Page 210 of Charlie

"—his partner, Tyler," the man finished for him, his eyes sparkling. Forgive him, this is the first time we've been out together.

"The infamous Tyler," Jack says, shaking his hand. "I've heard a lot about you."

"I bet you have." The corners of Tyler's mouth pull up.

"Calum will preside over our formal vows, Charlotte. I'm not usually one to follow tradition, but we need our marriage properly recorded by both church and government to cover all bases." He turns to his friend. "Thank you for coming out."

"I'm not going to turn down a free meal, Jack. Nor will I ever turn down an invitation to this beautiful estate. It's been too long."

"We'll remedy that after the honeymoon. I'm ready to get back to our weekly dinners."

"Really?" Isla appears out of thin air, startling all of us. "We can start them up again?" She whips out her phone and presses record before Jack answers.

"Yes, Isla. We'll talk about it after the honeymoon."

"I'm going to hold you to that," she says, pointing at her phone, a stubborn tilt to her chin. She turns to me. "Charlie, I've come to steal you away. You need your beauty sleep."

"Isla, no. Please let me help clean up."

"Nope, the guys have it covered tonight. I'm coming up with you to check my email and go to sleep myself. I'm exhausted."

Jack takes me to Cam and Loch to say goodnight, then walks me up to the terrace, stopping on the bottom stair.

"Any signs of your feet getting cold, Sassenach?" he asks, studying my face.

"My feet are hot. So hot they’re—" he pulls me in for a relieved kiss before I can finish. "—on fire," I murmur, my lips moving against his.

"Thank God, because I don't think I'd be able to give you up now, mo chridhe."

"Never gonna give you up," I sing softly.

"Did you just Rickroll me the evening before our wedding?" he asks, incredulous.

I laugh, his beard rough beneath my lips as I kiss his cheek. "Good night, Jack."

"Sleep sweet, mo chridhe."

I crack open my eyes, watching dust motes slow dance in the beam of sunlight streaming through the gap in the curtains. I was expecting some anxiety – panic even – not this effusive joy pumping through my body or the overwhelming sense of peace that has me grinning and kicking my feet. I get to marry three of my best friends today. Men that love me for who I am, not what I can do for them. It's the best fucking feeling in the world.

I check my phone to find a barrage of missed texts. Isla sent an itinerary: hair and makeup at two-thirty, get dressed at five, wedding at five-thirty. All the guys sent good morning texts and instructions to look outside the bedroom door.

I pull on my robe and pad to the door, peeking out into the hallway. A pile of jewel-toned boxes sits in front of the door, a cream-colored envelope propped up against them. I gather everything into my arms and dump it on the bed, tearing open the card first.

Charlotte/Charlie/Carebear,

Open the red one first and the teal one last. We cannot wait to see you walking down that aisle toward us. We've been waiting our entire lives for you.

All our love,

Jack, Cam & Lach

Despite their instructions, I eye the teal box, my fingers itching to rip the paper off. I pick it up, turning it over in my hands. DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT is written in thick black marker on the underside. I drop it like it burns me, stifling a giggle with my hand. I slide my finger under the bright red paper on the first present, carefully unwrapping an ebony velvet box. I open it carefully, revealing a delicate bracelet made from interconnecting links. A slip of paper reads A little something to memorialize the moments we want to live on forever. I set the box on the bed and unwrap the next one. Nestled inside are two tiny charms – a bar stool and a painter’s palette. A piece of paper flutters to the ground, I pick it up and read The moment I knew I was never going to be able to forget you and how I made sure you'd never forget me. I chuckle. Our first time could have been missionary position in my bed, and I still never would have been able to forget him.

I clip them both to the bracelet and open the next box, snatching up the slip of paper before it can fall. The moment Milo and I knew you were something special, and the moment we gave it all up for each other. He chose a charm that looks exactly like Milo when he barreled into me that first day, and a tiny shack with the door hanging off its hinges. I blink back tears as emotion threatens to overwhelm me.

There are two boxes left before the teal box. I choose the one the same size as the previous two and open it to find an iridescent drop of water made from glass and a miniature book. It's nearly impossible to choose only two moments. The tiny drop reminds me of when we walked out of the bookstore that first night. The way the sun shone through the sea spray and turned our world into something magical. The book is for so many memories – the weekend you helped me with inventory and we skipped out to go to the fairy glen, the night before I left when we made love surrounded by the classics, and finally, all the lonely nights I spent writing in the margins of Pride and Prejudice, desperate for you to understand the depth of my feelings. I wipe the tears dripping down my cheeks as I clip on the charms. I’ll treasure this for the rest of my life. The second to last box has a card tucked alongside it.

We each chose a memory of all of us together to commemorate. We'll let you guess who chose what. Tucked into the velvet are three charms. I carefully pick up the first, my mouth falling open as the details come into focus. It's a clawfoot bathtub like the one in the hotel in Edinburgh. The second charm is a picnic basket – it immediately reminds me of the day we spent at the abbey. The last charm takes my breath away. It's an exact replica of the castle: every tower and every turret are memorialized in shining gold.

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