“You were made to wear a tuxedo.”
Rather than looking reassured as she’d hoped, he frowned. “Do you know one of the things I regret the most?” he asked. Then, without waiting for a reply, he answered his own question, “That I wore one so seldom with your mother.”
“The two of you weren’t exactly big partygoers.”
“Precisely my point. She loved getting dressed up for fancy parties, and I couldn’t be bothered. She stopped showing me the invitations after a while. I inadvertently cast her in this role as dutiful corporate wife, then wouldn’t cooperate with any of the things she considered to be important, no dinner parties, no charity balls. Worse, I neglected her.”
“I’m sorry.” She wanted to tell him it wasn’t true, but she couldn’t. Obsessed with his work, he’d emotionally abandoned all of them.
“Let it be a lesson to you, Samantha. Life is short. I always thought there’d be time to do the things your mother wanted to do sometime down the road. There wasn’t.”
“Mom understood your priorities,” Samantha reminded him. “She was proud of you and your work.”
“She shouldn’t have had to understand or to take a backseat to my priorities, not a hundred percent of the time, anyway,” Sam Castle replied. “She should have been my priority. She and you girls.” He glanced inside the church. “She should have been here for this.”
“I think she is,” Samantha said softly. “And she would be very happy that you’re putting us first now.”
“Too little, too late.” He waved off the comment. “Not the time to be dwelling on my mistakes. From here on out, actions will speak louder than words. I will be here for all of you. I owe it to your mother, to you and to myself. Maybe I’ll do better by my grandchildren than I did by you girls.”
He studied her for a minute. “You assigned to keep my nerves from getting the better of me?” he asked.
She chuckled. “Something like that. And Gabi does better at keeping Emily calm than I do.”
He frowned. “Why is that?”
“The usual sibling dissension,” she said, minimizing it. “It’s mostly all worked out. Nothing for you to worry about. Today’s all about happiness.”
He nodded. “Today we’ll focus totally on your sister,” he agreed, “but tomorrow you and I will talk. I want to know why you haven’t asked me about that land my father left me.”
Samantha gave him a startled look. “Grandmother told you about how I might be able to use that?”
“You know how she likes to ensure a certain outcome,” he said, his eyes twinkling. “She wanted me to be in a receptive mood when you asked. Since I’ve never been interested in claiming that land, I don’t know what she was worried about. It’s yours if you want it.”
“Just like that?” she asked, wide-eyed.
He smiled at her shock. “Even I am capable of the magnanimous gesture from time to time, especially if it will make one of my daughters’ dreams come true.”
“I’m not sure if it is my dream,” she admitted. “Or how ready I am for such a huge step.”
“Then we’ll talk about that, too,” he promised. “I think I can convince you that you are.”
Samantha laughed, despite his perfectly serious tone. “Boy, when you get into this whole fatherhood thing, you jump in with both feet, don’t you?”
“Only way I know to do things,” he agreed. “You might keep that in mind,” he added with a wink.
* * *
Ethan was so worried about getting Boone to the altar on time, not losing track of the rings and keeping an eye on the wayward parents that the ceremony pretty much passed in a blur. When it was over, he breathed a sigh of relief.
That feeling that his duty was done only lasted until the photographer rounded them up for pictures. It seemed an endless number of them were required. The only saving grace was being positioned by Samantha’s side for most of them.
When they’d been at it for what seemed like an eternity, he bent down and whispered in her ear, “Want to make a run for it? I know a restroom where we can lock the door and hide out.”
She laughed. “As intriguing as that offer sounds, I’m afraid we’d be missed,” she told him, though there was obvious regret in her voice.
“Not by Boone and Emily,” he countered. “Those two haven’t taken their eyes off each other since she appeared at the back of the church to walk down the aisle.”
“As it should be,”