Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 130022 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130022 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
Then Sabre drawled, “Seriously, the men in this family have good taste in women. This bodes well for me.”
To which Manon added, “And the women have good taste in men, so you’re covered too, Yves.”
She’d then latched on to Benji, who I quite liked, but Remy detested.
Sabre performed his greetings. Yves did too. Theo and Benji were introduced.
The nerves came back but quickly melted away when Remy went in and gave out hugs.
I played cleanup, smiled into their eyes, then looked around and asked, “Right, who wants sundaes?”
At my words, Estelle dropped her head to hide her very pretty face at the same time she dug into her purse for a hankie.
“Come on, Miss Estelle, you have to come to my room,” Manon demanded. “That’s where Mom’s hiding her wedding gown. You have to see it. It’s divine. Dad and the boys can make the sundaes while we oo and ah over it.”
And with that, Estelle was claimed, dragged to Manon’s room, and I trailed behind, leaving the men to make the sundaes.
The first time, we danced to “Something” by the Beatles.
Remy had insisted.
This time, we danced to “Come Rain or Come Shine” by Ray Charles.
Because again, Remy insisted.
The drifting white feathers that adorned my skirt flirted with the black of his tuxedo trousers.
The diamonds at my throat twinkled in the light.
I couldn’t say I was a great dancer, but Remy was an excellent lead.
His mother taught him that.
In his arms, on that dance floor, with everyone we loved looking on, especially our children, if you’d asked me three years ago if it would have been worth what we went through to get to that moment, I would have said, hell no.
I still wasn’t sure living those years without the man in my arms was a pain I’d ever be happy to have experienced.
I would say that every couple should have another wedding ceremony decades down the line.
The dress. The cake. The dancing.
The vows.
The beauty.
All of it.
Have it again at a time when you could appreciate it. When you knew how much work it would be, and how much joy there would be, and how many fights were going to happen, and how much laughter you’d share, and how crucial it was to have someone at your side when times got tough, and how deep love had the capacity to grow, and how never ending that capacity was.
I loved weddings.
I’d never been so happy as I’d been on my first wedding day, and no matter what anyone thought, that included the exquisite joy I felt on the birth of all three of my children.
Except for that day.
Except for right then.
In that moment.
With Remy.
I was the happiest I’d ever been.
Because we had our life, our kids, our memories, each other, and the capacity for the depth of our love to grow.
Never ending.
Then it happened.
We danced by where Guillaume and Estelle were sitting, both watching us with rapt attention, though Guillaume’s was more rapt.
Yes, she’d come to Phoenix in order to be in attendance.
Remy had insisted.
And as we danced, I heard her say to Guillaume, “My God, honey. They’re perfect together.”
I smiled at my husband.
His return was a smirk.
And I knew one thing for certain in this crazy world.
She was right.
The End