That Wedding Page 33

  Straight through to my heart.

  I feel free now.

  Free to feel, free to cry, and free to live my life. And the tears I've been crying haven't been sad tears, they've been happy ones. I'm so happy with Phillip, I can hardly believe it.

  Phillip gazed into my eyes the whole time I read. I say a silent prayer that if I'm lucky enough to see those brown eyes every day, I will have lived an amazing life.

  Phillip pulls me into his chest and hugs me. "That's amazing, Princess, really. I can't believe you wrote it."

  "Well, it's kinda amazing what comes out of you when you start to feel again. Somehow, this whole process, from the planning to the stupid counseling, has helped me feel again. I can't thank you enough for putting up with my crap and for helping me get through this. I love you, Phillip. I really do."

  "Is there a reason we're not supposed to be together tonight?"

  "Well, I think traditionally, it was to protect the bride's virtue. But since I don't really have any virtue left, we don't have to worry about that. It's also supposed to be bad luck to see the bride on the wedding day. You're supposed to wait until you see her walking down the aisle in her dress or whatever."

  He gives me sexy grin. "Wasn't it you that said we never listen to anybody?"

  "I think that was me." I put my hands on his biceps and give them a little squeeze. "Does that mean I get to wake up in these sexy arms on my wedding day?"

  "Most definitely," he says. He gets up, turns off the lights, puts the do not disturb sign on the door, strips down to his boxers, and slides into bed with me. "We'll order room service for breakfast, relax, and I'll sneak out when you go get your hair done. What time is that?"

  "My appointment isn't until noon," I say as I happily snuggle up next to him.

  Lori bangs on my door at ten-thirty. I'm leaning against Phillip's naked chest while he feeds me bites of pancakes.

  I get up, peek my head out the door, and whisper to Lori. "Didn't you see the do not disturb sign? That's kinda like hanging a sock on the door. I have a boy in my bed."

  She pushes through the door. "Jade, don't joke about something like that," she says, like I was hooking up with some random stranger on my wedding night.

  Her eyes get big when she sees Phillip. "Phillip, what are you doing here? You're not supposed to be here!"

  "It's not my fault she wanted one last single girl fling."

  I slide back in bed to finish breakfast. "Lori, don't act all shocked. I know you and Danny spent the night together before your wedding."

  "No, we didn't."

  "You left early. Don't act all innocent."

  "Okay, so maybe we spent some time together the night before, but he went to a different room to sleep. I didn't want him to see me the morning of the wedding. It's bad luck, you know."

  "I think it's good luck. I also think it's a stupid tradition and why some brides call off their weddings at the last minute."

  "You think sleeping with them the night before will guard against cold feet?"

  "Definitely. When you're all alone the night before your wedding, you have nothing to do but think. To question yourself. Contemplate all the lifetime commitment stuff you're about to say." I give Phillip's thigh a little squeeze. "It's hard to think about cold feet when you've got a hot guy in bed with you."

  "Fine, joke all you want."

  "I'm not joking at all. I'm dead serious. I'm glad Phillip spent the night with me."

  Phillip kisses my cheek, pops the last piece of bacon in his mouth, and gets out of bed. He's only wearing boxers, so he pulls on his jeans, tosses his shirt over a broad shoulder, and picks up his shoes. "I think I better leave you girls to this."

  "You're a chicken, you know that, right?" I tell him.

  After watching his sexy backside walk out the door, I turn to Lori and say, "You want some food?"

  "Are you really doing okay? Like you seem very calm."

  "Does that surprise you? I've always been pretty chill about stuff."

  Lori rolls her eyes at me and shakes her head. "You used to be chill about everything until you started dating Phillip. Then you got a little dramatic. So is there anything you need? I feel like we should be doing something."

  "I'm gonna finish eating and then take a long bath. The hairstylist doesn't want me to wash my hair, so that's all I have to do."

  "You seem too calm. It's kinda scaring me."

  "Lori, I wanna marry Phillip more than anything. I'm excited, happy, and incredibly blessed. I found a man that is so amazing in bed, it makes me cry." I grab a tissue and dab at fake tears.

  She slaps me on the arm. "Jade! Do you ever take anything seriously?"

  "Yes, actually I do. In all seriousness, I'm seriously blessed. Like he's amazing. Last night...."

  "Okay, I give up. You're calm. Danny sent me down here early because he was worried you'd be freaking out."

  "You don't need to babysit me. I'm not going anywhere. I didn't even have any bad dreams last night." I grab a ceremony program off the nightstand and toss it toward her. "Take a look at this."

  She watches it float down to the ground, and as she's leaning down to pick it up, she says, "What's this?"

  "The ceremony program."

  She looks at the front of it. The black and white brocade print. The purple trim. Our wedding monogram. She turns it over, flips it open, then closes it. "It's pretty."

  I smile. "No, you need to read it."

  "Why? I know everyone."

  "Fine, there's something I need to tell you. If you'd read the program, you'd see that you're not my matron of honor."

  She puts her hand to her chest and cries out, "What did I do wrong?"

  "No, silly. I mean we're not calling you matron of honor."

  "Oh, you scared me, and Jade, I'm so sorry. You didn't have to do that. It was so selfish of me to want to change your wedding."

  "Well, I looked up the word matron in the thesaurus for a different word to use. The synonyms were even worse. Words like biddy, dowager, dame. So then I decided fuck tradition. I searched the internet and found that other people felt the same way. I found lots of ideas. A nice one was treasured friend, but I thought that sounded like we were fifty-year-olds. There was honor attendant, lady of honor, best woman, chick of honor, goddess of honor, my home girl, and the bride's babe."

  She puts a hand up to her mouth to hide her giggles. "Oh, that sounds like we're having an affair!"

  "Scandalous, right? What about executive vice president in charge of bridal affairs?"

  "That sounds like you're having affairs, and I'm in charge of them!"

  "That'd make you my pimpppp!!!" I laugh, but then I get serious. "So, read it."

  She opens the program and reads from it. "Lori Diamond, HOTASS BEST FRIEND."

  She chuckles. "Very funny. Did you have this program made just for me?"

  "No, that's the actual program. Ask Amy."

  She looks down and reads more. "The bridesmaids are THE HOTTIES? Danny is the HOTABS BEST FRIEND? And the groomsmen are THE ABBIES? Ohmigawd, Jade, only you could write ass in your wedding program and get away with it!"

  "Nobody reads them anyway. I think it's awesome!"

  "I think you're crazy!"

  I start to tear up for real. "You're my best friend, you know that, right? Danny and I will always be tight, but you really are like a sister to me."

  She gets tears in her eyes too and gives me a big hug.

  I'm ready. Ready to go meet Phillip. Ready for him to see my dress for the first time. Mrs. Mac and Mrs. Diamond are gushing about how pretty I look.

  Mrs. Mac says, "So you haven't followed any traditions, but we're making you do this one. Do you have something old?"

  Lori nods her head. "Yes, the satin at the base of her bouquet is from one of her mom's bridesmaid's dresses, and she has lots of new things."

  "What about something borrowed?" Mrs. Diamond asks.

  I squint my eyes. "Um, I don't have anything borrow
ed."

  Mrs. Mac grins. "I was kinda hoping you'd say that. I have something for you to borrow." She rummages through her bag and pulls out a beautiful four-strand pearl bracelet. "It was my grandmother's. Both my mother and I borrowed it for our weddings."

  "I'd be honored," I say and hold out my arm.

  She slides it on my wrist. "It looks really pretty with your dress."

  I hug her and try not to cry. Even though we went with the waterproof mascara, I don't want to mess up my makeup right before I see Phillip. "Thank you. It's beautiful."

  Chelsea says, "What about something blue?" She has a sneaky little grin on her face.

  "Hush," I say.

  "What? You don't want Phillip's mom to know you have a sexy something blue thong on under there?"

  I'm standing outside a doorway at the top of a winding staircase. Phillip's waiting for me at the bottom. I can't see him, but I know he's there. I can feel him.

  I love the way I look. I love my dress, the way my hair is perfectly curled, the way my veil poufs out, and my soft bridal makeup.

  I know brides are supposed to fret and worry about every detail of their wedding.

  I'm not.

  This is the only moment I really care about. I want to remember the way Phillip looks at me for the rest of my life.

  I want this moment to be perfect.

  Amy is getting the photographer all set up. After this, we're going to take pictures at our fountain and a few other places around the Plaza, and then we'll come back and do more photos with the wedding party.

  Amy says, "Okay, we're ready."

  I glide through the door. There is something about this wedding dress. I've never felt so beautiful, or so graceful, or even anything so close to perfect in my life.

  I pause at the top of the stairs. Phillip turns around to face me. I've been so focused on how I would look for him, I hadn't thought about what he'd look like.

  Oh. my. gosh.

  He looks perfect.

  Seriously.

  He looks so incredibly handsome. His freshly shaven face, his perfectly styled hair, his big brown eyes, and that gorgeous smile. His black tuxedo drapes exquisitely across his tall, muscular frame. I love the way his shoulders are broad and then taper down to his lean waist. Phillip is perfect all the way down to his custom black Nikes with their purple swoosh.

  I'm looking at my dream. My prince.

  Our eyes meet. He looks at me so adoringly, and I can't believe I ever doubted this. All the worrying I did. All the should I marry hims. All the will we work outs. All the tears.

  They all come down to this very moment.

  This moment when I know I'm exactly where I belong.

  He holds my eyes the whole time I'm slowing descending the staircase. When I'm about to the middle, he starts walking up toward me. Like he can't help it, like he can't wait any longer to touch me.

  Three stairs from the bottom, he touches my face and says, "You look like my dream come true."

  I get tears in my eyes because that's exactly how I hoped I'd look. He continues. "You look amazing, gorgeous, beautiful. I don't even have the right words."

  "Those sound like pretty good words to me. So do you like the dress?" I ask as he leads me down the final three stairs.

  "I love the dress. My mom cut out all those mermaid dresses. I really thought that's what you were getting. This is so much better." He grins and tilts his head at me. "You kinda look like a princess."

  I grab the skirt of my dress and twirl it a bit. "I know. I think that's why I loved this dress so much. But even if I would've got the dress all wrong, I know I did one thing right."

  "What's that? Your shoes?"

  "No, silly. You. I can't believe I'm marrying you today. You're everything I've ever wanted and more. And you're looking pretty damn fine yourself. I even like the tennis shoes."

  He holds his pant leg up, so I can see them better. "I love the shoes. Everyone loves the shoes. So turn around. Let me see this dress."

  I do a slow spin. He looks me up and down and tilts his head. "I think you're missing something."

  I look down at myself. "I don't think I'm missing anything."

  "Yeah, you are. Let's see, do you have something old?"

  "Yeah, on my bouquet." I show him the fabric.

  "How bout something new?"

  "Pretty much everything is new."

  He scrunches up his nose at me, like he's evaluating me. "Something borrowed?"

  I hold out my wrist. "Your mom let me borrow the bracelet both she and her mother wore at their weddings. It was her grandma's."

  "I don't see anything blue."

  "You don't get to see what's blue until later," I smirk.

  He gives me the kind of sexy grin that makes me want to drag him up to my room.

  "What about something from the groom?"

  "Um, I'm wearing my engagement ring." I hold my right hand up and show him.

  "No, that doesn't count." He pulls a little wrapped box from behind his back and holds it in his palm in front of me.

  "Phillip, you already bought my wedding band. You didn't need to get me anything else."

  "Oh, so you don't want it?" He snatches the box away from me.

  I put my hands on the sides of his waist and pull my body close to his. "Oh, I want it."

  "You're bad. Be good and open this."

  He puts the box back out in front of me. I gently untie the ribbon, pull the small velvet jewelry box out of it, and open the lid.

  Inside is a breathtaking pear-shaped diamond pendant. The larger center stone is surrounded by different sized smaller diamonds set in platinum. It's funky, yet classic.

  "Phillip, it's beautiful! And it's pear-shaped just like my mom's ring."

  "It is your mom's ring. I took the diamonds out of your parents' wedding rings and had them made into this."

  "My parents' rings?" It feels like all the air just got sucked out of the room. I clutch my arm to my stomach like I just got punched, cover my mouth with my hand, and start to cry. I can't pry my eyes away from it. Their diamonds are together now, and they look so happy.

  Phillip looks worried. "Oh, Princess, I'm sorry. I thought, well, you said it was sad they just sit there in your jewelry box. I wanted you to have them with you. I saved the settings. I didn't ruin them. We can put them back. I can fix it."

  I poke my fingers into the corners of my eyes in an attempt to stop the tears from ruining my makeup.

  I can't speak. I can't mutter out words. My heart feels like it's in my throat.

  "It's beautiful," is all I manage to say again.

  I lean my head back and fan my face, trying to stop the tears. Phillip leans in and kisses my cheek which makes me smile.

  I reach out and touch his face. "Phillip, I'm so touched. I adore it. I'm trying really hard not to cry here, but...." I lose the tear battle. Phillip pulls a hankie out of his pocket and hands it to me. I dab my eyes with it. Then I look at it and laugh. "Your hankie has our wedding monogram on it!"

  "Amy seriously thinks of everything."

  We both laugh.

  I clutch my chest. "This necklace, I never would've thought of doing something like this. Thank you. And to get to wear their wedding diamonds, like today, on my wedding day, it's amazing. You're amazing. I think I'm the luckiest girl in the world."

  "I thought it was the universe," he teases.

  I laugh and dab away the rest of the tears while he puts the necklace on me.

  We went all over the Plaza with the photographer and took a bunch of great photos in front of all the fountains and the cool old buildings. We're in the limo heading back to the hotel. "Hey, we just passed the hotel," I say.

  "Amy and I have a little surprise," Phillip says. "We thought it might make for some cool photos."

  The driver pulls up to a park. Phillip pulls me out of the limo and leads me down a snowy path. We round the corner, and I cover my mouth. "Oh my gosh, Phillip. Swings!"

  And
not just any swings. Amy had these swings decorated. The chains have garlands running down them, and there are purple ribbons hanging from the snow covered trees. It's beautiful.

  "Come on!" I grab Phillip's hand like I used to when we were little and drag him across the snow.

  I can't wait to see these pictures. I even changed out of the purple Uggs I've been wearing out in the snow. The photographer took photos of Phillip pushing me on the swing, so that you could see the i do! I wrote on the bottom of my shoes. I'm pretty sure it will be my favorite picture ever.

  It's almost time!!!

  The girls just left to get lined up for the walk down the aisle. I'm getting my makeup touched up when Danny strolls in.

  He always looks so handsome in a suit. "You look handsome, Danny."

  "I had to come tell you how beautiful you look. Really, Jay, you look amazing. Hard to believe the raggedy little girl who punched me in the face could grow up to look like this."

  He gives me a big hug and gets misty-eyed. "I love you."

  My eyes tear up too. "I love you too."

  The makeup artist says, "Don't cry. We just got your makeup all fixed."

  Danny gives the makeup artist his dazzling grin, probably because he knows any girl will let him do anything he wants in hopes of seeing that grin just one more time. Then he says to her, "Mind if we have some privacy?"

  The makeup artist flashes me an irritated look. Like it's my fault. She probably thinks I'm getting ready to have a pre-wedding romp with him. Or at least I know that's what she's fantasizing about. Only she'd be the bride.

  Danny shuts the door, raises his eyebrows up and down at me, and gives me his Devil Danny grin.

  "What? What'd you do?"

  "Nothing." He points his thumb toward the door. "You know, she probably thinks we're having sex."

  I giggle. "Well, you are the best man."

  "Come on, baby, just one last time? He'll never know," he says loudly to the door. The makeup artist probably has her ear up to it.

  He whispers in my ear. "Maybe you should make some appropriate noises, then we'll walk back out, and I'll be zipping up my pants."

  I laugh and smack his shoulder. "You're so bad."

  He laughs with me, but then his face gets serious. "So, I have something to give you." His voice gets that aw shucks sound to it. The sound that has drawn so many people to adore him. That slight southern twang he can't seem to get rid of. "I want you to have good luck today. Anyone else would laugh me out of the room if I gave them this, but I know you'll understand."