Chapter Twenty-One
Rose’s heart hurt for Maggie. She couldn’t believe Joel had waited until the last minute to make his move. He’d had a year.
At one time, Rose had no doubt their love had been real, and she believed love like that never disappeared entirely. But Joel had put her friend in a precarious position.
Still, if Maggie decided to call off—or postpone—the wedding, then Rose would support her. After all, Maggie’s entire life’s happiness was on the line.
“What’s going on?” Gray asked, looking confused. “I thought we were practicing the ceremony, not swapping places with them.”
She met his amused gaze. “Do you want to get married and have kids someday?”
Amusement turned to sincerity. “Yes. Absolutely. We talked a little about it day one. Why? Don’t you?”
“I do.”
“So what does this have to do with Maggie and Marc? Fromall I’ve heard from them, it’s a wedding, honeymoon, then a baby soon.”
“That’s the plan. But you’re not going to believe this... Maggie’s ex, Joel, just called. He wants her back, children are on the table,andhe asked her to call off the wedding so she could think about what she wants to do.”
“Shit.” Gray rubbed his hand over the back of his neck. “Does Marc know about this?
“No. But from what I’ve gathered, Joel just made a damn good case for her to cancel the wedding and marry him.”
“Shit,” Gray repeated, leaning over with his forearms braced on the back of the pew. “What do you think she’ll do?”
“I don’t know for sure. But I can tell you, what she had with Joel, before the kids thing got in the way, it was epic.”
“I don’t envy Maggie having to make this kind of decision between two men she obviously loves. And this late in the game. Marc... He’ll be...”
“What?” Marc asked, walking in behind Gray with the other two groomsmen.
Gray turned to him. “I was just telling Rose you’d be here soon.”
Rose appreciated that Gray kept their conversation private.
“Miss me, gorgeous?”
“Not at all,” she teased and smiled, keeping things light and friendly.
Marc eyed her, but kept smiling, too. “Where’s my beautiful bride?”
Rose covered for Maggie. “She stepped out for a minute, but I’m sure she’ll be back soon.” Or not. At this point, Rose wasn’t sure Maggie hadn’t called Joel back and asked him to come and whisk her away.
Marc stepped aside so the other two guys could join them. “Have you met Rick and Frankie?”
“No.” Rose held her hand out to Rick. “I’m Rose. I’m the maid of honor. And Gray’s girlfriend,” she added, loving the wide grin on Gray’s face. She shook Frankie’s hand, too, then stood and made her way out of the aisle.
Gray met her at the end of the pew. “Looks like we’ll be doing the ceremony after all,” he whispered in her ear, then tipped his head toward Maggie and the priest as they walked into the church.
Marc joined Maggie and they spoke with the priest for a few minutes away from everyone.
Rose got pulled away from Gray when Rachel and Jamie, Maggie’s bridesmaids, showed up.
“Oh, my god, he’s even more handsome in person,” Rachel blurted out so loud that Gray heard her from across the church and grinned at Rose.
“How come Maggie introduced you to him first instead of one of us?” Jamie complained.
“I definitely got lucky with that one.”