Nimble fingers braided lavender sprigs into my glossy brown hair. Indigo eyes, matching my own, twinkled back at me in the mirror. Lacey winked at me as she tucked another sprig into the crown of braids around my head.

“I swear we’ve played this game before,” I laughed, giddy with excitement.

“That wasn’t play, that was practice,” she grinned, flashing her deep dimples. “I always knew you’d be the one to do this.”

“First,” I objected firmly. “The one to do this first.”

“Yeah, whatever,” she laughed. “You think a guy has to be superman to deal with you? I’m ten times worse and not nearly successful enough to get away with it.”

“Oh, stop it,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Look at you, you’re like…the epitome of manic pixie dream girl.”

“More like heroin chic,” she said, wrinkling her upturned nose in the mirror. “Both of which went out of style years ago. But shut up, this isn’t my day, this is your day! You’re the princess.”

“Ugh, no. I’m a woman, in love with a man, getting married on a good old-fashioned country horse ranch.” I made a face in the mirror, and she laughed at me.

“What’s the matter with being a princess? You’re the center of attention, everybody wants to give you presents, everybody adores you…”

“Everybody throws their adoration at you, demanding you take it,” I muttered.

“Oh my God, girl, you’re such a pessimist. How do you even write happy music?” Lacey mumbled around the bobby pins in her mouth, scowling at an errant curl.

“I’m not a pessimist,” I laughed. “But Lord Almighty, that world tour just about took my last breath, and I’ve got another one coming up in a few months. Today isn’t about the people who look at me, and it’s not about Country Music Star Paisley Abbott. Today is about me, just Paisley the woman, future Mrs. Macintyre.”

Lacey paused, then shot me a stunned look in the mirror. “Oh my God, I didn’t even realize what his last name was. Isn’t that going to get confusing? Career-wise, I mean.”

“No,” I told her, twisting my lips distastefully. “Jude’s insisting that I keep my stage name. He says it makes me sound classy, whatever that means.”

“It means our last name sounds British,” she murmured absently as she twisted a strand of my hair around her finger, weaving a lavender sprig through it.

I quirked my eyebrows at her as she continued.

“I didn’t realize Jude was such a control freak…” She tilted my head this way and that in the mirror, examining her handiwork.

“He’s my manager,” I sighed.

“Yeah, and he’s a jackass,” she said matter-of-factly.

“Lacey Joy Abbott!” My mother’s voice sliced through the parlor, and Lacey rolled her eyes. “What on earth are you talking about? Don’t be upsetting your sister, this is her big day!”

Mom fluttered over to me, tears twinkling in her eyes. “Oh, darling, you look so beautiful! I was so worried I would never see either of you married. Oh, I’m so happy!” She burst into tears, dabbing at her eyes with a lace handkerchief.

“Where was all this emotion when you were nominated for the CMAs, huh?” Lacey murmured in my ear, just loud enough for Mom to hear.

“Oh, that’s a silly little award,” Mom said dismissively. “This is a husband! Oh sweetheart, lavender? Really? Don’t you think baby’s breath…?”

“Nice try, Mom,” I said, batting her hands away. “No babies. Not yet, anyway. I do not have time for that.”

“Oh, hush,” Mom said. “You can always take a break from all this globe-hopping, can’t you? You have a man now! He can take care of you, and you can have a whole house full of babies, and…”

“Mom, he works for me.”

She stopped in mid-sentence, her mouth agape. “I’m sorry, he what?”

“He works for me,” I repeated firmly. “Tyler’s still officially employed as my bodyguard.”

“What? Oh no! No, that won’t do at all. Tell you what, have him talk to— ”

“Mom.” I cut her off. “Do you have any idea how much money I make?”

“Well you can’t have much left, not after buying us that house, I knew you shouldn’t have done that. Oh God, I’ve put my baby in the poorhouse…”

“Mother!” I snapped. “You are upsetting me. Do you want me to be blotchy walking down the aisle?”

She clapped her hands over her mouth, her eyes wide in horror. “Oh goodness, baby, I’m so sorry, I just worry about you girls, this world is so hard for girls… Champagne! You need champagne. I’ll be right back.”

She hurried away down the hall, and Lacey and I shared an amused look. “She’s right, you know,” Lacey said somberly. “You’ve been needing a man to rescue you from your harlot life of abject poverty.”

Peals of laughter rang through the rooms and hallways of my new house. Tyler and I had managed to furnish it just enough to host today’s party. Tomorrow, we would be off on our honeymoon, to a remote island where the locals had never even heard of Paisley Abbott.

Finished with my hair, Lacey stepped away, leading me by my wrist to show me the complete picture in the full-length mirror.

It was everything I had ever imagined it would be. The crown of flowers in my hair, the intricate but subtle butterfly pendant on a silver chain. The dress was every bit the down-home country fairy tale I had imagined as a starry-eyed child—all ruffled chiffon layers and flowing ribbons, dotted with dewy pearls and embroidered with tiny wildflowers. Tears filled my eyes, turning my nose red.

“Oh, no you don’t!” Lacey said in a panic. “Your eyeliner isn’t dry; you’ll ruin the whole thing. Tilt your head back, we are drying you out right flippin’ now.” She fanned my eyes frantically, and I laughed at her.

“You’re as bad as Mom,” I said.

“You bite your tongue! I’m just protective of my artwork,” she sniffed.

“Fair enough.” I straightened as she released me, satisfied that my eyes were dry enough. “What time is it?”

“It’s, uh… Nine forty-five.”

“Fifteen minutes,” I breathed.

“You nervous?” She peered at me searchingly.

I waited for the nerves, searched for them. I thought every anxiety-triggering thought I could think of, and came up empty. Blissfully serene, I smiled at her.

“Ugh, you disgust me,” she said, sticking her tongue out. “Here I was hoping you’d hop on one of those horses and pull a runaway bride.”

“Oh, shut up,” I laughed, shoving her. “You’re happy for me. The sooner you admit it, the sooner you can stop forcing your face into that frown. It’ll give you wrinkles.”

“Wrinkles add character,” she grinned, flashing her deep dimples.

Our banter died down as the minutes ticked closer and closer to ten o’clock. Twelve months and twelve hours exactly from the first time I met Tyler with his hand over my mouth. The memory made me laugh, and Lacey smiled up at me.

“I like to see you happy. I thought this material life was going to ruin you.”

“Never,” I swore.

The music began and she marched away from me in her deep-plum maid-of-honor dress. Friends from high school, LA, and Jude’s studio were my bridesmaids, each dressed in a lighter shade of purple, mapping the timeline of my life. My dad appeared at my side, handsome in his tuxedo.

“Are you sure about him?” My Dad murmured as we stepped toward the door.

“One hundred percent.”

“Only one hundred? Time to call off the wedding,” he said with a twinkle in his eye.

Laughing, I told him what he wanted to hear. “I am one hundred billion percent sure.”

“That’s my girl,” he said with a smile.

The string quartet started playing, and I met my Dad’s eyes. We both took a deep breath—the way we would when we were diving for crawdads back before music took over my life—and plunged into the next stage of my life. Tyler stood tall beneath the lavender arch. His emerald eyes glittered like the sea and a tear spilled over onto his cheek as he broke into a grin. I kissed my dad and took Tyler’s hand, wanting nothing more than to kiss him immediately.

“Dearly beloved. We are gathered here today…”

Lacey sniffled behind me and my smile widened. I was so going to give her crap for that later. Henry kept stealing glances at her over Tyler’s shoulder, as if he’d just seen the most beautiful thing in the world. Butterflies dipped and fluttered through the air, drawn by the expansive garden. Our closest friends, family, and people that we couldn’t very well leave out of it. Like Jude, in his flashy teal tuxedo.

“Do you, Paisley Abbott, take Tyler Macintyre to be your lawfully wedded husband?”

“I really do,” I sighed, coaxing a soft wave of laughter from the onlookers.

“And do you, Tyler Macintyre, take Paisley Abbott to be your lawfully wedded wife?”

“I do… I do. Over and over again.”

All I could see was his gorgeous face. If it was the only thing I ever saw in my life, I would be happy. He was magnificent.

“Then by the powers vested in me by the state of Tennessee, I now pronounce you hitched! Kiss her, son, what are you waiting for?”

Our laughter was swallowed by the kiss, once again fueling the passionate spark within me. With a blissful sigh, I forgot that anything existed in the world but him. I drank him in, his taste, his scent, his everything.

“Whoa there, kids! Gonna give some of these old folks a heart attack!” the preacher chuckled.

Laughing, we broke apart and faced the crowd. “Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to present to you for the first time… Mr. And Mrs. Macintyre!”

I virtually floated through the crowd, tingling with electric joy. Applause and flower petals swirled around me, but the only thing that mattered to me in that moment was Tyler. Once inside the house, he twirled me to face him, crushing my body to his in a passionate embrace. I couldn’t tell you how long we stood there basking in each other, tangling our tongues and arms and legs around each other, but the DJ started playing little snippets and bursts of music before we were finished.

“I think that’s the not-so-subtle cue that we’re wanted in the ballroom,” Tyler chuckled in my ear.

“Oh! Let’s dance!” I felt like a little kid, over-hyped and raring to move, bursting at the seams with my own energy.

Tyler laughed as he followed me through the house to the ballroom. It had been the selling point of the house for me. What was the point of owning that much space if you couldn’t throw grand parties in it? Our friends and family applauded heartily, complete with whoops and wolf whistles as we swept into the room.

“Hold on, hold on,” Tyler said, tugging on my arm. “Before we dance, there’s someone I want you to meet.”

Puzzled, I followed him. I was certain that I had met everybody on his list; we had gone over the invitations a dozen times together. My eyes scanned the room, looking for any unfamiliar face, but I didn’t see one. Did he get me a puppy? God, I hoped not. There was no way I could take care of a puppy with my schedule, and—

My thoughts were interrupted by the shock of my life.

It was Tyler, thirty years older. The same handsome, chiseled face, a little softer under the chin and behind the ears, etched with pencil-thin lines around those astonishing emerald eyes and expressive mouth. He was the same height and build, even carried himself the same way. The primary difference was their hair. The older man’s hair was pure white, almost glowing, growing in a shaggy ’80s mop on his head. A small gold hoop glittered in one ear.

My heart thundered. This couldn’t be the monster Tyler had told me about so many times, could it? I swallowed hard as an icy trickle of sweat ran down my spine.

“Paisley, this is my father, Steve. Dad, this is my wife, Paisley.”

“Good to know you,” he said, reaching out for my hand.

I offered it tentatively, my mouth dry. I shot a questioning look at Tyler, who seemed to suddenly and belatedly realize that he hadn’t told me anything about this man apart from the worst bits. Tyler wasn’t the only one to notice my trepidation.

“I see my son has filled you in on our checkered past,” Steve said with a tight smile.

“I’m sorry,” I said, still trying to understand. “But…why are you here?”

“Let’s go talk for a minute,” Tyler said, pushing us toward a small table in the corner. We sat down and I gripped Tyler’s hand tightly.

“Tyler,” Steve sighed, taking his son’s face in. “You did all right, son. You did all right.”

“Best as I could with what I had,” Tyler said lightly.

“I hear that,” Steve said, picking at the tablecloth. “Before we start, I just want to let you know—both of you—that I’ve been clean and sober for nine years now. I’m sorry I waited so long. I did you wrong, son.”

“Yeah, you did,” I blurted out.

Tyler cast me a pained look, but I wasn’t about to hold back. He couldn’t expect me to play nice; every protective instinct in my body had risen to the surface, and I trembled with it.

“Yes, ma’am,” Steve said, reserved and calm.

“So?” I demanded, fumbling for words between the rushing waves of emotions.

“I’m sorry?” Steve asked, confused.

“So are you going to make it right, or are you just here as a body double?”

Tyler squeezed my hand in warning and I snatched it away, crossing my arms over my chest. Steve considered me with that cool, neutral look that Tyler always had when he was thinking very hard about something. I refused to feel sorry for this man without an explanation, and I set my jaw against the storm I saw brewing in his eyes.

“If I could make it right, I would,” Steve said quietly. “But there’s no way to undo the past.”

“You can tell Tyler what happened to his mother,” I challenged him.

The pain which crossed his face was almost palpable. I braced myself against it, cursing my own sensitivity. Steve cleared his throat, sniffing against a sheen of tears which had suddenly clouded his eyes.

“I handled that…badly,” Steve said. “Very badly.”

I didn’t say anything. Neither did Tyler.

“Tyler… Your mother wasn’t from Memphis. She wasn’t from California either, or Kentucky, or any of the other places that she’s called home. When we met, I fell for her instantly. She was so alive, so full of fun and joy… All I wanted was to make a family with her. She said she wanted the same. We got married…real fast. Two months after I met her, I asked her. Or she asked me to ask her. A month after that, it was a done deal.”

I banished shock from my expression, remaining as neutral as I could. I had the feeling that there was more to come. I slid my hand back under the table, offering Tyler comfort. He took it without hesitation.

“When she got pregnant, things started going downhill. I guess that wasn’t part of her plan. She changed, always angry and yelling at me. I chalked it up to hormones and drank a little bit to get by until you were born. But it didn’t get better after that. I saw the girl I married when she held you and talked to you, all that joy and light…but if she wasn’t ignoring me, she was tearing me apart, piece by piece.”

I glanced at Tyler, who seemed to be searching behind his eyes for confirmation or argument. The confusion on his face told me he found neither.

“You remember Rob?” Steve asked.

“Your cop friend?”

“Yeah. He became my friend deliberately, trying to get close to Jemma. Your mother. Not like that, no. He was working in cooperation with the feds, trying to arrest her.”

“Arrest her? For what?” The little boy in Tyler was rising to the surface, instantly ready to defend his mother.

“Bigamy, theft and kidnapping,” Steve said tiredly. “I got the whole story eventually. She started in Alaska when she was sixteen. Married an old, rich guy. Guy doesn’t keel over on her timetable, so she empties his accounts and runs off. Meets a guy in Washington, same story. She worked her way across the states like that, and eventually her method changed. She never successfully outlived a husband—she was too impatient for that. God knows why she didn’t try divorcing them first, but…” Steve trailed off with a shrug, shaking his head.

“Anyhow, by the time she got to me, she’d racked up thirty-two husbands all over the States. One of them caught her in the act and threatened her, so she took his kid. She made it two states away and left the kid on the side of the road. Daddy caught up quick and took the kid home, but she was officially wanted for kidnapping at that point.”

“Jeez,” I breathed.

“So, by my eighth birthday…”

“She knew they were getting close. Rob had been at the house the day before, and they got to talking. She caught wind of his intentions before he got enough to confirm her identity. We were all set to have a big party for you, and we’d invited Rob and his brothers. His brothers who weren’t actually his brothers, but feds. They were kind enough to tell me everything after all was said and done. Anyhow, she took everything. Packed up in the dead of night, every picture, every scrap of clothing, everything she owned. Then she wiped everything clean.”

“Fingerprints?” Tyler asked, crestfallen.

“Got them off of everything,” Steve said with a grim smile. “She always was a neat freak. Never thought it was to hide her fingerprints, though. They dusted the whole house while you were at school that day. Nobody’s prints but yours and mine, like she never existed.”

“What happened to her?” Tyler asked.

Steve shrugged, raking fingers through his hair. “Far as I know, they haven’t caught up with her yet. Trust me, I’ve looked. Not lately. Quit that when I quit drinking. Couldn’t do one without starting up the other. Spent ten years drowning in it, and I just about pulled you down with me.”

I could see the regret in his eyes, which squeezed my heart. Tyler stared at the table, processing. I could see it flickering behind his irises, the flurry of thoughts and memories and emotions, a puzzle flying together at supernatural speed. His hand pulsed in mine, and he turned wide eyes to look at me.

“You fell in love with her,” he murmured. “Married her. Had a kid with her. She flipped on you. She disappears in the middle of the night. You find out you’re number thirty-three.” The intensity of his gaze was concerning, but I relaxed, trusting him. He turned back to his dad.

“It was shitty to take it out on me,” he said.

“I know.”

“Real goddamn shitty, Dad. But I get it.”

Steve and I both shot Tyler puzzled looks.

“She didn’t leave you anything to burn or smash. No forwarding address, no closure. She took every scrap of herself away. Except me.”

Steve dropped his head into his hands, trembling. After a long moment, he nodded. “You were so much like her. Two peas in a pod. My looks, her personality. Scared the hell out of me.”

A lull settled over the table, and I sensed the need to push things to a resolution. I stood, marching around the table to put my hands on my father-in-law’s shoulders.

“Welcome to the family, Dad,” I said, kissing his cheek. “I’m glad to know you.”s

He smiled up at me, showing me Tyler’s physical future. It looked pretty damn good.

“Hey, we gonna dance or what?” Tyler demanded.

I grinned at him and grabbed my hand. Hell yes, we were going to dance.