Suddenly a weight was lifted off his heart at Hazel’s lack of love for his God. It would come with time. She had been there once. She would come back in her own time.
The door to his bedroom opened, and Hazel hesitated as she came out of the room. Her eyes locked with Thomas’s, and she blushed at being caught in his bedroom.
“You know, Rusty, you were supposed to spend one last night alone.” Thomas slapped him on the back, but it was more of a giggle than a laugh.
“I wasn’t here all night, just an hour or so,” Hazel said as she climbed into Ruston’s lap. If she was trying to disprove that they hadn’t spent the night together, her actions were not helping.
She was warm in his arms, not the freezing cold of earlier in the morning. He hadn’t asked why she was there earlier, and he wasn’t going to ask now. That she wanted to be with him was the most important part.
“Doesn’t matter to me. I just like to see Rusty happy. And you’ve been making him happy since summer.”
“How much do you really know, Thomas?” Hazel asked but didn’t lift her head from his chest.
“I know enough, Hazel May. I know that you lost your shoes, and he lost his heart at a house party. I knew I would be right here one day, marrying you two, because my buddy was done for.”
“I hope you don’t say that in Ruston’s church. They jumped to the wrong conclusions when my car was parked at his place too long.” Hazel’s words reminded him of why she might actually be marrying him: to save his good name.
“I will keep it close and blackmail you two when I need to,” Thomas promised.
“Good. We’ll gladly be blackmailed by you.” Ruston held her tighter in his arms.
“So, Hazel, are you mad at Rusty for forcing your hand? You could have said no,” Thomas asked, ignoring Ruston’s glares.
Hazel stiffened in his arms, and he wanted to kill his best friend. Why was he reminding Hazel that she could have said no, could still say no? That until the actual wedding, she could walk away.
But she said, “No, I understand why he had to marry me. I just hope he doesn’t regret it.”
“Will you regret it?” Thomas asked her.
“No. Even if he leaves me tomorrow, at least I had one day of happiness with him,” she whispered in his arms.
He didn’t even know if Thomas heard her, but Ruston did, and he kissed the top of her head, his heart soaring at her words. “I will never leave you, Haze,” he whispered back.
With a text from Natalie to send to Hazel, he reluctantly let her walk back the four blocks to downtown. Watching her walk away, he knew Thomas had been right, but he might have started to fall for her every Sunday as she sat with her son, just watching him.
CHAPTER23
“Areyou supposed to not be able to breathe in your wedding dress?” Hazel asked the group of her friends in the basement of the church.
“Of course, you’re not,” Tess said from a chair.
“That’s what makes your wedding day so memorable, the constant panic of passing out,” Mia said and moved a lock of hair on Hazel’s head.
“Did you at least bring a paper bag for me?” Hazel asked her personal attendant. Or everyone’s personal attendant since Mia was nearly a professional at this.
“Of course,” Mia said. “I put the professional in charge of it.”
Nurse practitioner Mandy Nordskov pulled out the bag from her purse and showed it to the room. Hazel was sure the woman had more than a paper bag with her. She was most likely ready for any medical emergency she came across.
Hazel was fully dressed in the tight white dress and white tennis shoes since heels were not her thing. Her hair was professionally done, even if she didn’t think two-inch-long hair needed a professional. Mia had insisted. Instead of a veil, the hairdresser had added a halo of tiny white flowers on her head. It had looked breathtaking when Hazel had finally looked at herself in a mirror. She didn’t even have to wonder if Ruston would like it; she knew he would.
Ruston’s parents had taken charge of John Henry for the day, so Hazel had nothing to worry about with her son. Not that she had to worry about him—the entire book club would make sure he was the center of attention.
“Don’t bite your lips, Haze. You don’t want me to reapply the lipstick.” Natalie held up the tube as she said it.
Sticking her tongue out at her friend, she stopped the nervous habit. She did not want to have to get it reapplied before the ceremony. She hated makeup and would not have any on if it hadn’t been for Natalie. Well, she hated girly makeup, though, given the chance, she would put on some punk rock makeup. They were not the same thing.
“You guys can go sit down. It’s almost time,” she said to her friends. She needed a moment alone to think.