Love, Emma

Chapter Thirty-Four:

"Everyone say cheese!"

Smiling for what feels like the millionth time, we all pose for Helen's camera, trying to pretend like our faces aren't aching with the amount of grinning we've done for these photos.

"Okay, one more round of paired photos, and then I promise we're done!" Helen calls Matteo and Enzo over excitedly, leaving the rest of us to relax for a few seconds in the church hall.

After the long, tearjerker ceremony, Edwardo and Angela were shipped off to the log cabin to take pictures outside with their bridal party, leaving the rest of us at Helen's mercy before the reception.

I blindly reach for Nathan's hand, pulling him loser so I can lean into his body, graciously accepting his warmth.

"C-cold?" He frowns at me, watching goose bumps rise on my arms and legs, clearly answering his question before I could.

All coats were ordered off for photos, and I longingly gaze at mine, resting in a pile with everyone else's, on the bench by the front doors.

"Just a bit, it's okay though." I smile to reassure him, although I'm unable to protest when he opens his arms, silently offering a hug.

Lacing my arms around his waist, I smile against the fabric of his suit jacket, loving how it defines his shoulders.

"Edwardo and Angela are so cute together." I think back on the newlyweds with a smile, remembering the look on his face when she reached him at the altar, and her tears when he said his vows. They truly are perfect for each other, like a couple out of some cheesy blockbuster movie.

"Y-yeah. T-th-they're g-goo-goo-good for each-each o-other." He squeezes me tight against him as Helen calls us over for a photo, smiling like crazy at our current positions.

"How do you want us?" With some hesitance, I pull away from his warm embrace, prepared to strike one of the many poses she's instructed us on so far today.

"Go back to the way you guys were actually, I liked that." She smiles at us over her camera lens, ducking down behind it to take the shot.

As told, I lean over, wrapping my arms back around his waist. His hands find the small of my back, and he hugs me tight, smiling down at me shyly.

The photo is over in seconds, but the moment seems to last years long than that; a silent exchange of words neither of us can form verbally, even though it's clearly conveyed in that one, fleeting look.

His smile is shy as he guides me back over to our coats, helping me pull mine over my arms. I bury my hands in the pockets, flinching at the coldness of the fabric.

Nathan looks like a reformed business men in his pea coat, like the kind of man you see walking out of some sleek, revolving-door building on Wall Street. The kind of guy that doesn't give short, average girls like me a second glance. I can't help but feel special that he does, especially when he reaches for me, his hands gripping the sides of my jacket, bunching up the fabric around my waist.

"You look so sophisticated. Like you could be an undercover spy or something." I watch him try to hold back a laugh at my words, his lips twitching from the effort.

"Th-thanks, I-I th-think?" I fiddle with his hands, twisting and turning my fingers around his, loving how his hands are rough and warn from years of work in the café.

I can't help but laugh at his hesitance, grinning at him. "That was supposed to be a compliment."

I match up our palms, laughing at the size difference between us. My hands are so small and pale in comparison to his, my nails just barely touching the interphalangeal joints in his fingers.