When We Met (Fool's Gold #13)(72)

“Male and female attendants,” Jack whispered. “Very modern.”

She smiled, then turned her attention to the ceremony.

“We are delighted you could all attend this wonderful occasion,” Mayor Marsha began. “While I try to attend every wedding in town, I’m not always lucky enough to officiate at them. Thank you both for this joyous opportunity.”

She glanced down at the book she held, then back at the guests. “Today we celebrate and witness the joining of Kent Hendrix and Consuelo Ly. Traditional vows will follow, but first our wonderful couple wants to say something to each other.”

Consuelo handed her bouquet to Felicia, then faced Kent.

“I love you,” she said, her voice trembling slightly. “Very much. I promise to always show up and to tell you when I’m afraid.” She flashed a smile. “I can’t say I’ll always be normal.”

Kent grinned. “I’ll be normal enough for both of us.” His mouth straightened. “I’ll always take care of you, Consuelo. Be there for you.” He glanced over his shoulder.

Reese stepped a little closer. “Me, too,” he added. “We’re going to be a family.”

Taryn felt her eyes start to burn. She wondered if Angel would look at her, if he would communicate that while they didn’t have that level of emotion between them, he cared. Only he didn’t.

Instead Jack took her hand. “This is nice,” he murmured.

“It is.”

“There’s something to be said for eloping.”

Which they had done, she remembered. “Less money on catering.”

He grinned. “Good point. I’m glad your friend there was the one who had to deal with the snake. It probably would have killed me.”

She chuckled. “I’m sure of it.”

“You’ve got a good man there.”

She looked back at Angel. “Yes, I do.”

As if he’d heard them, he turned toward her and gave her a slow wink. She smiled back and knew that her world had gotten just a little brighter.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

“YOU HAVE CHILDREN here to see you,” Larissa said with a grin. “Two girls. They know you by name.”

Taryn held in a smile. “Is that accusation I hear in your tone?”

“Children? It still surprises me to think about you hanging with them.”

“You know I’m an assistant Grove Keeper.”

“I’ve heard the words,” Larissa said with a grin, and walked back out into the hall.

Taryn was still chuckling when Chloe and Layla, another Acorn, walked in. She stood and circled around her desk. “Hi, you two. What’s up?”

Chloe set her backpack on a chair and pulled out a length of rope. “We’re having trouble with our knots. Angel’s busy and the campout is coming up soon. There’s going to be a test after we set up our tents. We know there’s a rabbit and a hole, but we can’t remember about the tree.”

Layla rolled her eyes. “I asked my dad, but he doesn’t know.”

She sounded desperately disappointed in the man.

Taryn kept her smile in place even as her stomach flipped over. Knot proficiency was required of Acorns. Angel had taught them at the last meeting. And while Taryn had been able to go through the motions with everyone else, she hadn’t really been paying attention to the particulars. After all, Angel was the outdoor expert. She was simply faking it.

In the past few weeks they’d gone hiking twice and had repeated the kayaking without incident, but with sex, which made it even more fun. But knots? She knew next to nothing about knots.

But she couldn’t say that to the girls, she thought. Nor could she fake her way through knot teaching. Before she could figure out a way to confess all and then look up knots on the internet, Kenny walked down the hall.

Taryn called to him. He stepped into her office, took one look at the girls and raised his eyebrows. “Something you want to admit to?” he asked.

She ignored the humor in his eyes. “Kenny, these are two of my Acorns. Chloe and Layla. We were discussing the knots we have to learn and I was wondering if you knew anything about knots.”

Kenny glanced from her to the girls and back. He leaned against the door frame as if he had all the time in the world...and he planned to use every second of it to torture her.

“Camping?” he asked.

Chloe nodded. “We’re having an all-grove campout. Layla and I are Acorns, like Taryn said. We’re the youngest. The other groves are Sprouts, Saplings, Sky-Reachers and Mighty Oaks. We’re going to be Sprouts next year.”

Layla nodded.

Kenny’s mouth twitched and Taryn knew it had nothing to do with Chloe’s innate cuteness. Instead he was storing information he would use against her when she was least expecting it.

She thought about pointing out that she hadn’t been exactly hiding her position as assistant Grove Keeper from anyone. She just hadn’t been talking about it much. Jack knew, but now that she thought about it, there was a good possibility the other two didn’t.

“Sprouts, huh?” Kenny asked. “Which means you belong to the...”

“Future Warriors of the Máa-zib,” Chloe said helpfully. “FWM.”

“Right. It sounds fun and I can see you’re fierce warriors. I’m impressed.”