Page 20 of This Woman Forever

“And she’s okay?”

“What’s up?” Tessa asks, flipping me a sideways smirk. “Worried you’ll get jilted at the altar?”

I snort. “Don’t be fucking ridiculous.” But I immediately break out in a sweat, looking back over my shoulder to the stairs. “Who’s she with?”

“Her father.” Tessa tugs me on, stopping at the summer room doors and facing me, brushing down the front of my suit. I eye her, stepping back, out of her reach. “You had a bit of lint.”

I hold up my hands. “I also have hands to remove it myself.”

She blushes and turns her attention to Kate, starting to faff with her dress instead, as if to make a point that she wasn’t singling me out to be felt up. The boys join us, and I watch as Sam moves in on Kate, smiling at her, taking her in.

“You look incredible,” he says, moving a stray lock of her red hair off her face. I frown when Kate shies away from his touch and then sways a little. Is she drunk?

“Now, then.” Tessa opens the doors to the summer room and ushers us inside, leaving Kate behind.

“Everything okay?” I ask Sam as we wander down the aisle, all eyes on me.

“Yeah.” He lowers onto a seat, and I look at Drew. He shakes his head mildly, his way of telling me he’s noticed something’s not right too. I haven’t got time to wonder whether I should be sharing the news of Kate’s history with Drew. Not today.

Joining John, I take a deep breath. “Ready?” I ask him, laughing on the inside. Anyone would think it’s him getting married.

“I’m ready.”

“You sure?”

He slowly turns his eyes onto me. No shades. “I’m fucking ready, you irritating motherfucker.”

I smile at him, nodding mildly. “You’re a good man, John Johnson.”

His smile is barely hidden. “Fuck off.”

I laugh but flinch when I hear Elizabeth approaching behind me, throwing out her hellos to all of the guests, lapping up the attention. I stare forward, gritting my teeth. She’s going to fucking kill me when I handcuff myself to her daughter.

Don’t care.

I swing around, all smiles. “Here she is, my beautiful mother-in-law.”

She half-smiles, half scowls, giving me her cheek to kiss. “Not yet, Jesse Ward. Not yet.”

“Any minute, Mum.”

“Behave.”

“No.” I look past her, seeing Tessa closing the summer room doors. “How is she?”

“Having a moment,” she says casually, going to her chair. My back straightens. A moment? What does she mean, a moment? “A moment?”

“With her father.”

I breathe out, and John chuckles beside me. “Worried she’ll change her mind?”

Yes. “No.” Music suddenly filters through the speakers, and my lungs inflate with my deep inhale. “Oh fuck,” I breathe, suddenly very nervous, my eyes on the doors into the summer room.

“Jesse.”

I hear the distant calling of my name.

“Jesse?”