me and make me the happiest man on the planet?”
A pin could have dropped,reverberating noise throughout the room. It was that quiet.
Then, Lena began.
***
Shelly watched through blurred eyes as her friend gripped Mason’s hands and started her own vows. Although, how she could manage after Mason’s was a miracle. Shelly didn’t think there was a dry eye in the place.
“I would marry you every single hour of every single day for the rest of my life. Before you, I didn’t know how to live. Oh, I went through the motions of having a life, but it was all for show. I was broken in here,” Lena told him and raised one of Mason’s large palms to her heart.
She held onto one of his hands and kept the other one pressed close to her chest. She took a step closer and looked up at him.
“You have given me so much I can’t even begin to express how deeply my love runs for you. Your strength and sensitivity, your complete love of your family, and your absolute perseverance and stubbornness are just some of the many things I love and adore about you, Langley. You taught me how to accept things I never could have without you, how to forgive myself, and give permission to my heart to open up and love again. Your happiness and joy of life is so strong that it left me no other option but to let you in to warm up my soul, which had been cold for so long.” Lena paused, and then firmly and loudly said, “I would be honored to marry you, Mason Langley. Will you please marry me?”
Shelly watched as Mason tugged Lena forward, and she was pretty sure only those standing up close to them heard him whisper.
“Just try and stop me.”
Then, he laid the sweetest, most passionate kiss Shelly had ever witnessed on his bride.
***
Three-and-a-half hours later, the reception was in full swing. There had been photos upon photos and so much food had been eaten that Josh felt like he was going to explode. He’d hardly had one moment to himself all night, and he certainly hadn’t had a chance to talk with Shelly.
Every time he turned around, she was off getting another photo with the bride. Then, when he thought he could finally catch her, Lena’s parents had started talking to her, or someone from their work had pulled her aside. He was starting to think that he wouldn’t get the opportunity he so desperately craved.
Glancing around the reception area, Josh saw Shelly near the makeshift bar. Standing, Josh was about to make his way to her when he saw Rachel sitting at her table by herself, watching everyone dance.
He had seen Mason chat with her and pull her into several dances. Rachel had smiled and moved to the music with ease, but there was something off. Josh headed toward her table, finally deciding to find out what it was.
“Hey there,” he said as he pulled the chair out beside her.
Rachel looked over to him and smiled. “Hey, Josh. Nice night, huh?”
Josh relaxed into his chair. “I’ll say. Have you ever seen a couple so stupid over each other?” he said, hoping to get a laugh from her.
However, instead of the usual burst of joy he would get from Rachel with the colored hair, he got a small grin from the new Rachel with the black hair.
“They seem very happy,” she told him.
Josh leaned toward her, reaching out a hand to touch her shoulder. She looked over at him, and Josh couldn’t help but see the raw emotion that was welling in her eyes.
“You don’t,” he whispered.
“I don’t what?”
“You don’t look happy,” he explained quietly. “In fact, every time I see you I feel as though you look sadder.” Josh watched as she straightened her spine and blinked her eyes, trying to hold back the moisture forming there. “What’s going on, Rach? You haven’t been yourself lately.”
She shook her head, smiling sadly at him. “It’s nothing to worry about. I think I’m just a little out of whack. Not having Mom and Dad here today was just hard.”
Josh thought that might have been some of the issue at hand, but for some reason, he felt it went much deeper than that. Obviously, she didn’t want to discuss it right now, so he squeezed her arm and assured her, “You know you can talk to me about anything, right?”
Rachel nodded but kept her mouth taut with tension. “Man-Eater is