Page 102 of The Scars I Bare
“All right, let’s go get you married. It’s about damn time.”
The whole town came out to witness the wedding of Jake and Molly. Of course, the whole town pretty much came out for just about anything. But this particular event had been more than fifteen years in the making, and almost everyone felt like they had played some part in getting these two to this special day.
Even I got a little choked up, seeing Molly walk down the aisle in her mother’s lace gown, knowing everything they’d gone through to make it here.
I couldn’t help but glance over at Cora at that moment and every moment after.
This was what I wanted.
Looking around at all the people crammed in the inn once more after another rainy weekend, I chuckled under my breath. Well, maybe not exactly this.
But I wanted the happiness. The moment where our lives became one. When a family was born. I knew this—a wedding might be too soon for both of us—after all, we’d only just started dating, but I saw it on the brink of the horizon, like a lighthouse beacon calling me home.
“She’s a good match for you,” my mom said as we watched from the sidelines while Cora and Lizzie danced along with several other guests on the makeshift dance floor that had been set up in the parlor.
The original plan had been for a reception under the stars, but the early months of autumn were turning out to be soggy ones, and last-minute preparations to move everything indoors had had to be made.
Thank goodness for it, too, because as the sun set, lightning lit the sky, making me wonder just how bad it might still get. Here, in Ocracoke, we were no strangers to weather. I had many childhood memories of hunkering down to wait out a storm and even several evacuations. Jake and Molly were lucky, and the tropical storm that was supposed to barrel toward the coast had dissipated, and we were only experiencing the remnants.
Still, remnants or not, the sky was angry.
“Did you hear me, boy?” my mother said, leaning into me.
I shook my head, smiling. “I heard you, Mama. Thank you. I couldn’t agree more.”
“Now, this opinion is all just speculation, you see, since I still have not been formally introduced.”
I blew out a breath and turned. “You’ve met both Lizzie and Cora half a dozen times,” I protested. “You had an hour-long conversation over iced tea the other day at the party.”
She folded her arms in front of her, feigning a pout. “Yes, well”—she made a noise in the back of her throat—“that’s different, and you know it.”
I caved. “I’ll bring them over for Sunday dinner next week.”
She opened her mouth to argue, she and I both knowing that today was Saturday, and there was a perfectly good Sunday dinner happening tomorrow.
“I have a feeling, we’ll all need rest tomorrow,” I said, nodding in the direction of my brother, who was already zeroing in on one of the bridesmaids, an out-of-town cousin from Molly’s family.
“Oh, your brother hasn’t been showing up for ages,” she stated.
“If I’m going to introduce Cora and Lizzie to my family, I’d like to do it properly. Cora’s still upset I didn’t get to meet her brother when we visited a few weeks ago.”
“Speaking of her family, I thought I’d get a chance to meet her parents at the birthday party last week. I’m sorry they weren’t able to attend.”
I nodded. “Me, too, but it’s still too early in the semester for them to take off a few days. And you know how involved a trip here is. Besides, they’ve made arrangements to visit over Thanksgiving break—all of them. I’ve pretty much booked the entire inn for the occasion.”
“Oh, that will be lovely. I’ve always wanted a house full of people to cook for.”
I gave her a sideways glance. “You always have a house full of people to cook for,” I argued.
She rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean. A house full of family. Grandchildren running around and daughters-in-law helping in the kitchen while the men watch football.”
I let out a laugh, taking a sip of the beer I’d been nursing for far too long. “That wasn’t sexist at all.”
“Stop sassing me boy. For so long, it’s just been us three. And that’s been fine. Great even,” she said, taking ahold of my hand. “But I want to see you two happy. Rooted. Growing.”
“Me, too, Mom,” I said, my eyes trained on Lizzie and Cora.
Both of them were beautiful tonight. So beautiful, it almost hurt to look at them. I swallowed deeply, unable to turn away.
