Chapter 6
“How do I look, buddy?” Tobias bent down to Jacob’s level while Xavier looked on. His brother looked the happiest he had ever seen him.
“Is this good enough for Mommy?”
The boy giggled. “You look cool.”
“Cool?” Tobias frowned. “Did you hear that?” Tobias glanced back at him. Xavier shrugged. “If the kid says you look cool, I’d take it.”
“I don’t want to look cool. I want to be the most handsome man in the universe.”
Jacob seemed to appraise him carefully. The kid was like a wise old man, sometimes. And he was what—6? 7? 8? Xavier wasn’t sure.
“You’ll pass.”
“Pass?” Tobias roared. “You’re too funny, buddy!”
Xavier opened the ring box to double-check that the ring was still inside, as it had been three minutes or so ago, when he had last looked.
“You make Mommy really happy.”
He looked up, caught off guard by the boy’s words.
“Mommy makes me really happy.” Tobias tapped the kid on the nose. “And, you make me really happy. I consider myself to be a very lucky guy.”
Xavier felt out of place, as if he was intruding on a tender moment. When his cell phone vibrated in his pocket, he quickly pulled it out, turning his back on his brother as he stole a quick glance at the caller id.
It was Gisele. A tight ball fisted in his gut.
What the hell was she calling him for now?
He rushed out of the room before his brother’s bionic hearing picked up on the vibrating hum of the ringtone which he’d put on silent. Tobias had been so annoyed when he had turned up late yesterday, that he hadn’t even remembered to confiscate his cell phone. Family—their parents and Savannah’s, were allowed to keep theirs, except for him. Tobias didn’t trust him, and that hurt Xavier.
“It’s not you,” Tobias had told him once, “It’s your girlfriends that I don’t trust. Maybe if you managed to hold onto the same girl for longer than a month, I’d trust you more.”
He walked outside, caught between answering the call and diverting it to voicemail, when suddenly, Lime Green Bikini appeared from nowhere.
He stashed his cell phone away into the pockets of his linen trousers, his interest piquing to see her coming towards him in a knee-length black and white striped dress.
“Have you seen Jacob?” Her voice had that pissed-off-edge to it that he was accustomed to. Before he could answer, Tobias appeared with Jacob.
“Jacob, your mom wants to see you,” she said, then to Tobias, “Are you guys ready? I think they’re all waiting for you.”
“I’m ready.” Tobias sounded sure, strong, and confident.
“Savannah looks amazing,” Lime Green Bikini told him.
Tobias smiled. “She always does.”
“Come on, Jacob.” Izzy reached for his hand and led the small boy away. She hadn’t even looked at or acknowledged Xavier.
“Ready, bro?” Xavier asked.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”
They walked over towards the gardens, to the grassy area in the middle which had been done up in garlands of flowers. White chairs had been dressed in white silk. A wedding officiant waited patiently at the front, but looked as if he was melting under the heat of the midday sun.
Xavier wasn’t a poetic man but it was too glorious for words, the setting, with the glittery sea in the distance, and the white sand before.
Everything was running according to schedule, even in the hot mid-morning sun which often slowed everyone down.
When the wedding march began, Xavier knew, even before he looked at his watch, that it was noon.
He stared at his brother’s profile, at his strong jaw, and the prominent forehead, and the smile that settled on his lips as he gazed ahead. Xavier stood to the side and looked over his shoulder. Savannah walked down the pathway strewn with petals, on her father’s arm. She looked pretty in her long white dress, wearing no veil and carrying a bouquet of brightly colored flowers.
Xavier placed his hand in his trouser pocket—and froze when he couldn’t feel the ring box in it.
Crap. Fuck. Shit.
The ring.
The goddamn ring wasn’t in his pocket.
He jerked upright, as if an ice-cold pole had jabbed him. Where the fuck had he put it?
Somewhere along the periphery of his panicked vision, he caught sight of Lime Green Bikini as she walked Jacob over to sit in the front row with Savannah’s parents, and then she moved to a seat at the back.
And then he remembered.
Fuck. When Gisele had called, before he’d left the room, he’d put the ring box on the table when he’d checked the caller ID.
“I’ll be back,” he whispered to Tobias’s chin, not daring to meet his brother’s gaze. And he raced away, as discreetly as it was possible to be, knowing that there would be hell to pay for this fuckup.
~ ~ ~
Where was that idiot rushing off to?
Izzy watched Xavier turn a deathly shade of pale as he rushed away. She preferred to sit in the row at the back, observing from the sidelines, even though Jacob’s grandmother had told her to sit with Jacob in the front row. She didn’t want to impose or get in the way of such an intimate occasion.
At least this way she could observe everything and everyone. It took her breath away, to see how pretty everything looked—to see the garlands draped around the seating area, and to see the chairs done up so elegantly. She had kept her call to Cara last night as brief as possible, but her friend had wanted a minute-by-minute report of the wedding. She’d even had the cheek to ask for pictures.
Izzy gave nothing away.
She looked at the front, at Tobias and Savannah standing together, at the wedding official who hadn’t yet started the wedding, and wondered what was causing the delay.
The answer revealed itself a moment later, when Xavier rushed back.
Her head snapped back in amazement.
He couldn’t have.
Oh, goodness. Had he?
She pulled her shades down and looked over the rims, observing everything with an eagle eye.
He had forgotten the ring.
The guy was a bigger asshole than she had ever given him credit for. Not only had he messed up the one job that Tobias had given him, he was cheating on his girlfriend, and with Savannah’s cousin of all people. She felt a sudden sense of solidarity for the poor actress he’d been dating. Any girl stupid enough to go out with Xavier needed her head examined.