Page 120 of Totally Shipped
My choice. Even if my parents had been here, I still wouldn’t have wanted Dad to walk me.
I’m over being his disappointing daughter.
I’ve never been disappointing at all! It’s his loss if he can’t see that.
I’m here. Me. Daisy Jackson.
AndImatter.
The path through the field to my waiting men has been covered by a bower of pale pink peonies and baby’s breath. The heady smell, combined with Nikau’s gentle guitar playing, is magical.
A few yards in front of me, Keyara is taking her role as a flower girl very seriously. She looks so lovely in a powder-blue dress and a flower crown of white roses. As she slowly spreads petals down the grassy aisle, Key stops for a moment when she gets to Brooke and Amelia.
Amelia is fussing, so Key hands her some petals. Amelia immediately shoves them in her mouth, making everyone laugh. On the other side of the aisle, Killian’s sister Molly sits with Thea. Thea is fast asleep. She’s going to miss her mom getting married!
All our siblings have been amazing, preparing for this event. Malcolm, Jasper, Molly,Brooke.
Brooke sits, looking proud as punch, with Amelia on her knee, and her new partner by her side.
Rosita was the first staff member for the Survival School, and it was obvious from the very beginning that there was some special energy between Brooke and her tracking specialist.
Now the little family of three live together in a very plush yurt at the edge of the property. Even though I’ve suggested several times that we build an actual property, they are sticking with the yurt for now. Brooke doesn’t want to get ‘soft’.
Ha! Just one look of her and Rosita being all gooey-eyed and I know that the hard-edged Brooke ‘Action’ Jackson is gone forever.
Even Harvey’s parents approve of Rosita.
My parents, not so much. I wish they could take a leaf out of Mam and Da Lonergan’s book; they are just the best! So beautifully open-minded. I make a mental vow to be that way with Thea, if, or when, she throws some curve ball at me.
Not that there’s many, compared to my curveballs.
As for Leander’s family, when Jasper got into town, he told us the funniest story. Irene and Malcolm II (Leander, Jasper and Malcolm III’s parents) were disappointed we weren’t having a destination wedding: they thought a tropical island venue would be just the thing.
“They’re clueless,” Jasper had laughed.
They really are. And they, along with my parents, are the ones missing out.
We don’t need them.
Gray’s folks couldn’t come, even if they were invited, because they are both currently detained by the State of Missouri for several years. Rex’s dad wasn't invited
We don’t need any of them. Everyone whoisimportant to us is with us right now.
It’s not particularly warm today; late sixties at best. Puffy white clouds muffle the sun from time-to-time, but in general, we have blue skies. It’s not humid at all, not even one-percent.
As I get closer I see Nanda mopping her eyes with a handkerchief. She looks radiant, her dark brown curls shining luscious and full. She’s sitting next to Brandi, Meemaw’s neighbor friend. Brandi is lovely—she’d shyly offered to make our wedding cake.
“I have a recipe that your grandmother gave me,” she told Rex. “So I thought, maybe you’d like me to make that? It’s taro and coconut cake.”
The cake looks amazing. It’s sitting on the kitchen counter, waiting to be sliced during our reception.A framed picture of Meemaw next to it.
My guys also look amazing.
Killian and Gray are holding hands and look so beautiful. Rex stands to the left of them, Leander to the right.
I walk towards them, a huge grin on my face.
“Macushla.” Killian smiles, and the deep lines on either sides of his mouth and round his eyes fall away.
