Lucky This Isn't Real: MacBride Brothers Series St. Patrick's Day Fake Fiance Romance by Jamie Knight (digital e reader .TXT) 📕

To his thinking, Cora was her own person, and it was up to her, not him or his family, who she wanted to marry. Even during the darkest times when he was lying in a gutter off his head on whatever junk he’d scored on the street, I would think about that story and see just a little of what our mother must have seen when she agreed to marry him, God rest her soul.

After our mother passed, our father spectacularly went off the rails. Over the past couple of years, he’d gotten himself clean, but he could fall off the wagon at any minute. Time had shown where he was concerned that old habits were hard to kick.

Time flew faster than I thought, and soon after I arrived at the church, I had to start ushering guests to their seats. Maggie’s side was a lot larger than ours, but that stood to reason, really, considering that they lived here, and most of us didn’t.

There were also a lot of TV stars in attendance, due to Gavin’s acting profession. I didn’t recognize most of them, but I could guess who some of them were by their desperation to be noticed and fawned over.

If my brother ever got like that, I would punch him into next year.

Gavin really had done well for himself since moving to the States, though. He had a hit TV show and a movie in the can, and most of all, he was about to marry the love of his life.

I’d expected a bit of ribbing from the Americans about my accent, which was honestly stronger than most. Gavin’s burr had softened some, but the rest of us still had thick Northern Irish brogues that were sometimes hard to understand, especially when we spoke fast.

By and large, though, Maggie’s family and friends were nice and cordial and only asked me to repeat something when they really didn’t catch what I’d said.

The organ started up with a beautiful version of ‘She Moved Through the Fair.’ The haunting tune was our mother’s favorite song, and when she used to sing it, tears filled the eyes of even the most cynical. Even though she wasn’t here, Maggie had done everything to make sure she was included.

Maggie’s mother was the first down the aisle, escorted by her boyfriend. Next came Gavin.

Traditionally, apparently, the groom’s parents escorted him down, but that wasn’t the case for us since our father was still in a sober living facility, and our mother was no longer with us. I lifted my eyes to heaven and smiled, knowing that Cora MacBride wouldn’t miss this day and that she was watching us from heaven.

My brothers and I followed Gavin, who was followed by the bridesmaids.

Now it was Darcy’s turn. She floated up the aisle, a beautiful smile lifting the corners of her lips. The woman was a curvy vision in green, and it was all I could do not to fall to my knees in praise.

I steeled every muscle in my body and urged my dick to stay flaccid. A hard-on during my brother’s wedding wouldn’t be a good look.

Color scheme aside, the ceremony was a beautiful one. Though Maggie’s fell pretty close to mine, definitions of perfection can vary radically from one individual to another. She really was a great woman, and I was happy for Gavin and proud to be standing beside him.

As the ceremony wrapped up, I positioned myself beside Darcy so that I could be ready to walk her down— or, back up— the aisle. She smelled as mouthwatering as I remembered.

“Thanks for getting me where I am, literally, I mean,” I whispered to her, as the recessional music started playing. “If it wasn’t for your help yesterday, I wouldn’t have had a clue what to do today.”

She smiled.

“No problem. Anytime.”

What could have been a general response was given a new, distinctly positive dimension by a brief but meaningful squeeze on my arm. She had apparently forgiven me for running out of dinner last night— if, in fact, she had ever really been mad at me in the first place. Either way, I was glad to see that it seemed I still had a chance.

I was happy to hold her arm as we walked out together.

“Sorry about last night,” I said, when we were safely out of the sanctuary and could speak more or less freely. “I’d planned to come back sooner and wish I could have at least said goodbye before you left. Gavin told me about what happened with Maggie and all that. I hope Ciara didn’t get you in too much trouble. She’s great but can be a bit unpredictable. Anyway, there was an emergency at work.”

“It’s cool, really,” she said. “I agree that Ciara can be a bit intense, but she’s also really fun, and I had a great time. I understand about the call. I’m really into my career, too, or at least I’m trying to build one.”

She reached out and placed a hand on my arm again.

“I’m just glad last night wasn’t our last chance.”

I stepped closer.

“Me too.”

I thought she might kiss me, which I wouldn’t have fought if she’d tried, even if we did run a risk of stealing Gavin and Maggie’s thunder. She didn’t, though, which was probably for the best, at least at that moment.

In my experience, life was about picking the right moment. It was just that I often felt like I was in the wrong time zone.

She dropped her hand, and I felt like asking her to sneak back to Gavin’s with me when we had to part to take the cars to the hotel for the reception. But I knew we were going to be seated together soon enough.

For a moment, I suspected that maybe