by Ella Fields
My dad reclined back in the armchair, gesturing to me with his drink. “How long are you out for?”
I hadn’t ended up telling them about the break until we’d arrived home, and my mother accosted me with slaps on my good arm for not saying anything. My father had just widened his eyes, then said he was glad it wasn’t worse before changing the subject.
I lifted a shoulder, shifting my casted arm over my stomach. “They said a couple of months in this, then some physical therapy. But I’m not rushing into it. I’ll return next season and give it the time it needs.”
Damon nodded in approval. “Good thinking, you don’t want to do any lasting damage.”
“That’s exactly right,” my mother said, grinning at me. “Okay, time for the rest of the gifts.”
Renee took my set of keys, depositing them with hers into the one bag and setting them next to her on the couch before getting up to hand out gifts to everyone.
I hadn’t managed to get any shopping done for everyone this year, but Renee told me on the way that, as per usual, she had it covered.
When everyone finished, I leaned forward, plucking the one thing I had managed to buy from my pocket.
“Of course, you’d save the best for last,” my mom drawled as I stood in front of Renee, then lowered to one knee.
Our mothers barely kept their gasps quiet, which made me smile as Renee’s eyes popped.
I suppose they were glad we were doing it the right way, in their opinion anyway.
But what they didn’t know—which was fine—was that I was doing this for her. A show of promise and sincerity, and the intention of swapping bad Christmas memories for the start of great ones.
I kept my words low, knowing my parents might hear but knowing it was important I say them anyway, and flicked open the velvet red box. “Mini Mouse, you’re my greatest foe because you’re my greatest love. There’s you and you only, and I ask that if you accept this ring and become my wife, that you don’t forget our past transgressions.” I paused, reaching up to wipe tears from her cheeks.
She batted my hand away, gesturing for me to continue.
I chuckled. “But instead, remember them, so that we never make the same mistakes again. You and your forgiveness are all I need, if you’ll allow me to have both?”
“Yes, yes,” she croaked, knocking the box from my hand and sending the ring to the floor as she grabbed my face and peppered kisses all over it. I fell forward, letting her whisper her yeses as I laughed into her chest. Then her lips found mine, and I didn’t know for sure, but I had a feeling that was when our parents left the room.
We waited until my parents went home before retreating to her room and shutting the door.
Renee grabbed the collar of my shirt, tugging me closer to pop open the buttons, her lips moving to my neck, my diamond ring glinting on her finger.
I groaned, my head falling back, but I had other plans, and pressed my hand on her shoulder. “Wait,” I said, drawing in a deep breath. “I have plans.”
“Do they involve us in that bed over there?” she asked, jabbing her thumb over her shoulder. “If so, less talking, more stripping.”
I chuckled as she stepped forward to undress me again. “No. The fair is back.”
Confusion swept her brows together. “The midnight carnival?”
“Yeah.”
She still looked puzzled. “And you want to go?”
I grabbed her hand, bringing it to my lips to kiss. “I thought it might be fun. Who knows when it might come back.”
We changed into warmer, more casual attire, and donned our coats before making the short drive down to the lake.
“Are you going to buy me another unicorn?” Renee asked as I took her hand in the parking lot and she locked the car.
“Buy?” I scoffed. “I won you that unicorn fair and square.”
“Uh-huh.” She smirked, and I tugged her to me as she said, “I don’t care how you got it; it was the desire to put a smile on my face that counted.”
As people walked by us and the winter air colored our cheeks, I kissed her. The warmth of her mouth and my own turning the blood in my veins to lava.
“Come on,” she breathed out, pulling back. “Let’s see what it’ll take this time.”
We walked through crowds, the game and food stands in different places than where I remembered them being last time.
Renee froze outside a small tent that reeked of incense, and I halted, backtracking to find the same lady who read people’s fortunes sitting on a crate with her hands around a thermos.
“Ah,” she said, lips lifting and eyes gleaming. “Fate always finds a way around the universe’s pesky attempts at disruption.”
When I glanced down at Renee, unsure if she really wanted to listen to this drivel or if she was scared, I found her smiling at the woman.
“You’re right.” Renee slipped her hand inside her coat pocket, pulling out a set of earrings worth thousands and setting them on the woman’s makeshift table. “Thank you.”
“W-what? No need for payment,” the woman sputtered, her shrewd gaze darting from the gold twinkling beneath the candles to Renee’s face. “You didn’t even sit to have a reading.”
Renee just winked. “But if I had, it would’ve been worth its weight in gold.” She yanked at my hand, and I tore my eyes away from the woman, falling in step beside her as we weaved through a group of loud teenagers.
“They were a gift from last Christmas, weren’t they?”
Renee shrugged. “I have enough jewelry to last a lifetime. This lifetime and the next if I include my mother’s. I don’t need them.”
“But you loved them,” I said, frowning as I remembered her showing them to my mom.
“Loved,” she said, pausing in front of a food stand and inspecting the menu. “Other things matter more.”
We shared a corn dog as we walked, Renee insisting I walk along the edge of the walkway so as not to have anyone bump my arm. A few familiar faces had me pausing or waving, but we didn’t run into any old friends.
We were rounding the corner, approaching the same vendor where I’d won Renee’s last unicorn when she let go of my hand to approach the stuffed toys lined up and hanging from the truck.
Then the lights flickered, and my pulse sped. Not this shit again.
Renee shot a startled look at me over her shoulder, then they went out. Every single one of them. Murmurs, whispers, and giggles drifted through the air as the fog crept from the ground and the sound of a light scream, followed by a laugh traveled up the walkway from the parking lot.
“Renee,” I called and got no answer.
Sliding my phone from my pocket, I switched on the light.
“Hey, you’ll ruin the effect dude. Have some respect,” some idiot with dreadlocks said behind me.
I shot him a bemused look, then shined the light over the game stand, the carnie lighting a smoke as it reached him. “Red hair?” he asked me. I nodded, and he pointed around the side of his truck. “Think I saw her go that way.”
“Thanks.” I kept the light on, ignoring the stupid ass clowns that were making their way through the crowd behind me, and wound through trucks and cars. Carnies were sitting behind them, drinking around small firepits by the lake.
Walking down the grass stained sand, I heard a curse and muffled squeal from the public restrooms, and immediately shot into a run, ignoring the pain that flared through my arm.
“… need to listen.”
I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw Mike, Renee’s head in his hands as he bent over her. “Your stupid friend sent you a text the morning after you spewed your guts up, and threatened you, asking for money. I replied and told her to fuck off before deleting the messages, thinking she didn’t have shit because we didn’t really do anything worth threatening you for.” Mike laughed. “But turns out she did, and I followed along, taking the opportunity. I’m sorry …”
Something red caught my eye. A clown mask lying on the
ground behind Mike’s booted feet. My shocked body flew into action, marching forward.
“… but you know why I did it, and what I did isn’t anywhere near as bad as what he did to you. You’re making a mist—”
“I think you’re done here.”
Mike turned, his hands falling to his sides as Renee looked down at the ground. He laughed, eyeing me up and down. “Dude, I don’t think you’re in any state to be telling me when I’m done doing anything.”
“Really?” I arched a brow and took a step forward. “Because I’m not worried about what state I’m in. At fucking all.”
Mike’s nostrils flared. “I’m not the enemy, Cal. I just … I liked her, okay? You knew it, too. I know you did. And you fucking took what you wanted, not even caring that someone else was interested first. I’m not the asshole here.”
“I disagree. You came here dressed as a fucking clown just to talk to her. Fuck off, Mike.”
He swung, and I ducked, chuckling as I stayed exactly where I was, and he found his balance.
He spat at the ground, shaking his head as he took a step backward. “We were friends.”
“Until you fucked it all up.”
“But you’ll forgive her?” he asked, incredulous.
“Yes. Turns out, she didn’t have any sinister plans. She merely got sucked into yours.”
Muscles tensed, we stared at each other, waiting for the other to say something or back down. And looking at him, I realized I wasn’t even angry anymore, just annoyed that he was trying to make up for his fuckups in the worst possible way. “Go home, Mike. You’ll find your own person one day. Then you might realize what a miserable excuse for a friend you’ve been.”
The lights came back on, showcasing Mike’s clenching jaw as his teeth no doubt grinded. Only then did I discover that Renee wasn’t there anymore and cursed. I looked around, trying to see if she was standing nearby, waiting somewhere.
“Where’d she go?” Mike asked.
“No idea,” I muttered, then looked off in the distance, catching a tiny flash of red hair farther down the lake, down near the picnic tables that sat among a cluster of overgrown trees and gardens. Without a second thought, I turned my back on Mike and followed her.
Renee was sitting on top of a picnic table, and I joined her. “This is the same table you first hate fucked me on.”
I looked down at it with a cringe. “So it is.” Then I sighed. “What happened?”
She blew out a loud breath, seeming as though she was shaking off the shock of the night. “He grabbed my hand when the lights went out, and I thought it was you. I couldn’t see much at all. Then when he stopped outside the bathrooms, and I heard his voice, caught sight of the mask he removed …”
There was no need to explain the rest. I said as much, telling her that I was there.
Renee sniffed, and I reached for her. “Come here.”
“You’re not mad?”
The moonlight shone down on her worried eyes as she climbed onto my lap. “Why would I be?”
She frowned, then shook her head. “I’m sorry, I didn’t—”
I cut her off with my mouth, dragging my teeth over her plush bottom lip. “Take off your leggings, unzip my pants, then lift your dress and fill yourself with me.”
Renee looked around for a second before doing what I told her to.
Slowly, her heat enveloped my cock, inch by delirious inch. My head fell back, and her hands slid into my hair, nails running over my scalp as she carefully worked me all the way inside her.
With my hand moving to her hip, I caught her lips, breathing into them, “I love you, Mouse.”
Her voice hitched. “I love you, asshole.”
Chuckling, I kissed every inch of her smile, then shifted my hips. Renee’s legs became a vise around my waist as I rocked into her, and she grinded down on me.
Our hearts thumped against our chests, the moon our only witness as she came undone, and I reveled in every beautiful moment of it before letting myself follow.
The midmorning sunlight graced the room in rainbow rays of light that bounced off my wedding gown. The same one I’d worn on this very day three years ago.
I’d taken it out of storage, reworked some of the beading, and added ribbons to the bottom of the ivory bodice that rained down alongside the white lace material of the gown.
Smiling at my reflection, I tilted my head for my mother to slide another pin into my hair, which had two thick pieces pulled back to meet behind my head. “You really should’ve gone with the updo. Then we wouldn’t have to keep fussing over it.”
“They are more elegant,” Lucinda said, staring into another mirror that sat in the corner of the room. She licked a finger and ran it over her hair—which was plastered to her scalp in a tight bun—smoothing what didn’t need smoothing. “Why did you leave it out again?”
“I wanted to,” I quipped, sliding my lips together and inspecting my teeth for lipstick stains. I was wearing a nude pink on my lips and very light makeup. Special attention was paid to my lashes, making my green eyes seem larger than ever before.
Lucinda snickered, rummaging through her purse and spritzing some perfume on from a tiny vial. “Oh, here.” She swung her purse over the crook of her arm, righting the neckline of her floor-length, skintight, glittering gray gown, then set a small box on the chair behind my mom. “I’ll see you downstairs.” After kissing the air, she left the room, the door shutting with a quiet click behind her.
“Nervous?” Mom asked.
I snapped my attention away from the box and back to her reflection in the mirror as she fussed with my dress. “Not at all.”
Did I want this? No, not particularly. But after the misery and despair of the years prior, it seemed fitting. Like a second chance, almost. And I wasn’t one to dismiss a second chance anymore.
“Well”—she sighed, stepping back and tapping her chin as she inspected me from every angle—“I, for one, am glad you two eventually worked things out.”
“What?” I asked, unable to mask the shock in my tone.
Placing her hands on my shoulders, Mom eyed me in the mirror. “Darling, the only thing we didn’t know about was your little secretive marriage.” She tsked. “Which we’ll let slide due to teenage hormones.”
I scoffed, and she waved me off, collecting the box and opening it.
Returning, she pressed a familiar brooch into my gown. “From Callum, and shoulders back. Jesus Christ, what has happened to your posture?” She clucked over me for a minute as I stared down at the brooch with tears looming. The same one I wore at our first wedding.
I blinked rapidly, beating them back. There was no way I’d let them ruin my makeup. “I have to be the only girl who gets married twice before she’s even graduated from college.”
“Experience, honey. At least you two will have a better chance of making it.”
We both laughed, and then she grabbed my cheeks, pressing her nose to mine and staring at me with tender eyes. “I waited, I watched, and I’m proud of you.”
“For being a desperate fool, trying to win my husband back?” I rasped, my brows gathering.
Lifting her head, she smoothed her finger between my brows. “No frowning. And I’m proud because you’re a true fighter. Someone capable of rising from the ashes of their own making and becoming even stronger.”
“Thank you,” I managed to choke out.
She rubbed my upper arms. “Just like your father.”
I stared at her wet eyes, then shook my head. “Maybe. But I like to think I get the good stuff from you.” I winked.
Mom stared at me, her lips wobbling before she fanned her face. “Oh, look what you’ve done.”
Laughing again, I waited as she grabbed my veil and maneuvered it into place.
A knock sounded on the door. “Are we ready?”
“Come in,” my mom said.
The door creaked open, Pippa, Daisy, and Hilda rushing inside and giggling as they quickly shut
it.
Hilda had responded to my email almost immediately with her phone number. We’d caught up for coffee last Christmas break and had stayed in contact ever since.
“Some of the guys came up here not too long ago,” Daisy said, explaining their giggling.
“You forget that we’ve been married before,” I reminded them.
“I don’t think I’ll ever forget that,” Daisy mumbled, making me grin.
“You look stunning.” Hilda walked over, her dark hair pulled back into a waterfall of curls. Pippa and Daisy donned the same hairstyle and dresses. They were good sports about it, heeding my warning that Lucinda and my mother would likely control every single thing they wore today, right down to their undergarments.
Their dresses were light brown, more of a glimmering gold when the sun hit them.
Pippa was flipping open the box on the chair that had transported the brooch I was wearing. She snapped it closed and joined Daisy, who was running her fingers over the beading of my dress. “This is so intricate. You made this?”
“She did,” my mom said, pride evident in her voice. “She’s going to be the most unique designer the world has ever seen.”
“Or maybe just the state,” I quickly said, trying not to get emotional over her words yet again. “Which is fine with me.”
“Achievable goals, I like it,” Pippa said. “Ready to marry the guy you’re already married to?”
Hilda tried to hide her laughter with a cough and failed. My mother patted her on the back, her lips puckered with annoyance, no doubt from Pippa’s blunt reminder.
“More than ready,” I told them.
I was answered with smiles before they all helped me downstairs.
I peeked outside the window of the small entryway, watching Callum’s cousin help their grandparents into seats in the first row.
The Trellara country club was an array of white, cream, and brown. Crystal vases filled with fresh wildflowers were scattered everywhere the eye could see, and chandeliers twinkled from every room. The ceremony was being held outside in the garden, the chairs bedecked with brown satin bows, and creamy yellow petals spread among the white that littered the path to the altar.