Free Committed Passion by Bonnie Dee Page A

reached out her hands to Leah and me—“you’re my girls ! We’re going to have such good times together.”
    I held her sweaty hand. “I never had any family at all, really. I’m thrilled about this too.”
    “Me too,” Leah agreed. “Only child here. I always wanted sisters.”
    “What about me?” Cyndi’s lower lip jutted out. “My sister won’t talk to me. She set fire to my car once because she claims I stole her boyfriend. I want to be part of you guys too.” Tears welled in her eyes threatening to smear more mascara down her cheeks.
    “You are, Cyn. Always,” I promised.
    We’d nearly closed the bar, and I was more than ready to go home and get some sleep before my big day. Besides, Leah looked exhausted, and Abbie… Well, we’d be lucky to get her on her feet and into the limo. We dropped the girls off at their motel room and sat quietly on the drive home.
    Slumped in one corner, Gina began to snore.
    “We are lucky,” Leah said suddenly. “Not only to find the men we have but to actually get along with their girlfriends. That can be rare. I haven’t known you long, Rianna, but I feel like I can talk to you about anything and you’ll understand.”
    I smiled into the darkness and tried to remember why I’d been nervous to meet these two. Already I felt completely comfortable with both Leah and Gina. Maybe we’d been meant to meet each other just as we’d met the three brothers.
    Full of warm feelings, I blurted, “I want to tell you where Jonah and I went earlier today. Travis’s dad, who hasn’t had any contact with us in several years, popped up out of nowhere. He wants to have a relationship with Travis, but we’re not comfortable with it. He swears he’s changed, but I don’t know. Jonah’s going to adopt Travis, and I want him to be the only father Travis knows.”
    “Wow. I’m sorry you have to deal with this guy, especially right before your wedding.”
    Leah’s soothing voice made me feel a little better. Telling the news to someone who wasn’t personally involved like Jonah helped. I’d had girlfriends before, Cyndi and Abbie, for example, but already I felt a different sort of connection to Leah, who was so easy to talk to. She would be family soon, and I couldn’t think of anyone I’d rather have as a sister-in-law.
    “Thanks for listening,” I said. “I needed to talk about it.”
    “Any time.” Leah’s hand reached for mine across the seat of the limousine. “We’re almost sisters now, right?”
    Chapter Eight
    Jonah
     
    I struggled with getting the knot in my tie just right, but my reflection told me it was still crooked. At last, Micah let out a snort of annoyance and came over to fix it. When he was finished, he clapped his hands on my shoulders. “You’ll do.”
    I studied the perfect knot around my neck in the mirror. Micah always had a flare for fashion. Today, his suit was just a little better cut, a little classier than J.D.’s or even mine, and I was the groom.
    “Thanks,” I said.
    “No problem. You ready for this?”
    “Sure,” I said, but inside, doubts tossed and turned and made me a little nauseated. I wanted to marry Rianna. I absolutely wanted to be her husband and Travis’s father. It was me I worried about. Look at the example I’d had. Could Jesse Wyatt’s son possibly succeed at being a family man? What if I failed Rianna or Travis in some way? What if I fucked up?
    “Hey,” J.D. spoke from beside me, breaking me out of my downward spiral of worry. “You look like you’re freaking out. Don’t. I’ve never known you to fail at anything you set out to do. You got this.”
    “Ditto,” Micah said from where he sat on a chair giving a last polish to his two-tone wingtips.
    You got this , I mentally repeated as I walked out of the dressing room and into the chapel to take my place up near the altar. You’re not him. You know how to be responsible, and how to love.  
    Neither Rianna nor I were particularly religious, but