Chapter 308: Real Family
** Eli **
They were supposed to meet up with Harper’s parents right before the ceremony, and it surprised them both to get the unexpected company much earlier than planned. But Eli didn’t mind. The presence of family meant something special on a day like this, which brought him a peaceful sense of joy even more so than the excitement of the portraits.
And he found it somewhat funny and touching at the same, when Harper’s mother reacted to her first look of the bride almost exactly the same way he did himself, hands flying to her mouth as she burst into tears. Only that she did it with much less reservation than him, closer to a full-on wail than just one uncontrollable teardrop.
"Oh look at you ... so gorgeous, so happy." The mother cried and pulled the daughter into a big hug, while the father looked at them tenderly before stepping forward to pat Eli on the shoulder.
"Hi Zack, Laura." Eli greeted them both with a heartfelt smile. And as he watched the loving scene unfold in front of him, the familiar feeling of surrealness was back, enveloping him like the blessing it was that he never thought would become real.
Harper’s family had always meant the world to him ever since the first day they met. Aside from the siblings being his closest friends, the parents had also filled an empty hole in his life in ways that they probably never realized themselves. Looking at the couple standing before him now, he was reminded of all those times when they invited him over for Christmas, when they included him on weekend vacations, when they helped him out at school events when his own father wasn’t there for him ... During those hard years in his teens, this beautiful family was his home, and to think that a day would come when he’d become a real part of it through the bonds of love—
"How does it feel to be a real part of the family soon, Eli?" As if knowing what he was thinking, Harper’s father asked with a wide grin. "Less than an hour to go and I’ll be handing Harper to you at the end of the aisle! Ha, can barely believe it myself. I could have taught you a lot of things back in the day, if I knew the quiet boy across the street was going to become my son-in-law in the future!"
"Oh come on Dad, don’t make him any more nervous than he already is." Harper pulled away from her still teary mother, hastily turning back to the proud father of the bride. "It took him a whole hour of photo posing to stop worrying about things like smearing my makeup or stepping on my train. No need to remind him again about the ceremony!"
"Really?" Hearing the honest complaint, her father gave Eli an impressed look. "Ah, being nervous on a wedding day is actually a good sign. That means he wants everything to go perfectly for you, like a good husband should."