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exaggerated faces. "She's such a good dog. Isn't she a good
dog, Lily?"
The baby gurgled and waved her arms around like crazy,
forgetting that one hand was still holding onto Levi's tie,
which was barely managing to stay around his neck under the
assault. Levi tried to pry Lily's fingers from the tie, but she
just tightened her grip and blew a spit bubble.
"Ew!" Ashley said. "If she's drooling, I'm leaving." She
flounced off she'd taken off her fancy shoes that had looked
more like slippers to Levi, and was barefoot. Levi hoped she
wouldn't step in anything worse than baby spit.
"Either of you want a drink?" Cooper asked.
Levi shook his head as he straightened up, his knee
popping. "I'm good. Philip?" He'd never gotten into the habit
of shortening Philip's name to Phil the way Meg did; he wasn't
sure why.
"Nope. I'm going to take my new husband for a spin
around the dance floor once your wife comes back for this
one." Philip chucked Lily under the chin and she chortled and
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kicked her legs, causing one of her little fabric shoes to fly off
into the grass.
"Oh, well, let me take her off your hands," Cooper said.
Levi relinquished his hold and let Philip lead him back over to
the wooden dance floor that had been assembled beside the
biggest white tent in the yard.
"It was so nice of the Dixons to let us have the wedding
here," Levi murmured against Philip's shoulder as they
danced.
"It was," Philip agreed. "It has been every time you said
it."
"Hey," Levi protested. "Just because it's no big deal to you,
because you've always had a family, doesn't mean I can't
appreciate it."
Philip stroked a hand along Levi's back. "No, of course not.
I didn't mean that. I appreciate it, too, you know that."
"I know. I do." Levi pulled away a little bit but didn't stop
dancing. "I'm so lucky."
"I'm the lucky one," Philip said, and swung him in a circle.
"Incredibly lucky. You're everything I ever wanted."
"I know the feeling," Levi said, as Ashley came running up
to them and then pretty much crashed into them. "Oof," he
said, and Ashley laughed and hugged them both.
"Happy wedding!" she said. "You have to have cake now!"
"Is there a Happy Wedding To You song I'm unfamiliar
with?" Philip asked, amused, as Ashley led them to the head
table, where plates with thin slices of cake were waiting for
them.
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Ashley rolled her eyes great, Levi thought, practicing for
her teen years and smacked at her father playfully. "No. It's
just a rule. Your wedding, so you have to eat cake."
"You'd think there'd be some sort of rule book outlining
these things," Philip said to Levi, and he looked so happy that
Levi grabbed onto his tie, tugged him in close, and kissed
him. He would have done it a lot longer, too, only they were
interrupted by spoons clinking on crystal wait, that was
supposed to make them kiss, not stop them from kissing
and Meg's voice, gentle, over the sound system.
"Hi," she was saying. "Hi, everybody. I'm Meg Dixon. I had
the privilege, for a few years, to be married to Philip." Levi
knew this didn't come as a surprise to anyone there it was a
small wedding, only about fifty people. "He and I have a
beautiful daughter together. And now, I have the privilege of
seeing him marry Levi, who is exactly the right person for
him, and who I trust completely with our daughter Ashley.
She's lucky enough to be getting Levi as a third parent." Meg
lifted her bottle of sparkling water (no point in letting people
wonder what was in your glass, she'd told Levi wryly) and
said, "To the happy couple!"
For once, Levi didn't find himself blushing at being the
center of attention. He only had eyes for Philip, whose wide
smile met his own, not faltering even when Ashley dropped
herself down onto his lap.
They checked into their very nice hotel near the airport
after ten o'clock that night, both of them weary but having so
much to talk about that they hadn't stopped since stepping
into the limo. They'd booked the honeymoon suite, with its
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king-sized bed and heart-shaped hot tub, and the first thing
Levi did upon walking into the room was go immediately to
the bed and collapse on it, face down.
"I do love your arse," Philip said, sitting beside him and
patting it.
"You can do anything you want to it as long as I don't have
to move," Levi moaned. Belying his own words, he flipped
over onto his back.
Philip laced his fingers with Levi's. "Was it a good day?
Everything you were hoping for?"
"It was," Levi said. "The best. Perfect."
"Every day with you is perfect," Philip told him. "All I
wanted was for you not to be disappointed by it. You didn't
feel there was ... something missing?"
Oh God, here it was. Levi had eventually, after much
persuading, agreed to invite his family to the wedding, on the
condition that that would be the end of the discussion. No
more talking about it. He'd been convinced they wouldn't
respond, and it had turned out he was right. Neither his
parents nor his grandmother had replied, and the seats that
been left for them had been empty until Meg and two of her
friends had moved into them. (Levi was sure that Philip had
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