Page 60 of Finding Forever

“I’m not.”

“You are.”

Beth held her daughter tight. “I’m allowed to.” When she stepped back, Kayla was blinking quickly.

“If you cry, I’ll cry,” Kayla said softly. “And Melanie will charge us extra for getting mascara on the dress.”

From somewhere behind the curtain, Melanie laughed.

Beth held Kayla’s hands, and for a moment, neither of them spoke. She remembered tiny fingers wrapped around hers on Kayla’s first day of school. A teenager slamming a bedroom door because Beth had refused to extend her curfew. A young woman leaving home, determined to build a life of her own.

And now this. “I can’t believe you’re getting married,” Beth told her daughter.

Kayla squeezed her hands. “Neither can I sometimes.”

Beth looked at their reflection in the mirror. Something was missing. No, it wasn’t something. It was someone. The thought came quietly, but the ache behind it was familiar. Jessie should have been here.

He should have been sitting beside Beth’s chair, pretending he wasn’t emotional. He would have teased Kayla about how much the dress cost, and then told her she looked stunning before going outside so they didn’t see him cry.

Beth swallowed.

Kayla’s eyes met hers in the mirror. “I wish Dad was here.”

The words broke something open inside Beth. She held her daughter again, being extra careful not to crush the dress. “So do I, sweetheart.”

Kayla didn’t worry about the fabric. She held on tightly.

Beth closed her eyes. She could almost hear Jessie telling them not to ruin a perfectly good day by crying over him. The thought made her smile through her tears.

“Dad would have loved Tyler,” Kayla whispered.

“He would.” Beth eased back enough to look at her daughter. “He would have asked him a thousand questions to see whether he was good enough for you.”

Kayla smiled.

“And then,” Beth continued, “he would have taken him fishing.”

“Tyler hates fishing.”

“Your father wouldn’t have cared.”

Kayla laughed and wiped her eyes.

Beth did the same. “He’d be proud of you,” she said softly. “So proud.”

Kayla’s chin wobbled again. “Mom.”

“It’s true,” Beth told her daughter.

“I thought we were done crying.”

Beth’s smile trembled. “I never agreed to that.”

Kayla laughed and hugged her again.

A few minutes later, Melanie returned to check the hem and make one tiny adjustment near Kayla’s shoulder. Beth sat down again, watching as her daughter turned slowly in front of the mirrors.

Eventually, Kayla’s smile returned. “Uncle Ryan called me yesterday.”