“Didn’t want to leave anything to chance,” he said.
“Clearly. Wait a second, is this how you won over my brothers at the hospital?”
He smiled mischievously. “What gave me away?”
“Oh, nothing in particular. I’m just finally putting two and two together.”
“Believe it or not, Bianca almost gave me away.”
“Ah, she hasn’t yet mastered the art of subtlety, but don’t you worry. I’ll teach her.”
Bianca was traveling through Europe with their parents, otherwise the three of them would have attended the wedding today as well. I missed that girl. Luckily, she would attend UCLA for college, so she wouldn’t move away.
“I know you will. I love you, Hailey.”
“I love you too. You have no idea how much,” I whispered. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“Showing me that it’s okay to want things I fear. And that I don’t have to fear loving you.”
Reid skimmed his hands down my side. Yeah... we were definitely going to be a bit late.
***
“Promise not to ugly cry,” Lori said sternly. The makeup artist had just put the finishing touches on all us girls. We were quite a group. In addition to all of us Connor girls, my Bennett cousins had also arrived.
We were in a small room at the wedding venue. The ceremony was taking place on the same property as the reception, a beautiful location just outside Los Angeles at the foot of the San Gabriel mountains.
We all nodded, but she zeroed in on me.
“Especially you, Hailey.”
I cleared my throat, but what could I say in my defense? Lori usually cried too, but she was discreet, shedding a few tears in silence. I, on the other hand, could become a blubbering mess, which as Val put it, was contagious.
A knock at the open door startled us. Reid stood there, watching us with an amused smile.
“Sorry to interrupt the pep talk, but you told me to come get you girls at ten past three, Lori.”
“Sure, I was just—”
“About to give my girl shit? Can’t let that happen, can I?”
The girls laughed, and I skidded toward Reid, lacing my arm with his.
“Thanks for coming to my rescue.”
“Always.”
“Ah, the perks of having a fiancé.”
My cousin Pippa looked between the two of us with a smile.
“Nice ring you picked there, Reid.” She was the designer at Bennett Enterprises and one of my favorite people in this world.
“Oh, this?” I held up my ring. Everyone laughed.
“Well, you designed it, so I think you might be biased, but I happen to agree with you,” Reid said.