Tightrope

Isn't This Your Wedding?

"Elena, honey," said Camille. "Are you almost ready? I'm going to go take my seat, but we're almost ready to start."

Elena slurped back the rest of her cocktail and stood up with a beaming smile. "I've been ready for years."

"That's nice, honey. So ready that you needed a cocktail before you got married?"

"Helps the dress fit tighter," said Elena with a wink. "And I think Jack would dig that."

Camille shook her head. "Innocent mother, out." Before she left, she smiled at Elena, wiping away a tear. "I'm so happy for you, love."

"Thanks, Mum."

Elena fixed a wispy bit of hair as the rest of the bridesmaids fluttered around her, tucking things in and adjusting the straps and making sure everything was perfect. Elena didn't seem to mind, but I knew she didn't care about perfect. She just cared about Jack.

"Shit, sorry," said Kaelin, slipping into the room. She was, thankfully, not wearing jeans. Instead, she was clad in a cute red midi dress that was curve-hugging and simple. "I lost track of time. We almost ready to go?"

"As I'll ever be," said Elena, batting us away slightly. "Let's get married!"

I was relieved Kaelin had shown up late, because it meant I didn't have to answer her wiggling eyebrows and kiss faces as we lined up in front of the ceremony hall. Instead, I could focus on the doors in front of me and the fact that Elena Montez was the first of the cousins to be married. God forbid I was next.

Jack, Camille and the groomsmen were already at the alter, and the rest of the wedding party was gathered behind the door, waiting to be revealed.

The music struck up from beyond the doors. Elena had hired a local band that her friend Joel was in. This was an odd choice, given that the Celestials were a rock and roll band. The tune that Joel had selected for the wedding was slightly more modest and conservative, but it seemed Elena was still walking down the aisle to the electrical guitar.

The Montez family had always been weird.

I definitely a member of the normal branch in the family.

"You ready?" I heard Holly whisper from behind us. She was closest to Elena, as the Maid of Honour.

I didn't have time to hear Elena's response, because the doors were open and the repurposed barn was revealed. I hadn't seen it yet; Elena was very trusting, and hadn't demanded any rehearsals. But it blew me away.

Elena—or most likely Holly, Jack, Julian and Celeste, really—had worked wonders with the space. The floor that had once been gravelly and filthy was now covered with a wooden vinyl, and fairy lights were strung from the wooden beams running along the roof, while the upright posts were encircled with vines and blooming pink flowers. Instead of being horse shit chic, as I'd somewhat expected from the relaxed Elena, it was instead a rustic masterpiece. I should've had more faith in Jack; he was a man of taste.

There were almost two hundred guests gathered in the white-painted chairs on either side of the aisle, looking, enraptured, at the wedding party as we made our way slowly down the aisle. The hundreds of eyes that fell on us, the beautiful setting, the intense energy; there was something about weddings that was magical.

As I walked down the aisle, my gaze found Jace's in the crowd. He was sitting near the middle with Daria and Jonah, his eyes firmly fixated on me. Something in them was heated, sparkling, beautiful. I smiled cautiously at him, a nervous, shy smile smile of greeting. Next to Jace, I saw Jonah clock this expression and raise an eyebrow, as if to say got you. I tried to avoid pulling a face at him, because I was currently the demure accessory to Elena's parade, and also because my mum would yell at me.