Wedding Belles: A Novel in Four Parts by Melanie Jacobson & Jenny Proctor & Becca Wilhite & Brittany Larsen

Author:Melanie Jacobson & Jenny Proctor & Becca Wilhite & Brittany Larsen [Jacobson, Melanie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Four Petal Press
Published: 2018-10-15T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Two

Deacon glanced around as he made his way through the reception rooms. Emmett, a good sport as always, had agreed to play the song he’d written for Deacon and Dahlia. Now. Here. As people made themselves comfortable at the dinner tables and watched the carefully planned evening crumble. Deacon stood just inside the doorway, leaning against the wall. He couldn’t make himself sit alone at the head table to listen to Emmett’s gift.

Nodding toward his brother at the front of the room, Deacon hitched a smile onto his face and focused on breathing. Emmett sat on a stool, looking like a Calhoun man should in his perfectly tailored suit. His cellist girlfriend sat beside him, and she seemed unable to take her eyes from Emmett. Deacon had a second to wish that Dahlia looked at him like that—like she adored him—instead of her usual, which was more a look that said, “are you watching?” And Deacon always was watching. Always had been watching. Until she disappeared and there wasn’t anything left to see.

Emmett strummed his guitar and as the song started, Deacon found himself unexpectedly delighted with the music. Emmett was really something. This music, this combination of his guitar, his voice, and Janie’s cello, floated past the humiliation, the frustration, and the anger of the night and into a soft place inside. He forgot trying to look unfazed and confident and simply enjoyed the music. When the song ended, he clapped as loudly and sincerely as the rest of the audience. And he wished, perhaps more than anyone else, that Emmett would keep playing.

Instead, Deacon walked toward the head table to wait for the dinner service to begin.

As soon as he sat down, regret flooded through him. Regret for every part of this day. His mind filled with thoughts of what he could have done differently, what he could have done to make her stay.

But he knew better. Dahlia Ravenel wasn’t a woman who’d be made to do anything. That was part of what he’d loved about her since he’d met her.

He felt his spine sag against the wood backing of the chair, as though now that he had a physical support he didn’t have to hold himself upright anymore. This was a bad development. It was nowhere near the end of the night. Many hours still required him to stand up and be charming. Why did he have to come over here and sit down?

Oh. Right. Because he was starving.

Where had Lily gone off to?

He glanced through the party and saw her talking to the wedding planner who, he had to admit, was doing a great job of guiding people through what had to be the weirdest wedding in Charleston’s long and vivid history. He knuckled his eyes and wished for a drink.

When a hand touched his shoulder, he cringed instinctively away, assuming it was another Charleston belle ready to help him through this trying time.

Instead, a small glass landed on the table in front of him and Emmett slapped him on the back.

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