“Thank you, Ellie.”
Ellie glanced over at me, still smiling. “For what?”
“Just being you.”
Ellie turned and brought me in for a hug. “It’s about fucking time this is happening. Now, we just need to work on dysfunctional couple number three.”
We both laughed as I hugged her tighter. She pulled away and gave me a smile that melted my heart.
I turned back to the window and saw Jenny talking to Jeff. He looked up at me. We both waved at each other, and my heart started pounding. I put my hands to my stomach and closed my eyes.
I wasn’t sure how long I had been standing at the window. When I felt a hand on my shoulder, I turned around only to have my mother take me into her arms as she hugged the living shit out of me.
“Oh my goodness, my baby girl is getting married. I just can’t believe it, Arianna. It seems like it was just yesterday when you were ten years old, and you came back from your first bike ride in the new neighborhood. You walked into the kitchen, and your father and I were unpacking dishes, so we could make dinner. You hopped up on the kitchen counter and made an announcement that almost had your father heading to the hospital.”
“I don’t remember this. What did I say?”
“You looked at us both, and as serious as all get out, you said, ‘I found the boy I’m gonna marry someday. So Daddy, you better start saving ‘cause I want a big wedding when I marry Ellie’s brother.’”
Oh my god, I totally forgotten all about that. I let out a laugh. “Mom, I so remember that now! Daddy told me to dream on, and then he asked what Ellie’s brother’s name was because he was going to start having him watched.” We both busted out laughing.
“Mom, Jeff swears that Daddy has someone following him.”
My mother winked at me, and for one brief second, I thought it might actually be true.
“Alright, since you wouldn’t put any quotes from the great Katharine Hepburn in your wedding vows, I’m going to give you before we go and take a look at everything.”
“Mom, really, you’ve been told this obsession with KH is not healthy right? I mean, I’ve told you, and I know Daddy has. And our marathon Katharine Hepburn movie night last night…was that really necessary? I’ve never seen Heather fall asleep so fast in my life.”
“Psssh, that girl is exhausted from too much school. At any rate, do you want to hear the quote or not?”
“Fine, I’m sure I’ve heard it before though.”
“Maybe, but you’re going to hear it again. ‘Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get only with what you are expecting to give which is everything.’ Always love each other with everything you’ve got, Arianna. And never, ever, go to bed mad because I swear you wake up even more pissed off than you were when you went to sleep.”
“Mom, that is beautiful…the quote, I mean. I already know about the whole going-to-bed mad and don’t worry. Jeff and I have great make-up se...”
“Oh, for the love of all things good in this world, child, stop your mouth right there!”
***
I was in total awe as Ells, Heather, Amanda and I walked around the courtyard. The decorations were kept very simple out here. White chairs were all I wanted. Each row had a simple silver bow tied onto the end chair. Beautiful branch trees that Jeff, Josh, Brad, and Gunner spray-painted with white glitter paint were placed in buckets and covered up with decorative snow. Somehow, Jenny had placed lights at the base of the trees, and the way the lights shined through the trees were breath-taking. The arbor was simply covered in white lights, and it looked amazing. I smiled, thinking about how I would be under that thing in just a few hours.
“What time is it?” I asked.
“We have an hour and a half. Let’s keep moving,” Jenny said.
When we made our way into the ballroom, I let out a gasp.
“Holy hell Jen. It’s…it’s...”
“Magical!” Heather, Amanda, and Ellie all said at once.
I turned, looking at them all, and smiled.
“Oh. My. God. That’s what I was going to say!” I said as I jumped up and down.
Ellie gave me a wink as she walked farther in. I saw the center piece decorations and smiled. The square glass candle holders were perfect. We had filled them up with fake snow and placed small branches in them. Cotton branches with the cotton still on the branch surrounded each center piece, and I absolutely loved that Josh had come up with the idea to place them on the tables. His uncle had a cotton farm, and he’d sent us a ton of them to use. The glowing votive candles that were lit added just the right touch. It was perfect.
My mother had insisted we use glass china. The white plates with the sliver-edged lining looked stunning on the table. I was so glad that I let her win that battle. The silver napkins even looked amazing.
The tables had white linen on them, but a beautiful silver lace fabric that Ellie had picked out was laid over it. The chairs were all covered in white fabric with silver sashes tied on them, and all I could think about was how long it would take before some drunken idiot spilled something on them.
The wedding party table was unreal. They had placed bigger birch trees in the middle and surrounded the base with white roses and stargazers. I could smell the flowers. I looked up and saw clear ornaments hanging from the trees. They were catching all the light from the candles and chandeliers.
“I can’t believe how incredibly beautiful this all looks, y’all. I’m beyond words right now,” I said as I started to feel the tears well up in my eyes.
“Don’t cry, we’ll have to touch up your makeup even more,” Amanda said as she took my hand and led me over to the dance floor.
Gunner’s dad was talking to the DJ as he handed him a list. I’d left all that up to Jeff. I didn’t care what we had as far as music went. My dad had wanted a band, and Jeff had wanted a DJ. I saw that Jeff won that fight.
Then, I saw the table with the cakes. I smiled when I saw Jeff’s cake. It was a chocolate cake with a Ford truck on it. As I got closer, I really started laughing. I looked at Ellie, who was frowning.
“Are you kidding me? You let him put that on his cake?” Ellie said as she placed her hands on her hips.
Amanda and Heather busted out laughing.
“I did, Ellie, it’s his cake. He wanted a truck on it with the words ‘Truck Yeah.’ Who am I to say no?” I said while trying to hold back my laughter.
Ellie turned to face at me. “You’re all crazy. I hope you know that.”
I gave her a wink and walked over to the bride’s cake. It was breath-taking. It was a four- tiered white cake with silver accents along the edge and a few crystal snowflakes carefully placed around it. I loved it.
“Ari, are you happy with everything?” Jen asked as she put her arm around me.
“Oh my gosh, Jen, I’m beyond happy. You’ve really outdone yourself this time. I mean, this is like a fairy-tale wedding.”
“Good,” Jen said, smiling.
I turned around to see my dad leaning up against the wall. I smiled at how handsome he looked and how happy he seemed to be.
“Oh, Daddy.” I ran into his arms and held him tight. “You’ve made all my dreams come true with this wedding. It must have cost you a small fortune!”
“You, my baby girl, are worth every single dime. After all, you gave me a pretty good advanced notice when you announced your marriage to your mother and me at age ten.”
I let out a giggle. “Mom brought that up to me a little bit ago.”
“He’s a good man, Ari, and he loves you very much.”
Oh shit. I was going to cry. I was so going to cry.
“Daddy….”
As my voice cracked, he held out his arms. I walked into his arms, and he held me so tight.
“Always know this, Arianna. No man will ever love you like I love you. He will never worry about you like I’ll worry about you. He will never be able to hurt anyone who hurts you like I will.”
I threw my head back and laughed. “Thank you, Daddy. Thank you so much for everything. I know you like Jeff, Daddy. So why do you give him such a hard time?”
“The same reason why he’ll do it to some poor sap when he wants to marry your daughter.”