“Subtle,” I comment with amusement.
“I knew you’d see it my way.” She grins. “I think he’s nervous about being around so much family, but he always seems confident so I’m not sure what his deal today is. Just don’t worry too much. Anyone can see that he only has eyes for you.”
“Even when he has his arms around Sylvia?” I ask, letting the bitterness seep out.
Lily frowns. “I missed that…really?”
“Yeah.” I look off into the distance, not really seeing much of anything. “Have the photographs finished?” I change the subject.
“Mostly. We’re having a family picture taken before going into the marquee, which is why you’re accompanying me over there.”
“Ah.”
“Oh, God. Save me,” Lily whispers as Mateo and Caprice intercept us.
“Michael was looking for you a minute ago,” Mateo informs Lily.
Lily chuckles. “He’ll find me soon enough. I’m not exactly easy to miss these days.” She gestures to her stomach, swollen with pregnancy.
Mateo offers her a soft smile. “When is the little McKenzie due?”
“Three weeks. The same as Sabrina, give or take a few days.”
“Shouldn’t you be in the hospital or something? I mean, you’re huge!” Caprice waves her arms out in front of her.
I glance at Lily, who appears startled by the insult. It’s clear that there was no gentle teasing or true concern in Caprice’s words.
Mateo hisses between his teeth. “Please excuse my fiancée, she doesn’t think sometimes.”
Lily offers a tight smile. “Certainly. If you’ll excuse me, I see Michael.” She reaches up and kisses my cheek, whispering, “Good luck.”
Lily is a beautiful woman naturally and with her pregnancy, even more so.
“Oh, look…the wild one.” Caprice glares behind me.
Turning, I watch Emelia, Mateo’s sister, approach.
“If you can’t say anything nice, then keep your mouth shut,” Mateo hisses between his teeth.
Obviously, there is trouble brewing between those two.
“Hi, Noah, Mateo.” She ignores Caprice.
“Emelia, are you enjoying yourself?” I smile and offer her my arm.
Emelia is a beautiful young woman, who appears to be annoyed with her brother, Dante. The glares she keeps casting in his direction haven’t gone unnoticed by me, or him.
From what Ramon said, her twin, Diego is a firefighter in New York and couldn’t get the time off to come out to the wedding. Neither could their other brother, Aiden, who is somewhere in Europe on the Formula One circuit. That side of the family is a sporting one with Mateo, who is a wide receiver for the Dallas Cowboys, and Kasey, who is a right winger for the New York Rangers.
“I’m enjoying myself just fine, thank you, Noah.” Her eyes narrow when she glances at her brother’s fiancée before meeting Mateo’s stare. “You and Noah are wanted over there for a picture.”
“What about me?” Caprice asks, obviously not wanting to be left out.
“Unless you’ve changed sex and have a dick, you’re not wanted,” Emelia bluntly points out. She smiles. “It’s bride and groom with all the men.”
She gives me a wink before walking off as quickly as she arrived.
Clearing the lump of laughter from my throat before it bursts forth, I look at Mateo and I’m pleased to see he found his sister amusing as well. “Shall we?”
“I won’t be long.” Mateo untangles himself from a disgruntled Caprice and, without looking back at her, walks away.
I step in line beside him and hear him let out a soft sigh.
“Exhausting,” I comment.
He pauses. “Yeah.”
That one word says it all to me. The brief conversation I had with him on arrival, and hearing about him, has me hoping he gets rid of her soon before she really does drain him.
Caprice is an attractive woman with her tall, slim body, perfectly, smooth skin and perfectly proportioned features but she has a mouth like a viper. And she seems to have a mean streak. I don’t see why she has the attitude that she has when she has never met any of us before. Surely she’d want to be the loving fiancée and show support so she’d be accepted. Not likely though!
At least my problems don’t involve such a woman.
The minute Mateo and I catch the photographer’s eye, he directs us to the group already getting situated.
I’m unsure where I should stand though. I can’t see Ramon and, although I’m with Ramon, and my sister is a McKenzie, I’m no relation. This begs the question as to whether I should be on it.
Feeling myself propelled forward, I immediately realize its Ramon doing the propelling. “You’re with me,” he tells, not asks me, and I find I like that.
It’s not him fully claiming me in public, but it’s him showing me that he considers me part of his family. Ramon obviously doesn’t care that tongues might wag, even though there are only a few people around who don’t know about us.
But what the fuck!