CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The day of the wedding dawned warm and bright with a gentle breeze that fluttered the walls of the white tent in Phoebe and Franklin’s front yard. Niko arrived early, camera gear at the ready and his wardrobe adhering to the casual dress code.
The yard was already overrun with caterers and early arrivals. Niko spotted Franklin directing the catering company into the house. Emma was deep in discussion with the event coordinator, ticking items off the list on her tablet.
She looked like a woodland fairy in her blush pink dress, her red hair down in a riot of curls. Her eyes sparkled with the excitement of the day, and when she spotted him, the smile she sent him from those perfect lips went straight to his gut. When had it happened? When had he fallen for the untouchable girl? Looking at Emma now, Niko couldn’t remember a time that he hadn’t felt this longing, this need.
They had just met. They hadn’t even slept together. How could he have such strong feelings for a woman he barely knew?
She laughed at something the guy in the coveralls said, and Niko’s world tilted. It wasn’t possible, but that didn’t change the fact that it was.
She came to him, skimming over the grass as her dress floated around her legs like that of a goddess.
“Hi.” Her voice was soft, her eyes bright.
“You look incredible. Stunning,” he breathed.
She twirled for him, kicking up the layers of skirt as the spring air caught beneath them, and before he was even conscious of it, he was raising the camera and snapping the shot.
Emma stopped spinning. “Oh! Save your shots for the bride and groom!”
“This one’s for luck,” Niko said. “Thanks for making me do this.”
She wrinkled her nose at the dig. “You’ll be thanking me sincerely later,” she predicted.
“Let’s hope so or else Phoebe and your father will only have a handful of shitty shots to remember their special day.”
She gave him a playful shove. “You’re going to be just fine, Nikolai. Trust yourself.” She rolled her eyes when he raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Fine, then trust me.”
She tucked her arm through his. “Come on. I’ll take you to the bride.”
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Looking stunning in a simple floor-length gold lace gown, Phoebe Pierce wed Franklin Merill in a pool of afternoon sunshine as their children, grandchildren, and closest friends looked on. Phoebe’s sons, in white button downs and khakis, lined up behind her for the ceremony while Franklin’s daughters in their blush dresses did the same for him. Groomsmaids and bridesmen, they’d called themselves.
Niko snapped a handful of test shots as the ceremony began but didn’t get the tingle of the magic until the moment that Emma discreetly passed Gia a tissue. The happiness of the ceremony, the simplicity of the vows spoken, the bonding of two families was its own magic. There were tears and watery smiles on both sides as two became one.
And when the minister mentioned the joy that those who were gone from this world must certainly feel for the happy couple, the brothers marked the moment spontaneously by laying a hand on the other’s shoulder. Jax to Beckett, Beckett to Carter. Magic. Family. Love.
Niko caught it all, finding the flow in the swooping flight of the butterflies released from their white cardboard prison. The reception bar had opened before the ceremony, and the guests happily lifted their glasses in a spontaneous toast when Phoebe and Franklin were introduced as husband and wife.
Niko felt his own throat tighten just a bit when he watched a tearful Emma blow her father a kiss as he and Phoebe dashed down the aisle to wild cheers.
He caught it again when the bride and groom held their three youngest grandbabies in celebration and then again when Carter reached out to cup Summer’s face in a sweet, private moment.
He was there for the laughter of Jax and Eva’s toasts. He caught Aurora swiping an extra piece of cake and sneaking under the gift table to eat it. Calvin Finestra, Blue Moon’s go-to contractor, and his wife led the guests in a complicated line dance that had the band cranking up the speakers a little louder.
Niko watched Emma twirl around the dance floor laughing in her father’s arms. Here in the Blue Moon sunshine, he found real. He found love.
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“I love seeing you so happy, Dad,” Emma laughed breathlessly as Franklin twirled her in a tight circle. The Wild Nigels, Blue Moon’s favorite garage band, blared out a swing song. Fran, Fitness Freak’s mohawked front desk worker, rocked out on her bass, her wheelchair festively decked in pink and gold ribbons.
Franklin dipped Emma, making her squeal. “I feel like I have everything I ever wanted,” he said, the smile nearly splitting his face.
“I just wish you could have found this the first time around,” Emma told him. She hated that he’d been hurt so badly by her careless mother, hated that he’d had to suffer quietly while putting on a brave front for three scared little girls.
“Emmaline, my girl, let me tell you a secret,” Franklin said, pulling her back into his arms. “I wouldn’t trade a second of that heartache because everything since then has been leading me here to this perfect moment.”
She hugged him tighter, and a tear slipped out between her lashes. “I just wish you could have gotten here without the pain.”
“Don’t be afraid of pain, or less-than-perfect, daughter of mine. That’s where the real joy comes from. Life gets its color from challenges and adversity. You can’t plan your way to happiness, you know.”
Emma frowned. Is that what her father thought she was doing? Is that what she was doing? Trying to orchestrate chaos into the most agreeable outcome?
“Now, no worrying today. Today’s only for celebrating. I think there’s someone who could use a little distraction.” Franklin nudged his chin across the dance floor where Niko was capturing the Pierce boys and their beers at the bar.
Niko was mouth-watering as always in charcoal pants that made his ass look even more spectacular than usual and a pale blue shirt, the sleeves rolled stylishly to his elbows. She could see just a hint of the ink from his tattoo peeking out under the sleeve. He’d shaved for the occasion, but Emma realized it didn’t do anything to lessen the bad boy vibe. God, he was gorgeous.
Evan galloped up to Emma and Franklin, a laughing Phoebe in tow. “Our grandson can certainly dance,” she said.
Evan gave a little bow. “Ladies like a guy with moves,” he said wisely and turned the bride back over to the groom.
“Why don’t you two enjoy a dance,” Emma suggested. “I have a photographer to distract.”
She made her way through the crowded dance floor and swung by the bar. She ordered a martini and a beer from Cheryl whose tip jar was overflowing with wedding goodwill. Off duty and out of uniform, Donovan Cardona leaned against the bar nursing a beer and staring into the crowd.
“Did you get everything straightened out with Fitz?” Emma asked, nudging him.
Donovan shook himself back to the present. “Apparently our pal Fitz took an online Stripping 101 course a while back. He’s the understudy to whoever you actually hired. That guy couldn’t make it last night because he’s the understudy for the lead in an off-off-Broadway of The Full Monty, and the lead fell down a flight of stairs and broke his leg after someone slapped him on the shoulder and told him to break a leg.”
Emma shook her head. “Was this Fitz’s first gig?”
Donovan laughed. “Here’s the unbelievable part. Apparently, the little weasel’s been picking up jobs here and there and clearing an extra grand a month shaking it for book clubs and knitting circles.”
Emma shuddered. “I’m never joining a book club or a knitting circle.”
“Here you go, boss,” Cheryl pushed the drinks at Emma with a wink. “You going to go hydrate that gorgeous photographer?”
“I’m thinking about it,” Emma said slyly.
“Hot damn.” Cheryl moved down the bar to take another order, and Emma looked around the crowd again. She saw Aurora sharing a piece of cake with a little boy in jeans and a too-small polo shirt.
“Do you know who that boy is?” Emma asked Donovan, tilting her head in Aurora’s direction.
“That’s Reva’s little brother, Caleb.” For a second, Emma saw Donovan go from wedding guest to cop as he studied the boy. “There’ve been some rumors around town about their mother. I’ve been trying to call her, but the house phone’s been disconnected.”
“What’s going on?”
“Rumor has it the mom skipped town with her latest boyfriend. She stopped showing up for work last month, and no one’s seen her since.”
“Then who’s taking care of Reva and Caleb?”
“That’s what I’m worried about,” Donovan said.
Emma watched Caleb’s big eyes get bigger as Aurora spooned a huge portion of cake onto his plate.
“Well, hell,” she said. She could only imagine what would happen if it turned out their mother had abandoned them. Foster care, separation, instability. “I hope for their sake the rumors aren’t true.”
“I hope so, too,” Donovan admitted. “But I don’t have a good feeling about it.”
“Let me know if there’s anything I can do,” Emma offered.
When Donovan didn’t respond, Emma followed his gaze to Eva as she spun around the dance floor with Evan, laughing and gasping for breath.
Emma bit her lip. The town sheriff with a crush on Eva? Now that was interesting.
“Maybe you should go ask her to dance,” she suggested to him.
Donovan turned six shades of red and fumbled his beer.
“And don’t even pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about,” she warned him when he opened his mouth.
“Is she seeing anyone?”
“No one serious. But she appreciates a man who can keep up with her around the dance floor.” Emma left him pondering her suggestion and tracked down Niko who was capturing Mrs. Nordemann kicking up her bare feet on a table with a piece of cake in her lap.
“You’re officially off duty,” Emma said, handing him the beer.
She saw the glaze of his eyes and knew he’d found his way back into it all. The grin she flashed him was pure cockiness. “Looks like someone’s remembered how to be a photographer.”
The teasing brought him all the way back to her. “No one likes a smart ass,” he countered.
“Not true. You like me, and you’re well aware that I’m a smart ass.”
“You’re my friend. I’m required to like you, warts and all.”
She took a fortifying sip of martini and set her glass on the table well away from Mrs. Nordemann’s bunions. “Dance with me, Nikolai.”
It took no convincing for him to put down his camera, take her hand, and lead her out onto the dance floor. The sun was setting, and the band shifted into a slow, smooth song about love and heartbreak. Someone plugged in the strings of lights looped around the tent casting a soft glow over everyone beneath it.
Niko fit her body against his, and the rightness of it zipped through her like electricity. They danced closer than friends, closer than they should, but Emma didn’t want to pull back to put that space between them. She wanted him close enough to touch, to taste.
“What’s gotten into you, Emmaline?” Niko asked, his lips moving against her ear.
“Just listening to my elders.”
“Whatever they said to put you here, I agree with one-hundred percent,” he said, his voice husky. He ran his hands up and down her sides, fingers splaying over her hips and waist. “You look like a goddess.”
“You look like a very enjoyable bad idea.”
He pulled her hand to his mouth and laid his lips across her knuckles. “Emma, you’re sending me mixed signals,” he warned.
“I know,” she said, biting her lip. “I’m thinking.”
“Thinking about revising our friendship?” he asked.
She nodded.
He bent her backwards in a dramatic dip. She laughed and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Think fast,” he suggested darkly.
“Nothing would change,” she stipulated. “You aren’t planning to give up your life and move to Blue Moon, and I’m not leaving here.”
“That doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy ourselves with the time we do have together.”
“How much longer are you going to stay?” She wasn’t asking for planning purposes, Emma realized. She was asking for her. “You’ve obviously had some kind of breakthrough today, thanks to your incredibly intelligent friend.”
“Incredibly intelligent, sexy, stunningly beautiful friend,” he corrected her.
“I like all those things about me.”
“I do, too. And I’m planning to stick around a while longer. We can’t know for sure that I’m completely cured.”
“That’s true,” Emma mused. “We should take our time and make sure your recovery is a permanent one. We don’t want to rush anything…”
On impulse, she pressed her lips to his neck and felt him go hard everywhere against her. His fingers dug into her hips. “I have never wanted anyone or anything the way that I want you.”
“When you say it, it doesn’t sound like a line,” Emma whispered back.
“Emmaline, everything with you is real.”
“You guys are kinda ruining the formation,” Evan hissed at them, appearing from nowhere. Emma realized they were surrounded by dancers including Aurora, Caleb, and Evan’s junior high girlfriend, Oceana, all of whom were doing the same steps. The song had changed at some point to one with a peppy beat, and neither of them had noticed.
Rainbow and Gordon Berkowicz had their heads together with Bruce Oakleigh and Bobby from Peace of Pizza. They all looked rather pleased with themselves.
“Well, that should give everyone something to talk about,” Emma said, feeling the flush creep over her cheeks. “I’m going to go track down my martini.”
“Want to dance with us, Niko?” Aurora asked sweetly.
“Uh, sure?”