Page 118 of Electric Kiss

“I’m not leaving your side, honey. I’ll need to put on a frock at some stage in the next twenty-four hours but apart from that, I’m glued to your side,” she said swinging her hand that was entwined with Lukes.

They strolled behind Heidi, getting near to their place.

He turned his head to look at her profile to see her smiling.

“Even tonight?”

She looked him right in the eyes and lifted her eyebrows up and then, then did it again faster. “Even tonight.”

“I’m going to marry my best friend tomorrow,” he said as he lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed the back of it.

“What a coincidence. Me too,” she replied cheerily erasing the foreboding feeling he’d had earlier about his aunt coming back to Copper Island.

As they entered the kitchen at the back of Jason and Heidi’s cottage, three sets of couples greeted them. Jason had his arse to the counter with Heidi already pressed up against him, looking at each other and whispering. Jason was extremely serious while Heidi had a smile playing on her lips. Nate had Daisy cuddled to his side, her face tipped back to look up at him. He murmured to her, and she gave him her rapt attention. Archer was sitting on a dining room chair he’d dragged in, with Erica sitting on his lap. She had her arms wrapped around his neck and her head resting on his shoulder. They didn’t say a word.

Yes. They had all chosen well with their life partners and Luke felt he had the same too. It felt like someone had turned the volume right down on the scene before him because he could hardly hear any of their voices.

“Who’s got mum?” he asked.

Archer looked around Erica and grinned.

“The kids. She’s in the living room, surrounded with four babies. She’s in heaven. Dawn went back to her place.”

Luke’s mum chose that moment to walk into the kitchen. She surveyed all her kids.

“I’m so proud of you. For sticking at each other’s side no matter what. I wish I was half as brave as you are.”

“Mum,” Daisy cried pulling out of Nate’s arms to run to her mother. “You’re the bravest person I know.”

Daisy threw herself at her mother, then the Turner siblings piled around their mother and a group hug ensued. Daisy and Luke found themselves nestled between their mother. Jason to his left and Archer on the other side of Daisy. Arms around their torsos and holding on tight. Then, as if someone commanded them to break apart, they separated.

“We’re proud of you too, Mum. Coming back here couldn’t have been easy,” Archer said.

He’d stepped back, pulled Erica from her seat, sat down and pulled Erica back onto his lap. While looking at Imelda, she played with his watch strap as he loosely draped his arms around her waist.

“I wonder what she wants?” Imelda asked.

“She got the disinvitation, right?” Luke asked, looking to Erica.

“Yes. She got that before she left. Bailey issued the news personally and got a verbal response confirming she understood,” Erica replied.

“It doesn’t make any sense why she’s here but I guess Turner Hall is her home. She can come and go as she pleases,” Imelda muttered.

“Her timing is awful,” Freya piped up behind them. “Why couldn’t she just stay away?

“Her timing is deliberate,” Imelda countered, picking up a half filled mug from the kitchen island.

Freya didn’t know the depths of what all four siblings went through but she knew what Luke had gone through. She’d helped him come to terms with the knowledge he had an upbringing that was physically and mentally abusive when his parents’ backs were turned. Freya had the opposite experience. Both her parents were still alive, and her grandparents. They adored her as their only child and grandchild. Luke wondered what it felt like to have a big family with generations who loved and adored each other.

“Her coming back doesn’t have to be bad, though, does it?” Freya asked.

She scanned the audience, and Luke noted they all wore grim expressions.

“Come on, let’s eat,” Jason said. “The faster we eat breakfast the faster I can break open the cupcakes,” he said clapping his hands, effectively ending the gloomy atmosphere.

Chapter Forty-Seven

Freya

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