Riley's Redemption (A Moon's Glow Novel) (18 page)

Party

The reception was to be
held in a large tent that was situated beside the patio. It was also decorated
with twinkling lights, white roses and lilacs. There was a buzz of conversation
and the sounds of forks tinkling against china, as the waiters handed out the
salads. Our guests were either sitting at their tables eating or standing
around talking. There was energy in the air that seemed to be contagious.
Giddiness bubbled up inside me at the site of all the people I loved. They had
come out to celebrate mine and Nate’s love. My heart swelled at the site.

Nate met my mother and
me at the entrance. He reached out for my hand to guide me to our table in
front of the crowd. My mother followed and took a seat across from me. Ben was
on the other side of my father, with an empty chair next to him, for I assume
Mona. My parents had included them as if they were members of the family
instead of staff. Again, I was shocked. I felt like I was dreaming and would
wake up at any moment. “Did you know?” I whispered to Nate, my eyes washing
with unshed tears.

“No, not until I
arrived.” He leaned in and kissed me, his scent wrapped around me like a warm
hug. “Are you happy?”

I nodded, my throat
burning. I took a drink of water, hoping to wash away the tears that threatened
again. “I can’t believe it.”

He squeezed my hand and
pulled it onto his lap.

The rest of the evening
went way too quickly. It was great to have everyone I loved in one place. I got
a chance to catch up with my Aunt Brenda and my cousin Sydney. I haven’t seen
them since they moved away three years ago.

Emma and her family
were there and I couldn’t help but notice Nate spent most of his time with
them. She had always been his favorite and since they had reconnected six
months ago they hadn’t had a chance to see each other.

As I was talking to
Julia, I glanced around for Sadie. She had expressed interest in the shelter
and I wanted them to meet. I found her sitting next to Marisa, who was
engrossed in the boy next to her, Nathan. They were huddled together in a
conversation and were ignoring Sadie. When I caught her eye, I waved her over.

She grinned at me, as
if she was relieved that someone was including her in the festivities. It must
be hard for her to be at an event only knowing a few people and the few that
she did know weren’t exactly being friendly. Adrian was a few seats down from
her and was ignoring her completely. “Sadie,” I said when she appeared next to
me, the scent of ginger following her. “I wanted to introduce you to Julia. She
runs the shelter with me.” I turned to my colleague and friend. “Nate hired her
to be the new night person.”

Julia’s eyes
brightened. “That’s fantastic. Evie’s been staying nights and helping during
the day. She’s getting worn out.”

As Julia updated Sadie
on the day-to-day routine of the shelter and of the upcoming Fun Day, I felt
someone’s eyes on me. I looked around to see Adrian staring. Although, he
wasn’t focussed on me, his gaze was locked on the dark haired girl to my right.

I excused myself and
made my way across the tent, weaving around bodies and tables. “Why don’t you
ask her to dance?” I asked when I approached him, leaning my hand on the round
tabletop.

“Who?” Adrian asked
dumbly, his arms folded in front of him.

I rolled my eyes. “
Please
.
You can’t take your eyes off of her.”

He lifted a shoulder
dismissively, his face a blank mask. “I don’t know who you’re referring to.”

I rolled my eyes, not
falling for his act of ignorance. “Are you ever going to forgive her?”

“Maybe, someday.” He
looked into my eyes and held them for a few seconds. “But not today.”

Not fazed at all by his
stubbornness, I persisted. “Why don’t you ask her to dance?”

He shot me an annoyed
look and shook his head.

I sighed as I took the
empty chair next to him. “Adrian, I’ve gotten to know her and she is a good
person. She would never have willingly kept Mari from you. And if you really
had killed your parents like she thought, she would be a hero for protecting
her.”

His face hardened.
“Meg, are you really one to give me advice?”

I got his meaning. I
had held a grudge as well once upon a time, but it was him that made me see
that I was wasting precious time by holding onto anger. “Yes, because I
understand why you feel the way you do. But, you told me I was wasting time
with what-if’s”

“That’s different.”

Feeling frustrated, I
stood up and held my hand out to him. When he took it, I yanked him to a
standing position and pushed him forward. “Just go ask her to dance,
please
.”

He huffed out an
exasperated breath. “Fine,” he grumbled before stomping off to the girl he
desperately wanted to hate.

I watched as he
approached Sadie. His lips were moving, but with the loud music and
conversations whirling around I couldn’t hear what was said.

Sadie smiled and took
his hand as he led her to the dance floor.

“Shall we join them?”
Nate whispered in my ear. I jumped in surprise at his sudden appearance behind
me.

“Sure,” I whispered as
he led me to the dance floor, wrapping me in his arms. I gazed up into his blue
eyes feeling more connected to another person than I thought was possible. He
truly was the one for me, werewolf mate or not.

“You look beautiful,”
he murmured as his eyes locked with mine.

I felt my face flush at
his compliment. “Thank you.” I glanced around at our guests then looked back up
at him. “Are you having fun?”

He leaned down to
nuzzle my neck. “Yes,” he said against my skin. His breath warm on my flesh.
“Is it better than our first wedding?’ he asked hesitantly.

To me our elopement was
an escape from my mother, an extremely joyous one, but an escape nonetheless. I
would admit it might not have been the right way to handle the situation, but
however close my mother and I become after tonight, I would not be admitting
that to her. “I hate to say it, but yes.”

He lifted his head and
smiled. “I agree. It was the happiest moment of my life and I wanted to share
it with my family. I’m so thankful your mother finally came around.”

Emotion tugged at my
heart at the mention of my mother. I was still so shocked at the events that
happened such a short time ago, it all felt surreal. I was sure I was going to
wake up any moment, back at the cottage. “She said she was sorry for everything
and they both want to try harder to be better parents.”

Nate leaned his cheek
against mine. His smooth skin was warm and tingly. “I’m so happy for you,” he
murmured softly.

I pulled away after a
few moments. “Do you think it’s too late though?”

A brow lifted over his
right eye. “Why would it be?”

“I’m a werewolf now.
We’ll have to move away soon so they don’t notice that I won’t age.”

Something dark washed
over his face. And since I knew him so well, I imagined it was guilt. He must
feel like he was the one responsible for taking me away from my family, just as
they finally started to show that they cared. “We’ll deal with that as it
comes. Let’s just enjoy it while we can.” His words soothed me. Even though it
wasn’t an answer to our predicament, it was all we could do for now.

I nodded, leaning my
head on his shoulder. I watched Sadie and Adrian through the crowd of dancers.
They both looked stiff and uncomfortable, but I could also tell that their
close proximity was affecting them. Right at this moment, I was ecstatic. I was
married to a wonderful man and we had shared our love with our family and
friends. I felt so giddy I wanted to help others feel the same way. At that
moment, I promised myself that I would help Sadie get the guy, whether she
wanted him or not.

The feeling didn’t last
long though as my gaze shifted around the room. I stopped when I noticed Joe
sitting at a table by himself. Lauren was standing close by, speaking to her
mother.

His head was slumped
down and he was picking at a piece of cake in front of him with his fork. This
was not the Joe that I had come to know. He was normally cheerful, the life of
the party. He was always taking the chance to tell jokes and make people laugh.
“Have you talked to Joe yet?” I asked, as I was spun around. I lost sight of
the werewolf in question as Nate turned me around the dance floor, but I knew
he hadn’t moved from his seat.

I felt Nate’s body
stiffen under my arms.

“There is nothing to
say.”

“So that’s it?” I
leaned away from him so I could look into his eyes. “You’re never going to talk
to him again?”

His face was hard as he
met my gaze. “I’m sure I will at some point, but I can’t forget that he lied to
me for fifty years. He saw me grieve for Sadie. She was my best friend. She
showed me that not all werewolves were evil. Before her, I had only met
Charlotte and Rowan. I was lonely before we met. My only relationships were
with my human relatives who could never understand me. She changed that and
he
helped her leave.”

“But he thought he was
protecting you from a vampire.”

He breathed out a loud
sigh. “I know and when I told him it was Rowan, he still feared the vampire,
now that he knew they existed. But he should have given me the choice.”

I understood his words,
it must have been hard to find out that after fifty years the person closest to
you had lied about something so huge. But I hated the strain on their
friendship. We had been through so much already. I just wanted everyone to be
happy.

“Will you just talk to
him?” I begged.

Nate stopped moving and
lifted my chin with his finger. “I’ll do anything for you.”

I grinned as he leaned
in and touched his lips to mine. He made me feel so loved and now after the
steps my parents had taken, my heart swelled with it. “Good,” I took his hand
when the slow song ended. “Let’s go.”

We walked past Adrian
and Sadie as they separated. Adrian nodded rigidly and rushed away. Sadie
smiled weakly at me before returning to her seat. I watched her go while Nate
led me across the dance floor.

Carolyn was just
walking away when we approached Lauren. “Were you surprised?” she squealed.

I winced at the high
decibel of her shriek. “Yes, I was surprised. Did you know?”

She nodded, a big grin
plastered on her face, a few strands from her up-do coming loose. “Just since
this morning, before we left to get our hair done. That’s what Mona wanted to
talk to me about.” She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. “I can’t believe
your parents did this? Do you think this new attitude will last?”

I shrugged, a twinge of
disappointment tugging at my heart. “I hope so. But if it doesn’t, I’ll be
fine. I have a new family now.”

As we were talking Joe
and Nate avoided eye contact. Joe was suddenly interested in his cake that he
had picked apart and Nate was watching the dancers in the center of the tent.

Lauren sat down next to
Joe and leaned her head on his shoulder, the loose sand colored strands stuck
to his suit jacket. Even the presence of the girl he loved couldn’t pull his
attention from the cake on his plate.

When I could take the
silence no longer I pushed Nate into a chair across from Joe. “Talk,” I mumbled
through the side of my mouth.

“How is work going?”
Nate asked Joe robotically, his focus on Joe’s ear more than his face.

Joe looked up, his
expression a mixture of surprise and frustration. “Fine,” he answered shortly.

Lauren elbowed him in
the ribs. He didn’t even flinch at her not so subtle gesture.

“Um…Nate wanted to
thank you for looking out for him,” I explained. Nate’s head spun to face me,
shooting me a dirty look.

Joe smirked at his
friend and laughed humorlessly. “Oh, I doubt that. He doesn’t give a shite that
I was trying to protect him from something we didn’t know existed.” His voice
rose above the guitar beat of the song that was playing. “All he can focus on
is that I didn’t tell him.”

Nate glared at Joe.
“Trying to protect me? I’m a big boy Joe; I can do that myself. You should have
told me.” Nate’s voice was cold as ice. My dumb idea had backfired. “Besides,
you didn’t have to protect me from Henry did you?”

Joe’s eyes narrowed.
“No, I didn’t. But that was only twenty years ago. Besides, I didn’t know about
him until later. I was across the country opening a store.”

“And once you found out
that I was friendly with a big bad vampire, why didn’t you tell me about
Sadie?”

I glanced around making
sure that no one was in hearing distance. Thankfully everyone at this table had
stepped away.

Joe closed his eyes and
sighed deeply. “Because, it had been so long I didn’t think you would be able
to find her. And I was afraid of the way you would react.”

Nate’s eyes glowed
yellow in the dimly lit tent. “You didn’t tell me because you were afraid I’d
be mad at you?” He pushed his chair back. “When did we turn into teenaged
girls?”

I snorted a laugh at
his remark and was rewarded with the stink eye, the second dirty look in less
than ten minutes. That was a record for us.

“Nate,” Joe began, his
voice strained.

Nate stood up, his eyes
turning back to their natural blue. “No. I’m done talking.” He stood and walked
away without looking back. I watched him make his way to Will who was speaking
to Emma.

I smiled apologetically
at my friends from across the table. “I’m sorry, guys.” I stood up on shaky
legs. “He’ll get over it.”

Lauren patted Joe’s
hand, but before she could speak, Joe cut her off. “I’m fine, t’is not
necessary to make me feel better. We’ve been friends for a long time. I’ve been
pissed at him before and he’s gone months without returning my calls. I won’t
be needing your advice. I know t’will be fine.” Despite his deeply accented
words, his voice was hard and his eyes held a hint of uncertainty.