like they’re water. By my last count, I’d seen her down eight. Caleb muttered in my ear that he thought it was more because she had a bar in the master suite. Lovely. We could only hope she would pass out and we could escape this night relatively unscathed.
Caleb leans over and presses a kiss behind my ear. “Game time.” He stands and heads toward the orchestra leader. As a consensus, all the groomsmen had decided to let Caleb speak on behalf of both sides, citing since he lived with both grooms, he would obviously do the best job.
During the rehearsal dinner the night before, Caleb joked they just wanted to throw him under the bus, and that there had better be a reward for doing this. After he saw me standing in the crowd smirking, he promptly agreed he had already been given his reward.
We left shortly thereafter for him to claim his reward.
After the song wrapped up, Caleb conferred with the band leader before being handed the microphone.
“Good evening, everyone. Once again, on behalf of Ryan and Jared, we are so thankful you chose to spend your holiday weekend celebrating their marriage.” He pauses to let the applause die down. “I was unanimously nominated to speak on behalf of both groom parties, so Ryan, Jared, if you don’t like this toast, blame your other brothers.”
The crowd starts laughing uproariously. My man is good at this. I lean on my hand and smile at him.
He catches my eye and winks. “Some of you may not know I’ve been very involved with helping to plan the wedding. In fact, at one point, I was making so many decisions I was mistaken for actually being one of the grooms.”
Oh. My. God. I’m going to kill him.
My mouth gapes open, even as my eyes narrow. I hear Phil choke behind me, Jason whack him on the back, and even Keene let out a mild snicker. Not to mention the hilarity of my sisters proceeding to tell Charlie and his wife the story that I could hear through my ear piece.
“But once that small misunderstanding was resolved, I realized my ability to make these decisions for my brother and Jared showed me just how much I knew them, inside and out. I found out when you plan a wedding, you will undoubtedly learn a lot about people. When I did, I was more impressed with not only the men they were, but the love they have for each other.” Caleb smiles broadly, looks out at the nodding crowd and continues.
“Jared, since the day I met you, I saw what an amazing match you were for Ryan. You balance him and provide his heart with the home it’s been searching for. I’m so glad to finally be able to call you brother.”
I look over at Jared, who is discreetly wiping his eyes with the back of his hand.
“Ryan…” Caleb pauses, taking a deep breath. His voice cracks slightly. “Before he died, Dad and I used to talk about the man you would meet one day, since we know what men can be like.” He waits for the small laugh he was hoping for. “All we could hope for was that he cherished you like we did, like I still do. I’m so glad you found that with Jared.” Caleb smiles at his brother, who has picked up his dinner napkin to wipe his own eyes.
“So, on this momentous occasion, I ask you to raise your glasses. Ryan and Jared, in the words of Shakespeare, ‘I wish you all the joy you can wish.’ Cheers!”
As the crowd echoes his toast around the courtyard, both grooms walk up to Caleb to embrace him. When Ryan and Caleb hug, they whisper quietly to each other before both break away.
I turn back to the table, dabbing at my eyes with a napkin to find the hate-filled eyes of Mildred Lockwood on me. Phil, not being completely obtuse, casually leans forward on his hand and whispers into his mike, “I think we may have a problem.”
I think we do too.
I just have no idea what to do about it.
36
Cassidy
It’s 10:00. Finally, there’s no one left on the estate but the family and a few close friends. Mildred has retired to her room to recover from this debacle, as she put it.
Caleb has called it. The wedding is officially over for tonight.
Tomorrow, vendors who had more structural setups will come back to break down, but for tonight, Amaryllis Events is off duty.
My siblings have already changed. Caleb is trying to convince me to go home in my dress, and that we can be there in thirty minutes, but I convinced him it will just take a moment. I want something comfortable to sit down in. Besides, I also don’t want to leave a single thing in this house if I don’t have to.
I head down the short hallway, entering the doorway to the secondary library to find my bag with my comfortable clothing. I’m distracted, already in the process of removing my necklace as I walk in when I hear the door slam behind me. I jump.
