“Dad!”
“Maia?” Logan said sleepily into my ear, sounding confused.
“Door,” I mumbled.
“Wake up! It’s the wedding today!” She ended that on a giggle.
“Fuck.” The arm started to disappear from my waist, and I fumbled to catch it.
I pulled his body back in to mine, my back against his front. “No.”
I heard his throaty chuckle. “Babe, we need to get up.”
“Wake up!”
“We’re up, Maia,” Logan called back.
“I’ve got coffee for you. Are you decent?”
He leaned down to brush my hair from my face and whisper in my ear, “Are we decent?”
“I am. You’re definitely not,” I mumbled, still refusing to open my eyes.
“In ten seconds I’m coming in!”
“Damn.” I opened my eyes, squinting against the light. “I feel like I’ve had three hours of sleep.”
“That’s because you have.”
I turned and sat up, watching as Logan got out of bed and quickly shimmied into a pair of jeans.
He threw a T-shirt at me.
Oh, yeah, I was naked.
I started to pull it on when I noticed his tie still wrapped around my wrist. “Shit.” I tugged at it frantically, not wanting Maia to see it.
Logan laughed and sat back on the bed, pushing my hands away. “Give us just a few more seconds, Maia,” he called out to her.
“Ugh,” she said. “That told me more than I needed to know.”
“Get it off,” I whispered, as he struggled to untie the knot.
He was shaking with laughter. “Where’s the other one?”
I lifted my wrist and frowned. “You must have taken it off.” I glanced warily at the bedroom door.
“I thought Maia was staying with Shannon last night?” Just the thought of her hearing what we got up to in this bedroom made me blush in mortification from head to toe. A few months ago I’d given up my flat to move into Logan’s, and we’d been very creative about sex ever since, finding time to have amazing, very loud sex whenever Maia wasn’t home. The times she was home were the times Logan loved to watch me bite my lip to keep the cries of pleasure inside.
“She was,” he assured me as he untied the tie.
As soon as he did that, I whipped on the T-shirt.
“I’m coming in before the coffee gets cold.”
“Come in,” Logan said once I was covered and the tie was hidden.
Maia pushed open the door and stepped in carrying two mugs of coffee. My lips parted at the sight of her. She was already dressed in her bridesmaid outfit.
“You look beautiful,” I said.
She grinned, handing me my coffee. “Now, don’t go getting all watery on me, Grace.”
“She’s right.” Her dad leaned up to press a kiss to her cheek as he took his coffee. “You look gorgeous, sweetheart.”
She blushed and smoothed her now-free hands down the pale pink dress. It was so subtle a pink it was almost oyster. It had little cap sleeves, a sweetheart neckline, and a slight swing in the skirt. The skirt hit her knees, so you could see the beautiful oyster-pink platform peep toes she was wearing. Her hair had been styled into this elaborate updo with coils and curls pinned in place with little pearls and diamantés.
“You look so grown-up.”
Maia smiled shyly at me. “Do you think Charlie will like it?”
Her father growled at the mention of the boy who had been seeing Maia for eight months now. I didn’t know what he was so concerned about. Charlie was the opposite of a bad boy if ever I had met one.
“I’m sure he will. What are you doing here? Clearly you’ve been at Shannon’s.” I gestured to her.
“Aye, the hairstylist and makeup artist did my hair and makeup first, so I thought I’d grab a cab and come back home to make sure you two were up. Thankfully I did, or you’d still be sleeping.”
“On that note, I’m going to take a shower.” Logan dumped his now-empty coffee mug on the bedside table and hurried out of the room.
“Is he nervous about walking Shannon down the aisle?” Maia said after he’d gone.
“Nope. He’s honored.”
I watched Logan walk his sister down the aisle a few hours later, my chest bursting with pride. I still thought it was incredibly brave of her to choose him over her father, and I was pleased to see that despite the upset it caused, her parents were still in attendance. Apparently, their father had come around, and understood why it meant so much to Shannon for Logan to be the one to give her away.
They’d also been there for Maia so far.
Not surprisingly, Maia, knowing what they were capable of, kept her defenses higher around them, having been taught too young what it was like to have someone care for you one moment and stop caring the next.
But the MacLeods were trying.
Shannon had only a flower girl, a bridesmaid, and a matron of honor. She had Maia as bridesmaid, Cole’s niece, Belle, as flower girl, and her friend Rae was matron of honor. I’d met her only once before. Rae worked with Cole at the tattoo studio, and she herself was a tattooed biker-looking chick who somehow made her dress look biker punk.
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.