Page 144 of Caged

“Wait, by that logic, you have to marry a guy who’s name starts with J,” Ashley said, pointing her mimosa filled flute at Madi.

“I’d need to date someone first.” Madi answered with a chuckle.

Ashley looked at Meg, then me and asked, “What’s the new guy’s name?”

Assuming she meant the new hires at SSI, I said, “There’s two, Nathan and Matt.” Nathan was starting in August, and Matt a couple of weeks later.

“Sorry Madi, no hunky SSI guy for you.” Ashley teased.

“Ew, half those guys are my brothers.” And one was her dad.

“Right, sorry. But it’s not my fault you have hot, sexy brothers.”

“Right.” She pretended to gag. “You know, someday they’ll be old and gray. Maybe then I won’t have to hear about how hot and sexy they are,” Madi shook her head as she laughed.

Mary and Anne chose not to participate in the conversation, but they laughed along with the rest of us.

“Then they’ll be silver foxes, so you’ll still have to hear it,” Meg said.

“John’s a silver fox,” Mary interjected.

“Ma!” Madi cried. “That isn’t helping.”

After the laughter died down, Ashley asked, “Are the new guys hot?”

“Ashley!” Emily yelled at her maid of honor. “You’re incorrigible.”

“What, you can’t blame me for asking.”

“Nathan’s tall with dirty blond hair and blue eyes. He has a scar on his face,” Meg answered.

“Scars can be sexy,” Ashley refused to be put off.

I doubted Nathan would agree. The scar ran from above his left eye down his cheek to the corner of his mouth. Nathan had seen some shit, and from the look in his eyes it still haunted him. Something I could relate to. My nightmares were less frequent, but hadn’t stopped altogether.

The traditional church ceremony was beautiful. The look in Jamie’s eyes the moment he saw Emily was the stuff romance authors wrote about. Chris, his best friend and Emily’s older brother, clapped him on shoulder to break the spell.

Behind Chris were Jack and Jaden, looking handsome in their tuxes. Jack and Meg kept stealing glances across the aisle, no doubt remembering their own wedding. Madi wiped at her eyes as she watched her brother watch his bride. So did Ashley.

The ceremony was beautiful and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house by the time the pastor said, “You may now kiss the bride.”

After dinner, and all the typical reception traditions were over, Jay and I danced surrounded by a sea of decorations, thetwinkle lights playing on the various shades of blue making them look like ocean waves.

Jay banded one arm around my back, and held my hand with the other.

“You look stunning.” I’d settled on a fitted, halter style, little black dress that hung just above my knees. “But I still think I like the red dress better.”

I felt the heat in my cheeks and was grateful no one was looking at us.

We swayed to the slow country ballad, losing ourselves in each other.

“Do you think we’ll have a big wedding or should we elope?” Jay asked.

“Your mother would kill you if we elope.”

“Are you saying yes?”

“Are you asking?” I teased, thinking this had to be a joke. We’d only been dating two months.

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