Winning my Best Friend's Girl - Piper Rayne Page 0,26
The guests all quietly laugh, which makes Phoebe’s cheeks pink more. Dion finally leaves her and walks down the aisle before sitting down next to his dad in defeat.
Calista starts walking but stops when she sees Phoebe standing there.
“I can’t look. Tell me what’s happening. Are my kids ruining the wedding?” Harley groans.
“They’re stealing the show,” I say with a chuckle. “But Phoebe isn’t moving at all.”
She looks over my shoulder. “Oh crap. Come on, Calista, be the big sister you need to be right now. Take her hand,” she whispers.
Rome’s waving and blowing out a frustrated breath, his eyes venturing from Harley to Phoebe. Calista just stands there.
Phoebe sticks her two fingers into her mouth. I’m about to hop over the pew until Phoebe stares in our direction. But it’s clear she’s only looking at Stella. Then Stella does a little twirl and acts as if she’s throwing the petals. Phoebe laughs and twirls down the aisle a step or two. She stops, so Stella does the same thing and Phoebe twirls. It’s the longest walk or dance down an aisle ever, but Phoebe finally reaches Stella. Instead of walking to the front and her dad, she walks right into our pew, sitting on the floor between Stella and me.
“She’s amazing,” Harley whispers in my ear before bending down to get Phoebe, who rips her arm out of Harley’s hold.
“I sit here,” Phoebe says.
Harley holds up her hands. “Whatever floats your boat.”
Calista walks down, doing a great job of sprinkling the petals on top of the ones Phoebe did. Then the music changes. I glance at Colton waiting at the end of the aisle. He smooths his shirt under his tuxedo jacket and inhales a deep breath.
Juno and Austin step into the room and the women all ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’.
“She’s beautiful,” Harley says behind me.
Stella turns to me, but she nods to Harley in agreement, slyly wiping away a tear.
“The dress is kind of big, no?” Rome asks from where he now stands on the other side of Harley.
Juno looks beautiful. Her dress is just really poofy. I open my mouth to respond but Stella shoots me a look.
I hear Rome say, “Ouch.” Phoebe steps up on the pew between Stella and me, but she still can’t see, so she leans forward to peer down the aisle. Stella’s hands instantly fall to my niece’s hips so she doesn’t fall over, and my heart thumps. That move, which I’ve seen my sisters and sisters-in-law do a million times, comes from such a motherly instinct. It shouldn’t hit me the way it does, making me imagine her doing that with our own child.
We all sit down, and Austin sits next to Holly, taking Easton in his arms. I slide over to make room for Phoebe, who spends the majority of the ceremony staring at Stella and sliding her hand in and out of Stella’s.
Colton and Juno say their vows, kiss, and are announced husband and wife. I watch my sister start her happily ever after with the man she’s been in love with her entire life.
A pang of jealousy hits me because I’m not sure I’ll ever experience what she’s got. If I look around at my family these days, all I find are couples. Holly and Austin, Liam and Savannah, Brooklyn and Wyatt, Phoenix and Griffin, Cleo and Denver, Rome and Harley. They’re holding one another, kissing and sharing something that couples in love do. Then there’s me and poor Sedona, who’s rubbing her hands over her belly and watching Juno and Colton with a smile. I don’t know how she’s smiling after what happened with Jamison.
We all file out of the pews after the happy couple, and once we’re in the vestibule of the church, everyone goes to get their coats. I ask Stella for her coat check number since Phoebe is still attached to Stella.
At the coat check, Harley slides up next to me. “I like her, and I’m not just saying that because she managed to keep my kid quiet for the entire ceremony.”
I glance at her, and based on her level of giddiness, if she wasn’t so pregnant, I’d think she was drunk. “Thanks. I like her too.” I pass the coat check guy my tickets and my gut twists.
I’m doing it again. Taking care of Stella because it’s second nature to me when I should just be leaving her to do her own thing.