by Alice Raine
Finally as Dad guided me onto the last seven steps I allowed myself to look at Nicholas. My heart either stopped, or was suddenly beating so fast that I couldn’t feel it, one or the other, I wasn’t sure, because he looked utterly stunning. The wedding suit he wore consisted of dark grey tailored trousers, almost black, a lighter grey jacket with tails, crisp white shirt, navy blue silk waistcoat, and matching blue tie. Wow. He looked even better than he did in his concert suit, and that was a pretty big statement. His posture was perfect too, as always, confident and upright and his dark hair was actually behaving today, pushed neatly off his forehead.
As soon as my eyes met his blue ones my world pretty much stopped turning. The love, desire, devotion, and intensity in Nicholas’ gaze was truly breath-taking. Our eyes remained locked as Dad delivered me to his side. Leaning in to place a kiss on my cheek Dad then took my hand and placed it in Nicholas’ outstretched palm. ‘Look after my little girl,’ Dad murmured, his voice sounding all odd and squeaky. ‘As if my life depends upon it, sir,’ Nicholas replied, before my dad gave Nicholas a pat on the shoulder and took his place beside Mum in the front row.
I know everyone tells you to try and stay in the moment so you can remember all the details of the ceremony later, but I just didn’t manage it. As soon as my eyes met Nicholas’ my entire focus had been on him. I hardly remember speaking when prompted, but I must have, because the next thing I knew there was a round of applause from the chairs behind me and Nicholas was leaning in to place a heated kiss on my lips. ‘That makes you mine now, Mrs Jackson,’ Nicholas hummed against my lips before deepening our contact until my head was spinning and I heard wolf-whistles from the crowd.
Mrs Jackson. I was married. To Nicholas! A huge grin split my lips and I flung my arms around his neck, giggling happily as he spun me around several times. Placing me down he ducked his head by my ear. ‘You look absolutely stunningly beautiful, Rebecca. You’ve made me the happiest man alive.’
Leaning back I could see the same depth of feelings in his eyes as must surely be reflected in mine. But right now I was too overcome to speak so I bit down on my lower lip to stop me crying and simply nodded instead.
My eyes were drawn to the wedding band on Nicholas’ finger as it caught the light from the large windows, and I couldn’t help but smile. That was such a sexy sight. Our wedding ring on his finger, showing the world he was mine. Letting out a contented sigh I glanced down at my own beautiful rings; to match my engagement ring the wedding ring was a simple platinum band, but it had a central line of tiny diamonds encrusted within it. It was absolutely beautiful, and picked by Nicholas, which made it even more special to me.
‘Let me lead you out, wife,’ Nicholas said with a smirk, an expression I couldn’t help but reflect.
‘Please do, husband.’ It was cheesy, but I was pretty sure we’d be using those terms quite a bit in the weeks and months to come.
Oh God, it was that time in the proceedings. The speeches by both the Jackson brothers. The day had been completely unbeatable so far, quite simply the best I could ever have hoped for. But to say I was nervous about this part was an understatement. My dad had gone first, and his speech had been quite funny and light-hearted, perfect really, but now it was time for Nicholas and Nathan’s moment in the spotlight. Two of the most emotionally scarred, blunt, and forthright men I’d ever met were about to give speeches in front of my entire family and all my friends. I literally felt like I might throw up at any moment.
We’d had a brief break in proceedings while waiters went around with top-ups of champagne and small canapés, but the time was almost up now and I watched anxiously as Nathan took several deep breaths, straightened his tie, and rolled off his shoulders. Oh God, he was already frowning, which wasn’t exactly a great start, was it? My stomach tumbled with nervous energy, I desperately wanted to save Nathan and Nicholas from this ordeal, but both men had been adamant that they would follow tradition and do it. My eyes followed Nathan as he stood up, flashed an intense, thin smile at Stella, and then knocked his fork against the side of his champagne flute to silence the room.
Here we go then.
I’m not sure if a fork being banged against a glass is always this effective, or if the gathered guests just took one look at Nathan’s imposing figure and decided to shut the heck up quickly, but the room went silent almost immediately, as Nathan bent to carefully lay his fork down on the table and then rose to his full height.
‘Good evening, everyone.’ Nathan’s eyes briefly flitted across the gathered guests and a tiny smile quirked the corner of his mouth. ‘I run large business meetings every week, but I think it’s fair to say that this is the first time I’ve ever addressed a room where everyone is actually listening and not bored senseless praying for the coffee break.’ It was a mild joke, but Nathan’s intro actually got a flutter of laughter from the room and I felt myself marginally relax.
‘For those of you who don’t know who I am, I’m Nathaniel, Nicholas’s older brother and apparently the best man today. I’m afraid I’m not much of a joker, so instead of stomach clutching laughter, what I will promise is that I’ll keep it short and sweet so you can get your dinner and free drinks.
‘Before I say anything else, I’d better do the formal part first.’ Raising his glass slightly, Nathan turned towards my mum and dad with a small smile, ‘Please let’s all take a moment to appreciate and raise our glasses to Rebecca’s wonderful parents, Leanne and John, for what has been thus far a wonderful celebration on such a special day. Seeing as Nicholas and I have no family left to speak of, they have been especially considerate with all the help and support with the organising of this special occasion. Please raise your glasses to Leanne and John.’
The room replied in surround sound chorus and my mum flushed as red as the wine in my dad’s glass.
‘I can truthfully say that I never saw myself or my brother settling down. Without wanting to dampen the evening I shall merely say that life was difficult for us growing up and left us both a little emotionally closed off.’ Nathan paused, before looking straight at me with his bright blue stare. ‘But then Nicholas met Rebecca.’ Nathan paused again, and I have no idea why, but the skin on my arms rose with goose pimples as he stared at Nicholas intensely and blinked several times. ‘My brother has always been quite withdrawn, but suddenly there was a dimension of happiness to him that I’d never witnessed before. Not to mention the fact that he wouldn’t stop going on about this amazing woman he’d met.’ Nathan’s amused tone for this last statement made the crowd laugh along with him and I saw an affectionate flush warm Nicholas’ cheeks as he reached for my hand and gave it a firm squeeze.
‘I think it took Rebecca a while to warm to me, but now that I’ve gotten to know her and her family I have to say I can completely understand where Nicholas’ happiness comes from. These two are a perfect match for each other.’ My chest compressed until I was almost struggling to breathe from the happiness. Lifting up his drink Nathan cast another furtive glance in my direction, ‘I believe part of the formality also requires me to tell you all how gorgeous the bride and bridesmaids look, so at the risk of upsetting my rather possessive brother I must compliment his new wife on how beautiful she looks today. Rebecca, you are simply stunning,’ he said with a curt nod of his head, ‘and the same goes for the bridesmaids, all three of you look beautiful.’ I loved how he included Joanne in his toast even though she was hidden away with Claudine at the rear of the room. Flashing a grin at Stella Nathan briefly licked his lips, ‘Luckily I’ve already bagged one to take home tonight.’ Choking on my champagne my eyes flew open – did he just say that? But as I began to panic that some of my more elderly relatives might not understand that he was dating Stella a burst of laughter rang around the room – they thought he was joking. Phew.
‘So, with all of that said I’m not going to linger any further, what I’d like to do is hand over to the real best man here today, my brother Nicholas; one of the strongest,
bravest, and most resilient men I’ve ever known.’ Again my entire body tingled with goose pimples at the volume of emotion in Nathan’s tone and I felt tears prick at the backs of my eyes. ‘But first I’d like to ask you all to raise a toast to our happy couple, Nicholas and Rebecca, the new Mr and Mrs Jackson. Cheers!’
I felt really ashamed of myself for ever doubting Nathan’s speech; although not the most comical of best men’s speeches, it had been beautiful, sincere, and packed with heartfelt emotions and I found tears were still flowing down my cheeks as Nicholas gave my hand a firm squeeze and stood up.
Almost ignoring the crowded room Nicholas stepped behind me and pulled Nathan into a hug, slapping him on the back and murmuring some quiet words that I couldn’t hear. Stepping away Nicholas seemed to need a moment to gather himself and took a sip of his water before looking up at the room and clearing his throat nervously.
‘Like my brother, I’m not the most talkative of men, but unlike my brother I don’t regularly talk in front of large crowds of people at work, and I have to say I’m already starting to sweat a bit with all your eyes on me and I’ve only been stood up for …’ Nicholas glanced at his watch and gave a nervous chuckle, ‘… thirty-seven seconds.’ Looking down at the table for a second Nicholas reached out for me. As I linked my fingers through his he looked across at me in surprise as if he had reached for me subconsciously, but then smiling at our linked hands he nodded as if he could continue now he knew I was here with him.
‘My brother was right when he said I have always been quite withdrawn, it’s just how I am. Well, it’s how I was until I met Becky. She swept into my life looking like this sweet, unassuming young woman, but then almost immediately knocked me sideways with her spark. There’s just something about her. I can be intimidating, but Rebecca pretty much just brushed that aside and persevered with breaking down my barriers.’ Pausing, Nicholas cleared his throat and it was at this point I realised he was adlibbing, the speech paper in his hand forgotten and replaced by him simply staring at me and spilling the contents of his heart. ‘Most of you sat here are friends or family of Rebecca, so you’ll know what I mean by her spark, and you’ll also know just how special she is. It’s like she lights up a room when she enters it. Well, she has certainly brought light to my life.’
Taking another sip of water Nicholas shifted nervously on the spot. ‘As you can probably tell, I’m really not my most expressive talking in front of a crowd like this, I do however, manage to successfully play my piano before very large gatherings with no problems. It’s a very different sensation, I can lose myself in the music. It’s a way I can express myself, so to save you all having to listen to me failing to be humorous or heartfelt for the next five minutes, I’d like to simply express how much I feel for Rebecca in the way that I know best.’
Dropping a kiss on my lips Nicholas walked to the side of the room as a light came on above a grand piano in the corner. ‘Before I start I’d like to say thank you all for coming and sharing our special day with us. This is a piece I wrote in the first few months of knowing Rebecca – we weren’t even officially together when I wrote this, but just by entering my life she had already changed it immeasurably. I hope you can hear through this piece just how much purpose she gave me, how important she is to me, and how very deeply I love her.’ Blushing at his open emotions Nicholas then took his seat on the stool, bowed his head to the piano, and closed his eyes.
I held my breath as I waited for him to play, and judging by the complete silence in the room around me, I think most of the guests did too. You could have heard a pin drop. When his fingers finally began to grace the keys it was in a series of soft, gentle notes. Rocking and swaying Nicholas looked completely lost in his music as the pace began to build. It was incredible, there were obviously no accompanying words, but they weren’t necessary; the piece itself was enough, beautiful and emotive and rising to a crescendo that somehow seemed to almost fill the room with how much he felt for me.
By the time he brought the piece to a close, tears of happiness were streaming down my face. Through my blurry eyes I watched as Nicholas stood and strode back over to me. Taking his champagne in one hand he dragged me up to stand with his other as he raised his champagne flute. ‘To Rebecca, my amazing wife.’ His voice was thick and gravelly too, and although I’d only ever seen him cry once before, I suspected he was pretty close now. As the room around us erupted in applause Nicholas held me against him and rocked us gently as I clung to my wonderful husband.
Thirty-two – Nicholas
It wasn’t hard to find Rebecca amongst the crowds of revellers at the evening do of our wedding. There was the obvious fact that her gorgeous wedding dress stood out from the crowd, but it was more than that that drew my eyes to her; she was by far the most beautiful woman in the room, almost seeming to radiate pure happiness. Her eyes were twinkling, head thrown back in laughter at something Louise had just said to her, and she had a carefree relaxation in all her movements. I might not be a hugely open man, but I’d like to think that tonight even I might be exhibiting a little of the same happiness as Rebecca. I was certainly feeling it.
Glancing around the room it was clear the guests were gradually starting to retire after a long night of celebrating. There was smiling faces everywhere I looked, so it seemed that everyone had had a good time. The credit for that had to go to Rebecca, she really had pulled together a fabulous day.
My main input had been to keep the press away. Ever since my engagement to Rebecca had become public knowledge, journalists, newspapers, and magazines had all been clamouring to find out the venue so they could gatecrash our big day. But Rebecca was too special to me to put her through something like that, so everything had been kept extremely quiet. To my astonishment our secrecy had paid off; there were no paparazzi loitering outside the hotel this morning at all, but I’d still taken the precaution of hiring some security staff to man the gates for the duration of the weekend.
I might not have wanted our wedding to be flooded with press, but I did want the world to know that Rebecca was now officially mine, so I’d given an exclusive to one magazine only, one of the biggest celebrity gossip magazines there was. The deal had been that the journalist and photographer got to spend ten minutes with us after the wedding photographs, not a minute more. I’d stuck to it too, timing the interview on my watch and standing up as soon as the allotted time was over. The journalist had been mid-question at that point, looking a little stunned by my abrupt departure, but I didn’t care; it was my wedding day and I could do what I damn well liked. He’d gotten an exclusive out it, so I’m sure he wouldn’t be complaining too much either.
Checking my watch I decided that perhaps it was time to hand over the reins to Nathan so I could take my new wife to bed. I couldn’t help but smirk and roll my eyes when I saw Nathan and Stella’s position in the corner. Nathan had the shoulder of his right arm resting on the wall so that his sling hung in front of him, allowing his good arm to protectively rest across Stella’s stomach as he leaned down to speak to her, practically caging her in the corner. She didn’t look pregnant yet, not to my inexpert eye anyway, but it was in his body language just how thrilled my brother was by the baby. Stella was smiling up at him, one hand resting loosely around his waist and apparently more than happy to be the focus of his undivided attention.
Seeing my approach Nathan smiled at me, but I noticed with amusement that his good hand stayed firmly attached at Stella’s tummy. I thought I was bad with Rebecca, but my brother really was a living, breathing example of “possessive”.
‘For a miserable bugger you have certainly put together a fabulous party, Nicholas.’ Nathan said dryly.
‘Thank you. It certainly seems to have gone quite well,’ I agreed, ignoring his jokey dig. ‘I was hoping to retire for the night, could you deal with any last minute issues if anything comes up? It should just be a case of making sure everyone finds their room or manages to get a taxi.’
‘Of cour
se, brother.’ I had been expecting a dirty comment, or some sort of sly reference to wedding night sex, but to my surprise he didn’t say anything like that, just nodded instead. Perhaps he was being polite because Stella was there.
‘Great, thanks. We’ll see you both at breakfast tomorrow then. Remember that family members are meeting in the conservatory for a private breakfast so that Joanne can join us,’ I reminded him.
Turning to walk away Nathan reached out and gave my shoulder a light punch. ‘Have a good night. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do …’ There was the sarcastic comment I’d been expecting. Don’t do anything he wouldn’t? Seeing as my brother had pretty much done everything sexual there was to do, that didn’t really set me any limits, did it? Rolling my eyes I nearly scoffed and made a comment about his extensive experience, but seeing as Stella was with him I refrained.
As I walked away from my brother I couldn’t help but shake my head in disbelief; me a husband, and Nathan soon to be a father, who’d have ever thought it after the shitty start we’d had in life? Certainly not me, that was for sure, and yet here I was approaching my beautiful new wife and feeling more settled and happy than I ever had in my life.
It was late and after the length of today I was feeling quite tired, but I was still fully intending on worshipping Rebecca and consummating our marriage. Sneaking up behind her I leant down without touching her so she would feel nothing but the tickle of my breath on her ear. ‘These people have had your attention for far too long. Are you ready to retire for our wedding night, wife?’ I couldn’t help the smile that spread on my lips as I spoke, I don’t think I would ever tire of calling Becky my wife.