Expecting it All (Punishment Pit #7) - Livia Grant Page 0,36
who answered. “Give it a rest, Pa. Him leaving would break Tiffany’s heart, and anyway, we’re all going to get years of enjoyment watching her tame him. He just thinks he’s gonna wear the pants in their new family, but I’ve been around them enough to know she can more than hold her own.”
Aiden’s words were a rare compliment from the normally smart-ass Chicago cop.
Patrick O’Sullivan wasn’t done complaining. “I guess it doesn’t matter anyway since they don’t have the decency to get married in a church. It won’t really count getting married here in a hotel.”
The minister they’d hired to perform the ceremony arrived in time to set the elder O’Sullivan straight. “I can assure you Lukus and Tiffany will certainly be married at the end of the ceremony. With or without a church, I’m an ordained minister who has performed over one-hundred marriages. Now, the ladies are lining up out in the hall. Mr. O’Sullivan we need you to go out and join your daughter to walk her down the aisle. Lukus and Markus, you stay with me as we’re gonna head up to the front altar while your other three groomsmen join the bridesmaids to escort them, just like we rehearsed last night.”
Lukus looked a bit lost for a few seconds so Derek slapped him on the back. “You’ve got this.”
“You sure about that? Why do I feel like I’m about to jump out of my skin?” his friend asked.
Derek grinned. “You remember that first weekend you met Tiffany?”
Markus was standing in their circle and groused. “I can’t believe you’re bringing that weekend up now.”
Derek ignored his complaint and kept talking. “Remember what you told me in the alley as Tiffany drove away that first time?”
Lukus shook his head. “Not really. I just remember how it felt like she’d knocked me on my ass.”
“That’s because she had. And that’s when you told me that you wanted it all. Everything that Markus, James, and I had. Marriage. Kids. The works.” Derek grinned. “Your other half is waiting for you. Let’s go make it official.”
The men took turns giving Lukus a shoulder-bump man-hug before separating to go two different directions. As the minister had indicated, the bridal procession was already lined up waiting to walk down the long flower-lined aisle just on the other side of the closed double doors.
Jack and Jill, Tiffany’s nephew and niece, were up front as the adorable ring-bearer and flower girl. Aiden joined his sister Connie next, and then James and Tiffany’s other sister Angelina were next in the procession. Derek detoured to walk back to the gorgeous bride, looking radiant in her flowing white gown.
“Wow, Lukus is one lucky man today. You look absolutely radiant, Tiffany.”
“Thanks Derek. I’m just so anxious to see Lukus.”
“Just a few more minutes and then you’ll be Mrs. Mitchell.”
Tiffany’s father grumbled next to her, but wisely kept his mouth shut. Derek leaned in to place a kiss on Tiff’s cheek before turning to greet Brianna who was taking her matron-of-honor roll very seriously, making sure Tiffany’s flowers were absolutely perfect.
Finally, it was time to take his place next to the bridesmaid he’d be escorting down the aisle and also be sitting with at the head table.
“Hi Zoie, you look beautiful tonight. I bet you’re excited to finally be getting a sister.”
Derek had only met Lukus’s younger sister a couple times in the past. He’d always thought of her as a kid until she’d arrived at the rehearsal the night before, looking anything but childish. Somewhere over the last few years little Zoie Mitchell had turned into a gorgeous young woman, or she had been gorgeous up until he noticed the tears in her eyes.
Pulling one of the many tissues he’d pressed into his pocket out, handing one to her. “My wife always cries at weddings, too. I came prepared.”
Zoie took the hankie, dabbing at her eyes just as the double doors opened and the processional music wafted in from the ballroom where the groom and all the guests waited. Derek held out his bent arm, “You ready to do this?”
She smiled, placing her hand through his arm at the elbow. “You bet I am.”
They waited a few minutes for the signal to begin their walk down the aisle, and it was just before they took their first steps that Zoie leaned in and added, “After the ceremony, I really need to talk to you about the job you and Lukus have open for an accountant. I need your