“There’s still a lot left to do, Maggie,” I said, lazily twisting a strand of her hair around my finger. She smiled, looking sexy and satisfied, the sheet draped over the curve of her hip.

“Jackie’s got the flowers handled,” she said, with a relaxed sigh. “And Ryan’s handling the classy invitations.” She dropped her cell on the nightstand.

“Last minute phone calls…” I looked at her and lifted an eyebrow. “Are you sure this is what you want? We could put a fairy tale wedding together in a matter of weeks, sweetheart. I don’t want you looking back and wishing…” She cut me off with a kiss, sweet and lingering and damnably tempting…

“It’s not about the wedding,” she said. “It’s about the marriage. And I can’t think of a more perfect place. Cozy and intimate… and right here, where I fell in love with you…”

“I don’t expect Bess will trouble herself to walk down the hill,” I said with a sigh. “But I suppose if I expect her to accept my choices, I have to accept hers.”

“Dean will be here,” she said, smiling and running her finger along my jaw. “For now, I think that’s victory enough. And Ryan is bringing Henry.” She kissed the tip of my nose.

“I still don’t understand why he never told me.” I shifted onto my side and propped my head on one hand. “Didn’t he trust me?”

She pursed her lips and gave me a look. “He trusts you,” she said firmly. “But he grew up in the same family you did, Joe. He always felt the same weight of expectation that you did. Differently, maybe… but just as heavily.” A few quiet moments passed, and I drew a line along her brow with the tip of my finger.

“What did you mean when you told Ryan that Bess had blinded herself to your father’s faults?” Maggie put her cool hand on my chest. “What was in that box you gave her?”

I cupped her face in my hand and looked deeply into her lovely, dark eyes and took a breath. “Your father wasn’t the only one who had a problem with alcohol…,” I began. The words felt uncomfortable against my tongue, but there was relief, too…

“What he drank was more expensive,” I went on, “and he managed to hide it better, under a thin veneer of social propriety. Your father drank out in the open, Maggie. Mine did it in boardroom meetings and locked away alone in the library. They were both alcoholics, sweetheart, but my dad was also a coward. For all those years, he made us all believe that he was the one who had come to your father’s rescue. But it was all a lie from the start…”

“But he gave my family a place to stay… He fought Bess to do it…”

“He wanted to see himself as a hero, Maggie. And he didn’t want anyone to find out the truth. That it was your dad who saved mine, back during the war. Dad was nothing but a coward… and it was your father who prevented him from deserting… and bringing shame to the grand Decker name.

Dad owed your family… far more than he ever actually gave. And, no matter his faults, your father had enough honor to never betray his secret.” I ran my thumb across Maggie’s soft, parted lips. “I only found the letters a few months ago. Written years ago, before you and your family ever moved into this cottage. Your dad was sober when he wrote them, and I believe he was a good man… It came through in the letters very strongly, Maggie…

That he loved you very much…”

* * *

“Incredible, Jackie…

How did you find a string quartet with only a few hours’ notice?” I looked around the lawns surrounding the cottage. The sun was just starting to drop in the sky. “Magnificent…”

“I had help,” she said back, pleased with herself as Dean came up and curled his arms around her waist. “It’s the reason Maggie loves me. I’m great in a pinch.” Dean whispered in her ear, and she giggled and blushed.

Truckloads of white flowers had been coming in all afternoon, and more than a dozen of Maggie’s coworkers had arrived to arrange them. The old oak had become the perfect backdrop, and mounds of blooms were heaped at its base. Long swags of flowers draped its spreading branches. Even the old wooden swing had tendrils of white winding its ropes.

“Nervous?” Dean asked, tucking a bloom into my buttonhole. I pulled on the back of my jacket and stuck a finger down the collar of my shirt.

“Perfect,” I answered dryly. “Where the hell is Maggie? She disappeared hours ago.” The guests were already arriving and beginning to take their seats.

“She had a dress to buy, Joe,” Jackie shot back. “And she got back twenty minutes ago. No matter how casual she wanted this to be, a girl still wants to look like a bride on her wedding day.” She gave Dean an exasperated look. “I’m going to go give her a hand.”

“Maggie told me about Dad,” Dean said quietly, brushing at my jacket. “It doesn’t change how we grew up… but it helps somehow, just to know…”

“He had a hard life and fought lot of battles… both inside and out,” I said. “But underneath it all, he was an honorable man.”

“Growing up, you were the one I looked up to, Joe.” His dark eyes were sincere, so much like his sister’s. “I’m sorry… for not accepting… for not seeing it sooner. How much you love Maggie. And how she could never have loved anyone else…

But life isn’t going to be easy. Maggie’s a handful on her best day. She’s going to push the limits, every chance she gets.”

“I know,” I admitted with a smile. “I love her… and her passion is part of the reason why.” I took Dean’s palm in mine. “After all, what’s life?... without an occasional storm to break the calm...”

I gripped his hand, pulling him to my chest, wrapping our forearms together in a strong and solid bond. “I love you, too, Dean. We’ve always been family… we always will be.

I swear it.”

“Swear it to her,” he said, with a smile and a tilt of his head.

“...Here comes your bride…”