Prescription For Love (The Kingsley Series)

by Kennedy, Brandi

  The men's tuxedos were all hanging elegantly along the wall, lined neatly together, bright with their colored vests. The absence of bow ties made Cameron laugh, remembering how hard her mother had fought for them, and how hard Drew had fought against them. Tucked into a corner was a table, and tucked beneath that was a miniature refrigerator. Inside, there were bottles of beer, along with the little cases that held the boutonnieres for the men to wear. The table was weighed down with boxes of various crackers, bags of chips, and sleeves of cookies. Along the edge, a stack of bowls waited to be filled with the opened food, along with a small food warmer that would eventually hold barbequed sausages for the men to snack on as they helped Drew prepare for his wedding.

  "Well this is just boring," Tabitha laughed. "What a letdown from the bridal chambers, huh?"

  "I don't know," Cameron laughed back. "Knowing my brother, and judging from the other grooms we've worked with, I'd say this room is more settled for them, more relaxed. More manly," she said, waving her hands to indicate a lack of better words. "Ready to go?"

  "Uh, yeah," Tabitha muttered. "This room might be more suited to the men, but as a woman, I find it boring. Let's go see the ceremony set-up!"

  "I'm in," Cameron said, moving toward the doorway.

  They walked together down the hall, taking the shorter route that Drew would be taking, a narrow hallway that led to a door beside the wedding altar. Stepping through, Tabitha gasped, reaching to grip Cameron's hand.

  "Oh. My. Goodness," Cameron said, her eyes flickering over the room as she tried to take it all in. "We've planned so many weddings, but none like this. This is better than Christina Dawn's last wedding, for crying out loud!"

  "Oh jeez, don't let anyone hear that," Tabitha laughed. "If the press thinks someone upstaged Christina Dawn, we're in a world of hurt. That woman's got an ego bigger than the land mass in Russia. Come on, let's look around."

  As the women separated to walk the room, Cameron turned first to the altar that would see her brother take his wedding vows. The unity candle wore an identical wreath to the ones on the reception tables on the upper deck. Sitting in the midst of yet another wreath, a grouping of glass bottles rested. One large bottle stood uncorked, tall and proud but also empty and waiting to be filled. Surrounding it were four smaller bottles, each filled with sand. White sand for Cass, blue for Drew, green for Cass's mom Janet, and purple for Eva. Together, they would pour the sand in ceremonial joining of their families, through the joining of their children.

  Wiping a tear from her cheek, Cameron took a breath and turned away from the altar, her eyes going to the pristine white of the aisle runner, embroidered with peacock feathers in sparkling thread. The ends of the pews were decorated with peacock feathers, adorned with calla lilies and babies’ breath.

  "Cass will have a blast arranging all this in her house when the wedding is done, huh?" Cameron said, walking over to Tabitha, who had squatted down to touch the embroidery of the aisle runner.

  "That's right, I'd forgotten that's why they asked for artificial," Tabitha murmured. "What's she doing with the runner then?"

  Cameron smiled. "They're having it made into a set of quilts. One for their bed, one for a throw on the couch, and two she can use on their babies when they come."

  Tabitha looked up, her eyes wide and filling with tears. "Oh, what a sentimental thing to do!" she exclaimed. "That's beautiful!"

  "I know," Cameron laughed. "You should have been there when she told my mom. I thought mom would never stop crying. Cass told me later that she's having a section of the runner framed for her mom, and one for my mom, each with a note to thank them for their support or something. A surprise, you know."

  "Oh, what a sweet idea! I just love that girl," Tabitha said. "She deserves every bit of this. Growing up like she did, and with nothing but struggle, she's still this gentle woman, all charming and sweet. I just love that girl."

  "Sorry, she's taken," Cameron said dryly. "Come on, let's go."

  ***

  "I just can't believe how beautiful it is, with that blue and everything all over. And how the white fades out toward the bottom, all that dark blue? You, my friend, are going to knock Drew's socks off," Harmony laughed.

  Cass blushed, chewing her lip. She tugged her long, dark hair over her bare shoulder and looked in the mirror again, meeting the eyes of her sisters in the glass. "Are you guys sure? I don't look, you know, uh, round? I mean, this is only gonna happen once and --"

  "Cassaundra Keaton," her sister Renee broke in. "Stop this right now. You deserve to feel like a princess, and I think you look like one. So just enjoy it, honey. You look amazing, and you know Drew will think so too." Exchanging a look with her twin, Renee rolled her hazel eyes. She and Chelsea stood together, a perfectly matched pair in floor-length emerald gowns, with identical expressions of exasperation on their faces.

  "Yeah, and with that curvy body? God, woman, look at you," Chelsea said, stepping closer. She stood behind Cass, placing her hands on Cass's shoulders and spinning her to face the room. She arranged Cass's hair over the shoulder the gown left bare, and then ran a fingertip lightly down the soft curve between Cass's ribs and her hips. "I would kill for this, to be curvy like you and not have this boring straight body. So stop doubting yourself, and, you know, shake what your first mama gave ya." With that, Chelsea gave a wink, wiggling her slender hips for emphasis.

  Cameron laughed, watching as Cass’s sisters worked to restore her confidence. Without knowing their history, you'd never guess that the Keaton family had informally adopted Cass when she was a teenager, along with a troubled boy named Rick. They were all such a close bunch, except for Rick, who tended to be a bit standoffish. Cameron had asked about him several times, and had been given a little of the history between Rick and Cass, ending with the story that Rick was now a regular patient in Mac's office.

  "What do you think, Cameron?" Cass asked, drawing the eyes of the Keaton's over to the Kingsley women.

  "I think you look great Cass, really," Cameron said gently, nodding her head. "As your wedding planner, it's my job to tell you if something's not right, or if maybe we should choose a different gown, even right now at the last minute. As your friend, I'm telling you that you look absolutely perfect. And as your almost-sister-in-law, I'm just going to grin, pretend our moms aren't here, and say, 'day-um!'"

  The room erupted in laughter, the women's hearts lightened by Cameron's humor. Eva shook her head. "This is not my daughter," she muttered, leaning toward Janet Keaton. "I assure you, I did teach her better than this."

  Janet's eyes twinkled with laughter, and she reached out to lay a hand on Eva's arm. "I believe it. Sometimes, they just throw it all to the wind, don't they?" She winked at Cameron over Eva's shoulder, and the women laughed together.

  "Now the one we need to be concerned with here, is me," Chelsea said, turning her rear to the mirror. Twisting her body to look at her slender hips and slight rear, she ran her hands over the length of her torso with a grimace. “I think I need some of those panties that make you look like you have a butt. And what are those boob things called? Chickens? Cutters?"

  "Oh my jeez, Chels, they're called cutlets, chicken cutlets," Renee retorted, her hands resting on identically slender hips. "And we don't need them. We have boobs." Stepping close to her sister in the mirror, she brought her hands to her chest, twisting slightly to examine her meager cleavage.

  "Yeah, yeah, self-acceptance," Chelsea muttered. "I've heard the spiel."

  "I haven't," Harmony said. "What's the spiel?"

  Cass laughed. "Well here's the story. I'm all round. I call it fat; and sometimes even gross, but Chelsea hates that because she says I'm all this other sexy stuff. Voluptuous, and curvy, and all those other words people use to make fat sound soft and warm and, well, like biscuits, and --"

  "Cass!" Renee said. "You are not biscuits!"

  Rolling her eyes, Cass grinned and went on. "And Renee hates it, because she's all perfectly self-ac
cepted, and she doesn't mind her body, whether it's skinny, or bloated, or tanned in the summer, or white in the winter. She’s always preaching all the time to 'love your body' and 'thank your body for what it gives you' and all that. So Chelsea and I, we kind of get to her sometimes."

  Renee huffed, but Harmony shrugged her shoulders and leaned slightly to catch Renee's eye over Cass's shoulder. "I like that philosophy," she said.

  "Really?" Renee asked, surprise showing on her face. "I'm used to people sort of thinking I'm kind of a hippie or something."

  "Well, I'm not a hippie either, but I like it. I mean, look at me," Harmony said, stepping forward to be examined. She was petite even in heels, with a stick straight body that boasted neither hips nor breasts. Her saucy red semi-formal gown still needed to be taken up because it was too long even with her heels, and the spaghetti straps emphasized her delicate shoulders.

  "Look at you?" Renee asked.

  "Yeah. I mean, you've got Cass here, and she thinks she's too big. And Chelsea, who thinks she's not big enough. Then there are the moms," she said, waving a hand to indicate Janet and Eva, "who probably think they have the wrong skin, or too much aging or too much this or not enough that. And then look, there's you and me, and we're pretty vastly different in size and age, but both of us can be content with it. Why can't we all just look in the mirror and get happy with what's looking back?"

  "Oh dear lord, there's two Renee's," Chelsea muttered, raising her hands to cover her face as if in dismay. She wasn't quick enough to cover the grin though, and Renee saw it.

  She winked at Harmony, slid over to drop an arm around the shorter girl's shoulders, and said, "Yep, she's my mini-me. And if you all don't want to listen to us rant and rave about self-acceptance for the rest of the day, let's just feel pretty and get it over with."

  "Well, I feel pretty," Eva said, raising her nose in the air and sniffing. Janet followed suit, and soon they were all laughing again.

  "I just can't believe my son is getting married. My little boy," Eva murmured, looking down at her mother-of-the-groom ensemble. "I'm going to my son's wedding." Her green eyes filled with tears, and she waved a hand in front of her face, fanning her eyes.

  Janet sighed. "I know just how you feel," she said, taking Eva's hand and folding her fingers over a tissue. "My girl there, I've watched the last stages of her becoming a woman, I've watched her become who she is, and now she becomes a bride."

  Watching their mom, the twins drew together, each slipping an arm around the other's waists. Grinning to each other, they stood quietly and watched the two older women bond.

  "Just think," Harmony said, breaking the moment. "Next, you can marry the rest of us off. Renee and Chelsea go first, and then me. But I think we should start with Cameron. You know, since she's already got a hot man in her life and all." She crossed her arms over her chest, looking pointedly at Cameron, whose face flamed.

  "Um, you know? I, uh, I think I have a pin sticking me or something." Ignoring the laughter that rang out in the room, she went on, "I'm gonna go find someone to help me, you know, fix it." And then she was gone.

  ***

  "I can't believe I'm doing this!!" Cass exclaimed. She was standing in the bathroom of the bridal chamber, her hands braced on the wall and wearing almost all of her wedding lingerie. Her thighs, now muscled from running, were circled by the sapphire blue garters that held up her matching stockings. The sapphire boy-short panties she wore hugged her full bottom, with "bride" embroidered saucily across the rear in sparkling emerald thread; her sisters stood behind her, lacing the emerald ties that would hold her sapphire corset in place, sparkling with emerald and violet embroidery.

  "Just relax, honey, we've all got the same parts," Janet said, twisting to peek over her shoulder. Cass gasped, pressing the tops of her round breasts further into the corset. Hearing the gasp, and the answering groans from Renee and Chelsea, the line of women in the main room of the bridal chamber laughed. They'd all been forced to turn their backs, listening to Cass's humiliated groans as her sisters helped her to dress.

  "Besides," Cameron called. "You have to let Tabitha in there in a minute anyway! You know she's the photographer, right?"

  "I remember," Cass shouted back, her voice tightly strained. "I just can't remember why I agreed to that shot."

  "You will by the time this is all over," Tabitha laughed. "Did you remember to tell him to keep his phone on him?"

  "Drew? Yeah, I remembered," Cass said. "You can come in now."

  As one, the line of women turned to peer into the bathroom, where Cass stood round and soft in her wedding lingerie. Her skin was glowing under the dark colors of her lingerie, her round breasts filling the top of the corset, pressed up into the round 'm' shape of the top of a heart. Slightly narrowed by the boning in her corset, Cass's waist flowed gracefully to wide, round hips, her garters tracing lines down to sexy stockings.

  "My brother is going to have a stroke!" Harmony exclaimed with a grin, and Cass twisted to examine her backside in the mirrored wall, the curve of her waist emphasized by her pose.

  "You think so?" she asked.

  "Uh, yeah," Tabitha broke in. "I'm about to have one myself, you look so amazing!" Stepping forward, she grinned and held her camera out with one hand. Opening the fingers of her other hand with a flourish, she allowed a glittery blue veil to unravel from her grasp and spill dramatically onto the floor. Holding the rhinestone hair comb in one hand, Tabitha raised an eyebrow at Cass in challenge.

  "Okay," Cass sighed, answering the silent question. "And then I need a drink."

  The sound of feminine laughter filled the room as Tabitha handed the comb of the veil over to Chelsea, who arranged the comb in Cass's hair while Renee pulled the upholstered bench away from the mirrored wall. Once the comb held the veil in place, the women arranged it so that it flowed with one layer in front of Cass and one layer behind. Steeling herself with a deep breath, Cass turned to the bench and folded herself into the pose she'd been shown.

  Kneeling carefully with her profile against the mirrors, she peeked through the sheer layer of the veil and met Tabitha's eyes. "I feel like this makes my thighs look big, like I look big. Graceless," she muttered.

  "You look hot," Chelsea said, laying a hand on Cass's shoulder. "Just hold on, try it." Another deep breath lifted the veil slightly away from Cass's face, and then she nodded.

  "Okay," she whispered. Turning again, she faced the door, looking up to the hooks that held her wedding gown. A smile flickered over her glossy mouth, her round cheeks flushing slightly just as Tabitha's camera began to click speedily. Cass lowered her face, her hair spilling around her shoulders beneath the veil, and she brought her hands up to gently swipe beneath her dark eyes.

  "Want to see?" Tabitha asked. "I brought my laptop, so if you want to have the twins help you with getting your gown on, I can bring these up for you to look through."

  "Okay," Cass whispered again, a hint of panic creeping into her tone.

  Outside the bathroom, Tabitha plugged her camera into her laptop, bringing up a slideshow of the photos she'd just taken. Cameron, Eva, Harmony and Janet surrounded her, each murmuring quietly as they admired the quickly taken boudoir session of Cass.

  "Oh, that's the one," Cameron said, pointing, and the other women were quick to agree. The photo depicted Cass from the side, the curve of her back and hips flattering in profile. The spill of her breasts was sexy but understated by the position of her arms as she raised her hands to her face. The dim light Tabitha had created in the bathroom had given the photo a surreal look, as though the photo were taken in the sexy dark hours of night. "That's definitely the one," Cameron repeated.

  "Is it fine?" Cass called from the bathroom. "Don’t send it! I'm almost done; I want to see first!"

  Grinning, Tabitha scooted from her place at the small table and took her laptop to the bathroom, where the women could hear Cass squealing in disbelieving pleasure.

  "Oh my gosh, send it, send i
t!!" she exclaimed.

  "Wait!!" Cameron shouted, her hands in the air. "As the wedding planner, I'm obligated to keep track of the bride's dressing, but I'm to check on the groom and his men as well. I can use that to our benefit. Give me a few minutes before you send that, so I can get to Drew, and I can watch him open the text of the photo."

  "Oooh, I love that," Cass said with a giggle. "Will you come back and tell me?"

  "Of course," Cameron assured her, turning to leave the room. Walking down the hall, Cameron took a moment to enjoy the quiet, to breathe on her own, and to acknowledge the silent wish growing inside her; she couldn’t help wishing that someday she might celebrate her own love, in her own beautiful wedding gown.