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15
AGATHA
“We will talk about this,” I’d hissed at Clarice before Hawk and I took our seats on the terrace beside the ocean.
I expected a snippy comment, but she’d just nodded and disappeared back into the bridal suite to assist Odette. Inside, I could hear my younger sister panicking about the damp grass outside, and how was she supposed to walk over it in heels?
Chas’s return had gone surprisingly smoothly, although of course, I was only now realising what a duplicitous nature Clarice had been hiding. While we watched the Shetland pony show, an intern from Blackwood’s Portland office had arrived at Ambling Acres with a Ford Explorer, and I’d ridden back to Steppen Island with Chas in the back seat, the two of us hidden behind tinted windows. Hawk was with us the whole way, following on the bike, and he kept the ferry captain busy so he didn’t get too curious about any passengers in the SUV.
Meanwhile, Clarice told Buckley that Chas had finally answered her phone and admitted she was hiding but wouldn’t say where, and when the SUV pulled up outside the hotel, Hawk and I had miraculously “found” her behind a bush in the parking lot. Clarice promised to have a serious talk with Chas later rather than causing more drama because nobody wanted to spoil Odette’s special day, did they? My big sis could teach the folks at work a thing or two about long-term covert ops.
While we drove back, Odette had gone into a full-on meltdown, furious that her wedding was being overshadowed by a missing child. Chas had been fired as a flower girl, a move intended as a punishment but one that had left Chas beaming with happiness. Now she was sitting between Buckley and me in the second row, fiddling with the hem of her non-ruffled dress.
A three-hour delay turned into three and a half as Mom calmed Odette down, and on the way to our seats, I’d overheard the waitstaff panicking that the food would be overcooked. This will all be over soon. I sucked in a calming breath, taking in the aroma of salt water and paint. Yes, paint. Odette had insisted that the florist spray-paint the freaking peonies, although to my untrained eye, they still looked exactly the same colour as they had in the first place. Twenty-four hours, and I’ll be packing my bags to go home.
Hawk squeezed my hand. Although I’d hated the wedding celebrations, one good thing had come from this trip, and that was my future with the man I’d fallen in love with. Yes, I loved him. Clarice might not be able to admit to her true feelings, but I finally could. I wanted this moody, brave, ridiculously sexy asshole to be mine forever.
Okay, so confessing out loud might take me a few more weeks, but at least I knew where I stood.
The rest of the guests settled into their seats, and I leaned my head on Hawk’s shoulder. When we arrived back at the hotel, he’d changed into a dark-grey suit, and not just any old off-the-rack suit. No, it looked custom made, and it had taken every ounce of my self-control not to peel him right back out of it. He looked hot. Better yet, he’d promised to do magic things with the silk tie when we got back to our room, and my panties were damp already.
Chas gripped my other hand. “How long till it’s done?”
“Not long now, kid.”
“And then there’s gonna be cake, right?”
“Yes, there’ll be cake.”
A three-tier fruit cake decorated with sugar peonies, to be precise, topped with a tiny bride and groom painted to look just like Odette and Stu, if Stu had been three inches taller and fifteen pounds lighter.
Music started, the traditional wedding march, and I sighed with relief as Stu took his place by the altar and the wedding party made their way down the aisle. When Clarice appeared, I glared at her, but she refused to meet my gaze. Clarice was followed by Charity, perfectly prim as she carried both rings, and Odette, who looked just a tiny bit smug because, as usual, she’d gotten everything she wanted. A late ceremony, pink flowers, the man of her dreams and my nightmares. She stood under the hastily acquired gazebo with Stu, their hands clasped. His parents looked on from the front row, his mom dripping with diamonds and dabbing at her eyes with a lacy handkerchief.
“Ladies and gentlemen, family and friends,” the officiant began. “We are gathered here today to witness and celebrate the joining of Odette and Stuart in marriage. With love and commitment, they have decided to—”
“Hey, did I miss the objection part? Tell me I didn’t miss the objection part.”
All heads swivelled to the back, where a pretty young blonde in a babydoll dress stood with her arm looped through a twenty-something guy’s, puffing as she tried to catch her breath.
“No, ma’am,” the officiant said. “We didn’t get to that part yet.”
“Skip it,” Odette ordered. “Just skip it.”
“Can they do that?” Hawk whispered.
“Who knows?”
The officiant stepped forward. “Do you have an objection?” he asked the newcomers.
It was the guy who spoke. “Yeah, we do. That jackass in the tuxedo got my sister pregnant and then refused to take her calls.” He was pointing at Stu. “He didn’t even give her his real name.”
Shocked gasps drowned out the music, and Hawk’s lips twitched.
“This should be good,” he whispered.
Odette’s jaw dropped. For the first time in her life, she was speechless, but it didn’t matter. Because when it came down to it, there was one woman in our family who was the undisputed master at slaying a person with words and a withering gaze, and that was our mother. She drew herself up to her full height, all five feet two of it, and marched up to Stu.
“Is this true?”
