25. Kenzie

25

KENZIE

K enzie entered the ballet theatre for the first time as a married woman after she walked over from the ceremony at the little church with Walt and Aidan.

While the wedding itself had been sweet and simple, with just their immediate families in attendance, she could already hear that the theatre was bustling with activity for the reception.

“Ready?” Aidan asked her softly as they stood in the lobby.

“ Yes ,” Walt said excitedly from his place between them.

He was very eager to go in and see his new family members, including his Great-Grandma Lee, who had patiently listened to him regale her with stories about how he danced like the Rat King with Kenzie just before the wedding ceremony.

“Me too,” Kenzie said, smiling down at him before she glanced up at Aidan .

They both looked so handsome in their suits. And she felt prettier in the wedding gown her new in-laws had loaned her than she had in any tutu she’d even worn. Kenzie was proud to be wearing a piece of Webb history, and Aunt Leticia was tickled to have proof that she had been as slender as a real ballerina when she married Simon.

Aidan opened the door to the theatre, and they stepped inside to a space filled with all their favorite people. Kenzie’s parents waved to her from a spot in the corner where Reggie Webb was obviously spilling excellent gossip, talking with such passion that his arms were waving like windmills.

Dozens of kids from the ballet community mingled with family she’d known all her life, and she spotted plenty of faces that were familiar but that she didn’t know as well, since they were Aidan’s friends.

“Oh, wow,” Kenzie breathed when she realized that the stage area held the beautiful set pieces for the wedding scenes in Sleeping Beauty.

“I thought you might like that,” Grandma Lee said with twinkly eyes as she approached.

“Great-Grandma Lee,” Walt yelled. His husky voice was filled with excitement as he ran over to throw his arms around her, as if they hadn’t just left her ten minutes ago at the church.

“Oh, Walt, I’m so glad you’re here,” his great-grandmother said. “There are lots of children here today, and I’ll bet they would love to have a dance party with you.”

The two of them headed into the thick of the party together, leaving Kenzie and Aidan relatively on their own for the first time since their wedding rings had gone on their fingers.

“How do you feel?” Aidan asked quietly.

“Are you kidding?” she asked. “It doesn’t get better than this. How about you? Is my grumpy carpenter ready to face a couple of hours of being friendly?”

“I don’t think I’m grumpy anymore,” he said, frowning.

She tried and failed not to giggle.

“Fine,” he said, giving her a smile. “I’m not grumpy when I’m with you.”

“That’s all Walt and I can ask,” she told him, squeezing his hand.

“Aidan, Kenzie,” Sebastian Radcliffe said, approaching them with a smile. “Congratulations.”

The local rancher had moved out from the city last year, buying up land like it was his mission in life. It turned out, it had been. He was smiling at the two of them now, looking like James Bond in his bespoke suit.

“To you as well,” Aidan said. “How’s Emma?”

“She’s incredible,” Radcliffe said, with a faraway look in his eyes. “You’ll see her soon. She got pulled into a conversation the minute we walked in.”

“That sounds like Emma,” Kenzie said, with a fond smile.

“Listen,” Radcliffe said. “I hate to talk shop on your wedding day, Webb. But I just wanted to put a bug in your ear.”

“Talk to me,” Aidan said.

“You know Emma and I are settling on the homestead,” Radcliffe said. “The buildings are historic masterpieces, but they haven’t been kept well.”

Kenzie knew the Williams family hadn’t really had the resources to maintain the massive estate over the last few generations, as more and more Williams kids had gone off to the city instead of working the land.

Logan and his new wife Caroline had opened some school and tourist attractions on the land to try and reinvigorate the place, but things were taking off slowly.

Luckily, Baz Radcliffe had fallen madly in love with the youngest of the current Williams siblings, and the billionaire seemed committed to saving the place.

“Understood,” Aidan said. “It’s a shame, those are some of the most beautiful buildings I’ve ever seen.”

“I’m glad to hear you say that,” Radcliffe said. “When I heard you were moving back to Trinity Falls, I hoped I might be the first to get on your client list.”

Aidan squeezed Kenzie’s hand and cleared his throat. She knew to her bones he was trying not to shout with excitement and throw his arms around the other man.

“I know it’s a lot,” Radcliffe went on. “But you’re an artist, and I expect your fees to go along with that. You’d have an unlimited budget for supplies. And of course, there’s probably decades of work on the homestead for a master carpenter, so it goes without saying that there’s no rush. You’re free to go at your own pace and do other jobs in between, or help out around here, if you want. I hear you volunteer down at the firehouse too. That’s commendable.”

Aidan was basically being offered his dream job. And Radcliffe had done his homework—he knew Aidan was going to be starting his business out here, and even that he had signed up to help out with sets at the ballet theatre and was a volunteer firefighter.

Now it was Kenzie’s turn to try not to scream and hug Sebastian Radcliffe.

“That’s… well, that’s about the best wedding present I could ask for,” Aidan told Sebastian, his voice deep with emotion.

“Me too,” Sebastian confided. “I’m really looking forward to working with you.”

The two shook hands, and Sebastian excused himself to hunt down Emma, leaving Kenzie and Aidan on their own, gazing at each other in stunned and happy disbelief.

“So, I guess you’re not worried about building up business out here now,” Kenzie ventured.

Aidan let out a happy whoop and lifted her in his arms, spinning her around until she squealed with laughter and everyone turned to look at them.

When he set her down again she saw Sebastian and Emma over by the punch bowl, looking just as happy and excited as she and Aidan were. The two lifted their glasses as if to toast the whole thing and Kenzie found herself smiling so hard that it hurt her cheeks.

From a spot in the front of the house, Grandma Lee clicked her punch glass with a fork, and everyone quieted down.

“Thank you so much to Kenzie and Aidan for agreeing to have the reception here,” Grandma Lee said in her beautiful, lilting voice. “It’s wonderful to see so many friends and family members gathered around to celebrate with you. The ballet family wanted to do something special for our new co-artistic director, Kenzie.”

There was a round of applause at that.

“For our resident expert carpenter, Aidan,” she went on, allowing a moment for more applause. “And for our newest preschool dance student, Walt.”

Everyone clapped, and Walt ran up to Kenzie, lifting his arms so that she could sweep him up and hold him close while he looked around, smiling shyly at everyone who was cheering for him.

Two of the older boys were rolling out the rubber Marley dance floor behind Grandma Lee now, and the lights were dimming slightly everywhere but the stage.

“We hope everyone will enjoy a wedding scene from Sleeping Beauty in honor of our newlyweds,” she said, moving offstage.

The ballet students and a few guest dancers stepped into the spotlight, and Kenzie smiled and leaned on Aidan’s shoulder as the first strains of music began to play, feeling unbearably happy to be surrounded by the people and the things she loved most.

“Is this okay?” Aidan whispered to her. “Does it make you sad?”

“Not at all,” she told him honestly. “It feels like a dream to me.”

“That makes two of us,” he said, pressing his lips to her hair.

Kenzie closed her eyes and drank it all in. She wasn’t where she had pictured herself a year ago, not even close. But everything in her life was so much better than she ever could have imagined.

** *

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