A mark of Callie’s genes.
Juliet’s best friend in high school had often complained that she was so pale she burned if she even looked at the sun. Little Esme wouldn’t have that problem, Juliet thought, her chest tight at the memory of the laughing young woman with hair of silky blond and studious eyes of blue hidden behind black-framed glasses.
Callie would’ve been effervescent with happiness to see her baby today, all dressed up and excited.
“You look like princesses,” Charlotte said to her adorable flower girls.
“No, you do!” both girls cried before asking for photos with the bride.
The hairdresser and makeup artist took their leave at the same time—to profuse thanks from the entire bridal party.
As soon as Juliet had snapped their photos, Esme and Emmaline ran over to the large standing mirror someone had propped near the balcony doors. The early-afternoon sunlight poured over them as they admired their dresses in the mirror.
“The necklace is the something old,” Molly said into the quiet.
“And the dress is something new.” Alison ran a hand down the lace of Charlotte’s sleeve. “I’m certain this’ll become an heirloom; it’s so lovely.”
Two little girls danced in the light as emotion filled the room anew, the sunshine caressing their dark hair. Emmaline’s a pure black, Esme’s silkier and less manageable and with hints of chocolate brown in the black. Another mingling of two very different people. Another sign of love.
As was this moment with Charlotte.
“As for your something blue...” Stepping forward, Mei raised Charlotte’s hand, and Aroha slipped on a thin sapphire-and-diamond bracelet that all of them had pooled their money to buy.
It didn’t matter that Molly and Alison could’ve each bought it on their own—what mattered was the symbol of friendship, a memory of this time together. As delicate as the bracelet was, it perfectly suited Charlotte’s small bones. It also went very well with the platinum-and-emerald bracelet from Gabriel that pretty much never left her wrist.
“Oh.” Charlotte’s hand fluttered to her mouth, her nails polished to a shine and coated with a shimmer of pale color. “This is so beautiful. You didn’t have to—”
“Of course we did.” Carefully picking up the gauzy veil that had been draped over a sofa, Juliet handed it to Alison.
Molly, both hands pressed together and eyes shining, leaned against Juliet. “Your something borrowed, Charlie,” she whispered.
Alison’s throat moved as she secured the veil to Charlotte’s hair, using a graceful and fine tiara that flawlessly matched Charlotte’s sense of style. “I’m so glad my stubborn Gabriel convinced you to marry him,” she whispered after fixing the veil in place. “You light him up, my beautiful girl, and I see the same light in you when you look at him. May you always be each other’s starshine.”
Juliet had to look away for a second, the lump in her throat in danger of smashing her cold, dead heart back to life. Everyone was bustling to get ready to head out to the church by the time she pulled herself together. Aroha asked Juliet to check the back of her dress to make sure everything was in place.
“You look amazing.” Juliet fixed the shoulders of the midnight-blue A-line dress with a high waist, vee neck, and long sleeves that Aroha had chosen for herself.
A small, warm hand slipped into Juliet’s in the aftermath.
Glancing down, she found herself looking straight into a pair of big brown eyes framed by glittering blue spectacle frames. Callie was there in that moment, in the shape of Esme’s face, in the way her smile was a little lopsided—and in the solemn seriousness with which she examined Juliet.
Calypso “Callie” Simpson had always had a solemnity to her, but intermingled with that had been a deep generosity of heart. Gearhead and elite athlete Jake, on the other hand, had always had a hint of the stiff-lipped Puritan in him. Just enough to make him and Juliet firm nonfriends.
Looked like that hint had become a full-blown case of stuffed-shirt syndrome, she thought with an inward scowl just before Esme said, “You look pretty, Jules.”
Clearly, Esme had learned her manners from relatives other than her father. “We look pretty,” she said with a grin and a squeeze of that fragile hand. “Let’s go knock ’em dead.” Especially Jake.
It was a point of honor now. Because the boy she’d known had grown fully into those wide shoulders and long legs that had been a promise the last time she’d seen him. And in that instant when she’d first looked up from putting her heel back on, she’d wobbled internally… before her brain processed the fact that it was Jacob Esera she was ogling.
She could hear Callie’s laughter now. Her best friend was probably rolling around the floor in heaven while tears of sheer hilarity streaked down her face. For such a nice person, Cals had sure had a wicked sense of humor.
Anyway, it had to be all the wine last night. The fumes had clearly still been in her system during that split second of disorientation when she’d looked up and seen a hot—and built—man who’d sent a distinct “zing” through her lady parts.
Jake “Golden Boy” Esera and Juliet “Bad Influence” Nelisi?
Nope. Nope. Triple extra nope.
3
Featuring an Indigestible Mouse and Goo-Goo Eyes
Jake couldn’t see Juliet in the audience that sat ready for the bride to make her entrance.
Maybe she’d been held up by that run to pick up Esme’s glasses. Still, he scowled—she should’ve made an effort to be on time. It’d be just like Juliet to swan in late and cause a ruckus. He could still remember that time she strode in half an hour late into a full-school assembly. Most students would’ve scuttled into the cavernous hall with its walls and floor of polished wood, trying not to be noticed.
Juliet had walked in bold as you please, no concern on her face.
“Why do you look constipated?” Danny muttered to him in Samoan as the six of them got themselves sorted by the altar.
Jake shot his brother a shut-up look, but Danny was the youngest in a brood of four boys. He’d long ago learned to ignore any such cues.
“Seriously, bro,” he said, switching to English. “Do you need a pill?”
Narrowing his eyes, Jake silently promised his baby brother that payback delayed was payback well thought out. “I just want everything to be perfect for Gabriel and Charlotte.”
Grinning with the rash confidence of someone who hadn’t felt Jake’s wrath in a while, Danny slapped him on the shoulder. “You don’t have to worry about that. As long as Charlie doesn’t ditch him at the altar, our big bro couldn’t give a shit what else goes wrong. She’s what he cares about.”
Jake knew Danny was right, but he couldn’t still the nerves. Worrying about the people he loved, the people who were important to him, was part of his nature. He’d always been inclined that way, but it had gotten much, much worse after Calypso’s death. It didn’t matter that no amount of worrying would’ve stopped the spread of the bacterial meningitis infection and saved her life. Jake couldn’t stop his compulsive need to protect and shield his own.