Priceless

Good, fucking lord I don’t know how Hannah managed to pull this shit together and not saw anyone’s head off. The furor going on around me made me consider just getting the hell out of the way. Would anyone notice if I snuck off in Nelly and flew her back to Donadea?

Come tomorrow afternoon somebody might notice. I’d better just suck it up and try to make myself useful.

Ethan and Brynne were busy with settling in her mum and step-dad, Hannah was directing at least three different crews working on separate things: organizing the new house for the wedding night, the erection of a tent city in the garden, and other crap that overwhelmed me. Fred had been called to the hospital, and I’d kept the kids busy all morning with target practice. Uncle Jonathan had taken them to the cinema about an hour ago, and I was now with nothing to do but arse about.

I texted Hannah. Put me to work, lady.

She hit me right back. God I luv u. I need u to p/u Brynne’s people @ Taunton Sta. and bring here. Take my car. Keys on pantry hook. 3 guests - Ben, Gaby & Mum. Ben will stand in 4 her dad and Gaby is MoH. Thank u!!!

Now this was a job I could manage without a cock-up. Collect wedding party guests from the train station and bring them here. I can do that. xo

I was guessing that MoH meant maid-of-honour. So this would be my partner I was meeting. And I remembered E telling me about Brynne’s photographer friend she’d asked to give her away at the ceremony. Sweet girl had recently lost her father in an accident Ethan wasn’t convinced had been an accident. Heinously tragic situation with no good outcome.

Yeah, the world was full of crazy fucks for sure. I certainly had no trouble attracting them either.

EIGHT

BEN read the message from Ethan’s sister to us out loud from his phone, “My cousin is on his way to you now and will bring you up to Hallborough. Look for the tall deadly handsome one. You can’t miss him. LOL. See you soon. Hannah.”

One look at his wide, suggestive eyes paired with the leering grin and I knew exactly what Benny was thinking.

I shook my head at him and rolled my eyes right back. “Filan, your son thinks his mission in life is to find me a man. Can you make him stop?” I pleaded to Ben’s mom.

“Oh, my darling, Gabriellen, I think not. You are too beautiful to be without a man holding you happy in his arms at night.”

I threw up my hands in frustration and raised my eyes heavenward. “I see where he gets it now.”

Filan Clarkson loved her son so very much, but she also loved to mother his friends. She always called me Gabriellen no matter how many times I told her there was no “n” on the end of my name. I’d given up correcting her a long time ago, and I didn’t really even care at this point. She was a stunning woman, a former fashion model who’d made a life for herself in London after fleeing her native Somalia. It was easy to see where Ben got his drive to succeed, as well as his looks. She loved to cook big Sunday meals and invite everyone over to eat. And having someone mother you when your own was gone wasn’t a terribly bad thing after all. I turned away and left them there

snickering behind my back while I went to find the loo.

I checked myself in the station bathroom and saw how pale I looked. The strep throat had definitely taken a toll on my body. I’d lost weight and didn’t at all look my best, but there was nothing I could do about it. I pinched my cheeks and shook a hand through my hair to fluff it out before I stopped myself and asked why in the hell it even mattered. I wasn’t the bride. Nobody would be looking at me.

It was time for me to take a pill anyway. My antibiotics still had two days to go before I finished. The doctor had been strict about taking the pills on time, and until the last one was gone, or I could have a reoccurrence. Nope. Not happening. One bout of strep was more than enough and I never wanted to experience that kind of pain or sickness again.

I headed to the concession area inside the station and bought a bottle of Vitamin Water Orange-Orange. My favorite. I swallowed my horse pill and went back outside to where I’d left Ben and Filan.

I could see that our “ride” had found them while I was off. I guessed he must be the cousin, because he shook Ben’s hand before politely greeting Filan. He was tall like Hannah had mentioned, but I couldn’t tell about the “deadly handsome” part because his back was facing me as I walked toward them. His ass looked good in the jeans he was wearing. Um, yeah.

Ben saw me coming and held out his hand, urging me over. “Gaby, this is Ivan, Ethan’s cousin and best man for the wedding.”

I put a smile on my face in preparation of meeting my partner for the weekend. No need to be unfriendly. Hopefully he was as nice as he looked…

He started to turn toward me.

“Ivan, meet Gaby. Brynne’s maid-of-honour to your best man.”

I noticed the hair first. He had the kind of hair you remembered.

Then the shape of his chiseled jaw as he turned his head.

Finally, it was the eyes that verified things for me. Those arresting green eyes of his latched onto mine for the third time in my life.

No, it cannot be him. Ivan. Ivanhoe.

This just couldn’t be right.

But it was him. And Ivan was his name. A wave of desperation hit me as I remembered him telling me his full name. He’d introduced himself properly when we’d both made a second attempt at introductions before everything blew up. He’d turned to me in the front seat of his car and said, “Gabrielle Hargreave, it’s a pleasure to meet you. Ivan Everley, inheritor of all this…and of course, shuttle driver for lost American art students.”