“Why are you telling me this?” Drea asked, confused.
“Because in that moment, when you were asleep in my arms as an inferno raged in our brand-new kitchen, I felt so fucking useless. I yelled and screamed and threatened to sue anyone who had ever touched that stove. And the only time I have ever felt like that since then was the moment that Kyle kissed you the other day. I can’t explain why, but I did. And my knee-jerk reaction was the same then as it had been—to yell and scream and lose my shit. It was a shitty thing to do, but what’s done is done. And I’m sorry, Drea.”
“You had no right. You are not my father. You were not even my legal guardian,” she ground out.
“I know. I know that I’m not even really your uncle. Believe it or not, it was a title I fought at first, but your mom still referred to me as ‘Uncle Vaughn’ when she talked to you as a baby. And, yes, Miller was the one who assumed the dad role, but that doesn't mean that Grayson and I don’t think that you’re ours too. We're a unit, the four of us.”
She sighed and stood up from the chair. She walked over to the window that overlooked the guest portion of the beach. It was a beautiful, sunny day with only a few small clouds in the sky, and the beach was full of people soaking it up.
“I love him,” she finally said. “But you drove him away.”
“I know.”
“And he wouldn’t even say it to me when he was leaving. I told him I loved him, and he didn’t say it back. He told you in the kitchen he did, but…he didn’t say it to me. And now…now he’s gone,” she said, turning around. “He left the island, went back to the States. Said no one would hire him once they learned he’d been fired from the Indigo Royal.”
“I’ve tried calling him a couple of times, sent a few texts, but he won’t return my calls.”
“Glad to know it’s not just me,” she muttered, turning back to the window.
“I wish I could take it back, Drea. I’d do pretty much anything to change what happened that morning.”
She nodded slowly, still glancing out the window. She hated that she understood where he was coming from, but she did. It would be so much easier to just stay mad at him, to tell him to fuck off and leave her alone, but she knew that she would never be able to hold on to the anger knowing that he reacted out of love. However misguided he was, he had been trying to do right by her. Overprotective had been his go-to since day one, and she knew that she couldn’t hold his personality against him for forever.
Without looking away from the window, she responded, “I’m still mad and I’m still really hurt, and I can’t promise that will change any time soon.”
“But it will change, yes?”
“Eventually,” she answered, turning back around to face him again.
“Then I guess that’s all I can ask for,” he said, standing, holding his arms open wide for a hug.
She crossed the room in only a couple of strides and stepped into his embrace. He wrapped his arms tightly around her and squeezed like he might never let go. When he finally did let go, she took a step back, wiping lightly at her eyes to make sure her makeup was still intact.
“If a spa is what you want, by the way, then I’m all in. I think it’s brilliant.”
“Really?” she asked skeptically.
He nodded. “Yes, really. We can talk about it next week, okay?”
“Sounds good.”
“Good, because now, I have to go find a man about getting married.”
Drea laughed as her uncle exited the room, closing the door behind him. When she was sure that he was fully gone and wouldn’t bust back into the room, she knocked lightly on the door to the bedroom as she opened it. Simone sat on the bed, playing a game on her phone.
Drea smiled big at the bride-to-be. “So, how about we get you in your dress?”
The sunset ceremony had gone down without a hitch. It was everything Drea knew Simone had ever wanted in a wedding and she couldn’t have been happier for her. With only their families and a few select guests in attendance, they’d all fit on Big House Beach without any issue. Little paper lanterns formed a small aisleway that Drea and Simone had walked down, both unescorted, with the three Quinlan men waiting for them at the end.
The local minister had been short and sweet with his message, getting right to the vows that Simone and Vaughn had written themselves. Filled with laughter at inside jokes, some happy tears, and beautiful promises for their future together, one could feel the love radiating off of the two of them. When it was finally time to kiss the bride, Vaughn grabbed ahold of Simone like his life depended on it and dipped her like it was a scene in a movie.
A large tent had been set up over by the pool with a long table to accommodate those who had attended the ceremony. When everyon
e was finally seated and had their food, Grayson stood up, clinking his fork against his glass, trying to gain everyone’s attention.
“There are a lot of stories I could tell about this man right here,” he said, gesturing toward Vaughn. “Stories of all the fun we had growing up, stories about the trouble we got into, stories about how he would boss Miller and me around. He’s the oldest, so apparently that was his birthright or something.”
There were some scattered giggles throughout the table, and Grayson continued, “But, of all the stories I want to tell, the one that absolutely must be told here and now is about the day that Simone walked into the Indigo Royal for the first time. You see, here we have this stunning beauty, with her long legs and silky hair and those damn high heels she wears, and then we have my brother. Who, by the way, has been sporting the silver fox look since he was like twenty-six—dude gray’d out super early—so he’s looked sixty-five since forever, okay? Only fourteen more years until you look your age, man!” Grayson gestured to his brother with his glass as Vaughn simply scowled at him in return. “Well, so old man over here has his jaw on the ground, eyes popping out of his head, kind of like those cartoons we watched as kids. I looked at Miller and said, ‘she’ll flirt with him, but only to get what she wants, then she’s gone.’ Miller, being the hopeless romantic he is, goes, ‘naw, I got twenty bucks she lasts.’ Well, joke’s on me, because guess whose wedding I’m at?”
