by Cee, DW
Her glower gave way to a chuckle.
We finished our rehearsal and walked over to Aunt Babs’. Her backyard was completely transformed into Morocco. My aunt had a treasured talent for throwing imaginative theme parties. During a delicious dinner, musicians played while belly dancers danced all around us.
“This is so amazing, Honey. Did you know about this dinner?” she whispered in my ear.
“I had some idea but I didn’t know to what extent. Aunt Babs throws great parties.” I saw the chief walk up to the mic. “I have one more surprise for you, Love. Watch and listen,” I whispered back while planting a kiss on her lips.
“Thank you all for coming to this festive event. We want to celebrate Jake and Emily, as this day was a long time coming for them as well as for those of us who had to live with Jake during Emily’s absence.” The chief rolled his eyes and shook his head. The crowd laughed. “Jake, come on up and continue our Reid wedding tradition.”
Kissing Emily one more time, I walked up with my fiancée’s wedding gift in my pocket.
“Most of us in this tent know that we Reids have a tradition at our dress rehearsal dinner. This tradition is started by the first child of his generation to get married and all the other children in that generation must follow the same tradition he chooses. Since I am the first among the cousins to get married, you all must follow my lead when you get married.”
There were a few unhappy faces in the audience. Wait till they saw what I got for Emily. There would surely be more unhappy ones.
“The chief informed me I needed to pick from one of the wedding traditions of something old, something new, something borrowed, or something blue. Gramps apparently chose something old and gave Gram a pearl necklace that his mother wore on her wedding day. Gram?” I looked around for my grandmother. “Will you be giving this pearl necklace to my Emily as well?” She chuckled while everyone booed.
“Gram, I demand a recount. Who voted to give Jake the six carat diamond?” Doug, the contentious one, asked.
Before Gram could answer I ordered him to sit down and continued my speech. “The chief continued the tradition by picking something blue and he gave his bride a measly blue garter. All of his brothers had to do the same for their brides as a wedding gift. Now I must say, that was a crappy wedding gift.”
I made my mom and aunts proud with that declaration.
“Now it’s my turn and I chose to pick something old and something new.”
“Show off!” Cousin Glen yelled.
“The only way to outdo a six carat Asscher cut diamond ring is to shower my bride with more diamonds.”
This statement got every woman, including Gram, cheering for me while every unmarried guy rushed the stage and tried to hurt me. The guys picked me up and threatened to throw me off the stage till they saw Gram’s unhappy face. As always, I was saved by my grandmother.
Walking over to Emily, I could see the tears forming in her eyes. I wanted to carry her to my stage, but knowing how embarrassed she would get, I only held her hand.
“Emily,” my confession began, “after our first date, I knew you would be the girl I would marry. What I didn’t know was how deeply I would fall in love with you and still I grow to love you more each day. I cherish your warmth, your honesty, and the way you trust me to take care of you. In turn, I strive to be your shield and protector and make you the happiest woman in the world. In short, my life is only complete because you are here with me. I love you.”
Her tears of joy fell along with those of all the other women in the tent. I caught a glimpse of my mom, and she beamed a proud expression. She approved of my future wife and knew I would be well taken care of.
“Emi, give me just a second.” I excused myself and walked over to Mom.
Hugging her, I expressed, “Though Emily is my new love, you will always be my first love. I love you, Mom. Thank you for accepting Emily like your own daughter, and thank you for my thirty-one years of life. I promise I will continue to make you and Dad proud.”
“I love you, Son,” was all she could utter between the tears.
Back on the stage, I held out the same box I proposed with on Christmas morning. “Here is your something old.”
“I don’t have any fingers left to wear another diamond ring,” Emily said with both her hands up in the air in an attempt to be funny.
She opened up the box with one diamond earring and looked confused. “Jake, this is gorgeous but how does it become something old and something new and why is there only one?”
I explained that this was the first diamond I proposed with back in December.
“The other diamond,” I pulled out the matching pair, “is a new one I picked up from Boucheron in Paris.”
Emily was quick to put them both on and thanked me.
The party done, everyone helped clean up, and we all headed for our separate quarters. Emily was more than upset we wouldn’t see each other till our wedding day, to keep in line with our last Reid wedding tradition of keeping the bride and groom separated till they met at the altar. Trying to change her pronounced frown I aggressively kissed her till she could do nothing other than smile.
“I’ll see you at the altar,” I said, walking my fiancée to her door.
I slept another uncomfortable night in Doug’s room and we all left early morning for a ranch.
“What’s on the agenda?” I asked my brother.
“I’m not at liberty to tell. You’re supposed to do everything as planned, and Doug and I are your shadows till the wedding.”
Rolling my eyes, I called my bride.
“Hello?” I didn’t recognize this voice on the other line.
“Who’s this?” I questioned.
“Jake, you’re not supposed to have any contact with Emily till you meet her at the altar.”
“Aunt Deb! Is this really necessary? You are holding on to Emi’s phone?”
“We all went through it. Bye.” She hung up on me. I was thoroughly annoyed.
At the ranch many of my college and medical school buddies waited for me to arrive, and after an elaborate BBQ lunch, we got into teams and went hunting. Not having done this since med school, my shooting was rusty. I was told there was a prize for the group and the individual with the most game hunted. Competition on, my roommates and I, who used to hunt regularly in college, went after the prize with gusto. We were the first team to reach a team record of twenty-five birds with me having shot ten birds—an individual high.
Our team won a full-day shooting trip and I personally won a rifle, which I didn’t think Emily would be too happy to have in the house. I asked Uncle Henry to keep it for me at his home instead. It was nice spending time with my buddies, whom I had all but forgotten since Emily entered my life.
“So tell us about your fiancée, Jake. You haven’t been to any of the get-togethers in so long we know nothing about the woman you’re marrying tomorrow. Only through Nick did we hear bits and pieces,” my old roommate Steve said.
“She is phenomenal. She’s gorgeous, kind, loving, sweet, bright, funny…”
“Never mind. It was stupid of me to ask you. What do you think, Uncle Henry?” Steve asked the chief instead.
“I have to say everything Jake mentioned is true. My soon-to-be niece is pretty special.”
I high-fived my uncle.
“Hey, I saw Kelley the other day in Chicago.” My buddy Ron started talking. “I was there on business, and I ran into her on the elevator.”
“How’s she doing? I heard she got married soon after we broke up.”
“She was pregnant with her third kid already. She looked great, and she said she and her family lived in the suburbs somewhere near Chicago.”
In the middle of our conversation, I got a text from my love.
Just got home. If you are able, call directly to our room. Missed you very much. Can’t wait to become Mrs. Reid. Love you even more.
“Sorry
guys. The missus is texting. Need to call her.” I dialed our number immediately.
“Hi, Honey. How was your day?”
“Hi, Beautiful. I had a fun but lonesome day today without you,” I answered.
“Where are you and what did you do all day?”
“We’re about an hour north of home and we’re up at someone’s ranch hunting pheasant, quail, and chukar. I shot a Reid record ten, beating the chief’s old record by two.”
“That’s great but what’s a chukar?”
“It’s a type of bird in the pheasant family. What did you do all day, My Love?”
“We went to the spa and enjoyed every treatment, thanks to Gram, but I really missed you.”
“I missed you too.”
Listening to my bemoaning, all the guys made fun of me as some pretended to be me, crying, some mimicked my words, and others pretended to throw up. Emily laughed on her end.
“Who are all those people in the background?”
“My college and med school buddies along with the rest of the family. You’ll meet them tomorrow.”
“When do you get home?”
“I think we’re spending the night up here and then we have appointments at some spa tomorrow. I don’t exactly know. No one will give me a clear answer for fear I may bolt on them. The cousins are all seeking revenge because I gave you diamonds for your wedding present.”
“Oh, I see. What would they do if I came to see you?”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if Jane is guarding your door right now.” We both laughed. “I guess I’ll see you at the wedding.”
“Yes, you will, Dr. Reid.”
“Good night, My Love. Sweet dreams.”
“I love you. Good night.”
Talking to her made me want to drive home and be with her tonight. Not wanting to fight with the uncles and cousins, I decided to wait a few more hours when no one had a right to separate us anymore.
Chapter 21
FINALLY! Mr. & Mrs. Reid
I got Nick up early in the morning and forced Uncle Henry to let us go home to pick up my tuxedo. This was a brilliant idea to see Emily before the wedding, or so I hoped. Driving like a speed demon, I heard the phone ring.
“Hello?”
“Good morning, Handsome.” Ah, there was my sweet bride.
“Hello, my beautiful bride. You’re up early. Did you sleep well last night?”
“No. I can’t wait to have you in bed with me.” I liked the way her mind was working. Tonight would be all that I’d dreamed of.
“Aw, Sis! I don’t need to hear this kind of stuff so early in the morning. It’s making me nauseous.”
Emily giggled. “Nick, go find something else to do. Don’t listen in on a soon-to-be newlyweds’ conversation. What did you expect?”
“We’re driving and you’re on speaker so we’re going to have to keep this conversation G rated, although I like the way you’re thinking.”
“Where are you off to so early in the morning?”
“We’re coming home briefly to pick up our tuxes, and then we have to meet everyone at the spa for haircuts and grooming.”
“Does that mean we can see each other this morning?” Her excitement couldn’t be contained.
“I will try to sneak into our room, but Nick is supposed to be my guard. He promised the chief to keep me away from you.”
“Nick, if you give me thirty minutes with your brother, I promise you a meal at Masa when we get back from our honeymoon. What do you think?” she begged my brother.
Nick wouldn’t change his mind—actually he didn’t have much of a choice.
“Sis, if I let Jake see you, the chief promised to torture me on my wedding day. He threatened many times.”
“Nick, we won’t tell him. I promise!”
“They’ll read it on Jake’s face. He’ll have a stupid grin instead of this scowl he’s had since Friday night.”
I picked up the phone to have a private conversation with her.
“What will you promise me if I sneak into our bedroom for half an hour?”
“What can we possibly do with all these people in the house? There’s no privacy right now.”
“We can always lock the door.”
I saw Nick look away and hum a tune to himself.
“Why don’t you get into the room first, then we’ll talk.”
“All right. I love you.”
Emily wasn’t exaggerating about the house being a zoo. Women were inside the house getting groomed and men were outside the house building our wedding. I snuck past Aunt Babs and ran upstairs. Almost in the clear, our door in sight, I tiptoed past Jane’s room, and out came Laney.
“Mom, Gram,” she hollered.
I tried to muzzle her with my hands. “Laney, come on. Let me see Emily. I’ll remember this when you get married.”
It was no use. The cavalry showed up within seconds. I pleaded to see my bride. “Just a quick hello, Mom. I promise, I’ll be right out.”
“Laney, carefully go into Jake’s room and grab his tux. We need to get him out of here. And make sure Emily stays in her room,” Aunt Babs ordered.
“Gram, let me see my bride. We haven’t seen each other since Friday.” I begged again.
“Jakey, you’ll see her soon. Now get going,” she commanded.
Without a choice I yelled through the door, “Emi, I’m off to the barber. I’ll see you tonight, Sweetheart. I love you.”
“I love you too.” She called right back. “I feel like a prisoner in my own house.”
Leaving the house I understood the reality of today. Excitement was not an exact enough definition for what was going on in my head and my heart. The girl I loved from the moment I saw her in the grocery store would soon be mine. We would never have to part; we would never have to say good-bye. I would finally be with her daily, sleep with her nightly, and love her eternally.
My head was in a cloud the rest of the day. As soon as Nick and I were done, we headed back home and I watched the backyard metamorphose into a wedding garden. Two tents went up and as I started walking out to see what was in the tents, Nick and Doug stopped me.
“What’s the matter now?” I asked.
“Emily is watching from your room. We can’t let you out there.” This had gone far enough. I was about to go out when Nick mentioned, “Sis looks gorgeous. Don’t you want to wait just a little longer and see her when she walks down that aisle? She will take your breath away.”
Liking what he said I sat in the living room and tried to calm the butterflies. The phone rang and it was Jane.
“Hey, Jane. How’s Emily?”
“Hi, Honey.” It was my bride!
“Emi! Hi, Love. My gosh, I’ve missed you. Can you believe we’re finally getting married?”
“I’m so excited.” She sounded like she was walking on cloud nine. “Are you home? Do you see how incredible the house looks?”
“Yeah, I’m home but they won’t let me outside because they see you watching from our room. This has gotten ridiculous. But, it’s almost over. I’ll see you soon.”
“Sorry, Jake, time’s up. She’s starting to tear. See ya later,” Jane explained tersely then hung up.
I waited some more till Uncle Henry came and told me it was time. Though extremely nervous, my feet practically ran to the altar. Nick and Doug stood as my groomsmen while Gram, Mom, and Dad seated themselves. Jane was next to walk down and lastly I saw Sarah getting ready to walk. I peered around Sarah to find my bride but she was hidden behind the french doors.
The moment I’d dreamed of for many months arrived. Wagner’s Wedding March began and I watched Emily step out to the door with her head down and body paused. It looked like she needed a moment before starting down the rose petal aisle made just for her.
When her head lifted, our eyes met, and I was blown away by the sight. I had to force myself to breathe, she was so stunning. While she slowly
walked down the aisle, I reminisced on our first meeting at the grocery store, to the heart-wrenching day she left me for Japan, to our loving reunion in Kyoto. So many highs and lows marked our relationship. Those days were done. Our slate was clean now—ready for new adventures, new mistakes, and new ways of making up for those mistakes.
I walked out to Emily as she reached the altar and took her hand. Pushing back her veil, I was overcome by her beauty. Today, I understood the definition of beautiful to mean Emily Logan Reid.
“You look beautiful,” I whispered while kissing her shiny red lips.
The crowd chuckled.
Unable to focus on anything the minister had to say I eagerly awaited the vows and the exchanging of rings. Emily stubbornly refused another ring so I placed the same eternity band on her finger as a symbol of our eternal commitment to one another.
He finally pronounced us and we kissed for the first time as man and wife.
“I love you, Mrs. Reid,” I said while kissing my bride a few more times.
“I love you too.” She glowed.
We took our obligatory pictures alone and then with the family and Jane annoyingly tagged along as Emily’s helper. When we got to the reception everybody appeared to be having a great time.
“The food smells so good, Honey. When can we eat? Jane only let me eat a small salad today.”
“Let’s go eat now. What do you want me to get you? There’s an array of Mediterranean tapas, and all kinds of pizzas.”
“You’re not eating yet. We can’t get food on your dress,” my pesky sister discouraged. “I can get you some water if you like.”
“Never mind,” Emily moaned. “Let’s ditch her,” she whispered. I laughed at my wife.
“Congratulations, guys!” All of our cousins came to greet us. “What an amazing wedding and reception.”
“Thanks,” we answered. “Wait till you see the dinner tent. They’re opening it now,” Emily announced. “Let’s go in.”
The dinner tent showcased a variety of sushi and steaks and pasta, which all looked appetizing.