He stood up so fast that he nearly dumped her off his lap, but caught her again and pulled her in for a jubilant kiss.
“I love you. I’m gonna say it until you get sick of it, you hear me?”
Adele closed her eyes and held him close. Walking away from him had been her biggest mistake, and she was blessed to have a second chance.
“I’m never gonna get sick of it,” she said, and he picked her up and swung her around while she laughed from sheer joy.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
THE VOWS HAD been said, the champagne drunk and the cake cut. While it wasn’t as grand a wedding as most, Adele looked out from the balcony of the Fiori Cascade and sighed a happy sigh. A chinook had formed, and the west wind had made the late March day unseasonably warm, with a scent of spring in the air. The mountains still held their cap of white and would for another month or two. All in all, it had been a magical day, and one of the fastest weddings she’d ever put together.
“What are you thinking, Mrs. Brimicombe?” Dan came up beside her and put his hand on her waist.
“I’m thinking that I’m the luckiest woman in the world.”
“Funny.” He gave her waist a squeeze. “I was thinking the same thing.”
“That you’re the luckiest woman in the world? Interesting.”
He laughed, and she delighted in the sound. There was nothing she enjoyed more than teasing him.
“It’s been a good day.”
“Yes,” she said, “it has.”
Dan’s entire family had flown out for the wedding, and so had Adele’s mother, to Adele’s great surprise. They’d had a small ceremony with family and a few friends, including Harper, who’d passed her photo duties on to another photographer and instead stood as Adele’s maid of honor.
They hadn’t wanted anything elaborate, though the setting was gorgeous enough. The people that meant the most to them, some champagne and a full-on high tea for the guests, ending with wedding cake with Adele’s favorite buttercream filling. Tonight they’d stay in the honeymoon suite. Tomorrow they’d fly first to Vancouver, and then to Hawaii for a short but lovely six-day honeymoon.
Everyone was still mingling, and the jazz band they’d hired remained in the salon. Harper stepped out on the balcony, stunning in a dress of pale blue silk. “I thought I might find you two out here.”
“And so we are.”
“I missed taking your pictures today. But I’m more honored to stand with you.”
Adele gave her a hug. “Thank you. If it weren’t for your tough love, I doubt we’d be standing here. I wouldn’t have wanted anyone else.”
“And Drew can’t take his eyes off you,” Dan added, grinning at her. His brother was best man, and he hadn’t seemed at all upset at being paired with Harper for the trip down the aisle.
Harper laughed. “Your brother is a charmer and a flirt. I see right through him. Anyway, I’m glad I caught you out here, because I want to give you your wedding present.”
She reached into her jeweled clutch purse and took out a blue envelope.
“Harper, you didn’t need to do this. You’ve done so much already.”
There was something in Harper’s eyes that told Adele that this was no ordinary gift, though, and so she reached for the card and opened it.
Inside was a card with a pen-and-ink sketch on the front. Adele wrinkled her brow in confusion. The sketch was of a woman who resembled Adele, and a man—Dan, of course. But in Adele’s arms was a bundle that looked oddly like a baby.
She lifted confused eyes to her friend.
“This is an offer from me to you, and you’re under no obligation to accept, of course. I want to help you have a baby.”
Adele reached for Dan’s hand. “I need to sit down.”
They made their way to a wood-and-iron bench and sat, Dan holding Adele’s hand while Harper sat on her other side.
“I don’t understand,” Dan said.