Hunter snorted. “At least they let you take your shoes off.”
She tilted her head in consideration. “True. But we’re still walking like it’s a funeral. Can’t we just quickstep it?”
“I dare you to try.”
She glared up at him. “Don’t do that. Then we’d have to do this again when we’re obviously the best ones in this whole party, and then I won’t get to help a certain someone get ready for a certain something.”
Hunter looked down at her in surprise, caught the warning brow raise, and swallowed. “Right. Fourth time’s the charm, right?”
“Exactly.”
“Do you want them to go slower?” Grace called from her place at the front.
“No!” Hunter and Caroline, and a few others, said at once.
They were out on the lakeside gazebo, where rows of white chairs adorned with fabric and ribbon had been set up, a long roll of white linen spread along the stone aisle, and the gazebo itself decorated with matching ribbons, fabric, and flowers. It would all be adjusted in the morning for the wedding, but for this afternoon, it was good enough. His crew had outdone themselves, and Jenna was beyond pleased with the results, which meant Tom was pleased, which made everyone else happy, too.
Caroline and Hunter parted at the right spot and went to their respective places at the front and turned to watch Jenna and her dad one more time.
The flower girls had already lost their patience and had been given permission to go off and play, so their part was skipped, which Hunter was grateful for. They’d squabbled two of the three times they’d come down, and it drew things out more painfully for all of them.
Drake looked about as happy to do this again as the rest of them and was saying things under his breath that made Jenna giggle.
Hunter heard Tom catch his breath after one laugh and was about to tease him when he heard another laugh nearby. Mal had been standing near her uncle and cousin, heard the last comment, and was now laughing behind her camera. The camera came down, and she looked at the display screen, laughter still on her face.
His breath caught, and he had nothing to tease Tom about.
Mal looked up at him, raised a brow, and turned back to plan angles with Taryn and Dan, who would be doing the pictures during the ceremony. Mal had been informed she was sitting with the family during that time, which made her smile, but also left her flustered. As much as she liked her assistants, she was a control freak with her projects, which was pretty endearing, Hunter thought.
She’d been her usual sweet and mischievous self at the sunrise shoot this morning and more cuddly than normal, which didn’t bother him one bit. They talked about their childhoods, which was a revelation. Mal was very open with him about the death of her parents and moving to Iowa, living and working on her grandfather’s farm, living in a small town. She’d overcome a lot of obstacles and skeptics to become what she was today: a world-class photographer with high prospects. No farm girl from Iowa, in their minds, could do that.
But one did.
Hunter didn’t have as many stories to share with her, having grown up all along the east coast without any difficulty or objections to his future, but he and his cousins had managed to get into their fair share of scrapes over the years. He and Deke alone had caused a dozen hospital trips for themselves and the girls, but his older cousins were just as vicious, only sneakier about it. The McIntyre family was not exactly shy and retreating, particularly not from each other.
Mal had been surprised, though, at some of their adventures. She claimed Hunter was so reserved and careful. How could he have been reckless or come from a family like that?
How, indeed.
He’d thought about that, wondering how he had become the man he was now. Was it something he had to prove to himself? That he was to be taken seriously and not just because of his family name and fortune? It had worked, whatever it was. He was still the same person with his family, but he rarely opened up for anyone else.
Until Mal.
“Aunt Cady, you can’t cry now!” he heard Mal say with a laugh, slipping an arm around her aunt in the front row. “It’s the rehearsal!”
Her aunt dabbed a tissue at her heavily lined eyes and sniffed. “I’ll cry if I want to cry, Mallory Jo. I’ll be crying all day tomorrow; just think of this as a practice test.”
Mal grinned and shook her head, and so did Lucas, standing at the end of the line. “Mama, you’re a goddess, and you know it,” he called.
Cady smiled broadly at him. “Baby boy, you got something brown on your nose.”
Caroline and Jenna chortled loudly, and the minister shook his head with a grin.
“Right, back to work,” he said over the general conversation. “Mr. Hudson, you give your daughter away…”
“She’s away,” he said, releasing her and holding his hands up in surrender.
Jenna rolled her eyes. “Nice, Daddy.”