Eden Read Free Page B

shook her head. She looked upon me with pure love and
adoration. She had always regarded me with an adulation that I
never quite understood, but the look in her eyes was new to
me.
    “ May I seat you?” Bex said
to Cynthia, offering his arm.
    “ Yes, thank you,” she
said, walking with Bex into the church.
    Lillian watched them disappear behind
the door, and then leaned into my ear. “You don’t know how long
I’ve waited for this moment. You’ve always been family, Nina. I
can’t explain it,” she whispered. A sweet, innocent laugh escaped
her throat. “Some nights, after Jack and Cynthia took you home
after I’d make you all dinner, I would cry.”
    My eyebrows popped up. Lillian was
always so candid about her feelings for me. Even so, her words
surprised me.
    “ Gabe used to shake his
head. He always thought me to be irrational when it came to you.
But each time you left my home, I felt I was letting my daughter go
away to live with someone else. I must sound crazy. It sounds silly
to say out loud. I…I just wanted to tell you how happy it makes me
that after today…I can call you my daughter.”
    I hugged her to me. The intensity of
emotion in the room was overwhelming. I didn’t hear crazy.
Lillian’s words sounded like love.
    “ No, no, no, no…,” Beth
said, pulling a tissue from her purse. “Don’t cry. Your mascara is
waterproof, but it’s not magic. It could smudge.” She carefully
dabbed under my eyes. “You’re only marrying the man of your dreams
soon. What’s to cry about?”
    I smiled. “Touché.”
    The music sounded. Beth handed me an
exquisite bouquet of pink and white tulips, winked at me, and then
slid out of the double doors to take her walk. I stood alone in the
vestibule, in my dress, holding my favorite flowers—the same Jared
presented me on our first date. I was amazed, then, at the
coincidence. Now it just made me smile. Why he was ever nervous
about whether I would fall in love with him was a mystery. Not only
was he the most thoughtful, most selfless and loving person I knew,
he was also armed with the knowledge of all my likes and dislikes.
He was more armed to win me over more than any man could any woman.
The tulips were perfect. Jared had sent me this very bouquet many
times over the course of our relationship. It just occurred to me
that these flowers had also been sent to me before our
relationship; on birthdays, my high school graduation, and I
remember feeling comforted by a wreath at my father’s funeral
bearing the same flowers. Jared had never mentioned it before, but
I knew they were from him. That thought made me smile. He had loved
me for a long time, and now I was about to walk down the aisle of
our chapel, on our island, to pledge my eternal love to him. Life
had never felt so right.
    I thought about my father, and wished
he were next to me. I imagined him in a smart tuxedo with teary
eyes, fawning over my dress and how beautiful and grown up I
looked. As a little girl, I imagined him giving me away at my
wedding, and now he would have to do it from Heaven.
    “ I know you can see me,
Daddy,” I whispered, closing my eyes.
    Suddenly, I was no longer alone.
Someone was beside me, with an arm hooked around my
elbow.
    “ Hope you don’t mind a
wedding crasher. Jack sent me,” Eli winked and tightened his
grip.
    “ N-No,” I said, shaking my
head. “Of course not.”
    “ I’ve always wanted to do
this.” He stretched his neck and shoulders. “Looked like
fun.”
    “ Thank you,” I said, as
the wedding march began to play in the chapel.
    “ Ready, kiddo?”
    I smiled, and took a deep breath.
“Ready.”
    Both doors swept open, held by two
young local boys, and our small audience stood.
    Eli leaned into my ear. “You are
breathtaking, by the way.” He took a step, and I followed his lead.
Together we walked slowly down the aisle.
    The sanctuary was a bit dim, with
beams of sun breaking through the windows and spotlighting the
different faces