Page 108 of Broken Butterfly
“Mr. Montgomery, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you in person,” Freda welcomes Fallon, as she sets a platter on the coffee table. The smell of baked cheese and spicy sausage has my stomach growling. Freda always makes sausage and cheese balls for Christmas. “Did Lizzie see her surprise?” she asks him.
“Yes ma’am. We were just over there. And please, just call me Fallon.”
“Wait, you knew?” I ask Freda incredulously.
“Knew what?” Jayson asks.
“Yes, sweetheart. Fallon called us to let us know beforehand since there would be crews working over there day and night to get everything ready.”
Jayson narrows his eyes at Fallon. “What did he do?”
“Fallon and Ryder bought my house. Complete rehab. It’s gorgeous. I’m surprised you didn’t see the new paint and shutters when you decorated the oak tree.”
“Dad decorated the tree,” Julien says.
“Thank you, Mitch!” I smile at him.
He shrugs it off. “It’s a bit of a tradition now,” he replies.
“I honestly didn’t notice the house when we arrived. Neither did Jules or Elijah.Huh. I’m surprised I didn’t spot the change,” Jayson mutters, scratching the scruff of his chin.
“Hey, back to me,” Elijah exclaims. “Liz, will you be my best person?”
“I think we need to start over from the beginning. There have been four different conversations going on and my brain is having trouble keeping up.” I’m sitting sideways on Ryder’s lap on the sofa, and I feel Ryder’s body tense when his eyes light on my naked ring finger. I bend low to whisper in his ear, “I promise to explain later.”
“My boy is getting married!” Freda gushes, holding on to Mitch’s side.
“Mom, you’re kinda stealing my thunder here,” Julien pouts, then he grins ear to ear and kisses Elijah.
“Congrats, guys,” Fallon offers as he pops a sausage ball in his mouth. That man is always hungry.
Ryder reaches around me and fist bumps Julien and Elijah. “All the happiness in the world. I mean it.”
“Okay, now I’m stealing Liz,” Elijah declares and pops up off the couch pulling me with him as he heads into the kitchen.
When I know no one else can hear us, I ask, “Oh my gosh! I’m so happy for you and Julien! What changed your mind?”
I’m thinking about how Elijah was going to propose last month but then he and Julien got into a fight over me disappearing with Fallon, which led to them taking a break like Ross and Rachel did onFriends. I knew they were working on patching things back up, but I didn’t realize that it had progressed back to a marriage proposal.
“I love him, Liz. I don’t want to go another day without him. Our fight was stupid. If I made you feel like I blamed you in any way, I am so very sorry. You were the first person, and the only person, for a long while who stood by our relationship from the very beginning. I won’t ever forget the sacrifices you made in high school to make sure Jules and I had alone time to be together and not have to hide who we were to each other. I will always love you for that. And it would mean the world to me if you would stand by my side on my wedding day.”
My hand connects with his in a high-five. “Elijah, it would be my pleasure.”
“So that’s a yes?”
“Of course it’s a yes! Oh, do I get to wear a tux too?”
His eyes twinkle. “Liz, you would rock it in a tux. Like a sexy secret agent.”
“As long as it’s not pink. Or red. Or purple.”
“Jules asked Jay to be his best man but he’s going to ask Ry as well. He always felt like Ry was as much his brother as Jay was.”
“So cute. Like co-best men. I love it.” Noticing some sugar cookies, I pick one up. Freda must have made them earlier. She’s a wizard at cookie icing. I could never get the hang of it. I nibble on the trunk of a frosted Christmas tree.
“I know the Seattle trip was something personal between the four of you, but if you ever need to talk about anything, including Elizabeth Ann, I’m here for you, Liz. I hope you know that.”
I’ve always had a soft spot for Elijah. He truly is one of the really good guys. He gave up his full ride to Stanford to help take care of Julien when I disappeared after my attack. He and I were friends even before he grew close to Julien, Ryder, or Jayson.
