Page 73 of Beehives and Broken Heroes

Allie held up the pearls.

Millie blinked and rolled her window down. “Did you come to rub it in my face?”

Shaking her head, Allie said, “No. I just found them. Literally, one minute ago.” She took a deep breath and handed them to Millie. “And I think you should have them.”

Millie took them. “Why?”

“Because you obviously loved my dad, and at some point, he must have loved you too, or at least cared enough to buy these stunning pearls for you. He wanted you to have them, or he wouldn’t have given them to you.”

Millie sucked in a sob and nodded.

Allie backed away from the car and watched as Millie drove down the driveway.

Brandon came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. “That was a kind thing to do.”

“I hate holding grudges. They’re so exhausting.” That included exes and ex-investors who stole her family’s money. She was moving on with her life. “And Millie regrets dumping my dad. I get that.” She got it on a deeply personal level that made her a little sick to think about. She turned in Brandon’s arms. “If I hadn’t gotten control of my emotions and come to my senses, I might have ended up regretting you.” Even though she’d wanted to talk to him, she’d still been on her high horse. She’d been planning on chewing him out. And when Jo’s truck had gotten flats, she’d jumped into the kidnappers’ car just so he wouldn’t be able to rescue her. Now, she wanted to kick herself. Brandon loved her as she was, but it wouldn’t hurt to stop being so bullheaded and keep learning to control her emotions.

“You are incredibly good for my ego,” Brandon said.

She gave him the most serious look she could muster. “You’re darn right I am.”

“So, are you ready?” Brandon asked, looking at his watch. “Wedding’s in less than thirty hours.”

“To be your wife?”

He nodded.

“Absolutely.” She backed away from him toward her truck. “But first, I’m getting my hair did.”

* * *

The wedding day went by in a blur, and before Brandon knew it, the sun was setting, painting the sky in brilliant shades of peach, red, and yellow behind row after row of dark lavender, like it’d made a special request just for Allie. The air smelled sweet, the weather was perfect, and Brandon was a mess of nerves and excitement. Lanterns lined the aisle, and dance floor, and all the tables were covered in white lines with purple and green ribbons on the chairs.

He and Cash stood up with Pastor Brown under an arch canopy of drapey purple flowers, trying not to look awkward together. Both men turned slightly with their backs to the other as they waited for the brides. Brandon felt ridiculous.

Cash leaned back toward him and nodded at a lady in the front row taking pictures on her phone. “How’s about after the ceremony, we get her phone and delete the pictures she has of us together?”

Brandon smirked. “I’ll grab hers if you get the lady on the left.”

Cash’s head snapped that way. “What part of ‘don’t take pictures’ don’t people get?”

“The ‘don’t’ part,” Brandon said.

Andy, Pete, Joseph, and Chris sat in the third row with their dates, each stealthily taking photos and laughing at them. They’d use those photos to blackmail him for years to come. He’d need to get their phones too.

On the front row sat Cash’s parents,andZoey, Rick, and Maryanne, who was looking like she was about to pop any day now. When was she due? And should she have even made this trip? Zoey beamed, her beautiful black hair braided back in plaits, and her yellow dress setting off her dark skin. Hunter Westbrook craned his neck from six rows back and had the rest of the Westbrooks grinning like mad.

Even Caroline and Jessie, seated two rows up on the other side of the aisle with their family, had seen Hunter and were laughing.

Brandon was glad to see Zoey; he found he was even glad to see his brother and sister-in-law. Plus, the astonished looks on their faces would be a memory he wouldn’t soon forget. He hadn’t gotten to talk to them yet, but he could practically see twenty questions times five ready to burst. Zoey was bouncing in her seat, head whipping from him to the back of the aisle and back again.

They still didn’t know what Allie looked like.

“Look at that,” Cash said, nodding to the back. On the end of the row sat Jason, Greg, and Henry, the loan sharks who’d taken Allie last year, with Honey. Everyone around them was giving them nervous looks.

Henry, the boss, was much shorter than the other two, but Honey had a paw on the man’s knee and Henry petted Allie’s massive dog like they were old friends. He guessed they kind of were.

Brandon chuckled. Of course Allie would invite the loan sharks she’d made friends with during her abduction. What had Jo called it? Stockholm syndrome in reverse?

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