Читать книгу The Taste of Romance Collection - Maureen Child - Страница 39

EPILOGUE

JAMIE LOOKED AROUND the large table and couldn’t wipe the smile from her face. A year ago, she’d been a widow, and even her friends had struggled to know what to say to her, or how to treat her. And now? Now she was married to a man she could be herself with. A man who wasn’t scared by the fact that she would always love the husband she’d lost, who was okay with her wearing her old wedding ring on her other hand, because Brett had loved Sam, too. Perhaps even as much as she had.

A tap on a glass made her turn to her new husband, eyes locking on his as he grinned and leaned sideways to give her a quick kiss.

“What are you doing?” she whispered to him.

“I’m about to do my speech, unless you want to go first?”

A speech? She hadn’t even thought about speeches, had been so preoccupied with her vows that she hadn’t even considered having to speak in front of everyone at the table.

She watched as Brett stood up beside her, their friends and family lowering their voices until they were eventually surrounded by silence.

“I guess I need to start by thanking you all for being here,” Brett said, one hand holding his champagne flute, the other falling to rest on her shoulder. “This was a day we only wanted to share with those people closest to us, and there is one person that isn’t here today that I would like to acknowledge.”

Jamie reached for Brett’s hand, her palm covering his fingers. She didn’t want to cry, but the whole day had been so emotional and now she had tears caught in her lashes again.

“We all know I wouldn’t be standing here today with Jamie if Sam was still alive,” Brett began, taking a big breath before continuing. “Sam was my best friend, and I always promised that I would look after Jamie if anything ever happened to him. I know he wasn’t meaning it quite so literally when he said that—” Brett paused as a few of their guests chuckled “—but I also know that he would have wanted us both to be happy in his absence.”

Jamie stood then, needing Brett to know that she wanted to hear what he was about to say, what he was already saying, and not knowing how to. She looped her arm around his waist, holding him tight.

“Sam was the only one of us who was married, and no matter how much we teased him about marrying so young, we loved Jamie as much as he did. I just want to say, Sam, if you’re up there—” Brett wiped his eyes with the back of his hand before holding up his glass “—that I will look after this woman until my dying breath.”

Jamie had tears falling fast down her cheeks, curling into her mouth. There was nothing she could do to stop them, and she also didn’t want to. Because she had loved Sam with all her heart, and now she loved Brett, too, just as deeply but in a different way. And she needed to hear what he had to say.

Brett turned toward her, putting down his glass and taking both of her hands into his.

“I always told Sam he was the luckiest guy in the world, and I mean it when I say I will look after you. One day, I might have to give you back to Sam, because I don’t want to be fighting him in the afterlife, but while we are here, on this earth, I will never let you down, Jamie. I will always be here for you, and I will do anything to be the husband you need me to be. I love you.”

Brett wiped away the tears that had stained her cheeks, before leaning in and kissing her softly on the mouth. She put her arms around his neck and held on tight, not wanting him to stop, but the clapping and clinking of glasses around them forced the kiss to an end.

Even though her throat was choked up still and her eyes wet with tears, Jamie turned to face the table. She needed to say something, and they were her family, her friends. They were here to celebrate, and if they saw her cry it didn’t matter.

“I don’t have anything planned to say, and I’m sure you’re all ready for dinner to be served, but I’d like to say thank you to all of you for being here today.” Jamie looked at the light hanging above the table, needing a second to gather her strength and force her emotion back as best she could, so she could get the words out. Brett took her hand and squeezed, and it was all she needed to find the strength to continue. “When I married Sam, I knew I’d found my soul mate, but it seems that I’m one of the lucky ones.” She squeezed Brett’s hand back. “Brett was our friend for so many years, and now he’s my husband. Life has a way of throwing us curveballs, some so bad that we wonder how we’ll ever live through them, but Brett has proven to me that sometimes we have more than one soul mate in the world. I am so grateful to be standing here today, with the man I love.”

Jamie reached for her glass and held it up. “To Brett, for being the love of my life, and teaching me that falling in love for a second time might be a miracle, but it was one that I deserved.”

“To Brett.” The words echoed around their table as everyone raised their glasses.

“I love you, Brett. So much,” she whispered to him.

“And I love you, too, baby,” he said, dropping a kiss to her forehead.

As they sat down, two waiters appeared with the main courses, but it was the tapping against a glass again that had Jamie’s attention, followed by a deep huh-hmm. She scanned the table and realized it was Logan, sitting directly across from them.

“I’ll make this quick because dinner is being served,” Logan said, standing. “For the past ten years, the two most important people in my life have been Sam and Brett. When Sam died, we were all hit hard, and thinking about Jamie being on her own was almost as hard as losing him.” He gave her a wink across the table. “I might have given Brett a black eye when I first found out, but I honestly believe, now I look back on what happened, that Sam would have told me what a jerk I was being. Because looking at these two today, it’s obvious they were meant to be together.” He held up his glass. “And let’s not forget Bear, Sam’s loyal dog, who has taken up the role as Jamie’s number-one protector. If anyone didn’t approve, it would have been Bear, but even he seems to accept this union.” Logan laughed. “To Brett and Jamie, two of my favorite people in the world.”

Jamie smiled at Logan—the man who had been her first husband’s best friend and was undeniably Brett’s best friend, too—and held up her glass. She took a slow sip before looking at every single person seated around the long table again. The white tablecloth was set with low candles from one end to the other instead of flowers, because she’d wanted to be able to see and talk to everyone, and she loved watching the smiles and chatter as she looked at them all now.

Brett nudging her broke her trance, and she switched her attention to him.

“You okay?” he asked.

“More than okay,” she assured him, looking down at the plate of food in front of her.

“Then eat up, Mrs. Palmer,” he said, waggling his eyebrows and making her laugh. “Because you’ll need all your energy tonight.”

Jamie elbowed him in the ribs but he was having none of it, swiftly grabbing her arm and pulling her in for another quick kiss.

“I’m so pleased I married you,” he said, his mouth hovering over hers.

“Ditto,” she said, laughing as he kissed the tip of her nose instead of her lips.

She reluctantly turned her attention back to her food—king prawns, calamari and scallops tossed in her favorite linguine with garlic.

Life didn’t get much better than this.

* * * * *

Read on for an excerpt from ROAD TRIP WITH THE ELIGIBLE BACHELOR by Michelle Douglas.