Total pages in book: 224
Estimated words: 215705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1079(@200wpm)___ 863(@250wpm)___ 719(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 215705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1079(@200wpm)___ 863(@250wpm)___ 719(@300wpm)
Cat kneels in front of me. “I’m going to give him this.” She reaches into the pocket of the jacket she’s wearing and holds up an envelope that reads, “To my son, Reid. To be read on the day you get married.”
Reid
I have no fucking clue how I make it through the day. I’m a nervous wreck and I don’t get nervous. I pace the small room they have set-up for me, and Gabe pours me a shot of whiskey. “The good stuff. I brought it to calm you the fuck down.”
I take the glass and down it when there’s a knock on the door. I’m so damn anxious that I pretty much bolt in that direction and open it to find my sister. “Is everything okay?”
“Of course, it’s okay. I have something for you.” She motions me inside and I back up.
She walks in the door, shuts it, and holds up an envelope with script in my mother’s handwriting scrawled across it. My throat thickens. I can’t breathe. I take it from Cat and walk to the window overlooking the rink and the tree. “What the hell is it?” Gabe asks.
“A letter from mom to Reid, for the day he gets married,” Cat says.
I don’t turn around. I stare at the script and stare some more. The idea of opening it tears at my heart. “I’ll open it tonight,” I say turning to face Cat and Gabe.
“It’s meant for before you say your vows,” Cat insists.
“I need to wait,” I say. “If I read this now—” My voice cracks, when my voice never fucking cracks. I stuff the letter inside my jacket. “I’ll read it tonight.”
“Read it now,” Gabe insists. “If that’s what Cat believes mom wanted. Read it now.”
“It is what she wanted. She left me a letter that gave those instructions.”
I inhale a hard-earned breath again and let it out. I pull the letter from my pocket and turn away from both of them again. Somehow I get the envelope seal lifted and I pull the piece of paper out of the envelope to read:
My dearest son Reid,
You were the first child I brought onto this earth, and then you became my world. In you I saw the possibilities, the purpose, the reason I was on this earth myself. You, my son, shifted something inside my soul. As I watched you grow, I saw the future. Life hardened you, though, somewhere along the way and I fear I failed you, that I didn’t nurture you enough. That I didn’t love you well enough or good enough.
My greatest wish for you today is that you have found that love in a wife you will cherish. That she is your best friend. That she is your partner in life. That friendship you share is a gift. Protect it, nurture it. Never take it for granted and remain loyal and faithful.
If you are reading this, then I’m not with you on this very special day, but know that I wanted to be, that it would have been, and is through this letter, my greatest pleasure to be here with you, if not in body, in spirit. I’m here. I love you. I’m officially welcoming a new daughter into our family.
I’m cheering from heaven with the joy of you finding love. It’s all that I have wanted for you.
Love,
Mom
Chapter one hundred eighteen
Carrie
Ican’t even pace. I’m in my dress, ordered not to move, and waiting for Cat to come back to my holding room after giving Reid his mother’s letter. I turn and stare at myself in the mirror, my hair now a silky brown veil of beautiful waves the stylist created. The dress—it’s perfection. The sheer sleeves, the sheer bottom, the etched flowers in the center. It’s everything a girl could dream about in a wedding dress. Even the vee of the bodice is sexy but now altered to cover me fully for the group setting.
My cellphone buzzes with a text and I grab it from my purse that’s on a chair I’m not allowed to sit on. It’s from Reid, and it reads: I read the letter from my mother and all I could think was that I want to talk to you, which tells me I’m marrying my best friend. So hurry the hell up and come marry me already.
My heart swells with love for this man. I reply with: From enemies to best friends. That’s pretty perfect.
His reply: You were never my enemy. You were always the woman I was falling in love with. Come to me, baby.
My reply: I’m on my way.
I stuff my phone back in my purse and Mia is standing in front of me. “That was him, wasn’t it?”
“Yes. How did you know?”
“You glow when you talk to him the way I do when it’s Grayson. I love that man so much.” Her eyes tear up. “We almost lost each other. You and Reid and your love only drive home how lucky I am to have found Grayson again. We were apart a year.”