Hope Unbroken (Unveiled Series Book 3) (21 page)

“Hey, Em,” Jaycee said from a seat at the kitchen table.

I jumped a foot in the air.

“Hope you don’t mind. I let myself in.”

“I see that. Thanks for the heads up.” I dropped my purse on the stand beside the door and traipsed toward the smell of mint hot chocolate.

“Trev and I wanted to stay on campus tonight. Didn’t seem right not being here the night before graduation.”

“Trev’s staying with A. J.?”

“Yep.” She scooped a hefty spoonful of whipped cream off the top of her mug. “You sure you want to move to Nashville? I don’t think I can handle the two of them together without some kind of female reinforcement.”

I laughed at her contorted expression. “Wish I could, but Riley’s dreams are too important to me.”

She raised her spoon in the air. “And that, girlfriend, is what’s going to make you the amazing wife I know you’re going to be.”

“Spoken from an expert.” I joined her at the table.

She tilted her chair on its back two legs and spread out her arms like she was about to burst into song. “I’m telling you, marriage is amazing. Never having to say goodnight, getting rid of all those stupid insecurities, knowing you’re committed to each other for life . . . There’s nothing like it.”

Her chair dropped forward. “I’m so excited for you to experience this, I can hardly stand it.”

And I could hardly stop laughing at the lingering effects of her honeymoon stage. “Well, I can’t think about that yet. I gotta get through tomorrow first.” With trying to get through everything else this semester, I’d set wedding planning aside for after graduation. I was leaving most of it up to Jae, anyway.

“Tomorrow? Why are you worried about tomorrow?”

“You mean, other than walking across the stage in front of hundreds of people—which, by the way, I’m already planning on wearing flats, so don’t even think about trying to coerce me into wearing heels.”

She started to roll her eyes but stopped herself when they landed on my hair.

“Jae . . .”

“What?” She feigned a look of innocence.

I waved a finger at her. “Whatever’s going through your mind right now, you can forget it.”

“Em, if you refuse to wear heels, you at least have to let me do your hair.” She poked me in the side. “It’ll be fun,” she said in a perfect rendition of Trevor’s obnoxious voice.

Maybe it would be. As long as whatever Mr. Preston had planned didn’t ruin it all.

chapter twenty-nine

Changed

At the foot of the platform, I tried to ban “Pomp and Circumstance” from my head while watching the student in front of me climb the stairs.

“Emma Marie Matthews.”

Breathe.

I couldn’t have walked more than twenty feet across the stage. Yet in that short span, my entire college experience scrolled through my mind in a slideshow of memories. The provost shook my hand right as a camera snapped in front of us.

One flash. One blink. And it was over. This chapter of my life, closed. My identity as a college student, terminated. But as I carried the cylindrical placeholder across the rest of the stage, I smiled knowing I walked away with something I’d finally learned to cherish.

Time.

A. J. was right. My past and my future would go with me. Today was mine to live.

Another series of flashes greeted me at the bottom of the short staircase. Riley bent over the barrier. “Told you you’re braver than you think you are.”

A staff worker with sweat drizzling down his temple redirected me back on course before the next graduate in line bumped into my heels.

Mom and Austin weaved through the crowd up to where Riley stood behind the rail. “I’m so proud of you,” Mom called.

I waved over my shoulder on my way back to my seat. The guy beside me fanned his face with a program. Not that it helped. These black gowns might as well have been sun magnets.

Name after name blared from the podium, each tied to a student’s culminating chapter of a much larger story. Some I knew well. Others were mere acquaintances. And some were unfamiliar names I’d likely never hear again. But right then, we were one.

The final charge ended in a pandemonium of celebration from students, professors, and family members.

Lost in the crowd sprawling over the field, I tried to scratch my head without tilting the cap that Jaycee’d secured this morning with an entire can of hairspray and a dozen bobby pins.

“You did it.” A. J. prodded me in the shoulder as he came up from behind.

“Without tripping, no less.”

He motioned to the certificate in my hand. “They know talent when they see it.”

I swatted him with it. “Must be why they gave you an award for crossing without that big head of yours throwing you off balance.” I tugged on the tip of his cap. “Or was that just luck?”

He pinched his gown in two places below his shoulders and raised the fabric away from his chest. “Luck’s my middle name.”

I rolled my eyes, but it felt good to be at ease. Not only in that moment, but with A. J., period. Something had changed between us.

Riley maneuvered through the crowd and almost ran into me. Without slowing, he spun me off the ground and kissed me with such passion, it took a minute to regain my balance when my feet finally touched the grass.

“Wow, I’ll walk across a stage any time if that’s the greeting I get afterward.”

“Sorry. I might be slightly on the proud side right now.”

“I see that.”

He steadied my tassel. “I have a graduation present for you, but it isn’t exactly something I can wrap.”

My stomach dropped without warning.

His excitement soared right past any question written on my face. “I talked with Nick this morning. Tour’s booked for the fall. I have to move back to Nashville in July, do some local venues until October, but everything’s settled.”

One blink. Two. “What about Jess? When she came, she made it sound like—”

“She came on her own. Nick didn’t send her.”

What?

A trace of his frustration toward Jess wrinkled his brow, but his smile obliterated it. “Brett came through. He’s been working on a new tour lineup since December. You’re not gonna believe this, but the delay actually ended up opening a chance to tour with Tim McGraw.” He squeezed his neck and laughed. “Nick’s totally playing it up like he had it planned all along.”

My jaw still refused to work. Was this real? All of it, worked out? In even better ways than we could’ve planned for? The memory of Dad’s voice rushed over me. “
God has good things planned for your life, Emma. Even when we might not know how or why, he’s working things out in our lives. Sometimes, we just need to give it a little time.
”

I hedged back the tears.

Mom came up behind Riley. “There’s my baby girl.” Streaks of mascara trailed her cheeks as she cupped both sides of my face. “My little girl, all grown up.”

“Mom.”

She curved her arms around my back and sniffled against my shoulder. “I’m sorry. I promised myself I wouldn’t do this.”

Austin strolled up beside her. “So, how much did you have to pay the registrar’s office to let you walk.”

“Cute, Aust.” I raised my honor stole from my gown. “I hear they don’t give you these sashes for no reason.”

“Trying to compete with your big brother?”

“I think you can leave that to me,” Anna said from behind him.

I stared from her to Austin and back. “Wait a sec. Are you . . . ?”

He shrugged. “Sometimes you don’t realize what you want till it’s right under your nose.”

I jabbed his side. “Ha! I knew you’d be good for each other. Didn’t I tell you?”

“You’re bound to be right occasionally. Law of probability.”

“Wow. I think this day might be one to mark in the history books.”

He dished my grin right back at me. “As the day you won the award for being the most dramatic girl on campus?”

“Except that’d be the same as any other day,” Trevor said out of nowhere.

I swore that boy had some kind of honing device that drew him to every opportunity to tease me.

“But we wouldn’t trade you or your melodramatic flare for anything in the world.” Jaycee squeezed my shoulder and turned to give Mom a hug. “Hi, Mrs. Matthews.”

“Hi, sweetie.” She looked at Jaycee and Trevor. “Now, aren’t you two charming? How’s marriage treating you?”

As the three of them fell into conversation, A. J. and Riley stood side by side on the outskirts in another reminder of how much we’d all grown.

“Pictures, Em.” Mom flagged me over. “You and Jaycee first.”

Trevor cradled his arms to his chest as if holding an imaginary teddy bear. “Aw . . . BFFs.”

“Oh, stop that and get over there.” Mom pushed him forward.

He barreled toward us, dragging A. J. along with him. The two of them dove straight in between us. No telling what kind of faces they were making each time the camera flashed.

“Now, one of you and Riley, sweetheart.”

I sank into Riley’s side, not needing any prompting whatsoever to smile.

Swept up in Trevor’s arms, Jaycee laughed. “You better get used to smiling, Em, or your cheeks are going to be hurting on your wedding day.”

It didn’t seem fair for the Prestons to crest the top of the hill at the exact moment the words “your wedding day” left Jaycee’s lips. I reached for Riley’s hand, torn between still wanting to put this off and being way past ready to have it over with.

Jasmine had herself glued to Riley before the rest of the family reached us. He managed to pry her off his legs, but she simply transferred her hold to his neck instead. He laughed. “Good to see you too, Jazz.”

“I missed you guys so much.” She surveyed the distance between Riley and me as though calculating how far she could stretch her arms to hug both of us at the same time.

Riley made the choice easy for her. He rose to his feet but only made it a few steps forward before another embrace almost knocked him over. Melody veered to his side so Mrs. Preston could have a turn as well.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Jasmine lifted on her toes to whisper in my ear. “I couldn’t find a way to sneak my dress with us.”

I feigned a look of shock that she, of all people, couldn’t get something past her dad.

She grinned. “I know, it’s hard to believe, but I snuck some pictures with me instead. They’re on the camera Mom brought. I’ll show you later.”

I returned her wink of secrecy.

While Austin and Mom were getting acquainted with Mr. and Mrs. Preston, another face joined our crowd.

Trey held his arms open. “Congratulations. Always knew you’d go places, Miss E,” he said in a tone he’d copied from the kids. “Just don’t be forgetting us when you get there.”

I squeezed him back. “Like that’s possible.”

His laugh wrapped around me in a hug of its own. I held on a little longer until I was positive the sound sank far enough in my memory that I wouldn’t forget it. Ever.

“You take care of yourself, kid.” He patted my shoulder and offered a final flash of that ornery smile I’d miss seeing every week. “Come back and visit us.”

“I promise.”

He clasped A. J.’s hand. Already caught up in conversation, they drifted down the hill through the maze of people toward the parking lot.

The center was in good hands. I breathed in, counted to ten, and exhaled before turning around to face everyone again. The last thing I needed was to lose my composure in front of Mr. Preston.

He was right in front of me. I had to force myself not to jump backward.

He gestured to my robes. “Riley wasn’t exaggerating when he said you were top of your class.”

I waved it off. “He overestimates my abilities.”

“I’d wager that he thinks you overestimate his as well.” He laughed at the confession written on my face. “I suppose that’s what happens when you’re in love. You become each other’s biggest fan.”

Was this conversation actually happening right now?

Riley glanced over at us. He set a hand on my mom’s arm. “Excuse me for a minute.”

“And you become a bit overprotective,” Mr. Preston added when Riley practically sprang to my side.

Riley eyed him carefully.

“I was just congratulating Emma on a job well done,” Mr. Preston said.

Not a single muscle on Riley’s face moved.

Mr. Preston placed a hand on my shoulder and smiled. “If your father were here, I have no doubt he’d be very proud of you.”

I might’ve been able to speak if I could’ve breathed. Instead, I simply stood there, arms at my side, staring into the kind of look a father held for his daughter.

Thank God, Jasmine was there to hijack my near meltdown. She played with the edge of my oversized robe sleeve. “Do you think Reed will accept me?”

“They’d be crazy not to,” Riley said.

Melody ruffled the top of Jasmine’s hair the way Austin sometimes did to me. “She’s gotta make it through high school first.” She scrunched her face at Riley. “You shouldn’t egg her on.”

He mimicked her pose. “And you shouldn’t discourage her.”

I knelt to the grass, unpinned my cap, and placed it on Jasmine’s head. “There’s nothing wrong with dreaming early.”

I caught Austin’s grin on my way back up.

Mom stood a few paces in front of him and Anna. “We’re going to head back to the hotel.” She closed me into another tender hug. “We’ll see you tomorrow, honey.”

“Bright and early.” I kept my smile in place until the car turned out of view. As much as I loved San Francisco, I didn’t want to think about going home or being apart from Riley for any length of time.

Mrs. Preston grabbed Jasmine’s hand and stretched her other arm around Melody’s shoulders. “We’re going to take a quick tour of the campus. I think my girls want to follow in their big brother’s footsteps.”

They headed toward the campus center, away from my last chance at putting off the conversation now staring us in the face.

I entwined my arm around Riley’s.

Mr. Preston stashed his hands in his pants pockets. Coins rustled against the awkward silence. He cleared his throat. “I suppose you two know what I’d like to talk with you about.”

Riley edged forward, my body safely guarded behind his. “Dad, before you start, I need you to know that Emma is the most important thing in my life. You may not have the highest estimation of me, but I’m ready to love her with everything that I am.”

He peered back at me. “It’s important to her that we receive your blessing for our wedding.” He squared off again. “Please don’t deny her that honor.”

Mr. Preston’s stern expression didn’t fade.

How could there be no air outside?

“It’s important only to Emma?” he said slowly.

Riley didn’t break eye contact. “No, sir.” He lifted his chin. “It’s important to both of us.”

Mr. Preston nodded, looking like he was about to dive into whatever speech he’d prepared.

I skirted around Riley. “Mr. Preston, please, I want you to know—”

He raised his hand. “That’s quite all right, Emma. You’ve already made your love and devotion to my son more than obvious.” He faced both of us. “I have no reason to doubt either of your commitment to each other.”

He returned his focus solely to me with an expression I didn’t understand. “You remind me of Rose when she was your age. Stubborn, vibrant, full of life. You’re not afraid to go after what you want.” His smile saddened. “Or make sacrifices for the one you love.”