Page 80 of The Glass Dolphin

“Today, it’s Maddy,” she whispered back. The last of the wedding party arrived at Ben, and he stood there with Maddy’s pink, blue, and white bouquet. “Here she comes.”

Her best friend appeared at the end of the aisle, her son stepping with her, his smile as bright as hers. They moved slowly down the aisle, past the men and women Maddy worked with at The Glass Dolphin. Past all the women and their families who had so easily folded her and Maddy into their midst.

The crowd wasn’t large by any means, but the hall held them all easily. The vines and flowers overflowed in the hall, the big stones comprising the walls and pillars complimenting the greenery perfectly. The air smelled of roses, and a faint seabreeze wafted down from the open windows near the double-high ceilings.

Maddy reached Julia, and though they’d already hugged, Julia reached out and squeezed her hand as she went by. Her son hugged her at the altar, then fell back to his wife’s side. She took the bouquet from Ben as she made eyes at him, her head ducked. She looked utterly ravishing, from that beige dress that clung to her upper half and swelled along the top ridge of her hips.

The skirt flared slightly from there and fell down to her feet in wave upon wave of what looked like structured feathers. Her left strap over her shoulder lifted up toward her ear, the lace stiff and starched and utterly unique. The train poofed and puffed down the back, and Maddy looked like she’d taken handfuls of clouds and fashioned a ballgown out of them.

Her hair had been curled and looped and pinned up in a seam along the back of her head. Silver and diamonds dangled from her earlobes and circled her neck. Every single piece of Madeleine Lancaster sat precisely in place.

She’d lived a lot of that life as a senator’s wife, and Julia knew she loathed it. Ben stood there in his Coast Guard Captain dress uniform, which was pressed and starched and the most blinding white. It bore stripes and medals that Julia didn’t understand, but the most drastic change for him came in the harsh lines of his jaw.

When he looked at Maddy, everything dissolved away. His tension. His irritation. His grumpy attitude. He obviously adored her, and the feeling she had only grew as he leaned toward her, kissed her just under her chin but high enough on her neck to stay respectable, his eyes falling closed.

Pure adoration, Julia thought, and she sigh-sagged into Liam at her side. She’d once thought she had a love like that, but it had leaked through her fingers while she wasn’t paying attention.

She held her head high, the last dregs of resentment finally flowing out of her. She hadn’t even realized she’d been hanging onto the hurt and the betrayal for this long, when she’d thought she’d moved past her ex-husband and started afresh.

The wedding ceremony began, and Maddy and Ben wanted something simple and elegant. Classy but not traditional. The pastor didn’t go on for too long, and Maddy turned to Ben and said, “I have lived almost a half a century on this Earth.” She smiled at him, her eyes never leaving his. “I have loved, lost, and learned. But standing here with you today, I know that the best is yet to come. I promise to cherish every moment we have together, to love you deeper with each passing day, and to hold you close in both joy and sorrow.”

She nodded, her words simple but ringing with truth. Ben cleared his throat, the very first time Julia had ever seen the tough, stoic show any signs of nerves. “Today, I join my life with yours. Not as a beginning or an end, but as a continuation of the journey we have chosen to embark upon together. You have taught me that love doesn’t have an expiration date and that it’s never too late to find the person you’re meant to share your life with. I vow to love, honor, and respect you for all the days of my life.”

“Oh,” Julia said before she could stop herself. That was simply so sweet. Cheering brought her back to the present, and she found Ben kissing Maddy while they both laughed. They faced the crowd and lifted their joined hands, and Julia burst into tears.

She mobbed Maddy, feeling a sense of loss and unending happiness at the same time. Funny how the positive and the negative could co-exist inside her, but she’d learned that such things were a symptom of being human—and she wanted all the experiences she could get.

* * *

Later that night,Julia sighed as she finally stepped into her beach bungalow, at least four toes pinching from the shoes she’d been wearing for hours. A long sigh escaped from her mouth as she touched the light switch and yellow light bloomed to life in her house.

Behind her, Liam closed the door, and she turned to face him. “You didn’t have to accompany me all the way home.”

“I certainly did,” he said. “What kind of cop would I be if I let a woman like you go home alone, on the last ferry to Sanctuary?” He gave her a sultry look that made her blood heat all the way through.

She stepped into him, pressing both palms against his chest. “I’m exhausted.”

“It was a beautiful wedding, though.”

“The best.” She smiled up at him, warmth moving through her. “Do you have to go?”

Liam gazed down at her, his blue eyes sparking with lightning. She’d seen this heat in his eyes before, and she hadn’t known what to think of it. She did now.

“I need to get out of this dress,” she whispered when he simply watched her.

His right eyebrow went up, which made her smile. “Do you want my help with that?”

“I do,” she said.

He leaned down and kissed her, and a rush of new energy filled Julia. She matched him stroke for stroke, wondering if she was going too fast. She didn’t think so, as the quivering feeling in her stomach didn’t hit her this time.

“Your son,” she gasped as Liam’s lips moved to her earlobe, and then trailed kisses down her neck.

“He’s with my parents,” Liam said gruffly. “I wasn’t planning on getting him tonight, because I wasn’t sure how late I’d be out.”

Julia pulled away and laced both hands around the back of his neck. For whatever reason, she couldn’t quite look him in the eye. “Then you don’t have to go.”

“That’s up to you, Jules.” He kneaded her closer, his lips seeking a spot somewhere against her skin but never settling.

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