Stella hands me my bouquet, which is white lilies with some green and red flowers behind it. I don’t ask her what kind of flowers they are, because that isn’t important to me. The flowers are beautiful, and perfect, and I thank her for them, and for everything she did to help me pull this together. My bridesmaids line up, holding the fans they’re carrying instead of flowers, and as I watch them go, I feel myself tear up.
My grandmother hands me a tissue. “I hope those are happy tears.”
“You know they are.”
“He is a good man.”
“The best.”
She nods, and then my music starts. Instead of the traditional wedding march, I’m going with a Chinese C-Pop wedding song. Kace helped me arrange for the singer to be here and perform it for us. My grandparents take their places beside me, and we begin to walk. My steps falter when I see Gavin. He’s wearing a Mandarin coat, with a patterned vest underneath. From old wedding pictures, I know he is dressed exactly how my father was when he married my mother. As I walk closer, I realize that the vest is exactly the same design as my father wore. I have to bite my lip to keep from openly sobbing at this beautiful gesture from him. He smiles so brightly at me that my feet automatically start moving again.
Gavin holds out his hand for mine as we reach him, and after they both kiss my cheeks, my grandparents take my right hand and place it in his. “Thank you for the most beautiful gift of your granddaughter,” he tells them. The feminist in me wants to yell at him for saying that, but the romantic woman who is in love with him overpowers her to swoon a little.
“You’re wearing…”
“Is it okay? Stella was able to find the vest at a vintage shop.”
“It’s perfect. Thank you.”
“You’re perfect. You look amazingly gorgeous.”
“Thank you.”
“We should probably get married now,” he tells me with a smile.
“Yeah. Let’s do that.”
The ceremony is a traditional Western one, but I have something planned at the end. Before we walk down the aisle, I turn to Gavin, speaking loud enough for those gathered with us to hear. “I wanted to do something that would honor our fathers, and also let our friends honor any loved ones they’ve lost.”
“I love that you want to include everyone.”
“I do,” I tell him, giving him a kiss before I turn back to the guests. “Everyone, please join us in the front of the house. We are going to light lanterns and send them into the sky for our loved ones who have passed on.”
We lead everyone to the front, and light our lanterns first, letting them float out of our hands and into the night sky. My friends all do the same. The Corrigans light theirs together, and then I see Matt light another one, and I know it is for the man he accidentally killed. Reina wraps her arms around him as he lets it go. It’s a beautiful sight, the sea of lanterns floating through the air. Gavin turns me to him, and kisses me again. “Beautiful.”
“They are.”
“I meant you.”
“Oh, well thank you.”
“Candi’s motioning us over for pictures, and then we can have dinner.”
“I can’t wait. I’m sure your students did justice to our recipes.”
“They did. I checked in on them before I got dressed.”
“I’m sure you did,” I say with a laugh, as we walk over to join the rest of the wedding party.
We take our pictures while the guests inside enjoy some appetizers, and a traditional lion dance. I change into my red gown, and Candi takes candid pictures of us as we walk in to cheers. The lion leads us to our table for two. Our friends and my family are seated around us, but there are too many to include at one table. Gavin really wanted it to be just the two of us, and after driving him crazy over the wedding, I wasn’t going to argue with him over this. Especially since eating between us is always very intimate, no matter where we are.
When the waiter brings us each two glasses of beer instead of the wine we picked for dinner, I shoot Gav a quizzical look. “I have a surprise for you.”
“Beer?”
“A special meal. Just for us. And yes, beer.”
The plates are brought out a couple of minutes later, and it all becomes clear to me. These glasses of beer aren’t just any drink. They’re our fathers’ favorite drinks. To go along with the orange duck that my father loved, and the shepherd’s pie that Gavin’s told me was his father’s favorite.
“You…you cooked this for us, didn’t you?” I ask, as tears fall down my face.
“Your grandfather helped. You did things to make sure their presence was known to everyone. I wanted to do the same, just for us.”
“It’s…thank you. I love you so much, Gav.”
“You’re welcome, and it’s a good thing you love me, because you’re stuck with me forever.”
“Beyond forever, my love.”
We kiss to more cheers, but I tune them out as I think of nothing but Gavin and how he knows what I need, even before I do. Our relationship may have started out with lies and secrets, but now we have love, and a life together. I can’t wait to see what comes next.
Stella & Kace
Stella
“You need to tell Kace,” Tegan says to me as I turn from side to side in my lace, strapless, mermaid style gown.
“Not yet.”
“He’s going to find out. You can’t keep what you’re doing a secret from him forever.”
“Well, duh. He’ll know in two weeks.”
“As your best friend, I really need to tell you again that this is a bad idea. I know you think it’s romantic, and it is, but I don’t think he’ll see it that way.”
“Of course he’ll see it that way. He loves me.”
“He does, Stell, but this may be too much. Just tell him how you feel. What you want.”
“What if he doesn’t want it?”
“I highly doubt that, but even if it’s true, wouldn’t it be better to find that out now?”
“No. He won’t embarrass me in front of our friends and family, so it’s perfect to wait until then.”
“Seriously? You want him to marry you just to avoid embarrassment? Honey, no.”
“Of course I don’t want that. He’ll marry me because he wants to.”
My phone rings, cutting off any further Debbie Downer sentiments from my bestie. It’ll all work out. It has to. I pick up the phone and smile when I see Kace’s picture flash on the screen. Or rather a picture of Kace’s abs, shark tattoo and all.
“Hi, K.”
“Stella, why did my publicist just tell me that there’s reports of us getting married in two weeks. And more importantly, why did your mom practically run from the room when I turned to ask her if she knew anything.”
He sounds pissed, and now I’m a little scared. I still try to make the best of it. “Surprise.”
There’s silence on the line for almost a full minute, and I sit on the edge of a chair in my office, not sure I can stand, but not wanting to fall and ruin my dress. I don’t think he’s going to say anything, but then I hear a sigh, and he’s talking to me again.
“You told me not to ask you to marry me, that you liked things the way they are, and now you’re planning a wedding?”
“Yes.”
“You need to stop planning this; we need to talk. There’s a flight to Vegas in two hours. I’ll be on it.”
“I’ll pick you up.”
“Don’t. You can meet me at the hotel.”
“Hotel? Kace, you’re scaring me.”
“Good, because you’ve fucking pulled the rug right out from under me. And yes, a hotel. I can’t stay with you right now.”
“I’m sorry. I’ll cancel everything. You don’t have to marry me...”
“We’ll talk when I get there. I love you, Stell.”
“I love you, too.”
I drop my phone to the floor and bury my head in my hands. “He hates me.”
“Are you kidding? That
boy loves you more than anything. He’s just angry, and well, I hate to say ‘I told you so,’ but I did.”
“I know. I KNOW!”
I messed up big time, and now it could cost me everything. I have to convince Kace not to walk away from me. There’s no other choice, and no other man, for me. He’s it, and I need to let him know that and then cancel all of the stupid plans I made for a surprise wedding he doesn’t want. As long as I have him, I don’t care about the wedding. I just need him to stay.
* * *
Kace
I texted Stella with my room number when I checked in, and now I’m waiting for her. I’m actually surprised she wasn’t already here in the lobby. I appreciate that she’s trying to give me some space after what she did. Which in all honestly, is pretty romantic. Or at least it would’ve been if we were engaged. But she didn’t want that. Or at least that’s what she told me. Now I don’t know what the hell she wants, and that worries me more than a surprise wedding ever could.
The knock at the door has me planting my feet instead of running to it, like I normally would. I really am scared to know what’s going through that beautiful mind of hers, and why it’s so important and necessary for us to get married all of a sudden. She knocks again, softer this time when most people would knock harder the second time. She knows I’m in here, and I’m pretty sure she’s scared, too. That’s what makes me move. No matter what, I love Stella more than life itself. I have to stand up for myself, but I won’t intentionally cause her any pain.
I open the door to see her in sweats and a t-shirt, her hair in a messy bun. The last time I saw her like this, she was keeping things from me. Things that tore us apart before we fought to put ourselves back together again. We haven’t kept things from each other since then, and I vow that tonight will be no different. She needs to tell me what’s going on.
“Come in, love,” I say, purposely using my nickname for her.
“I’m sorry, K. Really sorry.”
She bursts into tears, and I pull her into the room, and into my arms. “I know. It’s going to be okay.”
“I messed up,” she says to my chest.
“You did, but it’s nothing we can’t fix.”
She looks up at me then. “You mean it?”
“Of course I mean it. Let’s sit down, and you can tell me why you need us to get married all of a sudden.”
“Okay.”
I lead her to the couch, and sit us down, pulling her onto my lap. She looks surprised, but then smiles at me and puts her head on my shoulder. “Talk to me.”
“I’ve been helping plan everyone’s weddings.”
“And doing an amazing job, I might add.”
“Thanks.”
“So tell me, what made you change your mind about marriage?”
“I was at lunch last week with the girls, and they were all talking about being Mrs. now or becoming Mrs. All of a sudden it hit me that I wanted to be Mrs. Kace Reynolds. It sounded so right in my head that I felt it all the way to my bones. I didn’t even think—I just started planning our wedding. Surprising you seemed like such a good idea. Tegan tried to tell me to call you, but I just thought I was being romantic. Until I wasn’t.”
“You’re romantic, love. I was just shocked, because I didn’t think you wanted to get married. You said over and over that you didn’t.”
“And you don’t. I know.”
“No. You don’t know. I want to marry you. Hell, I’ve probably always wanted to marry you. I just didn’t want to push you into something you weren’t interested in.”
“You’ve let me hurt you all this time, and didn’t say a word.”
“You weren’t hurting me. Well, except for that time with the candle wax, but my abs and I survived that.”
“I just planned something small. I don’t know how it got out.”
“Some idiot spilled it, but we have a problem if you were planning small.”
“Why?”
“You once told me that if you ever did decide to get married, you wanted the biggest wedding of all.”
“Oh yeah. Well I didn’t think I could keep it a surprise if it was big.”
“Now that you don’t need to surprise me anymore, go big, my beautiful bombshell. Whatever you want. Well, except for the bouquet. I saw something online one day, and I want to do it for you.”
“My bouquet?”
“Yep.”
“Okay. You’re sure about this? All of it?”
“Marrying you and wanting you to have the big wedding of your dreams? Yes, I’m sure. In fact, it’s about time I finally gave you something.”
I sit her on the couch, and then go to my knees in front of her as I pull the ring from my pocket. I’ve had this ring for over a year, and I can’t even describe how happy I am to finally put it on Stella’s finger. She yelps, and covers her mouth with her hands.
“Stella, I think I’ve loved you since you told me you didn’t play with little boys. I worked hard to prove to you that age doesn’t matter, and I would do it all again. Okay, well, not all of it, but most. Like the bowling alley. We need to go play there again. Anyway, I would love nothing more than to spend the rest of my life being able to call you Mrs. Reynolds. Will you please marry me?”
“Yes.”
“Thank God.”
I open my palm to let her see the five carat princess cut diamond surrounded by a band of smaller diamonds that I chose for her. “It’s perfect. I love it. Oh, Kace. I love you.”
“I love you, too,” I tell her as I slide that ring on the finger it belongs to.
“I was sad that you didn’t want to come home to me, but that bed looks pretty nice.”
“You wanna see if we can break it?” I ask with a smirk as she nods.
We’ve broken more hotel beds than I can count. And I didn’t mind paying for them one damn bit. Every single one was worth it. Just like she’s worth it. Always.
* * *
Stella
Today is finally the day. My day. Our day. I’m marrying Kace today, becoming Mrs. Reynolds. It’s amazing what you can put together in two weeks when you have no budget, and a rolodex filled with famous and influential friends. Add a few more rolodexes to the mix, nine to be exact, and yeah, magic happens.
I’m in my lace mermaid gown, with my hair in an intricate updo, and a veil hanging down my back. The girls are all in green ball gowns, neon green for nine of them, and emerald green for Tegan. That hair of hers would’ve clashed with the lighter color, and she wouldn’t dye it for me despite my pleas, so I relented and had a special one created for her. They all look like princesses with the tulle and taffeta strapless gowns, and that’s exactly what I wanted. I’m no princess, but that doesn’t mean my girls can’t be.
The only thing I’m nervous about now is my bouquet. Kace said it would be delivered before the ceremony, and I’m still waiting. Logically, I know my mom will be bringing it to me once she’s done getting him and the other guys dressed, but I’m still anxious. Everyone else has white roses, which I picked because they are classic and classy, and also so they’d match whatever I’m getting.
“I believe you need a bouquet,” she says, gliding into the room, looking like a glamorous movie star from the Fifties in her pale green dress. She has a box in her hand, and I eagerly take it from her.
I practically tear off the ribbon, and throw off the top. What I see steals my breath away. Kace didn’t just get me a bouquet, he got me the perfect bouquet. It’s not made of flowers, but rather antique diamond brooches. Some are shaped like flowers, while others are butterflies or just swirls of diamonds.
“Oh. My. God.”
“That boy of yours did good. He found them all on line himself. He even tried to put them together into the bouquet, but I had to step in.”
“Thanks, Mom. I can’t believe he did this.”
“He loves you.”
“I love him, too. So much. I was scared I was going to lose him when I was so stupid about this
wedding.”
“You didn’t give him enough credit.”
“I know. It’s just I worry that things are too perfect between us. I feel like we can’t really be this happy forever.”
“Why not? You’ve found your forever, Stella. Stop fighting it, and just embrace what you have.”
“Thanks for the pep talk.”
“That’s what you keep me around for.”
“I love you, Mom.”
“And I love you, my beautiful girl. Now let’s go get you married.”
Because we’re having such a grand wedding, I asked for permission to use the grounds at our apartments. We don’t usually let anyone but our closest friends and family in, but this is the most secure building I know of anywhere, and Ainsley and Scott were able to block all camera, and satellite feeds. Reina got the space over us declared a no-fly zone, and now I’m about to walk down the aisle to my pop star without the eyes of the world on us. Just the 300 invited guests. I won’t win the contest for grandest since that title belongs to Reina for her televised affair. She hated every second of it, and honestly, I’m just fine with the way this wedding has turned out. Being Mrs. Reynolds means more to me than any wedding ever could.
Society Weddings (Corrigan & Co. Book 11) Page 3