Page 77 of Binding Their Hearts

Jay gripped Henry and Alice’s hands probably harder than he should have, but who could be expected to tone things down at a time like this? They were getting married! Right now, already partway through, and he hadn’t had a chance to check with his lovers yet, but things seemed to be going fucking spectacular.

Master Will had been vague about the stuff that came before the vows—“Guest speakers are traditional for short meditations on marriage. Not to worry, young Jay, I’ll make certain you have a fine lineup.”—but Henry’s mom had been a winning pick for sure.

Behind them, Master Will cleared his throat, and Jay tipped his chin toward his shoulder. Were they supposed to turn around now?

In the front row, Alice’s sister popped to her feet. “Oh, it’s me, I’m next. Hi.” Elbows locked at her sides, Ollie gave a little wave at waist height and grinned with full teeth.

Jay shot the grin back at her while Alice laughed through her nose and ducked her head. Two visits from her sister in one year had to be a record. He’d have to thank Emma for making that happen. Maybe Emma would speak for him? She’d done his tie up, after all, and Henry’d had his mom and now Alice her sister. Not for fixing a tie—maybe bra help? But she didn’t seem to be wearing one of those, either. Shoe help? Whatever girls did for each other.

“I’ve only known Allie—Alice”—Ollie scrunched her nose—“since she was three, and those early years are kind of a blur, what with me being the baby sister and all.”

A mix of laughs and awws answered her, and she quick-turned with a high-shoulder shrug before looking back at Alice. Henry’s mom had done that, too—staring lots at Henry. Getting the shiny eyes like Ollie had now.

“But my whole life, Alice has been the constant. She’s the reliable one, the dependable one, always go-go-go and never resting. Because she had to be.” Ollie swiped under her eyes with one finger, and the lean in Alice’s body almost turned into a step. “Because I needed her to be.”

He swayed toward Alice. Her twitching lips could’ve been a smile, except the squinch in her eyes said she was gonna cry too.

“She never indulged in anything just for herself. She calculated all the angles and made the most beneficial choices, the most efficient ones.” That sure sounded like Alice. Ollie exchanged a look with Henry’s mom. “And that’s how I knew.”

The awws got louder. Henry’s mom nodded at Ollie with the same smile she gave Jay after he finished raking leaves or accepted seconds at supper. Getting to claim her as a mom-in-law ranked high in the marriage perks, official or not. Having Ollie as a sister wasn’t too shabby either. Big-brothering her was a treat after being the youngest all his life.

“My careful, cautious, test-everything big sister up and moved in with these guys she’d been dating for a few months. Can you even believe it?” Rounding her mouth and flapping her hands between midair and aiming at Alice, Ollie mimed scandal well enough to have the crowd hooting with laughter in their seats. “This woman, who can’t pick an ice cream flavor without samples of the whole menu first, tells me weeks later, oh-so-casual, I kinda moved in.”

He brushed Alice’s hip with his knuckles. Getting her to move in—hell, just getting her to realize she loved them—had taken a lot more than a few easy-breezy months of dating. She edged closer, slipping her bare arm between his sleeve and side. In the heels, she almost matched his height. He’d get to kiss her eventually. Not until after the vows, though. He’d memorized his, but he had a notecard in his pocket just in case.

The laughs faded, and Ollie blew out a deep sigh. “Nothing short of love could’ve gotten her to move that fast. Because the other thing about my sister that makes her such a great engineer is that she knows the right fit when she sees it.”

Alice grazed his ear with her mouth, sending a shiver through him. “When my Jay shows me what I’m missing by running.”

Her voice was barely loud enough to hear. He swallowed back the surprise burst of gonna-cry in his chest. Alice knew his value. He was learning, but she and Henry, they knew.

Ollie smacked her hands together, the strain in her grip like an arm-wrestling match with herself. “If all the materials are going to work together in harmony, Alice feels it in her gut. Like she felt it with Henry and Jay. So to them I ask…”

He straightened up, ready for inspection or orders, his heart drumming in his ears.

“Henry. Jay.” Ollie peered into him, judging his heart, more fearsome than the day they’d met. She’d thought then that he and Henry could never offer Alice this. And now she helped make it real. Life could be funny that way; people could surprise you. “Will you give Alice the steady love she deserves, teach her it’s okay to put herself first sometimes, create a home where she feels safe to trust her gut, and build a life day by day that shows her you can weather every storm together?”

“I will.” He echoed Henry, a beat behind, pushing the words out so loud the whole room couldn’t miss them. Alice would get all those things and more, everything she wanted or needed for the rest of her life. He and Henry would make sure of it.

Ollie’s fierce stare relaxed, and she grinned at him. “I know you will. And you deserve someone looking out for you today, too.” She flexed her feet, still short as hell on tiptoe, and craned her neck toward the far side of the room. “Your turn.”

At the outer end of the third row, someone in a slim red suit stood up. Funny, because their hair almost looked like—

“Nat?” He couldn’t help himself. “Are you—” Henry and Alice looked as surprised as he felt, which was a decent clue that he wasn’t imagining his sister showing up to support him at his wedding. “Here?”

“Figured I’d try being a better big sister, if that’s okay. Plus”—she jerked her thumb toward Ollie, who’d sat back down—“can’t let this one show me up. She’s already winning the ‘farthest traveled to attend’ competition.”

Words stuck in his throat, all the things he wanted to say jumbled in his head and piling into a boulder before they reached his tongue. She’d gone out of her way for him. And she’d maybe say nice things about him if he ever answered her.

Henry’s hand landed on his back and swept in smooth strokes that dislodged the boulder.

“It’s okay. More than okay. You’re the best big sister I have.” Too much dislodging. He shut his teeth. A wave of cold rolled down his body. For the second time in thirty minutes, talking to a sister teetered close to passing-out territory.

Nat stepped out of the row and ran a hand through her hair. The faded red tips had been re-dyed, and her fingernails matched. “I wish our family had done as right by Jay as he deserved, because he was always this amazingly open-hearted boy who could turn a terrible day into a magical one, just by the way he looked at the world.”

That didn’t sound like him at all. But his inner voice, the one he was learning to tune into at therapy, said listen. Wait. Beside him, Alice tilted her head the way she did every night when she picked up the origami piece he’d left at her place setting for dinner.

“I can’t tell you when he fell in love, because I didn’t see it.” Nat scuffed her way to the front, her head hanging. If they’d been in the driveway at the farm, the gravel would’ve gone skittering out of her path. “But I can tell you that my little brother is the bravest man I know. He fought hard for this relationship. He fought lies and prejudice and family, and the worst stuff, the ideas that get shoved so deep inside your head that you think they’re yours even when they push you away from what you need. From all the good things you deserve.”

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