I walk downstairs and knock on the door to the study.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK I peek around the corner and Ian is sitting at his desk in a mound of papers and books.
Ian thank you for the wine” he looks up at me so young and with love and adoration and I see how he loves me and I am a bitch. I walk over to him past the boxes and papers and books and I sit on his lap.
I hug him hard as he puts his arms around me and I almost cry like a baby….but
BEEP BEEP BEEEEEP!
I gotta go that is Reese and the girls” I kiss Ian on the cheek and stand up, he looks at me and he is scared, he is treading lightly because he knows I am fragile. I am at the door
Aria” I turn and look at him
Have fun tonight” I smile at him
“I love you Ian”
“I love you too Aria” I walk outside and we head down to the art museum.
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The Princess Diana exhibit is amazing, I get a bit teary eyed as I stand before her wedding dress, how I remember watching this when I was just eleven or so, as she married her prince charming and I asked my mom why didn’t they kiss in church and my mom proceeded to tell me they are not the with Rome their church is different. We walked among the droves of women, young and old, everyone a bit melancholy because of course she was gone too soon. The girls and I make the rounds as we grab a drink and take in the whole display.
“Aria you have to be on pins and needles, yeah this time next week you will be a married women” I smile at her
“Yes this is my last weekend as a single girl”
“Aria are you ok?”
“Yes Reese I’m sure I will be fine” we are now standing in front of Princess Diana’s black strapless cocktail dress that she wore when she divorced from her Prince Charles.
“Aria what’s wrong?”
“Just had a bad day” I walk with my arm cross as I clutch my Alexander McQueen brass knuckle bag in one hand and my vodka in the other.
Aria do you know why I am with Mark?” I look at her and you know what this is a very good question.
“No I haven’t got a clue” she and I almost start laughing but she speaks
“Aria, when I met Mark he was so worried that he was not worthy of me, and I was so scared I was not enough for him”
“Well you two are perfect for one another I have never seen Mark so happy”
“And I have never seen you as happy as when Ian came to town” she is right Ian does put a smile on my face and a spring in my step.
Aria Ian loves you, can’t live without you loves you, when he is with you, he only sees you” she makes my cold heart warm and I begin to feel better.
“Why are you telling me all of this?”
“Because sometimes we all need to know that we are doing the right thing” she hugs me and I feel better.
“Reese thank you”
“Aria you have a wonderful man who loves you, don’t thank me thank Ian, he is your miracle” when she says that, she is right, it is a miracle we even got here, and I was so willing to throw it all away, oh what a fool I have been.
“Some people wait a lifetime for what you have, don’t throw it away”
“Your right I know” I hug her hard and we continue on and take it all the lovely dresses that were Princess Diana’s.
We had a lovely evening and I feel like a fool, like a child the way I treated Ian and I want to hurry home to him and Reese got a call from Mark and she smiled and said she is on her way home.
Reese and I finish up the tour and headed back to her car. We parked near the fountain at the art museum and I looked at it one last time.
Reese thank you for tonight I had the best time and I will see you next Saturday at the wedding”
“Can’t wait Aria” Reese lets me out in the driveway and I run in the back door its after ten o’clock in the evening, Ian left the lights on for me, so I don’t come into a dark house. I run up stairs and my light on my night stand is on and he is asleep, he knows I am afraid of the dark. I take off my dress and stocking and I crawl in bed next to him and hug him, he is sound asleep as he reaches for me and pulls me to him and moans.
“I love you Aria”
“I love you too” I kiss his cheek as he holds me and I fall fast asleep safe and content in the arms of the man I love.
~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`
Please Join Us
A Wedding Tea in Honor of
Aria Macy
Given byErika and Sabrina
June 24, 2012
Two in the afternoon
The Main Salon
The Ritz Carlton
Please R.S.V.P.
~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`
Chapter 28
Tea for Two
June 24, 2012
Sunday morning and I am feeling much better Ian and I attended Mass and return home and decide to make coffee and waffles, safe food I have not had waffles with anyone of interest so when he decided to make them I was all for it and I have a Cinderella waffle maker to boot.
“Aria Cinderella waffle maker only you, although I would have thought maybe a Chanel one?”
“See Ian now you gotta find us a Chanel waffle maker but these are going to be the best because of the awesome Cinderella waffle maker that makes them so great” I start the coffee and I grab the paper from the porch and Ian gets busy on his batter and we feast on waffles.
“Aria what time will you be back today?”
“Um I don’t know about six maybe?”
“Ok I am going to go see my parents and then I’ll be back for dinner”
“Ok sounds good” we finish our waffles and I head out to see my friends for one last tea before the big day.
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I am so lucky to have such wonderful friends they have thrown a Tea for me at The Ritz Carlton as a shower. We feast on cucumber sandwiches with salmon, cream cheese and chives. Scones with Lemon curd, and Devonshire cream. The chocolate Ganache filled tarts are simple to die for.
The wedding tea which is delicious, quite unique only to THE RITZ CARLTON HOTEL. It is their signature lemon-mint tea, they brew it for wedding showers here at the Ritz.
What we couldn’t get enough of are the mini-wedding cupcakes, I gotta take one home for Ian he is a chocolate freak like I am. They are two tier cupcakes chocolate frosted white wedding cake with mini sugar brides on them. The strawberries with chocolate tuxedos on them are adorable. We started with cocktails all the glasses were adorned with sugar wedding bells and intertwined gold rings all edible of course.
The highlight of the whole afternoon was seeing all my girlfriends; this is the last time we will all be together before the wedding. I bought all the girls a coach bag and a watch they all brought me presents why not think of them. We laughed and joked around and reminisced about old times and then it was time for me to open up my shower gifts.
Let’s face it I’m not a twenty something bride, I have furnished a house so it’s not like I needed all the essentials that a young couple needs starting out. I didn’t register or anything like that, but Erika and Sabrina insisted on throwing this for us all to be together and share in the joy of me getting married I guess when it was originally planned I was a much more happier bride-to-be but all and all the afternoon is wonderful.
Erika is the lingerie fanatic she presented me with La Perla a wedding peignoir in ivory, long and flowing it is simply beautiful, wedding lingerie a must for any bride I think and I love it.
Cynthia knows I now wear Ralph Lauren Romance perfume, that Ian has made my new scent so I am now well stocked.
I am now the proud owner of the Tiffany silver picture frame that I have been eyeing thank you mom.
Sabrina hands me a box from Saks, I sit back in my chair and look quizzical at her, because she is so excited for me to open this so I rip off the ribbon and remove all the tissue paper and I scream.
“Oh my gawd, oh no you did not just do
this!” Inside I find the Chanel bag that is so un-get-able I have been looking and scouring the earth for this bag and here it is. It is so cute, it looks like a book, actually with the gold pages along the side and the leather bound on the other side it looks like a novel. I am smiling ear to ear as I hug the bag and the girls all laugh at my reaction.
“Oh this is so worth getting married for alone!” All the girls laugh but Erika she is shaking her head, I am the handbag connoisseur and considering my recent behavior she probably does not find my comment quite so amusing.
“I just have the best friends in the world.” I blow kisses to Sabrina and walk over to her and hug her.
The rest of my gifts are awesome, bath salts, jewelry, and of course more lingerie, and Chanel no.19 which I understand all the brides wear, me I am partial to Chanel Coco Mademoiselle and the original Coco but I have a fondness for Ralph Lauren Romance it is what Ian likes me in.
We finish our afternoon of Tea and lounge as we are surrounded by lingerie, a little Chanel for good measure, and friends to die for. We are all hugs and kisses as they say goodbye, all promising to see me at the wedding. We are all finally alone as I look at Sabrina and Erika they are giddy and having a ball.
My friends are like flowers give them to drink and watch them bloom…Erika, Sabrina and I sit down after the rest leave, the wait staffers are busy cleaning and clearing.
Sabrina looks at me and goes for it.
“So did you tell Ian?” As I push yet another piece of mini wedding cupcake into my mouth.
“Yes and no”
Erika pipes in “Spill it Aria” I lick my finger and look at them and here it goes.
“I went to tell him and he already knew!” Their jaws are now on the floor,
“Exactly the reaction I had ladies, he forgave me because and are ya ready for this one? He had me followed for the past six months to make sure I was not with Tristan then he came to find me!” They are now in utter shock, gasping for air as I fill their glasses with champagne.
“Oh and to top it all off ladies Ian’s words ‘we are getting married on Saturday as scheduled’”
Good, glad to see I reacted the same as them, although I had a few days to let it sink in, so my utter shock and dismay has faded
“Aria why are you joking about this” Sabrina who is the child psychologist gets all concerned and she looks like I feel inside very disoriented and confused.
Erika pipes in with
“Aria the shit hit the fan and the two of you decide to marry as scheduled?”
“Actually I didn’t decide, that was all Ian’s decision”
“Ok sweetie so now that your plan backfired on you what are you going to do?”
“What do you mean Sabrina?”
“Come on at least be honest with us, you only told him thinking he would break it off with you so you would be free to run to Tristan” oh shit is that what I really wanted to happen? Is that why I don’t feel guilty for the affair?
“Look you two it’s all good, we are adults not kids anymore and we have handled this in an adult manner”
“Just as long as you know that you are only getting married because he didn’t dump you!” Erika the judge has spoken.
“So dear bride-to-be the question is are you happy?” I can’t hide my feelings
“I will be”
“Aria you should be ecstatic, elated, over joyed about marrying Ian, can’t eat, can’t sleep, butterflies in your stomach”
“Well Sabrina it was like that in the beginning”
“Aria you have been engaged for three weeks! How did all this diminish to yes we are getting married as scheduled?” Erika words are always cunning.
“Everything is different since I ate from the tree of knowledge” meaning mind-blowing sex with Tristan.
“You hit that nail on the head, so has your relations improved with Ian?” Erika I love her dearly and she is my subconscious at times, she knows about the mind-blowing sex with Tristan.
“We’ve decided to not have sex until our wedding night”
“So, no sex with either one of them?” I nod no with a salacious smirk.
“I guess I should have gotten you the vibrator instead of the lingerie then!”
“Erika! You are so bad!”
‘Aria, if you don’t want to go through with this wedding, I will pull you out of it just say so!”
“Erika that is what Tristan told me a week ago.”
“Well I never thought we’d be on the same page, have you seen him recently?”
“Friday night in the elevator leaving the casino he was next to me!”
“What, wait we were all there what happened?” they are both shocked again, jeez I would just love some boring conversation in my life.
“He caressed my arm and squeezed my hand and that was it”
“So he didn’t call you?”
“No Sabrina, not a call or text”
“Aria this is just the worst that could have happened to anyone”
“Sabrina I’m not going to lie to you two I miss him, he was my first love”
“ Aria, I got a feeling Saturday is going to be very interesting.”
“Ian loves me I will learn to love him as much as he loves me.”
“Oh you are so naïve Aria, but you are forgetting that you have bitten from the tree of knowledge and all this lingerie in front of us is not going to change Ian’s short comings” I believe Sabrina and I both have the same look on our faces now, shock that she went there.
“Erika leave it to you to bring it back to the heart of the matter” Sabrina and Erika are now just talking about me as if I am not even here.
“Does it really all come down to sex?”
“Aria I am a judge, I see it every day, I saw you last week and you were glowing, I see you today and my heart aches for you”
She hugs me hard and kisses my head, she is six feet and towers over me.
“Aria I wish you a happy wedding” Sabrina is almost as tall as her and beautiful, tall blond and very blue eyes, we stand and hold onto one another for a moment. They are such good friends who know me better than anyone.
“Thanks you two, for everything” I whip away my tears and we look at all my beautiful presents, the peignoirs, the gowns, the bustier some beautiful frilly things, but oh wow I love love, love the Chanel bag!
“Is there anything else I can bring you ladies” the waiter says very kindly.
We all say in unison
“Mini wedding cupcakes please!” We look at each other and giggle.
We three sit and finish the mini-wedding cupcakes, down the last of the champagne and load my car with all my lingerie.
Wow Tristan would make me model every one of these tonight, Ian I don’t know how he feels about lingerie, and my champagne buzz give me an idea, I think I will try and find out tonight.
I drive home with their thoughts in my head as well as Tristan’s, and I have one of my own was I hoping to be freed and be with Tristan? I saw on the girl’s faces what I feel and that really worries me, because it lets me know that this is real, it’s not something that I am taking the wrong way.
Ian and I will work, I have to believe that, I am marrying him in church and that is a sacrament that is sacred from God and his church, I will hold this marriage dear and deep in my heart that is what Ian and I have promise to one another in our bans of matrimony. I am doing the right thing, I have to keep telling myself this and then I am pulled from my thoughts by YOUR DESTINATION IS ON YOUR LEFT.
Chapter 29
Saving All My Love For You
I get home and Ian’s car is gone, he must be running errands or maybe at his parents. I grab all the bags and boxes take everything up to my closet, I want to put everything away.
Sunday’s for the past month have been interesting, since Ian has been in my life we go to Church on Sunday morning and then out to brunch sometimes, or we cook here, but Sunday night we usually hang around the house, at the poo
l, or go for a walk or really just relax and do nothing, we hardly see one another during the week so we try to keep Sundays as our day to be together.
I want to start having family dinners on Sunday after church instead of going to brunch, we’ll see if that happens once we are married, gosh his family and my family in the same room.
My family is strict catholic, his some are catholic and some are not, some are just not a fan of any religion, Ian comes from 9 children and I come from a family of 8 children I’m the baby girl, and Ian is the baby boy, Go figure no wonder we are the way we are, spoiled rotten brats.
I am now sitting in my closet on the floor going through all my over generous shows of affections that my friends have bestowed upon me. I am sure they will all fit but I gotta try on the one that is pale pink from Sylvie in France, Cindy ordered it special, I strip and slip it on wow it feels like a second skin, the silk is luxurious and refined, the handmade lace around the neckline it is amazing, but the tiny crystals that are the straps make it shimmer and sparkle. I look at myself in the three way mirror, it is one of the nicest pieces of lingerie I own. I love it, and how I looked in it, this one is definitely for the wedding night.
I take it off and hang it in my linger section of my closet. Which consist of all satin padded hangers, and my lingerie drawers are almost like a map chest or a sheet music bureau, a lot of long thin drawers where all my lingerie can lie flat. Yeah I’m obsessed with clothes and storage you are just figuring that out! You’ll get use to it.
I grab the one that is just sex a la carte, I have to try this on to see if it is me, my thoughts immediately drift to Tristan and how he would love me in this.
I look at myself in the mirror and I am transformed into the Goddess of sex, I mean I look like sex alamode, yeah I could be considered dessert in this number the bra is all lace the empire waist gown is all Toole and fine mesh that flows and underneath the tiniest of silk panties.
“Aria!” I am brought back from my naughty lingerie fantasy by the very real sounds of my fiancé.
A Wedding Affair (The Wedding Affair) Page 36