Chapter Twenty-two
Casey knocked before opening the door to the small room downthe hall from the chapel where Kendra and Gavin would exchange their vows. “Iseveryone decent?” She curled around the door and pretended to sneak inside.
“I know you’re hoping I’m not, but you’re too late.” Kendraturned from the full-length mirror on the far side of the room.
Her elegant gown hugged her torso, then flared slightly at thewaist and fell to the floor in a loose-flowing skirt. The lace cap-sleevesadded the only ornate touch on an otherwise simple design that flatteredKendra’s figure. Someone with very talented hands had woven her hair into anintricate updo that looked both effortless and complex at the same time.
“You are gorgeous, my friend. I would hug you, but I’m afraidI’ll mess something up.” Instead, she lifted her camera and fired off several candidshots. “I came to take some pictures of you getting ready. Sean is doing thesame with Gavin and the guys.”
“By himself?”
“Don’t worry. They’ll be great. He came up with some creativeideas, and I let him run with them. He’s got talent.”
“Our boy’s going to be a doctor. Stop trying to make him into anartist,” Jacqueline said as she came into the room behind Casey.
“Does a veterinarian still count as a doctor?” Kendra asked,teasing.
“Yes. And it makes him smarter than both of us. So leave himalone.” Casey turned toward Jacqueline, and her final word nearly turned into amoan. The V-neck of Jacqueline’s champagne gown plunged deeper than was decentand exposed the soft swells at the inside of her breasts.
Kendra turned back toward the mirror and fussed with the skirt ofher dress.
Jacqueline stepped closer to Casey and kissed her cheek. “Youlook great.”
Casey had opted for a solid-black, wide-legged jumpsuit thatallowed her the freedom to move during the ceremony. Jacqueline’s eyes droppedto her chest and to the floating pearl necklace she’d given Casey for herbirthday a month before. When she lifted the single pearl, her fingers brushedCasey’s chest, and Casey shivered.
“I want some shots of you two pre-ceremony.” She tried to forceher mind back to work. As they both looked at Kendra, Casey rested her hand inthe middle of Jacqueline’s back, surprised to encounter bare skin. She glancedover Jacqueline’s shoulder. The folds of chiffon draped nearly to her waist.“Are you kidding me with this dress?”
“You don’t like it?”
Casey had seen the dress on the hanger, but Jacqueline hadrefused to model it for her, saying only that it would be worth the wait. Shewas right. “It’s amazing. I thought you weren’t supposed to be more stunningthan the bride?”
“I heard that.” Kendra glanced back at them both. “You’re nothelping my nerves.”
“Don’t listen to her, Kendra.” Jacqueline winked at Casey, thenjoined Kendra at the mirror. “She’s unable to be objective. It’s not her faultthat I’ve so thoroughly seduced her.”
Casey couldn’t even argue. In the two months since they’d agreedto that first dinner date, their relationship had grown stronger than ever. Asplanned, they’d managed to take things slow, starting with a couple of dates aweek. Jacqueline hadn’t pushed to accelerate things. In fact, she seemedhesitant—as if she were waiting for Casey to indicate she was ready for morecommitment. Casey had told her to leave all those years ago. Though Jacquelinehad asked for them to try again, maybe she needed Casey to set the timeline forthe final step.
The only area they hadn’t held back was their physicalrelationship. Once Casey had permission to put her hands on Jacqueline, shehadn’t been able to restrict herself. And Jacqueline didn’t seem to mind atall.
Then, as the frequency of their time together increased, theyincluded Teddy and Sean as well. Casey had been apprehensive when they began tofeel too much like a family, waiting for something to go wrong. Their firstdisagreement had been blown up much bigger than it should have been. But afterthey’d both calmed down, they acknowledged that their nervousness had causedthem to overreact. They both wanted this to work so badly that they saw thefirst sign of conflict as failure. But when they stopped being so careful witheach other, things felt more natural—they had good days and bad ones, and thatwas okay.
Jacqueline moved behind Kendra, bracketed her waist with herhands, and rested her chin on Kendra’s shoulder. “Don’t worry. You will be themost beautiful woman in the room. Gavin won’t be able to take his eyes off you,and isn’t he the only one who matters?”
Kendra grinned at their reflections. “Of course not, it’s mywedding day. I want to be the center of everyone’s attention.”
Casey took several pictures, moving to capture a different angle.She focused on the mirror and got a great shot with their backs in theforeground. She caught a moment when Kendra and Jacqueline looked at each otherand the bond between them beamed over both of their faces.
Casey focused on Jacqueline through her viewfinder. If she’d hadany lingering doubts, they would have melted away in that moment. She’d shotmore weddings than she could count—capturing the beginning of forever for somany couples, as she would now for Kendra and Gavin. Jacqueline glanced overher shoulder at Casey. As she clicked the shutter—freezing the love inJacqueline’s expression—she knew that this woman was her forever.
*
“Don’t let me fall down the aisle,” Kendra said to her father.
Jacqueline glanced over her shoulder and smiled. “You’ll be fine.But just in case, do you want me to take a dive so no one notices if you do?”
“Okay, smart-ass, it’s your turn.” Kendra nodded toward thedoorway in front of them. The bridesmaid before Jacqueline had already gonethrough.
Jacqueline took Gavin’s brother’s elbow and they started forward.Just inside the door, she caught Sean in her peripheral vision. He knelt behindthe last pew, looking adorably professional in his shirt and tie with hiscamera raised in front of his face. She knew he’d worked a bunch of weddingswith Casey, but she’d never seen him in this element.
As she walked down the aisle, she smiled at the family and guestsin the pews on either side. Up ahead, Casey had
