I only informed the congregation about the wedding during services the week before. We sent quick overnight invitations to Chloe’s mother and a few old friends of mine, but for the most part our wedding would be attended by members of my congregation and a few of Chloe’s friends.

Kay picked out the flowers, a pretty combination of spring flowers that looked good to me. Kay was surprised Chloe didn’t have more of an opinion about it, but I knew my bride-to-be had other things on her mind besides cruising wedding magazines.

The star soprano from the church choir offered to sing “Ave Maria” for the processional, and the organist would play Pachelbel’s Canon as Chloe walked down the aisle.

The most important thing to me was that the man who had been a father to me growing up, Reverend Morley, agreed to officiate our ceremony. He and his wife Sue flew in from Virginia in time for the rehearsal dinner the night before, and I’d never been prouder than when I introduced Chloe to them.

After Lucinda Barnes told me she believed Ziggy Barnes was my real father, I called Rev. Morley and accused him of keeping this information from me. He insisted he had no idea who my real father was, and said that he’d only been aware there had been a benefactor whose identity had always been kept from him.

My mother must have known who my father was and where the money came from, but since she’s gone, the only people I could lash out at were the Morleys. I knew it wasn’t right, but I was angry and hurt that I had been lied to by my mother.

Inviting them for the wedding was my way of mending fences, and fortunately, they weren’t the kind of people who held grudges. In fact, they were thrilled to attend my wedding.

“Why, Eduardo, I had no idea you were even seeing someone,” Sue Morley said when I picked them up from the airport.

“It was all very sudden,” I said.

“Well, we can’t wait to meet her. She must be quite a young woman to have made such an impression on you so quickly,” Reverend Morley said.

She had, though not in the way he meant.

Chloe had awakened a side of me that I’d locked away out of guilt and a misguided need to punish myself. She’d made me realize I was alive, and it was time for me to start living.

If I said I didn’t have any doubts in the days leading up to the wedding, I would be lying. A niggling voice in the back of my head tried to warn me that lust was not the bedrock on which to build marriage, but I firmly ignored it and embraced my impulsivity with open arms. Chloe and I might not have a long-term relationship under our belt on which to build, but I was convinced I knew what was best for me.

And that was Chloe.

Once we were married I’d give her the money she needed to open her bakery. She would think it was a bank loan, and that was fine. It wasn’t important for her to know it was from my trust. She could pay it back as her business became profitable as I knew it would be.

I was all sorts of confident that we would live happily ever after.

When I walked up to the altar and turned to see her walking down the aisle towards me wearing that white dress, my chest tightened and I couldn’t imagine ever feeling more love for another person than I did in that moment.

She was a vision, the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen—with a little crown of pearls atop her head, her big brown eyes looking at me like I held the keys to the stars.

I knew she was going to look good, but I had no idea she’d make me melt like that.

Thank God we’d booked a photographer, because I wanted to remember that moment always.

“Repeat after me,” Reverend Morley was saying. “With this ring, I thee wed.”

“With this ring, I thee wed . . .” I said, slipping the ring on her delicate finger.

It felt like I was completing something important.

I had a job that I loved, a calling really, that gave me great fulfillment. There was room for constant growth which I craved, but what had been missing in my life for the past several years was the companionship of a partner.

Looking down at her lovely face, I truly believed I could bring her happiness.

I vowed then and there to do everything in my power to make my new wife’s dream come true.

After the ceremony, we had a simple reception in the parish lounge with coffee and pastries from Miss Bain’s bakery as well as a modest cake.

The whole affair was nothing fancy, but I hoped to make it up to her on our honeymoon.

After cutting the cake, Chloe and I smiled for the camera pretending to feed each other a bite. “I have a surprise for you this evening,” I whispered in her ear.

“You do?” She giggled nervously. “I thought we were just getting ready to go on our honeymoon tomorrow.”

“I realize were going to be exhausted, but I wanted to take you out for a nice dinner. I’ve booked us a private dining room at Evangeline’s.”

“Evangeline’s?”

“Yes, have you eaten there before?”

She shook her head. “I used to work in some of the Thibodeaux’s restaurants, but I’ve never been there. Never been able to afford it honestly, but I’ve always wanted to go.” The appreciation on her face told me I’d made the right call.

It warmed my heart to be able to do something nice for her, and I was pleased our marriage was off to a good start.

When the reception was over Kay and some of the other ladies from the church insisted on cleaning up. “I insist. You and Chloe catch up with the Morley’s. We’ll take care of all that.”

Chloe immediately kicked her shoes off. Sue smiled and did the same thing.

“I picked a good one, didn’t I?” I asked the Morley’s, beaming at my bride.

Chloe blushed but seemed to enjoy the attention.

“We never had any doubt,” Rev. Morley said. “And I’m so glad we could be here.”

“Yes, we wouldn’t have missed it for the world,” Mrs. Morley gushed. “Fred has been somewhat upset since that business with that Barnes woman. This was just wonderful for you to get back on the right side of things.”

I ignored Chloe’s quizzical look. “I can’t imagine getting married without you two here.”

“We can’t either. And Chloe I’m so sorry your mother couldn’t be here with us today, but I’m sure she’s thinking about you.”

“She’s with us in spirit,” Chloe said and I put my arm around her shoulder and kissed the top of her head. It had to be difficult for her not having any family see her get married, but I was glad her friends could come.

We visited for another hour or so, then we told them good-bye.

Chloe changed out of her wedding dress into jeans and a shirt and we walked together, carrying some of the wedding gifts people had brought to the ceremony with us over to the cottage behind the church where I lived.

“Is it weird for you to live here with me?” I asked. It was the one thing we hadn’t exactly settled in our pre-marriage negotiations.

“Kinda.” She made a face.

“That’s what I thought.” The cottage was the perfect place for a bachelor priest, but it felt like Chloe and I would enjoy living somewhere we chose together.

“When we get back from Hawaii let’s start looking for a new place. One of my parishioners is a realtor, and I’m sure we can get her to show us some places you’d like.”

“I’m just ready to get out of that dump I’ve been living in,” she said.

“So, this will do for now?”

She walked through the living space into the bedroom as though she had been here dozens of times, and I followed along behind. She set the gifts down on a dresser and collapsed onto the bed. Her hair fell over her face like a mop. Unable to help myself, I sat down on the bed and pushed her hair to the side.

“This is fine,” she mumbled before falling into a deep sleep.

I was tired too. It had been a long and wonderful day, but I didn’t dare close my eyes for fear that I would wake up and it would all be a dream—that Chloe would be gone, and I’d be alone again.

So I busied myself doing things around the house. I washed some dishes, ran a load of laundry and made sure I had everything ready for our trip the next morning. I took care of early check-in for our flight online, charged every phone and device I could find. Finally, I lay down next to her and listened to her breathing.

After a while I tried to wake her up to go eat dinner, but when she wouldn’t budge, I went out and had Evangeline’s make our food to go.

I’d had many wedding planners at the church tell me a person’s wedding day was possibly the most exhausting day of a person’s life. One lady said a lot of brides got so worked up for the big wedding night that they slept right through it.

I figured that was what was wrong with Chloe, so I let her snooze.

But by the time I returned home with dinner and tried to wake her, her skin felt like it was on fire.

“Chloe?” I asked shaking her shoulder.

“Hmm?” She mumbled, but that was all I could get out of her.

“Chloe, I think you have a fever. Let’s sit you up and get you some ibuprofen.”

I brought her a glass of water and two pills.

“I got us some dinner,” I said, practically forcing the medicine into her.

Barely opening her eyes she managed, “Not hungry. Thanks though.” Then she flopped back down and fell back asleep.

Well, this was not how I imagined my wedding night, I thought as I went to the bathroom, got a washcloth out of the cabinet and ran cold water over it. Then I wrung it out in the sink before going back in the bedroom and placing it on Chloe’s forehead the way my mother had done for me when I was small.

Unsure what else to do, I went back into the living room, opened a TV tray, sat down, clicked on ESPN and ate my dinner. I put Chloe’s in the refrigerator.

While I ate, I flipped through the channels until I found a basketball game. The Fresno Fever versus the Tennessee Tigers. This was the first time I’d seen Nick Barnes play since finding out he might be my brother. It made watching the game surreal.

I couldn’t help but think “what if.”

What if Nick and I had grown up together playing basketball as kids? It seemed far-fetched with my mother being a hidden secret tucked away on a ranch where she would never bother the legitimate Barnes offspring. But what if we had grown up together or what if I’d gone to live with the Barneses after my mother passed away instead of going to boarding school and living with the Morleys?

Would I still be a priest? Would I have had enough advantages and training to help me rise in the basketball ranks like Nick had?

That was probably wishful thinking. Nick was a freak of nature, and my basketball skills were only slightly above average. There was also the fact that he was six foot seven or something. While I was just over six feet. Those six inches made a difference.

But as I watched him dunk the ball effortlessly and score thirty points I couldn’t help but daydream about what might have been. Watching Nick sparked my curiosity and I took out my phone and googled Dynassy Barnes and then the twins, Ivy and Leo.

It seemed Dynassy was a rather controversial young woman. Last year she’d made an offhand remark, caught on video, about a homeless man. It came across as insensitive and there had been some backlash about that, but she had also fallen in love with the guy who had invented a sex machine and had a porn business. The whole thing sounded seedy as could be.

But as I read a few more articles, I determined that the guy was a Navy SEAL who’d been injured in Iraq and had built the first machine in order to satisfy his fiancée, because he was afraid his own equipment was never going to work again due to the nerve damage he sustained from an IED.

Huh. Dynassy was certainly interesting, I could say that for her.

The twins, on the other hand were the media’s darlings. Ivy’s clothes and hairstyles made headlines. Everything I found about Leo praised his musical talent. The inevitable comparison with his father was made quite often, and from what I could tell, Leo came up being judged quite favorably.

That had to be tough though, trying to live up to your father’s reputation when your father was basically considered a god of the music industry. There was nothing quite so certain to render you an immortal like dying in the middle of your prime. It was bizarre to think that happened to my own father.

What had it been like for my siblings growing up without him? In some ways that was something we shared. No, I had not known him, but I’d grown up without a father too.

This train of thought had me thinking—should I have invited my siblings to my wedding? Of course not. I didn’t even know them and I turned Lucinda away telling her I wanted nothing to do with any of them. But now I was starting to experience a small amount of doubt. Perhaps I pushed her away too swiftly. She had said all she wanted was to have me as part of their family.

No. I changed the channel to some special on PBS about the aurora borealis.

Chloe was my family now, she and the Morleys, and that was perfect. They would be enough for me. There was nothing a bunch of Hollywood stars could give me that I couldn’t get right here in New Orleans with my wife. There was always work to be done to save people’s souls, to spread the word of God, and to help people. All you had to do was look around.

The glitzy LA lifestyle wasn’t for me, I thought, getting up to go check on Chloe.