Carly
Jenny bent over Carly's dress, straightening the train as they stood before the mirror in the makeshift bride's dressing room in the lodge. As werewolves didn't tend to have weddings, and the resort was mostly frequented by werewolves, there wasn't exactly a formal dressing room for the bride. But they'd made do with a first-floor suite.
"Does Sean have the Jeep all stocked up? Kiernan said the RV's ready and waiting in Minnesota," Carly said, smoothing her hands over the eyelet bodice of her dress.
"Yep. Sean even has the directions already. We're leaving first thing in the morning." Jenny finished arranging Carly's train. Then she cocked her head and sniffed the air. She smiled. "We have visitors."
"Visitors? Seriously, Kiernan is NOT supposed to see me before the wedding. When will he get that through his head?!" Carly started bustling towards the bedroom, but Jenny stopped her.
"No, not Kiernan." Jenny went to the door and opened it.
Matthew was standing there with his fist raised to knock. "Er... hi."
Two female heads poked around him. "Oh Carolyne, you look lovely," Carly's mother said while Dawn clapped her hands.
Carly had to hold herself up on the desk. "You came!"
"Sure did." Matthew walked in but Jenny put a hand on his chest before he got to Carly.
"Later, we haven't taken the pictures yet and you're going to wrinkle her," Jenny said sternly.
Matthew and Carly both laughed. "We wouldn't want that."
"How about the way the French do it?" Dawn asked. She walked over to Carly and took her hands, then gave her an air kiss on each cheek.
"That works." Matthew did the same, as well as her mother, though Rose Waite did not let go of her daughter's hands.
"I'm just so happy for you, Carolyne," Rose said, tears brimming in her eyes.
"You're not angry?" Carly asked.
"A little surprised, perhaps, but no. Not angry at all. There's this lovely young lady from the Superior Pack that has been helping us get the farm on the market." Rose began fussing Carly's sleeves.
"You're selling the farm." Carly couldn't say she was surprised they were selling the farm. She was surprised Alpha Edward had allowed one of his pack to help a Hunter family. Carly suspected Alec and Kiernan had something to do with it.
Rose shuddered. "I never want to go back there. Matthew has been kind enough to gather the things we want and need, but everything else can burn for all I care."
Carly's heart went out to her mother. "I'm sorry things were so awful for you, Mom."
"Oh," Rose said, getting a bit flustered, "it wasn't that bad. I had you kids."
Carly smiled sadly. Then she noticed that her mother and Dawn were both wearing wine-colored dresses , and Matthew was wearing a suit that would match Alec's and Sean's in gray. "How... what?"
"Jenny figured you should have your two best girlfriends there. And Kiernan said if Matt comes, he wants him to stand up with him, so we did some last-minute shopping with Jenny's Internet search savvy," Dawn said. "Nice colors for an October wedding, by the way."
"Thanks." Carly felt her own eyes welling up.
"Not the mascara! Not the mascara!" Jenny yelped, and then she and Dawn were both fanning Carly's face with wedding programs.
"You'd better run along and see where the groom is hiding," Rose told Matthew.
"Right." Matthew headed for the door. "See you in there, sis. Oh, we figured you'd want Mom to walk you down the aisle?"
Carly sniffled and nodded. "Yes, that's what I was hoping for. I never expected I'd get it."
"See? We should all believe in wedding miracles," Dawn said .
* * *
Kiernan
"If you don't stand still, we're never going to get it on straight," Alec grumbled, trying to straighten Kiernan's red rose boutonniere.
"I am standing still. You just have no coordination." Kiernan tapped his foot. "At this rate, we're going to be an hour late."
"I'd try, but I'm all thumbs," Sean said from where he was lounging on a sofa.
The door opened, drawing the attention of all three werewolves.
Matthew took one look at the situation and waved Alec off. "Stand aside. Trust me, I've been in five weddings. There's a trick to these things."
Sean blinked at Matthew. "Didn't you stab me once?"
"Yeah... about that..." Matthew winced.
"We're calling it a bad life choice." Kiernan stood still as Matthew fixed his boutonniere.
"I hope you're not planning on making any more bad life choices today," Sean growled.
Matthew shook his head. "Nope. All done with bad life choices for this decade." He patted Kiernan's lapels as he finished. "There you go."
Kiernan looked in the mirror. "Good work. Now you can fix the other two's."
"What's wrong with mine?" Sean asked while Alec stepped up to have his boutonniere adjusted.
"It's basically sideways," Matthew said, glancing over.
Sean looked down. "Oh. I guess it is."
Matthew finished Alec, then went over to Sean. "Sorry about the shoulder."
"It's fine now. Just a couple days I couldn't practice my back swing," Sean grinned as Matthew worked.
When Matthew was done, Kieran came over and gave him a strong hug, pounding him on the back. "Thanks for coming."
"I can't go missing my sister's big day, now can I? Thanks for including me in the wedding party," Matthew said.
"We're about to be brothers. Seemed appropriate." Kiernan released Matthew and took one last look in the mirror. "We good to go, gentlemen?"
The three men assembled behind Kiernan.
"Let's do this," Alec said.