It might have been the motorcycle boots Shannon had allowed her to wear.
Both Shannon and Cole had written their own vows, so I had mascara blobs around my eyes by the time they were finished. I was glad to see I wasn’t the only one affected, however, as I could see Ellie, Jo, and Hannah dabbing away at their eyes. Only Olivia and Joss were dry-eyed, but their beaming smiles lit up the whole church.
I’d never known people like them, I thought as I stared around the room at the women and men and children who had invited Shannon and Logan into their lives and just as easily took in Maia and me.
“Need a hanky there?” Aidan whispered in my ear beside me.
Juno, who sat by his side, jabbed her elbow into his stomach to quiet him.
Chloe, who sat on my other side, handed me a tissue.
I rolled my eyes at their gentle teasing, but I was glad they were here with me.
All of my family in one room together.
“Okay, let’s ditch this place and get out of here,” Shannon announced upon rushing over to us, dragging Cole with her.
The reception hall was huge because they had a lot of guests, but those of us who were family and close friends had pushed two tables together and were sitting around them, talking and drinking, relaxed now that the ceremony and dinner was over.
We stared up at Shannon, amused.
Her dress – a white, figure-hugging, calf-length forties-style number – was still pristine. As were the five-inch Kurt Geiger bridal shoes she was wearing. However, her cheeks were flushed, and her hair was falling loose of the clips the hairstylist had used.
She looked overwhelmed.
“I mean it.” She nodded. “We need to get out of here. My cheeks hurt, my feet hurt, and I’m fed up talking to people I hardly ever talk to instead of the people I want to talk to.” She gestured to us.
“I tried to tell her this is what it would be like,” Cole said as he wrapped his arms around her waist and drew her back against him.
“Let’s just go to the Walk or something.” She referred to a pub that I knew Cole favored on Leith Walk.
“Nope.” He kissed her cheek apologetically. “We’re stuck here.”
“That doesn’t mean you have to traipse around after everyone else,” I said, pushing an empty chair toward her. “Sit down with us. If anyone wants to talk to you, they can come to you.”
Her eyes brightened at that, and she immediately whipped off her shoes and padded over to me barefoot. Logan pushed a chair toward Cole, and he gave up and decided to join us too. “What the hell,” he muttered. “It’s our wedding.”
“We should have done that at our wedding,” Joss said to Braden.
Her husband held Baby Ellie in his arms, swaying her gently as she took everything in. Shannon and Cole had deliberately held the wedding and wedding supper early so the kids could all enjoy it. “Probably,” he said. “But I quite enjoyed how tortured you were by it all.”
“You’re such a romantic,” she said dryly.
He winked at her and she rolled her eyes.
“Everyone should do what we did,” Hannah said. “Marco and I invited just you lot, and it was perfect.”
“Oh no. I like the whole big wedding thing,” Ellie disagreed. “I love weddings.”
“We know,” Joss, Jo, Liv, and Hannah said in unison.
Ellie glared at them, and Adam put his arm around her, pulling her in to his side. “Ignore them, sweetheart.”
“You love that I love weddings – don’t you?” she said to him, wide-eyed, still somehow managing to pull off this adorable thing even though she was in her late thirties.
“Absolutely,” her husband managed to say with a straight face.
Braden ruined it by grunting loudly in disbelief.
“Well, Grace and I will probably just make it a small do,” Logan announced, causing the whole two tables to quiet.
I stiffened and felt Chloe’s hand grip my knee in reaction to the announcement.
Maia gasped. “Are you getting married?”
“At some point,” Logan said, looking confused by everyone’s sudden alertness.
“But have you proposed?” Shannon leaned across the table, eyes bright with excitement.
“At some point I will.” He stared across the table at me, apparently looking for help.
I could only stare back in shock.
He had not mentioned marriage to me.
“Why does Grace look like she’s just hearing this for the first time?” Olivia asked, amusement in her expression.
“Because she is,” Chloe answered beside me. She would know, because she’d be the first person to hear about it.
“Och, Logan,” Jo snapped at him. “You can’t go announcing these things without talking to the bride-to-be first.”
“Bad form, mate.” Nate shook his head.
“Well…” Logan looked at them all and then at me before coming to the realization that he’d gone about it all wrong. “Fuck.”
“Logan MacLeod, there are children present.” Elodie harrumphed.
“Apologies,” he said, almost sheepishly.
I laughed at the fact that no one else, absolutely no one else on the planet could intimidate Logan, but Elodie Nichols could make him feel like an errant schoolboy.
Our eyes met as he turned toward my laughter. His eyes asked me if we were okay. I smiled. “You just better make sure it’s one hell of a proposal.”
Everyone snorted and chuckled as Logan’s gaze, his promise to do just that, seared from his eyes into my very soul.
“Way to hijack my wedding, folks,” Shannon teased.