Page 104 of Redemption

We grin as Pete pulls us into a giant group hug and the photographer starts taking pictures.

There’s a knock at the door.

“Come in,” I call out as we separate and straighten out our dresses, while we try not to let the tears leak from our eyes and ruin our makeup.

Shawn and Zeke walk in, and Shawn’s eyes immediately become glassy as he spots Pete.

The four of us step back, letting them have their moment, as they tell Pete how proud they are of him and how happy they are for him and Elijah.

After a few moments, I interrupt, “Pete, we’re going to need to head in now. It’s time. You three are just behind us. Elijah is waiting for you at the altar. You’ve got this.”

He nods, “Thank you. I love you guys.”

“We love you too,” we all reply together, which makes him laugh.

The room we’re waiting in is directly opposite the room that the guys are getting married in, so all we have to do is cross the hallway.

As we walk through the doors, I’m pleased to see that quite a few people have managed to make it after all, and as Elijah and Pete requested, there are no separate sides. Both families are all mixed up together.

Watching Elijah’s eyes light up the second that he sees Pete is absolutely beautiful.

The whole ceremony and after-party went off without a hitch. It was absolutely beautiful.

It’s lovely to see the parents and to get to spend some time with them. Alaric, D, and Ryan all showed up and reassured us that everything was okay, and they just had an unexpected hiccup. We collectively decided to let it go since it was Pete and Elijah’s wedding, even though we all know that something definitely happened. Alaric has a bruise on his cheek he didn’t have yesterday, and all three of their knuckles are either bruised or split.

It’s a conversation for another day.

The parents all love D, Alaric, and Ryan, and none of them have any idea how deadly the three of them truly are.

I don’t think I will ever get used to the two sides of our lives merging and mixing.

Atlas pulled Alaric to the side to double-check that Liam was okay, something we’ve actually all been surprisingly concerned about, and Alaric reassured us that it was just a graze, albeit a rather deep one, and that he’s been fixed up and is on the mend.

No one asked Alaric the obvious question. If he knows that much about Liam’s condition, then why wasn’t Liam in custody?

We all collectively decided to leave that alone.

Liam saved my life, and so long as he stays out of trouble, I’m actually okay with just leaving him be. I have no desire to go after him.

Almost everyone is staying at the venue tonight, but since we’re hosting a going-away party tomorrow at our house, we decided to make the short drive home and stay there. No one is due to come to our house until the evening, but we still need to get everything ready.

Plus, Rafe is already exhausted from catering the wedding and doing the ‘night before’ party the evening before the wedding. We all suggested that we could order in a few pizzas, but he was having absolutely none of it. I’m sure someone will suggest it again at some point just to make sure that Rafe is really up to doing the going-away party food.

No one would mind if he wanted to order in pizzas.

No matter what he chooses to do, he’s got a lot of help tomorrow.

If he wants it.

The good news is we have nothing planned for a few days at least after the going-away party. So everyone can rest after the full-on few days we’ve had.

∞∞∞

We all got back a lot later than we intended to last night, which means we have woken up later than we initially wanted to as well.

“Jynx messaged,” I say when my speech decides to work again after my second cup of coffee.

“Oh?” Luc asks when I don’t carry on explaining.