Page 49 of The Wedding Toast
“I think we’re all up for Muse with the guys later, aren’t we?”Chelsea looked around at the others and most of them nodded their agreement.Hannah looked a little uncertain, but then Becca didn’t know who was watching Ava this evening.
“Marcos’s folks already said that Ava’s more than welcome to stay the night with them,” said Molly.“And she’ll be in good company – I knew there was no way they’d let me have Luca back before morning.”
Hannah relaxed.“Do you think I should call them?Ava asked if she could stay the night – she loves spending time with her Nonna and Nonno, but I didn’t want to impose on them.It’s kind enough of them to have her over for the evening.”
“Aww.”Becca loved that Ava had even claimed Antonio and Marcos’s parents as her grandparents.Becca didn’t know them that well, but when she’d met them, she wanted to claim them as her Italian family too.
“You can call them if it’ll make you feel better,” said Molly.“But I’m sure they’re expecting it – they know what Antonio’s like.”
Mary Ellen laughed.“Don’t we all?”
The door flew open and Willow came hurrying in.“Made it,” she declared.
“Come sit,” said Chelsea.
Willow snagged a glass from the tray in the middle of the table and looked around at them all.“How are you doing, Becs?”
Becca swallowed.Only her family and Callie called her Becs, but Willow had started to use the name this last week – probably because she heard the others say it so often.
She grinned at Willow.“All the better now that you’re here.Come sit down.”
Willow grinned back at her.“I like it – you’re starting to say what you want.I will come, but I need to catch up with my little sis first.”She jerked her chin toward the other end of the table where Tori was chatting with Alyssa and Laura.
Becca checked on Callie, but she was laughing with Piper.She relaxed and took a sip of her wine.All was well in her world – everyone was here, everyone was happy.Her smile faded – her sister wasn’t here yet.She and her brothers weren’t coming until tomorrow.But then Dawn wouldn’t feel comfortable with these girls.And unlike Callie, she wouldn’t even try.Becca loved her sister, but they weren’t all that close.She loved her brothers, too, but they were so busy with their own lives that they were all flying in tomorrow afternoon – they were the last flight that Trick and Elliott would make.Jacob had wanted to send the jet back to Kansas for them all, but her dad had insisted that they could fly commercial.Trick and Elliott would pick them up from San Francisco.At least they’d get to go home on the jet with her folks.
Callie turned and met her gaze, giving her an inquiring look.Becca knew exactly what she meant – it was time for a quick trip to the ladies’ room to check in.Molly’s restaurant was nothing like Cattleman’s bar back home, but that didn’t mean their tradition had to die.
~ ~ ~
Jacob climbed into the passenger seat of Xander’s truck and smiled at his brother.
“Thanks for this.”
Xander nodded as he started the engine.“I wanted some time for the two of us, and this might be all we get.”
Jacob shook his head.“I have all the time in the world for you if you want me.”
Xander shot him a quick grin and said, “Aww.”
Jacob punched his shoulder, but Xander only laughed.
“I’m not mocking Becca.And you know it.I just didn’t know what else to say.Except maybe … thanks and … you too.”
Jacob nodded.“I know.I … I’ve been feeling sort of … sentimental in the lead-up to the wedding.Thinking about …”
Xander glanced over at him again.“Our folks?”
“Yes.”
“I know what you mean.Tori and I have started making arrangements to have our ceremony at the little chapel by the lake.I’m hardly a sentimental kind of guy, but when we talk about family and who’s going to sit where and do what …” he shrugged.“I wish they were still here.”
“Exactly.And … I’ve been thinking about you and Hannah, and how I … well, I checked out after they died, didn’t I?I buried my head in the business and … I wasn’t there for you.”
“You didn’t need to be,” said Xander.“Shit, that sounds wrong, but you know what I mean.I was in the Navy – you couldn’t have been there for me if you wanted to.And Hannah was doing her thing in LA.I think we all coped in the ways we could.It wasn’t down to you to be there for us.It was on each of us to deal with it in our own way.And now … now, I think you finally have.And I think it’s all down to Becca.I’m glad you were smart enough to know what you’d found when you met her.”
“You make it sound like my judgment is usually questionable.”
“Nah, you know what I mean; you’d closed yourself off from love.I’m glad you were ready to open the door when the real thing came along and bit you on the ass.”
