The minute Nikki was ushered into the hotel’s bridal suite she felt like crying.
How often had she avoided this very room?
And now? Now it was hers to enjoy.
“Ladies!” Nadine let out a piercing whistle. “We have ten minutes.”
“Ten minutes?” Nikki shrieked.
“I’ve thought of everything,” Nadine said. “Though Brant picked out the dress.”
A blur appeared in front of her. A red blur.
That man. She loved that man. “My dress is red.”
“He said he wanted you to be able to see it,” Nadine whispered as sniffles sounded around the room. “And apparently bright colors were all over the runway this spring, so I allowed it.”
Well, that and she was a matchmaking psychopath. Brant could have asked to get married underwater and the woman would have been okay with it as long as she could plan everything.
Nikki reached out and touched the silky material. It was so smooth against her fingertips. It had to be expensive. There were thick straps that crisscrossed around the neck and down the back of the dress.
When she was done touching it, the dress was jerked from the hanger, and suddenly hands were everywhere as the shirt she was wearing was whisked away and the wedding dressed was smoothed over her body.
The dress fit perfectly.
“Jane!” Nadine called. “The shoes!”
“These,” Jane’s voice came from behind her, “are your something borrowed. They’re the first shoes Brock bought me and kind of how our story started. I know they’ll be perfect with this dress.”
“Thank you,” Nikki breathed as she stepped into the tall heels.
Margot was next. “And this dress is clearly your something new. When Brant said he wanted something red, well, I begged him to help pick it out. He was one of my best friends when we were in high school—I’ve never seen him look at a woman the way he looks at you, it was an honor.”
“Thank you.” Nikki sniffed. “All of you. I don’t know what to say.”
“Welcome to the family,” Margot whispered.
“No!” everyone yelled all at once, as Nikki reached to touch her face.
“No.” Nadine slapped her hands away. “Don’t ruin your makeup. No more tears. All right, ladies, let’s do this.”
* * *
It felt like an eternity.
It had been twelve minutes.
Bentley elbowed Brant. “Stop sighing, it’s depressing as hell. She said yes, which usually means she’s going to be walking down the aisle pretty soon.”
“Right.” Brant swallowed the dryness in his throat. “But—”
“She’ll be here,” Brock said sternly.
Cole shrugged from his spot on Nikki’s side of the aisle. “Or she could have used the getaway car I left for her.” All three men glared at him. “Sorry, too soon?”
Brant rolled his eyes.
And then the wedding march sounded.
“Holy shit.” Brant breathed out a pained exhale and waited.
“Maybe save the romancing for later.” Cole nodded. “And the shits.”
Bentley nodded to Cole. “Brant. We’re adopting him later. Already got the paperwork.”
Brock covered a laugh with a cough as the hotel staff stood and waited.
Grandfather held out his arm to Nikki and slid her hand through it. Then he kissed her on the cheek and whispered something in her ear that had tears filling her eyes.
Seeing those tears brought him back to what his grandfather had said earlier that day.
“Son.” Tears filled Grandfather’s eyes. “Had I not been too hard on you, this may have all been avoided.” He shook his head. “But I can’t bring myself to say sorry.”
A stunned Brant waited in silence for whatever his grandfather was going to confess next.
“Four years ago you were a boy trying to prove you were a man.” His eyes locked onto Brant’s. “Today, you’re a man saying good-bye to the boy.”
Those words. They were words Brant would never forget. And this vision in front of him, of Nikki walking with his grandfather, would be burned into his memory forever and always.
When they finally reached them, Brant’s fingers itched to grab her hand, to hold it close, to promise to never let go.
Cole stepped down and grabbed Nikki’s other hand. She gasped and then laughed through her tears.
The hotel chaplain smiled at them. “Who gives this woman?”
“Her grandfather and I,” Cole said in a loud voice. “Her best friend.”
Nikki tucked her head against Cole’s chest and sighed as he kissed her temple.
Grandfather joined Cole on Nik’s side of the room, still standing up front since she truly had no family that would accept her after she married Brant—and though Brant had invited them at the last minute, even offering to pay for everything, he’d still been given the cold shoulder.
It didn’t matter. Because he and Nikki were a family again. A true family.
“I almost forgot.” Brant reached into his pocket and placed a charm bracelet in Nikki’s hand. “Your something blue.”
Her fingers ran along little hands praying, with the name Noah in Braille, across the single silver and blue charm.
She covered her mouth with her hands as a sob escaped.
“He’s here.” Brant was barely able to get the words out. “With us. He’s here, and I’d like to think he’s really excited that his mom and dad finally figured out what he figured out a long time ago.”
“What’s that?” she whispered.
Brant squeezed her hands. “Love never dies.”