Page 26 of The Impossible

She laughed. “Well.”

“But before we get into that, I got something for you in the house.” I stood and extended my hand for her.

“Wedding gift… Another house?” She accepted my hand and got on her feet as well.

“Nope, it’s better than that.” I locked eyes with Shawn and Jordan, her security, before nodding toward the house.

“Where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise.”

From the moment she told me she feared for her sister and wanted her at the wedding, I vowed to make that shit happen. While Nic thought Paige had missed the wedding, she had been here all along. She watched her sister get married and not from the fucking video call I told her to say she’d tune into.

“Is it another house?” she asked as we entered the room where I had Shawn lead her sister.

“Nah, something better.” My eyes landed on Paige and I moved out of the way, allowing Nic to see her.

“Oh my god, you’re here, like really here and not in Boston.” Nic was hugging her sister before I realized she was no longer holding my hand. “How are you here?”

Paige smiled with tears also in her eyes. “Thank your husband. He did it all. I’m pretty sure you give him a hard time, but he isn’t so bad and damn sure not the same asshole from childhood.”

My wife turned and looked at me with a smile and tears in her beautiful eyes. “Thank you.”

“Anytime, Nic. I’ma give y’all some space. Ain’t nobody coming in here. Shawn and Jordan are outside the doors. Let them know if you need anything.”

Nic nodded, giving me a look before she verbally responded. “You have your phone?” She was still a little shaken up from earlier, but that was to be expected.

I nodded. “Yeah, I told you that you’re good.”

“Okay.”

Once I left the room, I looked at Shawn and Jordan before I spoke. “Nobody in that fucking room. Anybody try to get in, shoot them.”

Both of them nodded and I moved out of the double doors to the patio where the party was still going on. As soon as I stepped out, my brother approached with a drink extended.

“You know you’ve been under my sister-in-law the whole night. What, you finally came up for air?”

I sipped from the drink, eyes scanning the room. “Nah. Typa shit happens when you married nigga.”

“You’re five minutes married and now you wanna talk some shit. Fuck outta here with your sprung ass.”

I chuckled. “Ma ain’t found you a wife yet?”

He shook his head. “Nah, not yet. She’s feenin’ though. Fuck, you spoke too soon. Here she comes.”

I chuckled and looked up just in time to see my mother approaching.

“Hello, my sons.” My mother smiled then looked at me. “Please go pay those people, so they can leave. Their energy is off and they are just sitting there awkwardly. You already didn’t let the man walk his daughter down the aisle.”

I was about to respond, but Otto spoke before I could. “He’s letting them marinate, Ma. This is why I never played hide and seek with him. He is too calculated.”

My mother shook her head. “Well, considering that’s his wife’s family, I would hop⁠—”

“They ain’t nothing to her anymore. She has us.” I didn’t give my mother a chance to respond, but instead walked over to the O’Leary’s table. This was my wedding night, but the snarls and heavy stench of hate coming off the patriarch of the family and Titus didn’t make for a good party in any space.

“Is there something either of you gentlemen need?” I asked, eyes locked on Shamus. He called the shots in the family, even though he was said to have stepped down a couple years back.

Shamus grinned. “No, taking in the festivities. It isn’t every day that my eldest granddaughter is married.”