by Maggie Way
The few dates I had been to when I was younger, before meeting Bob, did not consist of a man naming a flower after me, or cooking an edible dinner and a dessert that put all other desserts to shame. What I did remember is the kiss after the date.
If it was a date, would there be a kiss?
My heart beat thundered in my chest and I cursed myself for not stopping after that second glass of wine. I had two more after that but I was thoroughly enjoying Darwin’s company. His stories were fun and heart-felt. And when it came to me talking about my own life, he listened. He did not give me that dazed “this woman has the most boring life I’ve ever heard of” look. Even though, in fact, compared to his life with Eva, mine was paltry at best. But he laughed at my silly jokes, at the recollections of my youth, and his eyes saddened at the point when I told him about my sad marriage and the resulting end of it.
I thumbed the collar and the top pearl button of my blouse. The nervous anxiety eating at me. “You can turn left here,” I remembered to give him directions. “I live right at the corner on the right-hand side.”
This was it. The end of the night. At the stroke of midnight, like a fairy tale. This was the time I would turn into a peasant, swooning over a charming prince. God, what was I even saying? I was no Cinderella. I was more her aunt.
Darwin maneuvered the car and slowly went to stop by the curb. “Let me get the door for you.”
“Oh you don’t have to,” I said but he was already halfway out the driver side door. He ran around the hood of the van as he opened an umbrella, which I didn’t even see him bring out.
I patted my hair down and brushed both sides over my ears. At the last minute, I blew warm breath over a cupped palm and sniffed it. It didn’t smell horrible. Thank the heavens for that.
Darwin opened the door, holding one hand out to me and with his other hand, he kept the umbrella straight over the opened door. “Watch your step. It’s slippery.”
I grabbed his arm, strong and capable. I now knew he had a spray of blond hair over both arms. I knew they were toned from his hard work, from lugging heavy bags of soil and buckets of flowers. I knew that his he kept his fingernails short because he loved digging dirt and planting buds with his bare hands. But I also knew they can be tender as he used them to dissect pants and study them.
“Thank you,” I said as we walked carefully to the front steps of my apartment building. I glanced to my one and only window then ducked my head to fish my keys out of my purse under the dim outdoor lighting.
I gripped the keys in my hand, letting each jagged edge dig into my palm, while I stood in front of Darwin, who had become more than my employer tonight.
“I had a great time,” I said through a smile, and I was thankful we weren’t washed under bright lights that he could see the blush on my cheeks.
“I did to.” He rocked back on his heels and both his hands held onto my umbrella. I turned away, my hand raised to insert they key in the lock. “Morgan…”
“Yes!” I tried not to sound too excited but completely failed. I swallowed the thick lump in my throat and said again, “Yes?”
“You don’t have to come to work tomorrow morning.”
“What? Why not?”
“I asked Laura, Erik’s girlfriend if she would come in to work tomorrow. I’m thinking of hiring her. She’s much more reliable than Emily.”
“Oh.”
“What do you think?”
“Okay.” I lifted my hands and shrugged.
“I should have told you earlier. I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s fine. It’ll be nice. Maybe I’ll sleep in. But I can come in later?” I hoped, and I didn’t even care much if it sounded desperate.
“Well…” Darwin stepped closer, dropped one of his hands down and took mine. “I was hoping I could take you out on a proper date. You can take the whole day off, rest up and I’ll pick you up after?”
“That would be nice. Yes, I would love that.”
“Perfect.”
“Great.” Surely people my age who dated didn’t act like I did. I was never a shy person…until now. I shook the silly notion out of my thoughts and got on my tippy-toes. With a hand on the underside of his jaw, I pressed a kiss on his cheek and let my lips linger there a moment longer. Then I inhaled.
“Thank you again. I had the best night.”
He nodded once and let me attend to my door. Once I had it unlocked, he unfolded the umbrella and handed it to me. “Good night, Morgan.”
“Good night.” Slowly, I let the door whisper shut. The umbrella, cold and wet, pressed onto my chest, onto my thundering, bewildered beyond belief heart.
I was patting my reddened cheeks when a rapt at the door startled me. Quickly and without a thought, I yanked it open. Darwin stood there, in the dim light, soaked by the rain, smiling like a fool.
“Is something wrong?”
“Yes.” His hands rested on the frame of the door, then he pulled me to him, his wet clothes instantly making mine damp. “I should have kissed you properly.”
“Oh!” was all I could say before he lowered his head and captured my lips, taking all my breath, my thoughts with him, filling me with warmth and joy.
I wrapped my hands around his neck, pushed my fingers through rain-soaked hair, and didn’t want to let go. Ever.
Epilogue
The hot summer sun beat down on me as I removed my straw hat and wiped sweat off my forehead. Looking across the way, Darwin waved at me with a smile that still made me weak at the knees.
“You’re going to miss this,” Nica said in a sing-song voice as she handed me a glass of ice cold water.
After a refreshing sip, I smiled at her. “Of course I am, but I have to follow my heart.”
She giggled, throwing her head back and clapping her hands together. “When did you become such a romantic?”
“I have always been a romantic. Why do you think I worked at a flower shop?” I placed the water glass on the table, the sweat of the glass pooling immediately around it.
“Because the owner is hot.”
“Hot-tempered, you mean?” I said behind a hand in a joking tone. We laughed once more. And I looked back at Darwin. He was doing an arrangement for tomorrow’s wedding. Ours. I wouldn’t have thought it possible, but I found love again, at a time I least expected. With a man who’d challenged me more than any person I had ever come across.
I watched him stoop low and grab a bucket of blooms and pick through his choices. The best ones. Darwin never failed to find the best flowers. I thought I was done with love, even though I knew at my age, a lot of women had found love again. It took quite a special man to convince me otherwise. I was sure glad he did.
“Now I want to run the schedule for tomorrow,” Nica begun, “At seven in the morning, I’m going to pick you up and take you to the hairdresser and makeup artist.”
“Do I really need to do that?”
“Yes, Morgan. No bride of mine is getting away with not looking like a superstar.”
“You calling me ugly?”
“Of course not! Are you kidding me? I wish I look half as good as you when I’m in my forties.”
I patted her hand and smiled at her. “Nice try.”
“I just want you to feel great. You’re beautiful, Morgan. Darwin is lucky to have you. You guys are lucky to have each other.” I noted a catch in her voice.
When Darwin proposed to me three months after our first date, my first call was to Nica. This was my second marriage. My second wedding and I wanted it to be perfect in every way. She was the only one who could deliver what even my mind was beyond envisioning. But the poor dear. Nica had broken up with her boyfriend, the man she thought was the one sde’d marry, because he had fallen in love with another woman. The sweet, fairy-tale-believing, wedding planner even agreed to plan her ex-boyfriend’s wedding. I worried about her. I worried that this was a bad idea, but then, I’d heard other things. Something about the best man.
Although,
Nica hadn’t talked much about him or the minute details of the grand wedding, she had mentioned the best man’s name, and at times, I thought I would see a twinkle in her eyes. Something that had been missing for some time now.
She thanked me for letting her plan my wedding, a simple distraction from the heart she might think was still crying for her ex. Only time would tell how her story went. But I hoped she would find her happily ever after, just as I did mine.
“Morgan.” Nica waved a hand in front of my face. “You still with me?”
“Yes, of course,” I fibbed, fanning myself with my straw hat. “The heat’s getting to me, I think.”
“I know you hate these details but they’re important. Anyway, you won’t have to worry about a thing tomorrow…you know what? Starting now.” She placed her tablet on the table. “There. Done. No more planning and fussing over details.”
“Good.” I grazed my hand on her arm. “I am in good hands.”
She smiled sweetly at me. “I can’t believe you guys are leaving. I’m gonna miss my best florists.”
“You’ll find someone else,” I told her.
“I don’t know. Darwin’s amazing at this. I mean look at what he’s doing now.” We both admired his creation that was starting to take shape. “And you too. You guys are the real deal.”
She continued to prove her point. But my mind wandered off to the man who’d stolen my heart. Who, by this time tomorrow, would become my husband.
As soon as he slipped the engagement ring on my finger, Darwin had asked me to move in with him. I didn’t have to think twice. I loved spending time with him. A lot of people wondered how we could work and live at the same time. He still had his moods every now and then, and I threatened he’d have to sleep on the couch if he got all snappy at anyone…never toward me.
We’d done more outdoors during the weekends when we didn’t have weddings or other events to prepare for. Or sometimes, we just stayed inside, under the orchids and different varieties of air plants in the green house. We could be propagating plants or sitting with books, with music playing in the background, with glasses of wine or cups of tea on the table in front of us.
But one night, as I was perusing through photographs his late wife had collected, spread out on the dining table, I had an idea.
“You said you used to travel a lot?” I’d asked him. He’d been standing in the kitchen, preparing dinner.
“Yeah.”
“You’ve been everywhere.”
At first he didn’t seem sure, but he replied with, “Mostly to tropical islands, Africa, South America, all of the Canadian provinces, South East Asia, and parts of Europe.”
“So everywhere except Antarctica?”
He pursed his lips. “No,” he said, “I’ve been to Antarctica. Why do you ask?”
“Would you like to do more of that?”
“Traveling?” I gave him a half shrug.
“Would you?” He pointed his spatula at me, then turned and stirred the pot.
“I don’t know. I’ve never been anywhere much.”
Darwin’s head raised but he didn’t turned around right away. He kept stirring and adding spices in his goulash. He covered the pot and faced me, with a grin. He slid on a chair in front of me. “Where would you like to go first?”
“First?”
He reached over the table for my hand. “I was going to ask you about this but I wanted to do research first.”
“Go on.”
“There’s a teaching position in Oxford that opened up. I’ve known about it for a while, but I’ve never thought much of it. I know you love California and…”
“Let’s do it!” I didn’t let him finish. I couldn’t. Even as he just started talking about it, his eyes had brightened.
“But I haven’t told you the rest,” he said with a smile.
“It doesn’t matter. I know you want to do it otherwise you wouldn’t even think of it. So let’s do it. Let’s move to England. You can teach plants and I’ll learn how to make a perfect cup of tea.” I cupped his cheeks in my hands and planted a kiss on his parted lips. With my eyes traveling over his face, adoring each part of him, I added, “Maybe the Queen needs a new best friend.”
He laughed and kissed me until my toes curled from delight.
“Wait…” I interrupted his kiss. “What about the shop?”
“We’ll sell it. After the wedding, we’ll put it up for sale.”
I knitted my brows together, and brushed the hair off his forehead. “Are you sure?”
“Absolutely. It’s time we move on and do our own thing, don’t you think?”
I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth before saying, “Yes, let’s do it. I love you so much.”
“And I you.”
I was a beautiful bride. Made only more beautiful by the simple ivory dress Nica had helped me find, and the expert hair and natural-looking makeup. I opted for a crown of flowers, hand made by my dearest. On top of all that, I looked beautiful next to him, my handsome husband.
I swiped a thumb over my phone and swooned at another photo of Darwin in his tux, smiling, relaxed, his dimple showing, as we walked the wooden pier. Nica surpassed my dream wedding and then some. Darwin had his signature all over the floral arrangements. The aisle was bordered with white rose petals, while orchids played in the wind amongst the crystal chandeliers hanging under tall trees, a canopy of greenery and lights.
There were more people present than I had originally thought. Most of them were Darwin’s colleagues and old friends. My sister managed to take some time away from her busy schedule and stood behind me at the altar. The ceremony was quick and efficient and Darwin, the romantic that he was, read a heart-felt poem he’d written, which left no dry eye in sight.
We ate, laughed, shared stories and danced the night away. It was simply magical.
“Welcome to Pride of the Seas,” the man in a white uniform greeted us and two exotic-looking women with hair down their bottoms and Polynesian dancer garbs placed leis around our necks.
Our packed bags were whisked away by the stewards as we embarked the large cruise ship. Two whole months sailing around the world, starting from Honolulu, was what we opted for as our honeymoon. Afterwards, we’d close the sale of the shop and move across the pond.
“Thank you,” I told the man, and Darwin said the same as he smiled like a kid in a candy store.
We walked around and headed to the port, the wind blowing past us, bringing in the scent of salty seawater, and mixing with the fragrant scent of fresh pikake, or Arabian Jasmine, strung on my lei.
I stopped mid-step and inhaled deeply.
“Getting sea sick already?” Darwin kidded, patting the hand I had wrapped around his arm.
Raising my hand, I touched his face. “Not at all. It just hit me…” He waited, bottom lip slightly caught between his teeth. “How lucky I am that no one else could stand your horrible moods! Imagine, you could be with a young, blonde girl right now, sailing off to the sun set.”
He scratched his salt and pepper beard, and chuckled. “I wouldn’t trade you for anything in the world. You’re everything that matters to me, and I intend to spend every moment of the rest of my life with you.”
All I could do was melt at the sweetness of his words and the honesty in his eyes, blue like the ocean.
First Chapters from from Confessions of a Wedding Planner
ONE
The Groom
I was surrounded by perfection. Anyone else would wallow in it, but the minute flaws screamed at me. It was a hazard of my job. That, coupled with the nervous anxiety bubbling in me, I was a wreck.
My hand itched to reach over the table and adjust the crystal wine glass opposite me. It needed to move a half-centimeter to the left to meet the standard 45-degree angle.
Don’t get me started with how the napkins were folded; I’d already dealt with those as soon as I sat down, and before I moved both plates closer to the edges of the table. I was proud o
f myself. I didn’t even take out my trusty measuring tape.
As an event planner, I’d set thousands of table arrangements like these; I could do it blindfolded. After sipping on sparkling water, I placed the glass back on the table, and at the last second, fixed Jake’s wine glass to meet industry standards. There. I should be good for a few seconds before I could find something else amiss.
Above me, ornate gold and crystal chandeliers cast a glow in the atrium, bouncing off the towering pillars with gilded crowns. I’d never been here when the fog cleared and sun shone through the glass dome, but I could imagine how beautiful it would be.
Closing my eyes, I thought of this scenery at night when the lights were dimmed to add romance to the air. A few feet away, a seasoned pianist played a light classical piece. A mixture of aromas permeated the air. It was a scene right out of a fairy tale. I breathed a heavy sigh as I opened my eyes.
I glanced at my watch. Jake was ten minutes late. There was nothing unusual there. Even on the first night we’d met, he’d been late to an event. In the coming weeks after, I’d realized that it was typical of him never to arrive on time. It was a hazard of his job, I supposed. Surgeons were often called away on emergencies and worked endless hours. The waiter came by to refill my water just as a whoosh of warm, fragrant air passed me by. Jake. God, he smelled so clean.
“Sorry I’m late.” He leaned over and kissed my cheek. “Nica, you look amazing. Is that a new scarf?”
The scarf was a present from Jake. His last present to me, in fact. Why did I think he’d remember?
I fiddled with the soft silk. “No. It’s not new.” What was the point in telling him that it had come from him? I swallowed the lump in my throat. “So, what’s up?”
Jake and I hadn’t seen each other since we broke up. When he’d called me last week to invite me for lunch, I’d been too focused on how my heart exploded in my chest to ask him why.
He pressed a hand over his tie before settling across me. “Mom says hi. I told her I was going to see you today.” Interesting.