A Wedding Affair (The Wedding Affair)
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A gemstone novel
A Wedding Affair
He was the love of her life
She inspired him
They both couldn’t fight it anymore
Those melodies that remind us all
That music is the soundtrack of our lives
put in a the cd turn the pages…fall in love
S.L.A. Lacey has dabbled in writing nothing like what you are about to read. A background in fashion merchandising, minoring in business and has been in sales and marketing for the past twenty some years. Raised in Ohio, in a family of musicians, music was always in abundance and was all inspiring as you will see every chapter in A WEDDING AFFAIR is a song title. Putting pen to paper was interesting, but when you add the element of music it brings the whole story to life and gives the reader a better feel for the book. Fast forward to present day and now it has all become a dream come true as the story puts the reader in the driver’s seat, the first book A WEDDING AFFAIR gives you the basis of Aria and her life altering dilemma should she marry the man who comes back for her twenty years later or should she run away with her first love who comes back two weeks before her wedding? The conclusion is up to you the reader, who do you see her with, wouldn’t we all love to know how it would have worked out the other way, and well now is your chance to play judge and jury but mostly to chase after your heart.
The first book of the trilogy is
*THE WEDDING AFFAIR
a gemstone novel,
*THE BOLLINGERS
RUBIES
*THE CHATEAU DE BACH
SAPPHIRES
Books by S.L.A. Lacey
A Wedding Affair
The Bollinger’s Rubies
The Chateau De Bach Sapphires
This is a work of fiction names characters places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used factiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, is entirely coincidental.
For my mom who has always watched over all of us kids,
We love you, we need you, and we would be nothing without you.
And for my Father who is responsible for always bringing the music
Into our lives.
We miss you Dad
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thank you God for always being the light that has shined upon us and has always seen us through.
To my family, you are the music of my life, thank you for always watching over me, we all had to grow up so fast when dad died, but we made it through with faith, family, and music.
To Dawn M. Martens and Sandi Lynn and everyone in the wonderful world of romance novels you inspire me daily, thank you for your encouragement, your help, and your praise, I am eternally grateful.
To Erika, who has shown me that yes sometimes the good guys finish first, and in so many ways has been my judge and my jury in all things, I value our friendship and I will always cherish you and thank you for believing in me.
Cathe you are indeed such a rare breed, a horse of a different color and a blessing, your encouragement as well as your caring nature is why this is a reality for me, thank you, thank you, thank you.
PROLOGUE
‘Aria we are through, over
you are too involved in my life
you are no good for me
and I am not changing my life for you!’
“Then grow up Tristan with or without me you have to soon before it’s too late”
“I don’t need you telling me how to live my life, I need you to get back to work we have to be in New York tomorrow and then next week it’s shit or bust”
“I’m on it, I am always ready for work don’t worry about me big shot”
We leave the conference room both going in different directions, mad, infuriated and full of sin and redemption.
The New York trip went well Tristan and I flew down together and I came back by myself I was in no mood to party.
I came home to a message on my answering machine at home.
“Hey Aria it’s me Ian I’m in town let’s get together Saturday night” I smile as I know the voice and he is my old friend from school who is in town always around Valentine’s day.
I call him back and we agree to have dinner on Saturday night just he and I at the Caribbean place near my house Johnny Mango’s.
The rest of the work week is bad, Tristan is ignoring my calls, the high up’s are looking for him and he is nowhere to be found.
I get through the next two days of work without him, I am making excuses and I am apologizing but mostly I am a bit through with the whole mess of it.
Saturday Ian and I have dinner, he says I am a bit too bitchy and what is going on with me.
He is horrified and surprised to find the once calm sweet little Aria Macy who could barely see over the seats on the school bus was involved with a maniac.
We promised to keep in touch, I agreed to keep in touch just to be polite, the next few weeks were hell, Tristan was gone, I was left to handle two more mergers by myself and I was a wreck, I gave my two weeks and I was gone before thanksgiving.
The new year was here and it is my year to shine, my long brown hair is now shoulder length with bouncy curls that frame my face. I lost the twenty pounds I had been harboring. I looked great I felt wonderful and I was starting fresh, going in a new direction out on my own.
I wanted to be proud of myself again so I venture into one of my many loves of sewing. I was at a bridal show at The Ritz and I met Oliver Barry, a tailor beyond comprehension who drafts patterns, makes men’s suits, and we just hit if off right away, and has a huge client base here in Cleveland and I just bought a store in Tower Centre because it was near my family home that I just moved back to. Things were looking up, I had purpose, I was meeting new and exciting people and before I knew it we were Business As Usual.
All the chapters are songs
Chapter 1…………….…….…………..Better than Anything
Chapter 2……………………….Ouando, Quando, Quando
Chapter 3……………………..….……………Kissing A fool
Chapter 4……………………….…….……Barely Breathing
Chapter 5………...……………….…………I remember you
Chapter 6……….....…Guess I’ll hang my tears out to dry
Chapter 7……..…........……………Cruising for a Bruising
Chapter 8..………...…...………………..The more I see you
Chapter 9……….….….……….The recipe for making love
Chapter 10………….…..………………Dindi by el debarge
Chapt11……………………..I didn’t know what time it was
Chapter 12………..………….The Rod Stewart montage:
You go to my head
Night and day
Time after time
The nearness of you
Chapter 13……………………………………For all we know
Chapter 14………………..………………A love that will last
Chapter 15………….………..Promise Me You’ll Remember
Chapter 16………………………………….Manic Monday
Chapter 17…………………………..The eighties Montage:
I heard a rumor
Venus
Love in the first degree
Cruel summer
The Hall and Oats montage:
Private eyes
Man Eater
Rich girl
Method of Modern Love
Tears for fears montage:
Shout, Shout
Everybody wants to rule the world
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br /> Sowing in the seeds of love
Chapter 18……………………………………………...…………………….Good enough
Chapter 19………………………………………….…………Come Rain or Come Shine
Chapter 20…………………………………………….……..Caught a touch of your love
Chapter 21……………………………………………….……….When I look in your eyes
Chapter 22……………………………………………….………………….How Insensitive
Chapter 23…………………………………………………………….Blow me one last kiss
Chapter 24……………………………………………………………….A town without pity
Chapter 25…………………………………………….…………………….Let me try again
Chapter 26……………………………….……………………….Save the last dance for me
Chapter 27………………………………….………………………………….Day in Day out
Chapter 28…………………………….…………………………………………….Tea for two
Chapter 29………………………………………………………Saving All My Love For you
Chapter 30……………………………………………………….………I concentrate on you
Chapter 31………………………………………………………….………..Who can I turn to
Chapter 32…………………………………………………………..……….Teach me tonight
Chapter 33………………………………………………………….…………...Besame mucho
Chapter 34……………………………………………………………………………….Mystery
Chapter 35………………………………………………………...…………………Sex on Fire
Chapter 36……………………………………………………….…..I Believe In You And Me
Chapter 37……………………………………………………….……..It could happen to you
Chapter 38…………………………………………………………….We’ll be together again
Chapter 39……………………………………………………………….My one and only love
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A gemstone novel
A Wedding Affair
Chapter 1
BETTER THEN ANYTHING
June 15, 2012
It was late in the afternoon as we were finishing up lunch at THE THEATRICAL GRILL a wonderful restaurant jazz club and all around hang out where the mobsters of yesteryear drank beside the boys in blue well that is what Ian read me as he discovered this gem through our friendly neighborhood Google. That is me in the corner table and next to me my fiancé Ian the most wonderful, exquisite caring man in the world.
The lobster bisque soup here is to die for, it’s the first thing I have sat down to eat all week! I am just too excited, overwhelmed about our big day, its two weeks from this Saturday and I will become Mrs. Ian Bollinger. Needless to say I can’t wait exasperatingly excited and ready to take on the world is my demeanor these days. Not to mention that I am totally knocked for six caught off guard by this man; engaged just two weeks ago I had no idea this was totally out of the blue Ian and I have not seen one another in two years and we run into one another about a month ago and now we are engaged. Ian and I have known one another since high school so we go way back, two sixteen year olds opinionated, promising and quite head strong best friends who find one another twenty years later. I know it got the making of a movie right?
Sipping my Pinot Grigio I just can’t take my eyes off him, Ian Bollinger, history professor, high school friend and now fiancé, he drives an Aston-martin Vanquish, he makes the world’s best burgers and I look great in his arms.
As I sit back and just take it all in I recall how we first met in history class, two kids who shared a great passion for history, of course Ian’s boarders more on obsession than mine. It was the eighties, hair bands, George Michael, Hall and Oats, Tears for Fears, Madonna, hanging at the mall, the arcade, St. Elmo’s fire was our favorite movie, and it was the best times to be a teenager. Ian, Erika, Christopher, Sabrina and I have been friends since we met in tenth grade, we studied together and just hit it off, as a matter a fact I was never allowed to date in high school so Ian and I were good friends and wanted to see one another so I would go over to see Erika after school and Ian would ride his bike over to her house and we would watch Friday night videos and make taffy. It was the best time of our lives.
Wow that was over twenty years ago, and now look at him he wants to marry me, I never thought he was the one for me, Ian was my first kiss when I was seventeen, he kissed me at a friend’s birthday party in the closet…don’t ask! Childish games that we played at parties.
We lost touch as most people do, I was climbing the corporate ladder and Ian became a history professor he turned his passion into a career and became a very prominent college professor.
He is the complete over the top history buff, it is a hobby of his, it is his life, it is why he teachers history. Ian can rattle off dates and names and tell you things that are so fascinating that you want more, as an example, the painting of the last supper adorns the wall of the Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan Italy, I want to go see it so he is taking us to Italy for our honeymoon.
The interesting thing about Ian is he knows the real story not just what is printed in text books, Ian has studied and visited places in far off lands where historical events occurred, he is better than anything you will ever read in a book. I think that is why Ian is such a great teacher he’s been there done that.
Oh and this one I just love when he told me this last week, the original champagne glass the shallow one not the flute, was originally made by a wax mold that was taken of Marie Antoinette breast? Yes it is a fact, look it up if you don’t believe me, but these are the facts in history that Ian rattles off to me when we are walking in the park or at a museum, he is the ultimate student of life and I love that about him.
I am older than Ian by six months, he was an army brat and his dad retired when we were in high school that is how he stayed in just one high school and we all graduated together.
Surprisingly we ran into one another about two years ago prior to today I was in a bad relationship at that time Ian and I just didn’t work out, or should I say I didn’t want it to work out, but that is all water under the bridge.
Fast-forward two years to now and here we are to my surprise about a month ago he was in town visiting his parents we bumped into one another at The West Side Market here in Cleveland, we went out for coffee and two weeks ago he asked me to marry him, I have been on cloud nine ever since.
Can I let you in on a secret? I am making my own wedding dress! Just the sheer joy in putting it together is the best, it's something I’ve never done before, I mostly make men’s clothing, custom shirts and handmade ties, you know the usual men’s attire, but what I do the best are our award winning tuxes, I have a weakness for a man in a tuxedos, it’s the cufflinks, the tuxedo studs, the cumber bun, the bow-tie, it never ceases to amaze me how men just ignite once they step into one, they are simply transformed, sharp, brilliant and handsome, don’t believe me, put your guy in one, and watch what happens.
My wedding gown would never have gotten started if it wasn’t for Oliver, he is just the best thing since slice bread, my business partner and my confidant, we met at a bridal show and hit it off immediately, he has a wonderful client-base business but had no store, I was new to men’s clothing and we just hit it off immediately.
Oliver and I have been going back and forth from fabric samples, dress designs from Paris to Vogue, the lace ordeal went on for days. French lace is quite tricky and difficult if y
ou don’t know what you are doing so I left it to the professional, my mother she was a lace maker for years. I can’t wait to see Ian’s face when I walk down the aisle.
It’s funny I never knew what I really wanted to do with my life, I mean I studies merchandizing in college even minored in business but to put the two together and be my own entity it is a quite the undertaking , yes it’s a dream come true, and how many people get their dreams now a days? No too many I take it.
Our number one goal is to make men look great every day, it is so much fun, the clients we cater to are quite impressive being in Tower Centre the middle of the urban renewal is exciting, new faces, new clients, internet business has given us a global market, and I have to say I owe it all to my mom, she was the one who put the needle in my hand as a young girl.
Did I mention my ring? OMG, Ian’s birthday is in July so my engagement ring, is adorned with two very nicely appointed rubies that surround the three carat Cartier diamond yeah I know I can’t stop looking at it either!
Erika of course did freak-out at first when I hit her with the news that we are getting married. Immediately she thought I was pregnant, I mean I don’t blame her, I have not dated anyone in two years and then now I am engaged. I believe the words were ‘did you finally succumbed to him after all these years of him chasing you?’ It totally threw me as she knows how catholic I am. Actually not very nice of her to think that of me considering I am not the girl who sleeps around anyway.
I do believe that Erika became a judge because Ian and I were forever debating and spatting off over anything from politics to the color of the statue of liberty, her daily routine was reprimanding us both from lunch to study hall on the bus, it was her high school ritual. I think we drove her mad with our constant bickering and arguing, she does laugh about it now.... well she said the sparks were flying even back then in high school ah the good old eighties.