Page 28 of The Impossible

He pulled me into him, tilting my chin so I was looking him in his eyes. “You look so fucking beautiful.”

“Thank you very much, Mr. Carter.”

He grinned. “Anytime, Mrs. Carter. Now if you wan⁠—”

“Aht, aht. Before you try to whisk my new cousin away, gimme some time to talk to her.” I heard a soft, almost barely audible, voice.

When I looked around Hondo, standing there was a girl with the prettiest caramel complexion and cool toned purple hair. Her smile was beautiful as well. Not to mention, her hair matched the ombre lilac tones of her dress.

Hondo laughed, still holding me close. “Between you and Ma, y’all on some shit, huh?”

She grinned, her eyes jumping from mine to his.

“Baby, this is my annoying ass little cousin Amethyst. Ame, this is my wife, Nicolette.”

I shook my head. This man was forever introducing me to somebody by my middle name. It was bad enough I only heard Nic this or Nic that.

“You really hate my first name, don’t you?” I elbowed him a little before smiling at his cousin.

She laughed. “The way you just looked at him. Whew, cousin, you’ve met your match.” She rubbed her hands together.

He laughed and so did I.

“Man, shut your ass up. Ain’t it a kiddie table over there waiting for you or something?”

She rolled her eyes. “I am grown and I didn’t come over here to talk to you either. I came to talk to my new cousin. So, shoo, and let us discuss.”

Hondo laughed and threw his hands up in surrender. “You got it. I’ll give you a couple minutes.” He leaned down and kissed me before backing away from us.

“Now that I have you alone, Auntie Alora has enlisted me to help you guys put together your home and I am so excited. I’ve worked on plenty of projects and homes, but the budgets haven’t been as crazy big as I know yours is.”

I laughed because she was so happy and it showed.

“This is your wedding day, and I know you don’t wanna talk about this, but just know we are gonna be so close.” She and I talked for a while longer until Hondo returned and we ended up working the room for a while, with him introducing me to more of his family.

I couldn’t believe I was here. Married and enjoying my reception with the family who had treated me like their own from the moment they learned my name. That also extended to my sister, who had stayed away for so long because of our actual family. The moment they were off the premises, Hondo had come to get us, letting me know he had people he wanted me to meet and my sister was free to move around as our family was gone. That wasn’t much of a shocker, seeing as how my brother didn’t come, only my grandfather and father. Neither of them said anything to me and my father looked so far away.

I was glad they left, because from the moment I’d locked eyes with my grandfather, things seemed off. I also didn’t miss the moment when I was about to walk down the aisle and I saw. I couldn’t explain their features, but they were off, both my father and grandfather. We weren’t close and they owed me nothing, but we were blood at the end of the day, right? Damn all the controlling male chauvinist bullshit, they were my family, right? From the moment I said I do, there was no warmth, but instead a cool tension I didn’t know anything about.

“You good?” Hondo’s voice crept into my eardrum, interrupting my thoughts.

“Yes, why do you ask?” I accepted the drink he extended to me.

“’Cause you over here making faces into thin air. You do that when you’re thinking intently.”

“You’re watching me, huh?”

“I thought you knew that already.”

I was about to say something but loud familiar laughter interrupted, which had me looking in my sister’s direction. She was cackling hard at something Otto or the gentleman next to him said.

“Tylon Jackson. He represents the Jacksons. We do a good amount of business together. Good dude.” Hondo must’ve followed my line of sight.

I nodded. “Doesn’t matter, she’s engaged.” I then sipped from the champagne flute and looked around at the people still here. So many people.

He chuckled, taking a seat on the table in front of me. “She’s good with them.”

I knew my sister was good here, so she temporarily dropped from my thoughts. Leaning forward, I made sure I was close to him when I spoke. “So, Mr. Carter, when are you going to whisk me away?”