Evie was short, five foot two at the most, but there was nothing small about her energy. Grant reached out his hand to introduce himself and she stepped past it to embrace him instead, bumping into the camera bag he had slung over his shoulder.
“You must be Grant. We’re so glad you’re here. You win the prize for having traveled the farthest.”
If she was faking her enthusiasm about meeting him, she did a convincing job. Maybe she’d had lots of practice with his brother. Faking it. Or maybe she was sincere. She didn’t have the same reasons to be mad at Grant like the rest of the family did.
“I’m glad I could be here too. Thanks for making sure I got an invitation.”
He tossed a glance at his brother, but Tyler beamed like a man about to marry the girl of his dreams.
“And you must be Arlene, right?” The bride turned to his housemate and gave her a fast hug too.
“Um, it’s Elaine,” she answered, pushing her glasses against the bridge of her nose.
“Oh, yes. Elaine. Forgive me. I’m terrible with names, but thanks so much for coming.”
“Thanks for letting me crash your wedding. It’s freezing at my house.”
“That explains the sweater,” Fontaine murmured.
Evie smiled bigger. “It’s freezing at our house too. We’re incredibly lucky that the church and reception hall have decent generators. Serves us right for getting hitched in January I guess, but this was the only time Scotty was available. Thank goodness that with all this bad weather, his plane still arrived on time. Anyway, I have to go get dressed. Elaine, feel free to come hang out with the ladies if the guys get too obnoxious for you.” She lifted on her tiptoes and kissed Tyler’s cheek.
“See you at the altar, right?”
“I’ll be the guy in the tux,” Tyler answered.
Grant watched his brother’s serene face as she walked away and wished he’d unpacked his camera. It was a moment to capture.
Fontaine sighed. “Isn’t she lovely? You two are so gorgeous you should have your own action figures. I’d play with you all day long.”
Tyler chuckled, and Grant felt a wave of nostalgia for his little brother who was grown up and about to get married.
The day went on and was full of sweet, sentimental moments, one right after the other. Grant pulled out his camera and tried to capture it all. His brother Scotty, proud and patriotic in his military uniform, sharing a story with their sisters, who had both grown into beautiful young women. Tyler looking nervous but eager as he buttoned his tuxedo jacket before the ceremony. Their mother in a pale green dress, her arm laced through Carl’s as they walked into the church. Friends and family, everyone smiling. It was a good old-fashioned Bell Harbor lovefest.
A collective emotion pulsed through the congregation as Tyler and Evie said their vows, clear and certain, followed by a happy group sigh as the bride and groom shared their first kiss as husband and wife. Grant’s chest swelled with pride, but he couldn’t claim it because he’d missed the evolution of this relationship. He’d missed his siblings growing up, their hardships and their triumphs. By his own design, he’d checked out of the family.
Even today, his camera created a distance, as if he were watching it all from afar, but for the first time in a long time, he wanted to be in the thick of it. Not on the sidelines but right in the middle. Years worth of homesickness plowed into him like a rhino, and suddenly, desperately, he wanted back in.
Chapter 8
THE MOST ANONYMOUS GIRL AT a wedding reception is often the one in thick glasses, and tonight, that was Delaney Masterson. No one paid her the least bit of attention. Not the guests, not the servers, not even the wedding photographer. They were all polite, of course. Cordial, friendly, but for the most part, she was invisible—and she couldn’t have been happier about it. For the first time since Pop Rocks had debuted, she was out in public and completely free from observation. No entertainment reporters, no paparazzi, no fans, no haters. Tonight she was in heaven. Pure, nobody-knows-me heaven. It was liberating to shed the costume of reality star, and in the strangest way, she felt more honest tonight than she had in a long time.
Grant introduced her to people as simply Elaine, and no one seemed to question it. Why would they? Under what circumstances would the daughter of rock star Jesse Masterson and supermodel Nicole Westgate show up at a wedding in Bell Harbor in the middle of winter? She wouldn’t. But Elaine Masters might.