I shook my head, but my gaze connected with hers and saw the actual worry lurking behind her eyes. I glanced over at Gabby who noticed Emily’s expression as well.
Maybe it was about time we showed Emily what real men were all about.
“You know what? Let’s go find the guys. See what they’re up to. I bet they’d love if we crashed their party,” I said, glancing at the group.
Brandy looked puzzled, but Gabby had already zeroed in on my plan. Emily already had her fair share of bad luck in the marriage and dating department so now it was our duty to show her good men really did exist in the world.
And they did.
Gabby nodded and clapped her hands in excitement. “I can’t wait to spy. I even have other shoes in the limo.”
“Seriously? Who packs two pairs of shoes?” I asked.
“Always be prepared.”
I smiled as Brandy waved over the server for our check.
“So let’s do presents in the limo on the ride to Ayden’s,” Brandy said.
“Sounds good to me.”
I could only imagine what kind of bachelorette gifts I had to look forward to…pink and purple battery powered things that shouldn’t be pink or purple or have glitter on them for that matter. My stomach clenched at the thought. I hoped I had lots of nice lingerie on the horizon, nothing more creative.
“Alright, ladies,” Brandy said, standing up. “Operation…What should we call it?”
“I have no idea.” Emily shrugged.
“Operation Wedding Singer,” Gabby suggested.
“I love that movie.” I stood up from the table and glanced at the couple on stage singing. They looked cute together and were having a lot of fun.
“I do too,” Emily agreed.
“Okay. Operation Wedding Singer has commenced,” Brandy announced. “Let’s pile into the limo and decide how best to breach the property without them knowing.”
“We could arrive to an empty house,” Emily pointed out.
“True, but then we could make ourselves comfy,” Tori said. “One thing I know is that they were planning on eating a lot. Mason bought out Costco.”
“Curious,” I muttered.
We walked out to the waiting limo and piled in.
“I hope this doesn’t backfire,” Emily muttered, buckling in.
My stomach clenched. I knew Ayden was never into strip clubs or strippers, but things could, I guess, go instantly wrong on a drunken bachelor’s night.
But Ayden wasn’t drinking.
Yet everyone else was.
That would be awful to show up at the house to convince Emily that not all men were the same and find our guys ogling some naked woman.
Nope. I had full confidence that we wouldn’t find a woman or women at the house.
Then why did my stomach stay knotted?
The limo started and pulled onto the road as the girls poured themselves champagne.
“Okay. My present first.” Gabby slid a large wrapped box across the floor.
It moved like it was heavy and that had me worried. I glanced at her and she was nearly beaming.
I tugged on the silver ribbon and ripped the ivory paper off the taped box. I opened the flaps on the box and was completely relieved and excited to see what was inside: a beautiful ivory negligee balanced on two handmade photo albums covered in white satin and bordered with red bows.
“Something for the honeymoon and a couple things for after,” Gabby said excitedly.
“It’s so beautiful,” I said, lifting up the nightgown.
“It’s nice and loose,” Gabby pointed out.
“Why, yes, it is,” I giggled, lifting out the photo albums next. “These are gorgeous. Did you make them?”
She nodded.
“They are so pretty.” I felt the softness of the cover as I opened up one of the albums. She’d created an entire album geared for our Bermuda wedding just waiting for pictures to complete it.
“This is so awesome. I can’t believe in less than a week, I’ll have photos to put in here.” I opened the card and read the beautiful words Gabby had written, and I felt so blessed to have such a great group of friends by my side.
I handed the gifts to Emily to pass around, and she handed me a gift to open in return. I felt bad that Emily wasn’t coming to the wedding, but she’d decided to stay at Gabby’s Goodies so Gabby didn’t have to shut the bakery down.
The ivory gift bag from Emily was stuffed with silver tissue paper that I quickly dug out to reveal a two-piece lingerie pink teddy that looked extra roomy. The chiffon was beaded along the edges, and there was a matching sheer bathrobe at the bottom of the bag.
“This is gorgeous,” I told Emily. “Thank you so much. I absolutely love it, and I’ll be so styling in Bermuda and at home. Ayden won’t know what to do with me out of flannel.”
“It should give him some good ideas,” Emily almost cackled.
“I’m making him wait until the wedding night. You know, depending on what we find tonight, maybe I’ll play dirty and strut around in these the next couple days.”
Gabby nodded and handed me another package.
Next, I opened the present from Brandy. The present was wrapped with so much wrapping paper, I wasn’t sure I’d ever get to what was inside.
“Hope you love it,” Brandy gushed.
“I’ll love anything.”
I finally got underneath the wrap and was shocked to see a Tiffany box. I opened the lid and tucked inside was a light teal passport cover and two engraved champagne flutes with Mr. and Mrs. Rhodes scripted on each.
“These are so beautiful,” I said, raising one of the flutes into the air. “Wow. I’m totally being spoiled.” I caressed the passport cover and grinned.” This is so soft.”
“Mine next,” Tori said, pushing a box into my empty hand. “This is actually from Mason too.”
It was a small box, but knowing it was from my almost brother-in-law helped to relieve any worry about it being the elusive gag gift.
I pulled on the gold ribbon and carefully unwrapped the small rectangular box.
“Mason picked it out when we were out last weekend,” she said, smiling with pride.
I opened the box.
“This is too much.” I shook my head, unable to believe what was inside.
“I told him you’d say that, but he told me to tell you anyone who was willing to put up with his brother for the rest of her life deserved a reward.”
I shook my head and chuckled as I lifted out a solitary diamond bracelet looped in a platinum chain. Even in the dull light inside the car, it glittered and sparkled in every direction.
“He thought it could be your something new too,” Tori offered.
“This is beautiful. He really didn’t have to do this.”
“We both wanted to. You’ve been through a lot, and you haven’t even walked down the aisle yet,” Tori said coyly.
“She’s got a point,” Brandy added. “I’d take it and run. My brother’s so lucky you’re still getting married to him.”
I smiled and shook my head.
The driver rolled down the partition between us.
“Ladies, we’ll be arriving at the destination in less than five minutes. Any specific instructions on where you’d like me to park?” he asked.
“Just on the road so no one can see us,” Gabby instructed.
“Easy enough.” He rolled the glass back up, and I got butterflies in my stomach. It felt like we were about to toilet paper a house or something, and I lived here.
We repacked all the gifts, and the girls polished off the champagne as we pulled onto the shoulder of the road. I glanced at Emily, and she seemed as intrigued as the rest of us to find out what was going on at the bachelor party.
I didn’t know why I felt it was my mission to show Emily there was another kind of man out there, but I did. Tori flung open the door, and we all crawled outside, each holding one of the presents. The driver got back inside after realizing
we let ourselves out of the car. Who knew we were so excited to see our guys?
We quietly closed the door and walked along the edge of the road, careful not to fall in the mud from the November rains. All of us sneakily marched down the driveway, giggling and tiptoeing along the tree line until we saw the glowing lights of the house. Music was blaring and my heart stilled.
Maybe this was a really bad idea.
I exchanged looks with Gabby, but we knew there was no turning back. We snaked along the driveway, not seeing shadows or figures of anyone inside in the front of the house. A light in one of the upstairs bedrooms flicked on, and for absolutely no reason, my pulse started racing.
There was nothing to worry about. Maybe one of the guys had too much and was going to lie down. I guided us along the side of the house, over the bark, and into some unexpected mud.
“Shoot. I forgot to change my shoes,” Gabby muttered.
We all shushed Gabby and continued on through the heavily landscaped area. Between limbs snapping back and spraying us, and rhododendrons wiping their wet leaves along our pants, we were a damp, muddy mess by the time we reached the back of the house.
I stopped and turned around, facing everyone. Gabby looked eager, Brandy looked terrified, Emily looked content, and Tori looked confused.
“Ready?”
They all nodded.
“I’ll sneak up to the window first.”
I was low and slow as I made my way to the family room window, dodging shrubs and patio furniture. The music was even louder on this side of the house, and hollering from the guys inside made my insides twist.
This was a bad idea.
When I got up to the window, I peered into the family room and pure shock shot through my body. I never would’ve guessed.
I looked at the eager shadows behind me, waiting for my response. I motioned at them to hurry over to see exactly what I was witnessing. They all placed the packages on the patio and scampered over. Gabby was the first out of the gate, followed by Tori and Brandy. Emily seemed the most reluctant to see what they were up to, and she didn’t even have a guy inside.
Glee filled my entire body as I watched the men inside cheering at the video game on the big screen. Jason, Aaron and Derek were all laughing and shouting as they played some military game. I looked around the room trying to spot Mason or Ayden, and I found neither of them. My mind flashed to the bedroom light turning on. Maybe Mason drank too much and Ayden was playing nurse.
“See? What did I tell you, Emily? It does exist. Male decency does exist in this world,” I whispered quietly.
“Indeed it does,” Ayden said from behind.
Gabby let out a frightened yelp and I nervously laughed.
Slowly turning around to see Ayden standing with his brother behind him made it hard to concentrate. It had been weeks since I’d been with Ayden and seeing his smug grin didn’t help matters. He was so attractive and seeing what I saw made him even hotter. Ayden had his arms folded on his chest and was shaking his head. I felt my cheeks turn red, and my gaze fell to the patio as I let out a deep breath.
I’d been caught.
“So what are you ladies doing here in the middle of the night?” Ayden asked.
“What does it look like?” Brandy asked, narrowing her eyes at her brother.
By now the other guys had joined us on the patio, and I was ready to crawl under one of the boulders that lined the river.
“It’s not the brightest idea to be traipsing around in the dark near a water source,” Mason told us.
“So says the cautious brother,” Brandy said.
“Is there such a thing between these two?” Tori asked.
“Not that I know of.” I brought my gaze up to Ayden’s and the butterflies returned. I hoped this feeling never vanished.
I glanced over at all my presents that the girls had set down to commence operation Wedding Singer and wiggled my brows at Ayden who got the message.
He wandered over to the presents with Mason right behind. They picked them all up and Ayden noticed the lingerie.
“Well, this is worth the interruption any night,” Ayden said, stopping right next to me. “Do you have other plans for the night or did you plan on hanging out?”
“I think they should hang out,” Jason shouted, rubbing Gabby’s shoulders.
“I second that,” Aaron said.
Tori’s brow arched as she waited for Mason to throw in his two cents about wanting the girls to stick around. He swept a kiss across her cheek as he balanced the packages on his way inside, and that was enough for her.
“We’ve got plenty of food and game controllers.” Ayden was already in the house.
I turned around to the girls and shrugged. “What do you think?”
“I say yes.” Tori smiled.
“Sounds like a good idea to me,” Gabby agreed, craning her neck to give Jason a kiss on the cheek.
“Even though I’ll be surrounded by couples still in the honeymoon phase, I think spending the rest of the night in sounds wonderful,” Emily said.
I caught her glance at Derek and I wondered…
“Derek, this is Emily,” Gabby began. “Emily meet Derek, Ayden’s trainer.”
“Ex-trainer,” Derek corrected.
Gabby smiled. “Emily works with me at the bakery.”
Derek flashed a smile and nodded. “Nice to meet you.”
“You too,” Emily replied.
She looked a little intrigued, but she was hard to read. I think Derek sensed that as well and decided not to come on too strong or at all so he went back inside.
We made our way into the family room, and I wandered over to the fridge to get a coconut soda water. Ayden had the fire going, and the space felt warm and toasty compared to hanging out on the patio. I hadn’t realized it, but my fingers and toes were icicles.
“I’ll let our driver know he can go home,” Emily said, grabbing her cell phone out of her purse.
“I totally forgot about that. Thank you! That could have been expensive,” I laughed.
Ayden got all the extra guests settled, and I wondered how in the world I lucked out with him. Sure, he stepped into a ring now and then, but he was tenderhearted the rest of the time. I knew Ayden wouldn’t be up to anything too weird at his bachelor party, and I also knew he wouldn’t be upset if he found us spying because he didn’t have anything to hide. I took a sip of the crisp, bubbly water and grinned as Ayden sauntered into the kitchen, grabbing a carrot stick on the way over.
“I knew you were going to show up tonight.”
“You did not.”
“I did. Mason and I placed a bet, and obviously, I won.”
“Well, Emily didn’t believe men could be well behaved at a bachelor party, and I felt it was my mission to show her otherwise.”
Ayden didn’t look like he was buying it.
“It’s true. You can go ask her.”
“Nah,” he whispered, sliding his arms around my waist. “So about that lingerie.”
I giggled as he ran his whiskers along my throat, tormenting me.
“It will be perfect for the warm Bermuda weather.”
“I know you’re not going to make me wait until our honeymoon.”
I laughed. “I’ve made you wait this long. Why in the world do you think I’d stop now?”
“Because you’re not that cruel.”
I rested my hands on chest as he pulled his whiskers from my skin and looked me in the eye.
“What?” I whispered.
“Are you that mean?” he asked.
“I am. I really am.”
I couldn’t tell him how much it was killing me to wait, or he’d use that to his advantage, and my resolve wouldn’t be able to last a minute.
“I guess the guests of honor shouldn’t hide out in the kitchen,” he whispered.
“Doesn’t look like we’re missed though,” I said perplexed, as everyone was chatting away and back to playing video games.
“They wouldn’t miss us if we snuck off.” He tried again.
“I bet at least one person would.”
He exhaled a deep sigh and slid his hand to the small of my back, gently leading us to the family room. They’d left us two places on the couch, which we took over. I curled my legs under me and rested my head on Ayden’s shoulder.
“I can’t wait to show you some footage of Emily, Gabby, and Brandy singing their hearts out,”
“To what?” Jason asked, completely intrigued.
Gabby giggled. “None of your business.”
“Why don’t you guess?” Brandy hiccupped.
“Dinner catching up with you?” Aaron asked, amused.
“No,” she said exasperated, but another hiccup snuck out and we all laughed.
“So we’re walking down the aisle in a matter of days,” I began. “And Gabby’s walking down the aisle in December…”
Brandy glanced at Aaron awkwardly. “Yeah? What are you getting at?”
“I was wondering when you guys are going to get married? Still thinking of summer?” I asked.
Aaron’s gaze fell to the floor before connecting with Brandy’s, and my pulse raced. This wasn’t quite the reaction I thought I’d get. I expected to hear none of your business or, yeah, next summer.
“We…we haven’t really had time to talk about it,” Brandy said, her eyes avoiding mine.
“Really?” Gabby was suddenly interested. “I find that hard to believe.”
“It’s true,” Aaron replied. “Since we got back from Paris, I’ve been playing catch up and Brandy’s been busy with—”
“No need to make excuses,” Emily assured them both. “When you get around to it, you’ll figure it all out.”
Ayden squeezed me confirming my sense of things. Brandy hadn’t complained about one single thing with Aaron. In fact, since they’d returned from Paris, I’d say things were stronger than ever, but now I wasn’t so sure.
It definitely felt like they were hiding something from us, something big, and it bothered me. I glanced around the room, and Jason and Derek were already back playing, and Gabby was snacking on potato chips. Now was definitely not the time or the place to bring it up.
“And I thought we sucked at hiding things,” Ayden whispered so low I almost didn’t hear it.
Beyond Promise Page 12