“You’re stunning,” he cooed, taking her into his arms.
“I’m going to be sick.” And without any more warning than that, Misty hurled all over her dress and the front of Rayford’s tux.
Jumping back, he screamed like a little girl. “What the fuck?” he screeched with pure disgust on his face.
Trace calmly handed his sister a handkerchief from his pocket and declared, “It’s time.”
“No, we can still fix this,” she gurgled, wiping off her mouth.
“Misty.” Trace glared at his sister as Annabelle walked over to me.
“What is going on?” Annie asked in a low voice before I shushed her.
“I want to hear this.” I held my finger over my mouth, waiting for the rest of the drama to unfold.
“I’m pregnant,” Misty blurted out.
Rayford pulled his hand back and almost slapped Misty across the face. Luckily, Trace was faster and grabbed his arm before his sister took the blow.
“You fucking slut!” he screamed. “Whose is it?”
Misty fell to her knees. “Please, Rayford. We can get past this.”
“Fuck you. The wedding is off.”
Rayford stormed away, passing the very drunk Marky on his way.
“What’s going on?” the drunkard asked.
Ray bellowed, “The bride is a whore!”
“Oh thank God you finally know about us.” Marky smiled like an idiot at the fuming groom.
As the fight broke out, Annabelle and I just stood there catching flies, taking in the family drama. Trace let Rayford get a few good blows in before pulling him off of his groomsman.
“Best wedding ever,” Annie whispered to me.
“Right?” I turned to her. “This totally took my mind off of my issues for a minute.”
As the men yelled at each other, Annie whispered, “How’d he take it?”
Watching as Trace calmly defused the situation, I beamed. “Better than I ever could have expected.”
“I think you might have stumbled onto a good one. I mean, just look at how he is handling all of this.” Annie gestured to Misty throwing herself at Rayford’s feet, clutching his shoe for dear life as Marky slunk off to the side while holding his bleeding nose. Trace was talking to his parents in the distance, and as his mother broke down in tears, he just pulled her into a hug.
“He really is something, isn’t he?”
After helping Annabelle load Cletus and Hunter back into the trailer, I waited on the hood of Trace’s car while he dealt with all the family drama.
Finally, he came strolling out of the church in his street clothes with his hanging bag slung over his shoulder.
“I told you it’d be quite a day,” he sang out as he took a seat next to me.
“You knew about your sister and Marky the whole time?” I glanced up at his shit-eating grin as he shrugged.
“I even knew about the baby,” he admitted. “Misty loves Marky. She always has, but she saw dollar signs with Raymond, and I knew no matter how much I protested, she was going to try to trap that poor sap. It’s just how she has always been.”
“And you’re all right with that?”
“Nope, but she’s my kid sister. I can’t hold her hand if she doesn’t want to listen to my advice.”
“I guess not.” I laid my head on his shoulder. “I got the entire puking episode on camera along with some great shots of the fight.”
I started giggling as Trace excitedly stated, “I am going to need copies of those.”
“Why do you think I took them?” I teased before kissing his cheek.
“You’re perfect, Sawyer. I am so glad this shitstorm brought me to you.” He pulled me close into his side as I relaxed against him.
“I couldn’t agree more.”