Page 99 of Last Comes Fate

I just sat still as Lea finished pinning my half-updo, which still left a good number of dark tendrils curling over my shoulder, and sprayed the hell out of it.

“Perfect,” she said approvingly.

I smiled. “It really is. Nice work, sis.”

“Frankie,” Kate called, holding up the dress with a few pins sticking out of her mouth. “It’s time.”

I crossed the room and allowed Kate and Lea to help me into my wedding dress, then stood still while Kate sewed the final seams together. When she affixed the waist-length veil to my hair, I had to avoid Marie and Lea, who had grown quiet, eyes shining as they watched.

“Don’t say a word,” I said to them through the old mirror over the vanity. “Don’t make me cry, Lea.”

“Oh, Frankie.” For once, my oldest sister didn’t have a critical word for anyone. “You lookperfect.”

When Kate finished, I turned to the floor-length mirror hung over the door to look myself over. And damned if Lea wasn’t right.

Somehow Kate had found the dress of my dreams—the 1960s-era sleeveless gown was nothing I’d ever imagined, but also exactly what I would have chosen for myself. A row of silk flowers marked an empire waist that called back to the dress styles of Jane Austen. Kate had sewn an additional layer of delicate lace over what she said was shantung—a roughly woven type of silk that showcased irregularities in the weave. Perfectly imperfect. Just like Xavier and me.

“Oh, Katie,” I said. “You didgood.”

“Don’t cry!” Lea sprang toward me, tissue in hand. “You’ll ruin your eye makeup. Those cat-eyes are perfect!”

I laughed but dabbed under my eyes just the same. There was a knock on the door. When it opened, my brother poked in his handsome head. Matthew wore another dapper suit that had to be new—none of the vintage pieces he’d gotten from Kate’s shop lookedquitethat polished.

It had to be nice being married to an actual heiress.

I pinched my own arm. I was about to marry a duke, for Pete’s sake. Not a lot of room to criticize Matthew on that count.

“Car’s here,” Matthew said as he adjusted the camellia pinned to his lapel. “Nonna already left with Sof, Joni, and Nina. Lea, Mike said he’d come next for you and everyone else.” Then he looked up. “Holy shit, Frankie. You look…you look fuckin’ amazing.”

I blushed under my brother’s frank praise. “You’d better not let Sofia hear you talk like that. Fees for the swear jar have gone up since Xavier moved in, you know. We charge in pounds, not dollars.”

“Tell her to put it on my tab.” He held out an arm. “Ready?”

I grinned and slipped my hand around his elbow.

It was time to marry the man I loved.

TWENTY-THREE

Ididn’t actually knowwhereI was getting married.

Don’t get me wrong. I knew how it would work. Matthew would walk me down the aisle. The wedding party itself was a little uneven—Xavier’s only real friend was Jagger, who was going to accompany Kate down the aisle as best man and maid of honor. Lea would walk with her husband, Mike, Joni and Marie would walk together, and then Sofia would follow, a flower girl to Tommy, my nephew, as ring bearer.

Where they were walking, though, was a complete mystery.

It was kind of strange, but Xavier had insisted it be a surprise. It was one of the few parts of the wedding planning he had actively taken part in—even more so than the food, which was being provided by the staff at Chie (where the reception would also take place). He’d been happy to share every detail he could about that, of course. But the ceremony, beyond my part in it, was still a mystery.

It wasn’t until the Town Car stopped at the edge of Bryant Park that I realized where we were. And indeed, when the car pulled up in front of the familiar steps guarded by the seminal pair of stone lions, I knew there was only one place Xavier could give me in all of New York.

“He really is a beast,” I murmured as Matthew got out.

“I have to say, he must know you well,” my brother said as he helped me from the car. “You getting married at the New York Public Library is pretty damn perfect. Does he like books, too?”

I chuckled. “Not particularly. But he likes giving them to me. And he likes making me happy.”

For the first time, Matthew nodded with what looked like approval of Xavier. “Well, at least he has that going for him.”

My brother led me up the steps that had been lit with dozens of tea candles and scattered with bouquets of sweet smelling fall gardenias and camellias. He guided me through the marble archway, up the grand staircase, and through one of the outer reading rooms to the entrance of what was probably my favorite place in all of New York City: the famed Rose Main Reading Room.

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