His Redemption, Her Legacy

Part 20

'Life seems sometimes like nothing more than a series of losses, from beginning to end. That's the given. How you respond to those losses, what you make of what's left, that's the part you have to make up as you go.'

-Katharine Weber, The Music Lesson
***

Hayworth Estate;

Maya’s smile brightened as soon as she saw her brother. Averey looked dashing.

She looked up at her husband, grinning with excitement. Edward chuckled as he kissed the back of her hand.

“Isn’t he the most handsome groom you have ever seen?”

Edward cocked up one of his eyebrows, smiling mischievously.

“I thought I was the most handsome groom you had ever seen.”

Maya shook her head with mirth.

“I think I had made wrong judgement.”

Edward’s face drooped with an exaggerated scowl as Maya giggled.

“I am going to talk to him.”

He smiled softly, letting go of her hand.

“I knew you couldn’t wait for another moment. Go.”
__________________________________

“Averey!”

Averey’s gloomy face immediately lightened when he saw his sister making her way towards him.

He caught her in his arms as she neared him, trying to grasp the essence of security and comfort that her presence had always brought to him.

“Maya, it is so good to see you well and healthy.”

Maya’s grin dropped when she heard the tiredness in his voice. She pulled back and looked at him with a frown.

“What is the matter? First you spring this surprise wedding upon your poor sister, and now, instead of being ecstatic about this occasion, you seem like you carry the weight of the entire world upon your shoulders.”

Averey tried to mask his anxiety as he replied to her,

“Of course, not. I suppose these are just my nerves acting up.”

Maya smiled, albeit sceptically.
She turned her face to look around at the small group of people that had gathered. It was a rather intimate affair. Only the closest of their family had been invited. She had already met her aunt and brothers.
Her eyes spotted Emma’s family, and though they all carried a smile on their faces, something about their disposition seemed unusual.

She was reminded of the confusion that she had felt when she got the news at the Palace.

Her thoughts had immediately gone to Brandon. She knew he had felt something for Emma; had even suspected both of them of being in love with each other.
But the wedding invite that came, was for Emma and Averey, instead.

Maya had not been able to grasp onto the idea of her being wrong about them.
But Edward had reminded her that she had been too hurt to have noticed these things in the past year.

She had conceded, knowing that things could have changed in such a long time, while she was too concerned with her own grief.

But now, as she saw the apprehension on her brother’s face, her doubts seemed to be creeping back.

She tried to mask her confusion with a small smile.

“Alright, if you insist. But you better be able to dispel these nerves, by the time your bride enters. I presume she would not be happy with this face.”