historic spot on Lake Peigneur outside of New Iberia is just a thirty-minute drive from Lafayette. One that Mom can handle.
I glance over at Mom, sitting to my left. She’s holding hands with Aunt Lorraine, smiling at Nonc as he charms the both of them.
That’s something else Iris has given me. Given us. The first time I brought her home with me to meet Mom, she couldn’t get over Mom’s illness. The brutality of it. The unfairness of Alzheimer's striking someone so young.
She asked questions. Some Val, Nonc, and I had asked in the beginning, but some we hadn’t. Including questions about clinical drug trials. Iris enlisted Laird’s help, and the giant Scotsman became her unofficial research assistant. Earlier this year, they found a trial specifically for women under the age of sixty-five with early-onset Alzheimer’s.
I shouldn’t have been surprised Iris got Mom enrolled, not knowing how determined the woman I love can be. I mean, her vacations include covering one-hundred-and-fifty miles on foot. She was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.
There’s nothing she can’t do.
And the drug is helping. Mom isn’t better, but she isn’t getting worse. At least, not that I can see. And I should know. We have coffee every morning. Her eight a.m. is my six. We talk. We laugh. She loves hearing about River and Skye, my two hellions—I mean, students.
I glance over at their table. Shep, their manny is seated between them, keeping the peace for now. The boys look deceptively civilized in their little tuxedos. And they did great in their roles as ushers.
Of course, their parents couldn’t make it. Not that I expected them to. Even though their father, Maxwell, has started meeting my eyes when he passes me in their Laurel Canyon estate. Once he realized that I was engaged to the rising star of the season’s hit new comedy, that is.
I was right. River and Skye might have more resources than all my public school kids put together, but they need me just as much. For all the same reasons. To push them. To hold them accountable. To give them attention. To love them.
Oh, and to teach them to speak, read, and write in French.
I bring my gaze back to Iris, and my heart turns to butter. She looks terrified.
“You’ve barely touched your crab cakes.”
She gives her plate a blank stare. Then she aims a desperate look at me. “I don’t know if I can do this.”
I reach for her hand under the table. “We don’t have to do this.”
Her delicate brows steeple. “But then the vampires win.”
“Wh-what?” I sputter.
“In the ‘Fear Itself’ episode of Hexed, Season 2, Raven Blackwell discovers that vampires originated when Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden because that was the first time humans felt fear,” she says wide-eyed. “They feed on it. It makes them stronger, and then your fears suck more out of you.”
I soften my voice. “Right, but the undead aren’t going to come after you if you decide you don’t want to do this.”
My wife shakes her head. “Today is my wedding day. The vampires can suck it.”
I arch a brow.
“You know what I mean.” Iris waves an agitated hand.
This woman is going to keep me laughing for the rest of my life.
“I know what you mean. But you’re right. It’s your wedding day. Our wedding day. And I want you to enjoy it.”
For a moment, the tightness around her eyes dissolves, and she gazes up at me with such love my mouth goes dry.
“Of course I’m enjoying it.” The corners of her perfect mouth rise. “I'm sharing it with you.”
I don’t know what I did to deserve this beautiful, vibrant, force of nature beside me. I don’t know how I ever let her walk out of my life. But, somehow, she’s mine, and I am never letting her go.
She shrugs, and my gaze lands on her seductive shoulder wrapped in vintage lace. I follow the undulating line of lace down the deep V of her bodice. When I saw her for the first time today, down the grassy aisle on Ramon’s arm, the daring neckline had me wheezing for breath.
I don’t think I’ve ever been more star-struck.
“You could have warned me,” I’d whispered after Ramon had placed her hand in mine and I’d tugged her beside me.
She’d giggled. “And missed that rabid stare on your face?”
Iris looked proud of herself. Confident and proud. And ridiculously happy.