Page 31 of A SEAL’s Vigilant Heart

“Isn’t this bad luck?” she whispered.

“No, you’re not in your dress yet Mom made sure.”

“Why are you here?”

“I have your something old. Turn around.”

She watched as he carefully placed a familiar locket around her neck. Her vision blurred. He stroked her nape as he hooked the clasp. He came around to stand in front of her, she was holding the heart in her trembling hand.

“How’d you know?”

“I found it from the jewelry box when I cleaned up that night.” He traced her jaw. “Are you going to be okay?”

“I can’t get it open.”

“Let me help.” He flipped the latch.

“Oh my God, it has another plate. It used to only have pictures of Billy and me, now it has another plate with Mom’s picture too. How’d you do that?” She looked up at her own special miracle worker.

“I wanted you to have your mother here at your wedding, so I went and had a jeweler install another section with her picture.” Sophia launched herself into his waiting arms.

“Every day I fall more in love with you.”

“Ahhh, Sophia, that’s only fair. Every single day you bring more joy into my life than one man deserves.”

A knock sounded and after a long pause Linnie Gault peeked in. “Time to get this show on the road.”

***

Linnie must have told them about the locket because nobody asked about it. If they had, Sophia would have burst into tears. Instead, all of the women came back into the room and swarmed her like worker bees to the Queen.

“Sophia, this dress looks so much better in person. You look like a princess.” Linnie wiped a tear away. Luckily it was a corset dress, so even though she’d lost a few pounds, they were able to adjust the dress. The white strapless gown shimmered against her golden skin. Finally, Linnie found her voice again.

“We have fifteen minutes people,” Linnie said.

“That’s bull, everyone knows they’ll wait for the bride.” Ashley quipped.

“We are not making my son wait for his bride.” Linnie gave Sophia a wink.

“And I’m not waiting a minute longer than necessary to get married.”

“You’re just anxious for the honeymoon. I think it’s awesome you’ve waited two years to consummate the marriage,” Ashley teased.

“We are not talking about sex in front of the underage girls,” Frannie said pointing to Rebecca and Louisa. Both girls were on the floor, Rebecca was trying to convince Louisa not to take off her shoes.

“Well, I’m off the market for a while.” Ashley gave a dramatic sigh.

“Who’s the lucky man?” Sophia hoped it wasn’t Finn. She loved Ashley, but right now she wasn’t someone she wanted any of Mason’s teammates to get tangled up with.

“It is possible, just maybe, perhaps, someone kicked my ass and gave me a ‘Come to Jesus Talk.'” Ashley pouted.

“Drake,” Beth, Lydia and Sophia all said in unison.

“He was right. It’s time I pulled my head out of my ass.”

“Language,” Linnie admonished.

“Pulled my head out of my derriere and acted like a twenty-seven-year-old mom. I needed to stop letting your dad’s treatment rule my life.”