Page 22 of Mine To Honor (Southern Wedding)

“Well, food would be my next question.” Addison writes down something on the pad. “But it’s just the two of you.”

“Right,” I say, rolling back on my heels, “but you two will come, right?” I look at the both of them and they both nod their heads. “So it’ll be four of us, plus Avery.” I snap my fingers. “She can be the flower girl, or whatever it’s called.”

“She would love that, obviously,” Addison coos. “She gets to wear a fancy dress and probably a tiara, you might be her favorite person that day.”

“My parents are in town,” Stefano reminds me.

I close my eyes for just a moment before letting out a huge breath. “Your father is going to kick my ass.”

Stefano smirks at me. “Yes.” He nods at the same time, his smirk going to a full-blown smile. “But the good news is he’s a bit older now, so it’ll hurt a touch less.”

“Well, that depends,” I waffle. “Who else is in town besides your dad and mom? Your family usually travels in packs.”

Addison can’t help but laugh. “That’s a good one.” She points her pen at me. “They do travel in packs. When he told his parents about Avery, ten people showed up.”

Stefano rolls his eyes. “It wasn’t ten, it was six,” he corrects. “But you can add my parents.”

“Okay,” Addison says, writing down on the pad. “So food for twenty?” My eyes go big. “About. I’ll get better numbers when I talk to Vivienne.”

“Don’t talk to my mother,” Stefano suggests right away. “It’s going to be a small gathering of one hundred people. Let this guy…” He points at me. “…talk to my father and we will get a better range of how many people are coming.”

“I’m going to put twenty as a minimum,” she says. “I know this isn’t a big deal, but to me it is. What were you thinking about for cake?”

“Red velvet is her favorite,” I share, “but with cream cheese frosting and not vanilla.”

Addison just looks up at me, shocked maybe that I know so much about her.

“Right,” she goes on, “rings?”

I look over at Stefano. “We’ll go out later to get something. I’m assuming there is someplace in town that has rings and stuff.” There is no way I’m not getting her a ring. I also know she’s going to freak out, and I’m going to have to pull out the do-me-a-favor card. But considering that the last favor she asked me I said yes to, I’m thinking she’s not going to give me a hard time.

“There is someplace in town that has rings and stuff,” Addison repeats what I just said, trying to hide her smile.

“Good.” I nod. “So how fast?” I ask. “Professionally speaking, of course.”

“We have to get you a marriage license but that doesn’t take any time, you can get it immediately. I have to make some calls to make sure I can get the cake on time. The flowers shouldn’t be a problem and I’m sure we can snag Luke to do the food, depending on how many people there are coming. So realistically, I can have this ironed out by tomorrow. Which means you can get married the day after.” She smiles at me, folding her arms in front of her. “You guys have clothes, right?”

“I told her to pack a couple of things,” I tell her, “and she has a bag, but I have no idea.”

Addison laughs at me. “I was talking about you, really. You do have a suit, right?”

My eyebrows pinch together. “Um,” I start to say, “I didn’t pack a suit.”

“Lucky for you we also have suits.” She shakes her head. “Comes to get married, doesn’t bring a suit,” she mumbles under her breath, making Stefano laugh. He walks over to her and bends to kiss her lips. “We have someone in town who does last-minute alterations. We are going to see what Eva chooses for a dress and you can choose your suit.”

I nod at her. “See, crisis averted,” I joke and she glares, “it’ll be fine.”

“It could be pricey,” she awkwardly says.

“Whatever it is, I’ll cover it,” I tell her, then look over her shoulder to make sure we are alone. “But just don’t tell her. She doesn’t need the added stress. Even for the dress, don’t show her any prices. If she likes it, just get it.”

She smiles at me. “Sounds good.” She looks over at Stefano, raising her eyebrows. “Now are we, and by we—I mean are you calmer now that you know the full story?”

“I know why he’s doing it,” Stefano replies, putting his arm around her shoulders. “I just don’t want them to, you know, get hurt.”

“Stefano, we both know the score.” I ignore the tightness in my chest. I don’t have a chance to think about it because we hear laughter coming from outside.

The back door opens and she comes into the room, laughing with the sisters. It’s been a whirlwind couple of days and anyone else would have been in a puddle of tears. They would have been curled up in a ball, but not Eva. Not Eva, she’s likelet me dust myself off and I’ll be ready to go in ten minutes. And she’ll do it flawlessly.

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