Sarah blushed to the roots of her hair. “Honestly, Owen. Not in front of my mother.”

Adele burst into laughter. “Oh for goodness sakes, Sarah. You’re almost sixty years old and have seven grown children and a grandchild. Go have some fun while you’re still young.”

“In that case,” Sarah said with a saucy grin, “don’t wait up.” She leaned over to kiss Holden’s cheek and Owen’s forehead and then kissed her mother.

Charlie arrived a few minutes later to pick up Sarah. They walked off arm in arm, his head tipped toward hers so he could hear what she was saying.

“Well,” Adele said as she and Owen watched them walk away, “isn’t that a sight for sore eyes?”

“You know it. They’re great together.”

“Do you think they’ll get married?”

“Eventually. Once her divorce is final.”

“And you’d be okay with that?”

“I’d be thrilled for them both. They’ve been to hell and back and made it through intact.”

“As have you, my love. And now it’s time to leave hell behind and wallow in the joy.”

Since that sounded like a fine idea, Owen decided to take his grandmother’s advice. It was definitely time for some joy around here.

The next two weeks flew by in a flurry of last-minute wedding details, while the bride and groom tried not to think about the fact that they’d yet to receive her divorce papers.

“What’ll we do if they aren’t here in time?” Laura asked Owen three days before the wedding.

“We’ll go forward like everything is okay, and we’ll do it again later, by ourselves, to make it official. No one, other than your dad, would need to know it wasn’t entirely legit.”

“Evan and Grace will need to know why we need them to sign something later as our witnesses.”

“Then we’ll tell them and no one else.” Owen kissed her. “Try not to worry. It’s all going to be fine. I promise.” It wasn’t an ideal solution, but neither of them wished to postpone the wedding.

The next night, Evan threw a bachelor party at the marina restaurant that turned into an all-nighter.

As he and Evan walked back to town early the next morning, Owen was still buzzed from the evening with most of his favorite men and an endless flow of liquor.

“What a fantastic time,” he said again as they crested the top of the hill near Evan’s parents’ house and headed down the sidewalk that led to home.

“Glad you enjoyed it,” Evan said. His voice was husky from smoking cigars and singing all night. His dark hair stood stiffly on end, the result of a beer shampoo compliments of his brother Mac.

“We kinda stink,” Owen said.

“That means the party was a success.”