as I do.” She paused a moment. “But, I’ll always love him.”
Lily took her hand, held it between her own. Her eyes, a magnificent, metallic purple-the effect of her emotional outburst-stared straight into Charley’s. “I’m sorry I got all girly on you. I just wasn’t prepared to lose you if you did decide he was ready.”
Charley patted her hand. “I know, Lil. You, James and Cael? You all need me, and Wyatt needs someone of his own. I still got time to find a match.” She rubbed again. “Enough of this moaning, let’s get on with it.”
Lily squeezed Charley’s shoulders. “Let’s do this thing!”
To give Wyatt and Stuart the full effect and ensure Charley and Lily had practice time with their four-inch heels, Charley sent James and Cael downstairs to await a grand entrance. The walk down, around and through the hall alone put a cramp in her calf.
“Wow.” Cael stood from his at-rest slouch on the couch.
“Holy sh-” James started before Charley waved him silent as he stood and ogled.
She’d been right to pick the silk wrap. Around her shoulders, the lightest of threads danced as layers crisscrossed her body, thick in key areas, lighter in others. With her unique ability, she increased her shape in a few places to fill out the dress and give the front V-cut its full due. A quick spin under James’s hand, and multiple layers rose, falling as she came to a stop.
“Can I just add that every other girl in the room is going to be envious?” James’s compliments would always be welcome.
Charley laughed. “Lily! Your turn!” she called over her shoulder.
Heels clicked on hardwoods, turning to a clear tap on the ceramic and ceasing all sound when Lily hit the carpet. Charley dropped James’s hand, clasped her own together at her mouth. She and Lily had agreed to surprise each other with the final package.
James’s whistle bounced off the walls, and Cael huffed, crossing his arms.
“Mmmm. Mmmm.” James offered Lily the same twirl.
Her dress hugged her hips, trailed the floor with sequins and beads that sparkled in all directions as light hit. Spaghetti straps adorned with clear rhinestone graced her pale shoulders. Her V-cut extended lower than Charley’s in front-nearly to her navel-and did the same in the back. Silk gloves of the same color ran the length of her arm to her elbow.
“Lil,” Charley started to tear. “You are gorgeous.”
Hands together, they added air kisses to each others’ cheeks and laughed at their royal gesture.
“You like it?” Lily’s hands extended as she made a full circle again on her own.
“Stunning.”
“Yeah, what she said.” Cael thumped James and stalked off up the stairs.
“What did I say?” Confusion ran through Lily’s blue eyes.
Charley smiled to the ceiling. “I think someone’s jealous.”
“Jealous of what?” Lily’s question came with clear innocence in her eyes.
James let out a snort before he grabbed Lily’s hand and pointed at her reflection in Cael’s sixty-inch baby. Even distorted, Lily glowed.
“Me?”
Both Charley and James nodded.
The chime and knock that followed took their attention. Lily spun around as fast as the tightness of her dress allowed. Charley turned to smile at a sober-faced James. She stepped toward him, snaked her arms around his waist as far as she could and hovered her head against his chest. His arms wrapped around her as he sighed.
“We’ll be okay if you change your mind.” His whisper hit her hair, but she understood with complete clarity.
Her eyes pricked with tears. She pulled back, waved a hand at her eyes-all of Lily’s work would be ruined if she let the tears fall. The kiss James added to the top of her head constricted her breath in her chest.
She sucked in deep, hitched air as she let it out. “I won’t.”
“Mira!” Lily giggled. “There are some guys in suits here! Oh my goodness, Stuart!”
“Better go see,” Charley said as James released her.
“Yup.”
She found Lily as she bounced, nervous and excited.
A traditional corsage in hand, Stuart brought it to Lily. She lifted her hand, and he slipped it onto her wrist. Charley couldn’t help the smile that escaped as Lily’s simple bend at the waist met resistance.
Wyatt crossed the threshold a moment later. Charley’s breath quickened. Like Stuart, he’d opted for less traditional formal wear. His tux, a black that shimmered, opened at his waist to reveal a simple vest in a color Charley could only call Swiss chocolate. He’d left the top button undone and added no tie. More casual than she’d have thought, his suit held an elegant simplicity.
His eyes remained fixed on hers, his lips twitched as he made his approach. A simple red rose and a solid black box rested in one hand.
“You… are amazing,” he said.
She spun to give him the full effect. “You like?”
He closed the distance like a lion to its prey and crushed his lips against hers. The rose and box slipped behind her as he pulled her in, bending her backward into his body. Their lips merged, as they had countless times, like magnets drawn together by sheer force of attraction.
“I guess you do,” she said when he released her lips but not his hold.
“I do.”
Charley would have sworn he meant more than he should have.
Wyatt pulled her upright again and brought the rose to her nose. Charley breathed in the delicate scent-one she’d forever associate with the start of their night.
“Thank you.” She twirled it between her fingers as Wyatt opened the box he’d held.
He lifted the lid, eased back on a hidden hinge.
An aquamarine stone sat in between two smaller amethysts. The trio hung from a silver chain that sparkled like the moon on a cloudless night.
She took a deep breath, hands over her lips. In more than two hundred years, Charley had never been given a gift like it.
“Wow.” James whistled over her shoulder. His “oof” reached her hair as she elbowed him in one quick move.
“You like?” Wyatt mimicked her.
“I do.” She reached for the necklace.
Wyatt held the box wide as she lifted it and let it fall into the palm of her opposite hand.
“May I?”
Charley nodded as he took it from her. She turned her back to him as his hands came down like a curtain-the necklace glittered with the room’s light. Her hair tickled as Wyatt moved it to one side, clasped the necklace and let her hair fall back into place.
James whistled again-from farther away.
“Shall we?” Wyatt extended one arm toward Charley.
She draped hers over his. “Absolutely.”
6
Charley’s fingers found her pendant whenever her hand fell free from Wyatt’s. She’d see the sparkle as it reflected in a window, on her plate or in her glass. The need to reach out and touch it prevailed over every other
