“Yes. I know. No worries there. We’ll have no problem consummating anything. I’m looking forward to it. We plan to consummate all over the place. And then tomorrow it’s off to Fiji.”
“Is your luggage all packed?”
“Hell yes. I’ve been packed for a week. I even got a second set of make-up so I don’t have to worry about last minute anything. I am all ready.”
“I can’t believe you and Grant are going to be gone for a whole month! You’re a lucky bitch,” Samantha said with love.
“You can visit the last week,” I teased. “Why don’t you and Dylan go there on your honeymoon?”
“We’re touring Europe. Paris, Italy, England, Spain. It’s going to be amazing.” Samantha looked off as if she was dreaming about it all.
“Now if you’d just set the date …”
“Shut up. I know the date. I just haven’t told anyone yet.”
I heard someone coming down the stairs slowly and grabbed Jack’s cup and held it out behind me. I felt him take it and he joined Samantha and I at the table.
“So, Lanie, this is the big day. You and Grant, finally, after all this time. Your mom would be so happy today.”
“Dad, she is. She is happy. And so are you, right?”
“Of course. Grant’s already like a son to me. This just makes the holidays easier. No worrying about in-laws I hate. I like your in-laws a lot already. Hell, I have since grade school.”
“Well, that’s good. Eat something. The cocktail hour isn’t for hours. I’ve heard your stomach growl. It’s loud. I don’t want it to ruin the wedding,” Samantha said as she shoved the plate of bagels towards him.
I giggled. Of course, this morning I was giggling at everything. I was on a giddy-high. Well, more like a Grant-high. I sat and thought about everything we’d been through together, from our childhood to recently. There was so much it was overwhelming, and suddenly there were tears in my eyes.
“What’s wrong?” Jack said nervously.
“There’s nothing wrong. She’s just full of emotions today, happiness and excitement. It’s a lot. Right, Lanie? Nothing’s wrong, right?”
“No, nothing’s wrong. I just have so much history with Grant. And today, I’m marrying him. It’s just … I have no words.”
“You’re where you’re meant to be. You and Grant, you were fated to be together. Written in the stars,” Jack said as he slurped his coffee. I just looked at him, poetic, aside of the slurp. It touched my heart to hear my father say it.
We heard grumbling and all turned toward the noise. Chelsie. She looked like she’d been side-swiped by a truck. Her eyes were half-closed and her make-up from the night before was smeared across her face. Her hair was all over the place. Apparently she and Steve had seen some action after the rehearsal dinner last night. They were both toasted. Samantha had insisted on not drinking a lot so everyone would look great for pictures, but I think Chelsie and Steve had actually gotten sentimental and spent most of the night reminiscing about their own wedding, which was only two years prior.
“I need coffee and a shower. Now,” she mumbled as she slumped herself into a chair.
“You’re looking lovely as ever this morning, Chelsie,” Jack said as he handed her an extra large mug of coffee. Samantha and I giggled as Chelsie flipped him off and took her cup.
“Nice, Chelsie, after I give you coffee and a compliment.” Jack kept at her. She side-eyed him and took a long gulp of the dark, hot brew.
“Come on Chels, give us a big smile for the bride,” Jack continued. Despite her obvious morning grumpiness, Chelsie cracked a smile on one side of her scowl.
“Aw, thanks for the huge effort there, Chels,” I joined my dad. She flipped me off, too.
“Now, now, Chels, that’s not the way to treat the bride on her big day.” Samantha couldn’t help herself.
“Fine. I’ll be all cheery if you stop talking to me. Okay?” Chelsie was starting to perk up and I’d have my second Maid of Honor in a few moments.
After a nice breakfast, we all headed up to start getting ready. Samantha spent an hour twisting and braiding my hair and adding small stephanotis to it to prepare it for my veil. Chelsie was in charge of make-up and she gave me dramatic smoky eyes and my lips were a deep java color. I looked hot so far and didn’t even have my gown on. My dad was getting nervous and started to run in and out of the room making time announcements and letting us know when the flowers, caterer and photographer had arrived. I could only imagine what he’d been like the day I’d been born.
“Gown time. Where is it?” Samantha said nervously.
“It’s up in the walk. I wanted to get my mom’s vibe all over it before I put it on.”
“Okay, I’ll send Jack to get it.”
“No, I’ll get it. My mom should see me on my wedding day and I want to thank her for the dress. I know you think it’s weird but … it’s something I have to do.” I smiled and headed up to the walk in my bathrobe and wedding undergarments.
“Mom? I just want to let you know it’s time to put your gown on. I tried not to change it too much. I hope you like it.”
Tap Tap Tappity Tap Tap
I reached for the gown and felt a hand on mine. I pulled it back instinctively and then moved it back to the dress. I smiled because I could feel my mom all around me, like she was holding me. I put my arms over my chest as if to hold her back. Everything felt warm and tingly.
“You’ll watch the wedding, right? It’s a perfect view from up here, right there on the edge of the cliff.
Tap Tap Tap
“Okay, Mom. Well, I have to get ready to marry Grant. I love you. I wish you were here.”
Tap Tap
I smiled because I knew she was. I headed downstairs and Samantha helped me get into my gown. It was an off-the-shoulder with a plunging back gown that was fitted in the waist and opened back into a full-skirted bottom, not poofy, with a semi-long train. There wasn’t a lot of decoration all over, just a single line of rhinestones along the neckline and the hem. I looked at myself in the mirror and felt my eyes tear up.
“No. What are you doing? There’s no crying. You’ll mess up that amazing job I did on your eyes!” Chelsie freaked. She was immediately at my side with hairspray and fanning hands. She fanned at my eyes and then hair sprayed my face.
“There, that should keep everything in place.”
“Including my eyes glued shut.”
I heard her giggle and then I turned back to the mirror as Samantha placed my waist-long veil in my hair. She was suddenly under my skirt sliding up the borrowed garter and taping six pence into my shoe.
“While you’re down there …”
“You’ll have to wait for your husband for that,” she mused as she put a final stitch into my gown.
“Think you have all the superstitions covered?” I said with raised eyebrows.
“I just want all the bases covered. I even put the Irish travel coin in your luggage. We’re still missing one thing though, something blue.”
“Oh, wait, I have that. Lanie, Grant told me to give this to you once you had the dress on,” Chelsie said as she handed me a blue velvet box. I opened it up to find a beautiful platinum chain with a Tanzanite heart dangling from it.
“It’s beautiful.” I took it out of the box and held it out for Chelsie to put around my neck. It was perfect. “Why did he do this?”
“He said it’s your wedding present. It reminds him of the color of the ocean he’s stared at with you almost every day of your lives together. He wanted to capture that ocean and give it to you. He said you’d understand.”
I did. When we were young, I would tell Grant how I would gather all the stars and give them to him in a jar like fireflies. One star for every wonderful thing he did for me. I told him it would be the entire sky because he was always so good to me. He told me he would collect every drop in the ocean to give back for every time I made him smile. I laughed when I thought about the cuff links Dylan was giving
him today. They were diamond encrusted with a note to Grant about the stars. I felt the tears start and then realized Chelsie had clogged my tear ducts with hair spray.
Chelsie and Samantha looked gorgeous in their cobalt blue gowns. They were pretty basic, but elegant and classy just the same. Strapless fitted gowns with a sweetheart neckline and a dramatic slit up the front. They each wore their hair up with Blue False Gilia throughout their hair. I heard Jack clear his throat.
“Come on in, Dad.”
“Lanie, the photographer is—” And he stopped dead. He just stared at me.
“What? What’s wrong? Is my epidermis showing?” I giggled. He didn’t answer but I watched as his eyes filled with tears. He smiled and nodded his head. He thought I looked beautiful.
“Okay, when you can speak again, you can send him up.”
* * *
When the photographer had left to set up for the ceremony, I waited anxiously to go down to the cliff to marry my love.
“You have to pee?”(
“Are you thirsty?”(
“Are you ready?”(
“Nervous?”
The questions were coming from everyone and incessantly. I just smiled, shot a glance at the clock and knew it was time to head out.
“I hear the string quartet. I think it’s time.”
I peeked out the door to see the entire grounds decorated in white, blue and salmon flowers. There were tables with white linens, crystal, and china all over them, and in the center was an arrangement of flowers in a large conch shell surrounded by other shells. All the trees were once again lit with miniature white lights. It was a fairytale view; something every bride would want for her wedding day. The band was setting up and I could see the wait staff doing last minute touch-ups. I couldn’t see the actual area where the ceremony would take place from my vantage point, but I knew it was beautiful. I could hear the string quartet and could see some of the guests heading over. My heart was racing. I was ready to just run out and marry Grant. It was all that mattered and I was becoming increasingly impatient.
“It’s time,” Samantha said excitedly. I could hear the string quartet begin to play the wedding march in the distance. I watched as Chelsie and Samantha joined Dylan and Steve and began to walk towards the ceremony area.
“Are you ready, Lanie? I’m not going to ask if you’re sure you want to do this and help you sneak out the front door or anything. I know you want this. I know you want him.” Jack smiled and held out his arm. I grabbed hold and clutched my bouquet in the other. Okay, so maybe the bride-nervousness was there just a little. But I had not one doubt in my mind. Jack and I set off and step-by-step we got closer. I tried to get a quick glimpse of Grant before everyone stood up and blocked my view before we rounded the corner.
And then—I saw him. He was a vision of complete perfection and happiness. The grin alone on his face was priceless; he was beaming. He looked extremely hot in his black tux. I couldn’t take my eyes off his. Suddenly there was no one else there, just Grant and me. I couldn’t hear the music anymore. We got closer and closer and soon I felt my dad release me, saw him shake Grant’s hand and then take mine to put in his. I felt him place a soft kiss on my cheek and tell me he loved me.
I could feel the energy between us where our hands were touching. His eyes were glistening and sparkling; so I can only imagine the emotions were building up for both of us. I smiled and he told me he loved me with no words. The priest did his whole we-are-gathered-together speech and I could only focus on Grant, the man who would be my husband any second now.
“I understand the couple have prepared their own vows. The rings, please.” Samantha and Dane pulled the rings out and each handed us one. Grant and I had promised to keep the vows real, from us, and from the heart.
I turned to Grant and placed the ring on his finger.
“Grant, my love, you have been by my side since the day I was born. You have been one of my best friends and a part of my family for as long as I can remember. Today you’ll become a part of my family forever. You bring the best out of me every day. You pull me up when I’m down. You make me laugh when I’m crying and you make a damn great bowl of chicken soup when I’m sick. I couldn’t imagine another person in this entire world I would want by my side for the rest of my life. I know you’ll make the best father ever and I can’t wait for the day I see you hold our child in your arms. I want to be that old couple everyone sees walking hand in hand down the beach, still in love. Thank you, Grant, for choosing to love me. Thank you for wanting to be my husband. I am the luckiest girl in the world and you make me so happy, in every way. I promise to never stop giving back. I will never give up on us and I’ll live every day like it’s our wedding day and honeymoon.” I winked. “I love you.”
Grant wiped a tear from his eye and had a cute smirk on his face. He took my ring and placed it on my finger.
“Lanie, there is no other woman on this earth for me. There never has been and there never will be. I have saved my heart and soul for you and I am so damn happy to be giving it to you right now. It’s yours, it always has been. You give me everything any man could ever want in life. Not the material things; the things that everybody wishes they could have and spend their whole lives searching for. Unconditional love. I know I have that with you. I promise to be everything you could ever possibly want from a husband. You make me feel alive and you complete me. I will never let you fall. I will always be by your side. Yes, we’ll be that old couple walking down the beach. I love you so much, Lanie. You are my life. I love you.” He leaned down and kissed my hand. I felt my cheeks blush and I could hear the ahs from the guests.
“By the power vested in me and in the eyes of God, your family and friends, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss your bride.”
Grant smiled and I did a little jumpy dance. He grabbed me and crushed his lips to mine as he spun me around to a full-blown dip. I could hear everyone cheering in the background and our kiss went on forever. When Grant finally pulled back he whispered in my ear, “Wait till we make love tonight. That was nothing. Unless of course you’d like to run off and consummate right now?” He kissed my neck and pulled me up so I was standing beside him.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Mr. and Mrs. Grant Bennett …
Epilogue
I Will Be With You Forever
I sat on the terrace watching my nine-month-old daughter struggle in her Uncle Dane’s arms. Grant and I just smiled and took the moment to sit back and eat something without a squirming baby in our arms. Uninterrupted bliss.
“Oh, give her to me. You love Aunt Callie, don’t you? Yes, you do.” Callie took Randi from Dane and immediately the tears stopped. Callie was six months pregnant with their second child. Samantha was three months pregnant, too. Samantha and Dylan had finally married a year after Grant and I had moved into my house. I just couldn’t imagine not having access to the widow’s walk and Nicole whenever I wanted. I knew she would want to hear the patter of her grandchildren throughout the house, so we had chosen to live there.
Callie and Dane had married about a year after them. They lived in Dane’s house. Chelsie and Steve were in the process of building a fourth house on the cliff. The plan was to be moving in within the year. They needed a larger place now that they were working on adding to our cliff brood.
“Can you see the other two?” Grant asked.
“I can see them. They’re sitting on the beach. They’re just hanging out and talking. Wait, one of them just got up. Looks like they’re heading back this way.”
I saw my son, Chris, get up and take Dane’s daughter, Emily’s, hand. They were always together and I believed they always would be. They were inseparable. I turned and smiled at Grant and he gave me a half smirk back, because he knew what I was thinking and I knew he agreed. Even Callie was on board. Dane? Well, Dane had become the overprotective father. He said he knew what guys could be like first hand. You think? He didn’t want to think of his daughter
having any kind of feelings for a boy. Any boy. But he always followed up with, if he could choose any boy, it would be Chris. Oh, how times had changed.
A few moments passed and soon Randi was reaching for me. I shot Grant a glance and smiled. He tried to take her, but like her daddy, she only wanted me. I liked it that way. She curled into my arms and began to twirl a stand of my hair against her cheek until she was blissfully asleep.
“Hey buddy, where’s Emily?” Grant quizzed Chris when he walked onto the terrace. Chris had all the charm and amazing looks of his father. His copper hair was stylishly messy and his eyes always sparkled. He was a very good-looking boy and he reminded me of Grant when we were younger.
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