Chapter 608
Chapter 608
Louisa still remembered the first time she met Lily.
She'd liked her immediately.
"Nicholas," she'd said, dead serious, "Lily is wonderful. Don't you dare mess this up."
"I won't." Nicholas had smiled, his eyes soft. "Meeting her is the luckiest thing that's ever happened to me."
On the wedding day, Louisa was everywhere at once — smoothing Lily's veil, checking the line of Nicholas's jacket, fussing over details no one else noticed. She was more nervous than either of them.
"Nervous?" she asked Nicholas, looking him over in his suit.
"A little." He scratched the back of his neck, almost sheepish.
"Never thought I'd see the day." She laughed and gave his shoulder a light pat. "Don't worry. Lily is everything. You won't regret this."
"I know." His voice was quiet, certain.
Louisa looked at him and felt something warm settle in her chest.
---
The ceremony was simple and beautiful.
Nicholas took Lily's hand and walked her down the aisle, steady and slow. Lily wore a white gown and smiled like she couldn't help it — the way a flower opens without deciding to.
"Mr. Nicholas Getty, do you take Ms. Lily Brown to be your lawfully wedded wife — to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, as long as you both shall live?"
"I do." His voice didn't waver.
"Ms. Lily Brown, do you take Mr. Nicholas Getty to be your lawfully wedded husband — to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, as long as you both shall live?"
"I do." Hers didn't either.
"You may now kiss the bride."
Nicholas leaned in and kissed her gently.
The crowd burst into thunderous applause.
---
Louisa stood in the crowd, tears sliding quietly down her face.
"Hey." Julian came up beside her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "You okay?"
"I'm happy." She wiped her cheek and laughed a little. "Nicholas finally found it. His happy ending."
"Yeah." Julian smiled. "He earned it."
Beside them, Nate craned his neck toward the stage, eyes wide and shining.
"Mommy — now that Uncle Nicholas is married, does that mean there's gonna be a baby?"
Louisa looked down at him. "That's usually how it works."
"So I'm gonna be a big brother?!" He launched himself into the air. "YES!"
Laughter rippled through the whole row.
---
At the reception, Nicholas and Lily found Louisa and Julian and raised their glasses.
"Louisa. Julian." Nicholas held their gaze. "None of this happens without you. You know that."
"Oh, stop." Louisa lifted her glass with a grin. "To you and Lily — a lifetime of love and happiness."
Lily clinked her glass against Louisa's, smiling.
"And Lily," Louisa added, her voice going just a little more serious, "if Nicholas ever gives you a hard time — you call me. I'll handle him."
"Deal." Lily laughed.
Nicholas shook his head, resigned. "Louisa. Whose side are you on?"
"The right side."
Everyone laughed again.
---
The reception wound down in warmth and noise, and eventually the last guests drifted out. Louisa and Julian stood together at the hotel entrance, watching Nicholas and Lily walk away into the night.
She thought about the first time she'd met Nicholas.
Back then, she hadn't known he was her brother. He'd just been a man — a stranger. And then, somehow, he'd become the only family she had in this world. He'd given her warmth. He'd given her the kind of love only a brother gives.
Now he had someone to come home to.
She was so, genuinely happy for him.
---
A year after the wedding, Lily was pregnant.
The news lit up the entire Getty family like a match to kindling. Opal was beside herself — she started showing up with elaborate broths and tonics every single day. Bird's nest soup on Monday. Shark fin broth on Tuesday. Slow-simmered chicken stock on Wednesday.
"Mom, I really can't eat all of this," Lily said, somewhere between grateful and overwhelmed.
"You can and you will." Opal beamed. "You're eating for two now. Every bite is for the baby."
Nicholas was a different kind of disaster.
He drove Lily to and from work himself, every day, no exceptions. He took over every chore in the house without being asked. And whenever she had a craving — no matter the hour — he went.
One night, around eleven, Lily mentioned she was in the mood for dessert from a little place across town.
Nicholas was dressed and out the door in five minutes.
He got back at one in the morning, holding the dessert, sweaty and completely unbothered.
Lily stared at him.
Her eyes filled.
"Nicholas. You're ridiculous."
"You and the baby wanted it." He held it out to her. "Worth it."
Louisa watched all of this with fond exasperation.
"Nicholas, you need to relax."
"It's my first time being a dad," he said, entirely unapologetic. "Of course I'm a wreck."
She laughed. She remembered Julian being exactly this way — the same hovering, the same midnight runs, the same look of barely-contained panic wrapped in devotion.
Now it was Nicholas's turn.
She walked over to Lily. "How are you holding up? Really?"
"Honestly? Pretty good." Lily rested a hand on her stomach. "A little nauseous sometimes. And sleeping has been rough. But nothing I can't manage."
"That's totally normal," Louisa said. "First trimester is the worst of it. Once you hit four months, it gets easier. The third trimester is its own thing — you'll be tired and huge and uncomfortable, so rest whenever you can."
Lily nodded, listening.
"And ask me anything. Seriously." Louisa smiled. "I've been through it."
---
Several months later, Lily delivered a healthy baby boy.
Nicholas spent the entire labor pacing the hallway outside the delivery room — back and forth, back and forth, wearing a path in the floor.
"Nicholas." Louisa planted herself in front of him. "You're making me dizzy. Stop."
"I can't." His voice was rough. "What if something goes wrong? What if Lily—"
"Lily is a doctor," Louisa said firmly. "She knows exactly what's happening and she is fine. Breathe."
Julian stepped up beside him and gripped his shoulder. "She's right. It's going to be okay."
Then — from behind the closed door — a cry.