Page 7 of Amelia and Her Prince Charming
“Haydn and Bennett will walk you down the aisle. I’m officiating, remember?” her brother, Jules, said. Her other two brothers both nodded in agreement.
Rosie frowned. “I looked into buying a palanquin, and it’s not that much.”
“Hey, guys!” I said loudly, sensing by Rosie’s brothers' expressions that this was a good time to jump in. Dylan, who had been sitting with his arm around Rosie, looking like he couldn’t be happier, jumped up and came over to pull me into a tight, pounding hug. Quinn leaned down from my shoulders to hug Dylan’s head.
“Quinny!” Dylan said, riffling her hair.
“Hi, Uncle Dylan. What’s a pack-win?”
“A palanquin is something a queen is carried on,” Dylan said. “And since Rosie’s a queen, I think she should get anything she wants.”
“Dude,” Jules complained with a headshake. “That is a slippery slope you’re treading.”
Dylan ignored his almost brother-in-law and said to me, “You’re here just in time. Rosie wants to do karaoke.”
That was met with groans from everyone except Rosie, who huffed, but also smiled deviously as she looked at me. “I signed you up to go first.”
“Let him eat at least,” Bennett said.
“I’m not a monster.”
“Just a bride-zilla,” one of her brothers muttered under his breath, earning all three of them a threatening finger point and narrowed eyes.
“Sounds like you’re all in the mood to watch a marathon of princess movies when I get back from my honeymoon.”
Quinn’s chin was resting on the top of my head, and her arms hung down around my shoulders. If they’d flown in today, she’d be exhausted.
“I’m going to get her back to her mom,” I said.
Dylan peered past me to where Amelia was sitting with the team. “Be careful,” Dylan said. I didn’t know if he meant with Amelia or with my heart around her, but either way …
“I always am.”
Chapter 4
Amelia
WhileBretandGagewere talking, I was keeping one eye on Hudson and Quinn. She was resting her chin on the top of his head, her eyes starting to droop.
She’d missed him a ton since he’d left and would not be letting him out of her grip any time soon. I let her video call him whenever she asked, which was several times a week, but it wasn’t the same as seeing him every day. When he lived down the street, he’d been at our house all the time, eating meals with us, working nights so he could spend his days with us. I’d been in such a dark place for the first few months, it didn’t even occur to me to wonder when he was sleeping.
We wouldn’t have survived without him.
We were surviving now. Happy even. But Quinn missed him. I missed him.
He laughed at something Rosie said, and I found myself smiling along. Hudson had that quality about him—his emotions were contagious. His calmness helped me feel calm. His happiness filled me with joy. It had been that way since I’d methim in our freshman English class, and he’d not only let me take his seat next to the heater but brought me a warm drink.
Everyone needed a Hudson in their lives.
“You’ve got it so bad,” Bret said. I blinked my focus back toward him and Gage.
“What?” I asked, a little too sharply.
“You’ve gotta be so mad. Because your shoes.”
Oh. I shook my head and tried to laugh. Where in the world was my head?
Bret looked at me carefully. “You okay?”
