Under the Same Stars(93)
“Yes!” the group cheered before the subject switched. No one wanted to talk about “Here for the Wrong Reasons.”
“Okay, Amanda,” Paige said. “Smoky eye: yes or no?”
Katie coughed. “Excuse me, ladies, but you didn’t ask Mads about her Final Rose.”
The bridesmaids all cocked their heads. It had been a little over a month, but I still hadn’t mentioned Marco. “Hold on!” Meredith suddenly started bouncing on her tiptoes. “Hold the hell on—is it your ridiculously handsome Princeton friend? Whose family has a monopoly on all the best restaurants in town? Marco something?”
I glanced away to grin.
“Katie!” Meredith exclaimed after I coyly suggested they check out his boutonniere tomorrow. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me!”
Katie shrugged. “It wasn’t my news to tell.”
“I only knew because they kept staring starry-eyed at each other during setup earlier,” Amanda said. “It’ll be so obvious once you see them together.”
“Yes, yes, yes.” I smirked after the squealing stopped. “It seems I’ve ended up with a promising plus-one, after all…”
***
Mrs. Gallant started crying the second she walked into the barn after our successful ceremony rehearsal. Luckily, we had plenty of tissues on hand. “I don’t know what to say,” she told my parents. “Thank you so much.” She shook her head. “This is absolutely enchanting.”
“It took a village!” I smiled, feeling Da squeeze my shoulders at the same time Dad said, “It was all Mads.”
I couldn’t help but glow with pride as I asked Nana’s Man Friend, tonight’s bartender, for a flute of sparkling cider. Afterward, I went to find my seat at the center table and smiled to myself. Madeline, my place card read, in Katie’s neat handwriting.
No longer was I Madeleine.
Da took the mic to announce it was time to dish up dinner. Everything was family style tonight, tables laden with Ember & Ash’s interpretation of “elevated comfort food.” Buttery brioche burgers, lobster mac and cheese, vegetarian chili, corn bread soufflés, Caesar salad, and the world’s crispiest truffle fries!
Marco and the few other servers circulating were barraged with compliments. “I need to talk to your mother, young man,” I overheard Nana say to Marco. “She needs to tell me what is in this chili…”
Katie and Austin, like they always did, ate off each other’s plates. They kept smiling and laughing at each other. I had never seen Katie look so happy and relaxed. Even though we had a professional photographer around, I took a photo when they weren’t looking. Katie was whispering something in Austin’s ear; Grandma Pearl’s ruby ring glittered in the candlelight.
My brother had reproposed to Katie in the horse pasture several weeks ago. They were both in heavy coats and muddy boots, but Tally-Ho had never neighed or flicked her tail so enthusiastically. She’d started headbutting Katie as soon as Austin had gotten down on his knee.
Paris, who?
I went to the bathroom between dinner and dessert, and by that I meant I went and looked for Marco. “I’m on my smoke break,” he explained when I found him outside on the barn’s kitchen doorstep. He took a puff from an invisible cigarette.
“You’re such a dork,” I said, shaking my head. “Have you ever even smoked?”
“No, but Simon has an antique pipe that I want to try at some point.” His smile rivaled the stars in the sky. “Come here.”
Making sure not to run, I impatiently walked into his arms and burrowed my face into his chest when he hugged me close. “You smell delicious,” I murmured.
I felt his lungs expand and contract as he laughed. “Well, I did just finish prepping the peanut butter pie…”
“Mmm,” I hummed before tilting my head back to smirk at him. “Like I said, you are delicious.”
Marco smirked back before pulling me back in to kiss my neck. Light and little kisses that made the backs of my knees go numb.
All too soon, we were making out against the back of the barn. Marco had slipped his hands under my sweater, and I could feel them burning through my thin silk dress. When I took it off later, I swore I would see his handprints tattooed on either side of my rib cage. “I don’t want to say goodbye,” I said after an aching kiss. My heart wanted to beat its way out of my chest, pulled toward Marco like a magnet. “But I need to get back.” I ran my fingers through his hair. “I can’t miss the speeches.”
“Then don’t say goodbye,” Marco told me. “I’m not leaving anytime soon.”
“Okay,” I said, then kissed him deeply enough to fog up his glasses.
“My god!” he breathed. “You’re fun to kiss!”
I laughed, recognizing the Tender Is the Night quote. Simon and F. Scott had me hooked. “I’ll see you later,” I said.
***
Da gave an eloquent and heartfelt welcome speech, and then Wit rose from his chair, removing a folded piece of paper from his black velvet jacket’s breast pocket. Meredith stood up, too. “Hello, everyone,” he said. “I’m Wit, and you all know my beguiling wife, Meredith.” He grinned crookedly at her. “We’ve known Katie and Austin for far, far too long now, so we’ve decided to spare you all the tiny details and instead paint you the big picture in a poem…”