Everyone’s attention remains on the two of us positioned in the middle of the rented dance floor. My husband plants a swift kiss on my cheek but doesn’t pull back right away.
“You’ve been counting, soldier?” I whisper back. “It’s like you’re obsessed with me or something.”
“Or something.” Another kiss, palm splayed around my waist as he lugs me into his side. He turns back to the crowd, face bright and eyes so blue I can’t look away.
Microphone back to his lips, he goes on. “Nobody could havepredicted what lied ahead for us. The twists and turns life would take to bring us back to one another.” His throat bobs, voice growing thick. “The trials and losses we would endure. Or the healing we’d navigate together and the love we’d find in the trenches of it.”
I didn’t have Mom to help me put on my dress or tuck my veil into place. But I had Tess, Kristen, and Bri. There was no dad to give me away, but I had Artie and Tom to walk me down the aisle, Richard to officiate the ceremony, and Cecil to do the father-daughter dance with. It’s been a hard-fought road to get here—good days bookended by really bad days, tears shed in therapy week over week. But I’ve found some of the best people in my entire world in those trenches.
The joy you only find on the heels of hope.
Rowan pauses long, expression flickering. I take his hand in mine, rest my chin on his shoulder. He kisses my forehead.
“Days like today,” he says, “are a stark reminder of the pivotal moments in our lives where grief, hope, and joy collide. And it’s somehow heartbreaking and inspiring and beautiful all at once.”
Face soft, he lazily peruses my features as though it’s just the two of us out here—another typical Saturday night under the stars where he tells me how beautiful I am and how much he loves me.
When he speaks again, he’s only looking at me. “I made Lydia James a promise before she died.” My heart skitters, tongue feeling heavy. “A promise to love her daughter hard and to love her well. For the rest of my life.” The right side of his mouth tips. “And that’s exactly what I’m gonna do.”
“Here, here,” Dubs hoots from the head table, champagne glass lifted high. “Now kiss the girl!”
I register a chorus of agreement from his former squad mates and new police force buddies somewhere in the crowd. Rowan smiles against my mouth as I yank him forward by the lapels. “You have some explaining to do, husband.”
He laughs, dipping me low for a camera-worthy kiss. Cameras flash and cheers erupt all around.
I’m hauled up to my feet with a big smile, full heart, and a head reeling for answers. Guests begin to filter onto the dance floor as the DJkicks up the music.
I pull Rowan off to the side, poking him in the shoulder when we find a pocket of space to talk in private.
Before I can begin my interrogation, Richard appears, looking too all-knowing for my liking. “Thank God I don’t have to hold on to this secret any longer. The suspense has been killing me.”
The two men exchange a bro-handshake, back-clap thing which feels at odds with the generational gap between them. I see Rowan every single day. We’ve lived together for the past several months since construction on our house was completed. I see Richard almost as much with my job at the hospital. I consider him a close friend now, someone always up to talk about Mom with.
But these two men are making scheming eyes at each other like everything’s been one big lie.
“Somebody needs to start talking,” I order.
Richard tips his head to Rowan. “He’s the one with the phone. I was only the middle man.”
Rowan presses his thumb to the bridge of my nose. “Cute, but you can stop doing the clinchy thing with your face. It’s all good things, I promise.”
I dart a glance to Richard. The guy gives me nothing, just looks at the phone Rowan’s pulled from his pocket likedon’t look at me. Before Rowan can explain, Richard squeezes my shoulder once and disappears into the crowd, leaving us alone again.
Nerves buzz over my skin. I eye Rowan’s blacked out screen, a little anxious to find out what he’s been hiding from me.
“I texted your mom before she died.” I shake my head ready to argue. He knows I went through her phone after she passed. “And you didn’t see the messages because I asked Richard to delete them.” He swipes over his screen, tapping around a bit before he offers the whole thing to me. “But I didn’t.”
I turn the phone over in my hand and begin to read.
Rowan
Richard tells me the coast is clear and that you’re awake.
I’d prefer to do this over the phone but I know it’s hard for you to talk. I hope you can forgive me for what I’m about to ask over text.
Lydia
I won’t help you hide a body if that’s what you’re about to ask. But I do know of a decoy coming available soon.