Page 79 of Sawyer
They smiled. Yeah, they were going to become brothers of sorts with the wedding. “Glad you’re finally coming around to the idea.”
Jean Luc laughed. “As if I had a choice.”
“What are you doing in here?”
Brooke’s raised voice had Sawyer and Jean Luc jumping, alongside Dean. The caterers continued their work after an audible pause.
Kyle only chuckled. “Doc was fixing Jean Luc’s tie.”
She stalked to the groom and brushed off his shoulders, then proceeded to yank down his suit jacket, before adding a final touch to his tie. “Now you are ready. So go… You’re supposed to already be in the front. Oh, let me find Axel. He’ll make sure you stay where you’re supposed to be.”
They watched her go.
“I seem to have another mother figure,” Jean Luc mused with a chuckle.
“Lucky you,” Sawyer commented. “You’d better make a run for it. You know how Brooke gets.”
“I do.” They shared another look. “I am surrounded in the bosom of my new family. Is that how you Americans would say it?”
“Pretty close,” he said with a grin.
As Jean Luc left, Dean wandered over, eating the almonds he’d been feeding Pierre. “Little sister did all right with him, didn’t she?”
He found his throat was suddenly tight. He hadn’t expected to get choked up today. “Yeah, really good.”
Then he got choked up at a whole new level when Thea arrived in the kitchen with her heels in her hand, having descended Nanine’s stairs with Brooke’s help. The chandelier played the briefest medley of delight as they all took her in. He’d seen her dress before, but he hadn’t seen her in it. And God, it was like a ray from the heavens had gilded her and decided it could not have discovered a more beautiful person in all of creation.
“You look beautiful, Thea,” he called out softly as Brooke and Nanine fanned out behind her, also beaming.
Her smile was as luminous as her white gown. “Thanks, Sawyer.”
“My goodness.” Dean gasped and clutched his heart. “When did you grow up, little sister?”
“Clearly when we weren’t looking,” Kyle commented, coming over and holding out his hand so she could use him as a weight as she put her heels on. “You’re a long way from Kansas, Dorothy.”
She welled up immediately. “That joke is going to make me cry, Kyle, and I’m trying really hard not to do that, although I’ve already done it more times than I can count.”
Sawyer pulled out the extra handkerchief he’d brought for her and held it out. “In case you need another, because I know Brooke has you stocked.”
Thea sniffed. “She does. She thought of everything. Fabiana did too, but she told me she’d wail if she saw me before the wedding, so we agreed she wouldn’t help me get ready.”
Sawyer thought of what she’d done to Jean Luc’s cravat.Yeah, his mama was going to bawl when she saw Thea. “Why wouldn’t she? She’s getting the best daughter-in-law in the world.”
Thea’s tears brimmed before she hastily dabbed them. “Sawyer! You made me cry. God, I love you guys. If you knew how much, you’d be crying along with me.”
Brooke hastily wiped tears, as did Nanine. Sawyer could feel his eyes burning.
Dean walked over and pointed to his face. “I’m misting. Thea, I know I’m not alone when I say this. We’re all so damn happy for you.”
She took his hand and clenched it hard, nodding. “I’m happy for all ofus.We’re finally living the lives we’ve always wanted, and I’m so happy I can be here to watch you guys do all of the big things you’re going to do. All right, let’s get me married before I can’t stop crying.”
Sawyer held open the door to the front for everyone, never appreciating more the significance of walking through an open door and beginning a new journey.
CHAPTER
TWENTY-THREE
Thea’s new journey started as all journeys did.
