Struck from the Record (23 page)

“I, Liz, take you, Brady, to be my husband and my partner in life. I will cherish our friendship and love you today, tomorrow, and forever,” she said in barely a whisper as she repeated the words. “I will trust you and honor you. I will laugh with you and cry with you. Through the best and the worst. Whatever may come, I will always be there. As I have given you my hand to hold, so I give you my life to keep.”

Brady swallowed and repeated the words next.

“Brady, do you take Liz to be your wife?”

“I do,” he said.

“Do you promise to love, honor, cherish, and protect her, forsaking all others and holding only unto her forevermore?”

“I do.”

“And do you, Liz, take Brady to be your husband?”

She hiccuped. “I do.”

“And do you promise to love, honor, cherish, and protect him, forsaking all others and holding unto him forevermore?”

“Yes. Yes, I do.”

Brady and Liz squeezed their hands together. Chris presented the rings next, and they sealed their love together with the binding of the unbroken circle of love. Liz slid a wedding ring onto Brady’s ring finger, and tears brimmed in her eyes. Chris passed Brady Liz’s wedding ring, and then he slipped it onto her finger.

The minister smiled. “By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss your bride.”

Brady chuckled. “Finally.”

Liz gasped. Then, he pulled her toward him and passionately kissed her in front of the hundreds of people in the audience. Everyone applauded. People rose to their feet. Clay was even sure that he’d heard someone whistle.

Brady finally released Liz. Her cheeks were pink with excitement and embarrassment and joy.

“I would like to introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Brady Maxwell III.”

Everyone else leaped to their feet, cheering and applauding. The string quartet picked up again, playing “I Won’t Give Up” by Jason Mraz. Brady and Liz took two steps down the aisle before he scooped Liz up into his arms and marched her down the aisle, as if she weighed nothing. Her train dragged behind them, but all Clay could see was Liz’s elated face staring up at Brady, as if he were her world.

Clay was dimly aware of taking Savannah’s arm and following them down the aisle and past all of their friends and family. He caught one glimpse of Andrea with tears in her eyes. She looked both happy and terribly sad, and he swore that he’d figure out how to fix it.

As soon as they were past the rest of the audience, the wedding planner ushered them away from the party and to a secluded area. Brady and Liz were in a daze, gazing up at each other, as if it were the first time they’d ever seen the other. It was contagious. Clay couldn’t stop smiling.

“Will you help pull aside all the family that we need for the pictures?” the wedding planner asked Clay and Savannah when she caught up with them.

“More pictures?” Clay asked.

“Just with the families, and then we’ll head over to the reception. I wanted to give them a moment though,” she said.

“Good idea,” Savannah said. “We’ll cover it.”

They spent the next twenty minutes herding together all of their family and trying to figure out who belonged to Liz’s family out of the nearly eight hundred people in attendance. They were almost done when Savannah nudged Clay.

“What?” he asked

She nodded her head off in the distance, and he saw what she was getting at.

He smiled. “Thanks, Savi.”

“Well…I owe you for the beach,” she said quietly. “Thanks, by the way.”

“That’s what big brothers are for.”

He wandered away from Savannah and went directly to Andrea, who was speaking animatedly to Bad Suit. She was waving her arms around a lot, and that normally meant bad news.

“Mind if I cut in?” Clay asked, as if this were a dance.

Andrea immediately dropped her arms and turned to face him. “Clay…”

“Why don’t you just turn around and walk away like you did last time?” Asher said.

Clay raised his eyebrows. He was not going to get into a fight at Brady’s wedding. He was not going to punch this douche bag in the face. He was not going to do it. Even if the guy deserved it.

So, instead, he just smiled neutrally, letting the cocky attitude return with ease. “You think so?”

“What are you talking about, Asher?” Andrea asked, whirling on him.

Clay realized what was going on and almost laughed. “You saw me there. That’s why you did it.”

“Did what?” Andrea asked.

“He saw me at the gallery. That’s why he picked you up and twirled you around. Why he acted like your boyfriend. Isn’t that right?”

“You were at the gallery?” Andrea asked, confused. “What is he talking about, Asher?”

Asher shrugged. “So maybe I saw you there. She wouldn’t have reacted that way if she wasn’t interested in me.”

Clay laughed. “You did it so that she wouldn’t show you how interested she still was in
me
, right?”

“Can someone
please
tell me what’s going on?”

“I came to your gallery opening. Brady and Liz were there. They can corroborate my story. I came to invite you to the Cooper and Nielson gala, but when I showed up, he picked you up and twirled you around. You looked so happy, so I walked out and never invited you.”

Andrea’s mouth dropped open. “You were there? I swore, I saw you, but…I just thought I’d been seeing things.”

“And he did it, hoping I’d walk.”

“Just like you did,” Asher said with a sneer.

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me that you saw him after I
swore
to you that I saw him that day. You made me feel like a total crazy person, as if I were the one chasing ghosts.”

Asher shrugged, slightly uncomfortable. “I just knew Clay was no good for you. If you’d just give me a chance, you’d see how right we are.”

“You had no right to do that,” Andrea snapped. “As I was so eloquently saying before Clay showed up, we’re not together. Stop trying to act like we’re together. I invited you to this as a friend. Clearly, you don’t know the meaning of that…so you can leave.” She twirled her fingers at him in a dismissive manner.

“Andrea—” Asher said.

“No. Good-bye.”

Asher opened his mouth, like he wanted to say more, but Clay got between him and Andrea. “As much as I’d love to hear what you have to say…oh, wait, no, I don’t. I have to take Andrea for pictures anyway.”

“Pictures?” she asked in surprise.

“Family pictures.”

Her eyes rounded. “I don’t…I mean…I don’t know.”

He took her hand. “You’ve always been family. Not going to change now, Andrea.”

“You’re just going to take him back like that?” Asher asked in disbelief.

“That’s none of your business,” she snapped. “I said good-bye. You can get off the property before I ask someone to have you removed.”

“Fuck that,” Asher said. Then, he turned and stormed away like a thundercloud.

“Shall we?” Clay asked with a self-satisfied smile on his face.

“This does not mean I’m taking you back,” she said, pointing her finger in his face.

“Of course not,” he said. He brought her hand up to his lips and placed a soft kiss there.

“It doesn’t.”

“We’ll see about that.”

Her mouth dropped open, and he just smirked, gesturing for her to head over to the rest of the party for family photos.

Chapter 22

OUT IN THE OPEN

“So…did you really show up at the art gallery?” Andrea asked.

Clay nodded. They’d just gone through an incredible amount of pictures, and soon, the bride and groom would make an appearance at the reception. The rest of the family who weren’t in the bridal party were making their way inside to find their seats, but Clay had held Andrea back a minute.

“I was there. I came to see you.”

“I still don’t understand why you walked away. That doesn’t sound like you at all.” Her blue eyes searched his with a mix of fear and curiosity.

“You don’t know now…but you will.” He took her hand and kissed it. “I’ve done a lot wrong by you, Andrea. But, in the four months since we’ve been apart, you’re the only person I’ve been thinking about.”

“That’s not exactly what I heard,” she grumbled.

“Anything that happened was to try to forget. And I couldn’t. I can’t. I won’t. I refuse to. You’re my past and present, and I am damn well going to fight to make sure you’re my future.”

“Clay…” she whispered.

A flicker of hope dashed across her face, like the guttering of a candle before it was quickly extinguished.

“I’ll believe it when I see it. I’m going to go find a seat.” With that, she turned and departed.

This time, when she walked away, he didn’t feel downtrodden. In fact, he felt quite the opposite. She had wanted to hear those things. And if she needed to hear them every day, then he’d figure out how to make her come around. Because he wasn’t going to let her get away. Not when he could see how hurt and alone she was without him.

“Come on, lover boy,” Savannah said. She latched on to his arm and dragged him back toward the bridal party.

The wedding planner was speaking hurriedly and rearranging the bridesmaids and groomsmen into order with Brady and Liz at the back. Clay was standing with Liz’s friend Massey, who looked giddy at the prospect of the reception. Clay was pretty sure Massey was dating one of Liz’s other friends, Justin. They’d met at school at UNC before Justin had been kicked out for a DUI. Afterward, he’d started his own tech company.

“Ready?” she breathed. She was practically bouncing up and down.

“Yeah. All good to go.”

The DJ called their names as music played in the background, and Clay and Savannah walked into the entrance hall behind Massey and Lucas, who he watched like a hawk. Chris and Victoria followed behind Clay and Savannah. Then, the music changed, everyone rose to their feet, and in walked the bride and groom. The floor cleared completely, and then the DJ announced their first dance. “Everything” by Michael Bublé filtered in through the speakers.

“Don’t you dare,” Clay heard Liz warn Brady.

Brady raised his eyebrows and smiled down at her. “You just need the right partner, baby.”

Then, Brady swept her around the room. All the Maxwell children had taken dance lessons when they were younger. Their mother had thought it a necessity for formal occasions, and Brady was proving that they’d paid off. Liz tilted her head back and laughed as they moved gracefully to the song playing. As it came to a close, Brady dipped Liz until her long blonde hair nearly grazed the floor, and he kissed her to raucous cheer.

When he righted her, Liz pointed her finger at him and said, “You owe me cheesecake, mister.”

Brady kissed her hand. “Oreo it is, my love.”

Brady and Liz encouraged the rest of the bridal party to join in on the next dance. Clay drew Massey out onto the dance floor and regrettably let Savannah dance with Lucas. But Clay was only dancing with Massey for a total of ten seconds before her boyfriend, Justin, appeared out of nowhere to cut in. He was glad to see Easton cut in in almost the same amount of time. Maybe he was smarter than Clay had given him credit.

Clay’s eyes sought out Andrea, but she was nowhere to be found. He found Gigi instead and helped her to her feet.

“Everything okay?” she asked once they were dancing in the center of the room.

“Yeah. Everything seems to be going as planned. Thanks for coming with me to this, Gigi.”

“What are friends for but to endure really awkward occasions with each other?”

Clay laughed. “I hope you’re okay with being introduced to Andrea.”

“Again?”

“This time, as my friend and not my date and preferably not in my clothes.”

Gigi’s cheeks reddened. “I’m still so sorry about that.”

“Hey, it’s all right. All’s well that ends well.”

“Well, speaking of things ending well…maybe it would be better for me to dance with someone else until things
do
end well.”

She nodded her head to the side, and Clay turned her to get a clear image of Andrea. She looked nervous. He only knew that because of the way she was standing, as if nothing bothered her. She only needed that strength when she was about to go head-to-head with someone.

“Good idea,” he said. “Hey, Chris!”

Chris was standing a few feet away, still dancing with Victoria. “Yeah, man?”

“Hand her off to Duke Fan and dance with my friend Gigi.”

“Friend?” Chris asked with raised eyebrows. Then, he caught sight of Gigi, and his entire body stilled.

Victoria laughed and shook her head. She was already searching for her boyfriend, and Chris was still standing there, tongue-tied.

“Yeah,” Clay said, releasing Gigi and holding her hand out to Chris, “we work together.”

“Uh, Gigi,” she said, reaching her hand out to Chris. “Giana, uh…De Rosa. I mean, Giana De Rosa, but my friends call me Gigi.”

“Chris, uh…Atwood. My friends call me…Chris.”

Clay cocked his head to the side with a satisfied smirk. He seemed to be helping out more than one friend today.

“Wait, I didn’t know your name was
Giana
!” Clay said indignantly.

“That’s because you don’t pay attention to anything,” she said.

“Fair.”

Chris and Gigi were still standing there. Clay kept waiting for Chris to reach for some of that Maxwell charm that he’d been surrounded by his entire life, but he seemed completely mesmerized by Gigi.

“Go on,” Clay urged, pushing her toward his friend. “I’m going to go find Andrea.”

“Don’t forget your toast,” Chris muttered, not taking his eyes off of Gigi.

“Oh, I won’t.”

Clay laughed and then headed across the room where his beautiful girl was standing near the dessert area. People had already gotten up and started getting food from the various buffet areas filled with different kinds of Southern food. Liz had insisted she didn’t want a stuffy sit-down meal for the occasion but rather something fun and festive. There were even games set up outside for when the real party began. Already, the line for booze was long. But Clay didn’t care about any of that right now.

“Hey,” Andrea said warily when he approached.

“Hey.”