Page 120 of Liars and Liaisons

“You knew exactly what you were getting into with Len,” Jonas says to Violet, ruffling the hair on top of her head. His blueish-purple eyes crinkle up at the edges, his dark curls tousling in the slight breeze. “I love the little puppet, but she is impossible to sway when she’s got her eyes set on something.”

“Pig-headed,” Cash snorts, though affection gleams in his dark gaze.

“As her wedding planner, I’m more than happy to take direction,” Violet says, leaning into my side slightly. I curl an arm around her waist, reveling in the sensation. “The sunflowers were just one of many suggestions.”

“I want you to remember that when you’re helping Cora plan ours,” Alistair says.

Given the stunning work she’s done with Lenny and Jonas’s simple beach wedding, she’s already been recruited by several friends and residents of Aplana. Right now, she’s running the show from her little flower shop up the road from the marina, but it wouldn’t surprise me if she outgrew that space soon.

“That would mean you’d have to ask her first,” she replies.

“Oh, I’ve asked. Repeatedly.” He rolls his eyes. “She just likes hearing me beg.”

Jonas cringes.

“Could always just remove the option from her entirely,” Cash suggests, like he has experience in the area.

I wonder if every person in this odd little group came to find love in less-than-conventional ways.

Perhaps that’s the glue that keeps them all together, aside from the convoluted web of blood relations. I’ve still not been able to fully piece it together.

Alistair shakes his head, turning to find the blue-haired psychopath at the bar across the venue. She’s talking to Elena and her ballerina sister, but shoots a lopsided grin our way as if she can feel the attention shift toward her.

“Not my wheelhouse. And anyway, she’d cut off my bollocks and feed them to me if I tried.”

“True,” Violet concurs, nodding. “She’d probably make me help, too, and I just don’t want to be a part of that. I’ve seen enough blood and gore for one lifetime.”

My fingers dig into her hip. A subtle, yet pointed, reminder that she sees blood more regularly than any of them would know. There’s a bandaged wound on my chest, just below my left nipple, healing from where she bit me just two days ago.

The sweet, not-so-innocent little vampire.

Eventually, the wedding planner snaps back to reality and begins ushering people to their places. We’re in the second row beside Elena and her two daughters—the older one of which keeps her head down, headphones on, while she colors what looks like some sort of ancient sea monster attacking a ship. The younger of the two sits on her mother’s lap, sucking on a cherry-shaped lollipop and giving me the stink eye.

As Violet does her last checks with the groom and his party—consisting of his brother and Kal—I lean over to Elena and lower my voice.

“You sure you want another one?” I lift my brows at her barely-there stomach, then at the judgmental child who seems to be considering sticking the lollipop to my suit jacket.

Elena laughs, placing her palms on her daughter’s head. “I don’t know. I’ve always been sort of partial to the number three.”

“Birthday?”

She shakes her head. “There were three of us growing up. Me, Ariana, and Stella. I like the continuity of that pattern. It feels… whole.”

“Fair enough.” At the altar, Violet adjusts Jonas’s pink tie, and then signals to Aiden’s band to begin the wedding processional.

“Besides,” Elena says. “This one’s a boy. I can feel it. So, he’ll undoubtedly offset my spoiled girls with a broody disposition to rival his father’s.”

I grin, leaning back in my wooden chair just as Violet makes her way to us and the march down the aisle begins. First is Ariana in a soft pink sheath dress, followed by Cora in a dress that matches in color but is strapless and much shorter.

They take the opposite side of the altar, clutching a bouquet of daisies and white lilies that I know for a fact Violet’s been growing in the garden outside our home. We bought a gothic revival close to the beach, about midway between the south and north sides of the island. She’s spent nearly every second outside, transforming the once-plain grounds into Aplana’s own little rainforest.

Next is Lenny Primrose, who looks stunning in a white mermaid gown, sequined with soft pink crystals that shimmer with each step she takes. She’s flanked on either side by Cash and his twin, who grows more teary-eyed by the second.

Violet rests her head on my shoulder when Lenny’s brothers hand her off, and Alistair steps up between them, beginning his speech on the sanctity of love and how rare it is to find someone who accepts every single piece of you. The dark bits, just as much as the light.

The ceremony only lasts a few minutes total, and then there’s the customary celebration of the new Mr. and Mrs. Jonas Wolfe. Aiden tries to recruit me to play a few songs, but I refuse, suddenly too nervous to do anything other than sway with the woman I love in the sand.

My hands are clammy on Violet’s hips as I turn her, forgetting every piece of formal ballroom training I had when I was younger.

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