Page 45

Lux

One Year Later

“R emember what we talked about, okay?” I whispered as Bella gripped the tray with two hands.

“I'm not stupid, Auntie Lux,” she whispered back.

“I know, I know,” I said, and patted her back. “I have to get in place, but remember you go after the bridesmaids?—”

“ I know ,” she hissed like I was exhausting her.

Her hair was done in a half-up, half-down style with two pigtails in the back.

She had picked out two small white braids that matched her white and light pink dress.

In her hand, she had a bucket of pink and red flower petals.

“Now get in place before Juliette thinks better of it and decides not to marry you after all.”

“Right,” I said and quickly fixed my hair and suit. I took a deep breath, giving Bella one last look before I went to the sliding glass door.

“Auntie Lux,” Bella called, stopping me.

I turned back to look at my niece. She looked so much like my sister it hurt. But it was a good kind of hurt, unlike almost two years ago. It warmed my soul to see a piece of my sister still alive on this planet.

Bella might not be my daughter, but she was the best gift I could've ever been given. She stood straight and confident, all the anxiety and fear that had once filled her gone. She was slowly blossoming into a woman I knew my sister would be proud of.

“You got this,” she assured me, giving me a smile. “I love you. And thank you for bringing Juliette into my life. Our life.”

Tears welled in my eyes. Fuck. “I love you too, sweetheart.”

Then she motioned for me to get out of there with a scowl, the sweet moment over just as quickly as it began.

Her teenage years will be… interesting.

I let out a choked laugh and ran out to the backyard.

The vast green yard had been completely transformed. There were white and pink chairs to my right and left, and a long aisle at the end of a gazebo peppered with hundreds of wildflowers. Harmony, Juliet's ex-roommate, stood there in a pink dress that matched the color themes.

I got in place beside her, and she gave me a reassuring wink, obviously feeling the nerves running through me.

She motioned to Marci, who was off to the side at the DJ booth, to start the music. My heart pounded in my chest as a modernized version of the traditional wedding song played through the speakers.

All eyes were on me.

At first, I didn't know who to invite to the wedding, but after some thinking, the chairs started filling up faster than I expected.

Mia, Laura, and Gina all said yes. Juliette didn’t extend the invite to any of her extended family, for good reason. As the good person she was, she floated around with the idea of inviting them, but I could see in her eyes she didn’t truly want them to be here.

They didn’t need to be. This was ours . We didn’t need them ruining what was supposed to be one of the best moments in our lives.

I sent an invite to Sloan as a thank you since it was because of her invitation to Club Pétale that Juliette and I had met in the first place.

I told her to invite her partner, who currently sat in the second row, and when she asked if she could bring her friend and their partner, I didn't expect it to be Nyx, who brought Ax, who happened to be the owner of the club.

That’s how somehow our wedding became the talk of the club, so when Lillian asked if she could bring more people, of course I said yes.

As such, there were five more people there that I'd never met before, all of them sitting together in the second and third rows, looking happy as ever to be there.

Except for one girl with black hair and blue eyes who looked like she wanted to be nowhere near a crowd.

Her partner, though, seemed to be pretty excited.

When I extended an invite to my work family, we were at full capacity. And even though it was a small event, for once I was feeling a little bit of performance anxiety.

There was one person in the far right corner, his eyes on me and a heartbreaking smile on his face. A person I never thought would show up, or, until a short while ago, knew still existed.

My father.

I met his gaze, and he gave me a small nod. He hadn’t been around for my entire life, but that small gesture meant everything. I had no one to rely on. No one to look to for help, but he showed. Finally.

I took a deep breath, my hands coming to tug at my clothes. Anxiety was reaching its peak.

But all that melted away when the best man made his way down the aisle.

Lucas walked with a confident swagger that only he could pull off and came to stand beside me. He gave me a pat on the back and smiled before saying, “If you hurt my sister, I will hunt you down.”

He’d been saying that ever since I proposed, and I didn’t hold it against him. I was in no danger. I’d never hurt Juliette.

My heart squeezed when the bridesmaids started walking down the aisle because I knew Juliette was just that much closer.

It was April, her ex-roommate, followed by Erin, and then Gina. Harmony would've been in there too if she hadn’t decided that she randomly wanted to become a wedding officiant just for Juliette’s wedding.

When Bella came next in her pretty dress, I was smiling wide. She took her job as flower girl very seriously and made sure to walk in pace with the music as she spread her petals.

She met my eyes and stopped in front of me, her hand reaching out to grab mine. I gave it a squeeze, and she was off to stand at the end of the bridesmaids’ line.

There was a pause, and I swear I wasn’t breathing as I watched Lucas loop around to wait for my bride at the sliding glass door.

I was annoyed at first that he insisted on being both the best man and walking Juliette down the aisle, but I knew it had to be him. And seeing both their smiles as she reached for his arm had all of the annoyance washing away.

Butterflies swarmed in my stomach. My heart hammered in my chest, and my skin heated unbearably. I had been successful in holding back the tears until that very moment.

Juliette coming out of the house in a wedding dress was hands down the single most beautiful thing I'd ever seen in my life.

Her blonde hair was pulled up into a half-up, half-down hairdo that resembled Bella’s—not by accident, I was sure.

She had a lacey veil on with pink flower petals sewn into it.

The dress itself had puffed-out long sleeves and a crystal bodice, and the puffy skirt bounced elegantly behind her as she walked.

When she met my eyes, the world fell away.

She was perfect, and I couldn't believe she was finally going to be mine in every sense of the word.

Her brother placed a kiss on her palm. Juliette’s eyes were already watery, but a single tear fell when he whispered something that sounded a lot like “our parents would be proud” to her.

He handed me her hand with the utmost care, and I took it, giving him a smile as he went back to his position.

Harmony addressed the crowd and gave the normal spiel, but I didn’t hear a word. I was too obsessed with Juliette.

I pushed back her veil so I could get an unobstructed look at her face.

“Hi,” she whispered with a smile.

“Hello, beautiful,” I whispered back.

I didn't care about the crowd. I was barely able to follow Harmony's prompts, but I did because I knew at the end I would finally be able to kiss my wife.

Those two words sounded so beautiful swirling around my head, and I couldn't wait to use them.

“Juliette, do you take Lux as your lawfully wedded wife?”

“I do,” Juliette replied, her voice shaky.

“And do you, Lux, take Juliette as your lawfully wedd?—”

“I do.” My hurry had a few people chuckling, including Harmony.

I put the ring on Juliette’s finger, a gold band with a mix of different-cut diamonds that I had found at an antique shop. Something I knew would fit Juliette perfectly. She had all but collapsed when I pulled it out on a weekend getaway to the Hamptons.

She put a simple diamond band on mine.

“By the authority vested in me by the state of New York, I now pronounce you wife and wife!”

I grabbed Juliette, kissing her like there was no crowd. The hoots and hollers did their best to remind me there was, but I didn't care.

“My wife,” I whispered against her lips. Her hands grabbed my shoulders, and she kissed me with a passion that threatened to make me blush.

They were just about to pull us apart when I finally brought us up for air.

Juliette’s eyes were sparkling, and she met me with a devious smile.

“Mrs. Sterling,” I whispered. “All mine.”

“You did say you always got what you wanted,” she said with a light laugh.

Bella ran to us, her arms wrapping around us.

“Congratulations!”

We laughed and pulled her into a hug. The perfect family. Just the way we were.

I had the angel the universe had sent me. I had my niece, who made me grow in ways that I never knew were possible.

Both had taught me how to love and be loved. And I could never imagine a world without them.

“I love you both,” I whispered, and both my girls looked up at me with a smile.

“And we love you, Lux. Forever.”