Page 78 of Loving You

I wasn’t a man who particularly cared about tablecloths in my normal life, but as someone in hospitality, I’d learned my fair share. Since April and I had mixed so much pleasure with business during the whole wedding-planning process, we’d also collaborated on a new partnership between Walker’s and the B&B that would be mutually beneficial if all went as planned.

Our brews were now the only beer served on the premises, and the small-town charm that partnership represented would probably do great things for both businesses.

Even better, the mountain weather cooperated, and the June evening was glorious. But best of all had been watching April celebrate her friend’s happiness and enjoying my brother’s absolute elation without an ounce of unease in those gorgeous eyes of hers.

It’d all been enough to keep a lump in my throat for half the day.

Will finished his part of the father-daughter dance and handed Ellie off to Sammy to finish it up. As had become customary at Walker family weddings, my brothers and I, save whoever was the groom, all shared the traditional dance with the bride.

Ellie’s parents were who knew where, her grandfather who’d raised her was gone, and we’d grown up loving her as one of our own. That meant that on an emotional scale of 1-10, this dance with Ellie was bigger than Sammy’s wedding, where we were all still getting to know Rachel, as well as Will and Kate’s since their wedding celebration was a lot less formal. It wasn’t quite as emotional as Brenna’s wedding as we’d all felt the absence of our dad that night like a phantom limb, but it was still significant.

The fact that after losing our own father, all four of us Walkers had found women who were estranged from their parents enough to not invite them to their weddings, wasn’t lost on me.

Will April invite her dad to our wedding, or would my brothers continue this tradition with her?

I shook off the thought and focused on my goofy youngest brother making a fool of himself with his newest sister-in-law. But even that had my mind turning to the woman giggling with Kate and Rachel a few feet from me.

April.God, I love her.I loved her so much and the entire day had been a baseline drumbeat to the song I’d already been singing.

I wanted to be with her for the rest of my life. I wanted April Carrigan to walk down the aisle toward me and look even half as happy as Ellie had earlier when she’d seen Jake waiting for her. I wanted my mom to wipe tears from her eyes and for my sister and sisters-in-law to do the same as they looked on.

I wanted my brothers clearing their throats and furrowing brows, and goofy, tender-hearted Sammy to dab at his own tears. I wanted Willa and Lea to be flower girls and Jackson to be an honorary groomsman. I wanted May to design a program that contained words likeMr. Eric James WalkerandMs. April Marie Carriganandholy matrimony.

Okay, so my brain had been steeped in the love and beauty of the day in ways I’d never experienced, so sue me.

I’d been happy for Sammy and Rachel when they’d ambushed everyone with a surprise wedding at the bar. It fit them, and they were joyful and spontaneous and a little unpredictable.

I’d loved standing with Will and Kate as a witness at their own courthouse wedding and throwing them a small, intimate party afterward.

Seeing my brothers find happiness with partners who suited them had been satisfying, but there’d been an ache. I’d never expected to feel it, but there it had been, slipping between ribs and niggling at my side, squeezing my heart until I couldn’t ignore it. I’d made the choice not to focus on relationships, and I’d truly never been tempted.

And then along came April.

She’d toppled all my expectations, disarming me and sneaking past my guard right to the parts of me that had been longing for someone to know me in ways a brother or a mother couldn’t. Longing to beloved.

The music shifted and people swarmed the floor, joining the bride and groom as they started dancing again.

“You look very serious over here, Mr. Walker,” April’s hand slipped into mine and I turned her into me, relishing the chance to be close to her in this moment.

“I’m just taking it all in. It’s a big day.” That sounded so trite, but it was true.

She grinned, the same happiness in those brilliant blue eyes that I’d seen beaming from her all day. She opened her mouth like she’d say something, then paused for a second before asking, “You know I love you, right?”

I laughed, relief and amazement and delight funneling through me in an instant. “I’d hoped.”

Her smile widened. “I think you knew.” Her gaze softened and she sobered a bit. “But just in case you didn’t, I wanted to make sure of it. And I’ve obviously beendyingto say it.”

The party around us dropped away as she pressed her hand to my heart over the jacket of my tux, the other anchored at my neck. My pulse sped up, some primal part of me recognizing that this moment would be one I’d never forget. She’d said the words already, but still every molecule in me was greedy to hear whatever would come out of that sweet mouth next.

“I love you so much, Eric. I think I’ve been falling in love with you for a long time, actually.”

When I raised a brow, she shoved me lightly away. But I reeled her back in and we moved slowly together as the music mercifully shifted to something with a more measured tempo.

“Seriously, I had this moment when I saw you with Willa last year and I remember thinkinghe does have a heart!”

I chuckled, unable to keep it in. “That sounds like truly a lovelorn thought.”

She rolled her eyes and pressed the pad of her index finger against my lips. I moved to bite it, but she pulled back with a little brow lift of her own. “I’m trying to be romantic here. I’m finally feeling free to say what I need to say, so let me have my moment.”

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