"I haven't finished!" he shouts and most people quieten down to hear him out. "I just wanted to say that, while I may have been part of the conspiracy to get these two talking again, my co-conspirator and I could not have predicted the impact Danny would have on all our lives. The love these two have for one another was one thing on paper, but seeing them lay eyes on each other for the first time in twelve years stopped me in my tracks, I even dropped table three's burgers! It was electric, you could feel the atmosphere change in the room. I realised then that nobody could have ever filled the space left by Danny, but Danny."
He focuses on me now. "Danny, I feel very lucky, you see, when you have a relationship like Liv and I, it’s rarely understood by partners. But you didn't just get it, you enriched it. We have been through a lot, you and Liv and I. So now I'm not just able to say I like my best friend’s husband, I can say I consider him to be one of my closest friends. I wish you a lifetime of happiness together and I know I’m going to be there to share it." He raises his glass. "To my best friends," he says and the crowd responds. "Danny and Liv." He pulls me into a hug and claps me on the back.
Now it’s me. Taking a deep breath, I hold Liv's hand and pull her with me to the mic. I’ve a speech written in my pocket, but after those, it just seems too stuffy. I don't even get it out, I'm going to wing it. "Whoo!" I breathe, just to let everyone know I'm struggling.
"Okay, this is harder than yesterday!" I glance at Liv, she is quietly drying her eyes. She gives me a look, like, 'come on, you can do this'. So I suck it up.
"I just want to say thanks. Thanks to everyone for whatever you did to help me. For a month, people have done favors, kept secrets, lied, hidden things, travelled in secret, put people up secretly who have travelled in secret! The list of things to thank you for is endless. So thank you all for making today happen for us. I had to do it this way because this girl WOULD NOT let me propose to her." I laugh trying to make light of the facts, but I do want to talk about it because it’s our story.
"I’ve nearly missed out on this future twice in my life, so it was very important to get it right this time. I couldn't leave it to chance. You see, I was only half living without you," I say, turning to Liv. "I'm certain it was the same for you.” She smiles in agreement.
“As we’ve already covered, I fell in love with you the moment I saw you. You were sitting on your front step, brushing your Barbie’s hair. You were so beautiful I couldn’t speak, but you just waved like it was nothing. I’ve never been the same again. I tried being without you, life is nothing without you.”
I swallow hard, desperate to finish before this emotion takes over. “Thank you for giving us this chance, Liv, you’ll never regret it, I swear.” I draw Liv in for a lingering kiss, while people clap and make approving noises. “I love you,” I tell her. Then I turn back to the mic. “Now, I’m going to dance with my wife!” I start to move off the stage but Liv pulls me back.
“Hold on!” she exclaims, pulling the mic out of the stand. “You didn’t seriously think I would say nothing did you?” She grins. I shake my head in wonder. She’s incredible.
“Hi everyone.” She waves. “I just wanted the chance to speak…I can’t believe this. Yesterday I was wondering what Danny would cook me for dinner tonight and if I should clean the bathroom today, or let him do it as it’s my birthday. Now here I am at my dream wedding with my one true love.” She looks at me and laughs when she sees me no longer able to hold it back. She hands me her tissue.
“Danny said that he’s loved me since we were six years old. Well, of course I have too. But let me tell you, it’s hard when you find your soul mate so young. Circumstances pulled us apart before we found our voices and although we both tried to make a life apart, something was always missing. We needed a second chance because we just weren’t ready for the first one.” She wipes a tear with her finger and smiles softly at me. “Okay, so perhaps we needed a third chance too. You see we did doubt and we did underestimate and we did believe the worst, but only because we were too young the first time and too hurt the second time.
“But we’ve changed and if we’re not the same, things can only turn out differently.” I swallow hard, she’s going to finish me. She takes my hand again. “Thank you for offering me this chance, of course I know I’ll never regret it. Thank you for this perfect day and for knowing me inside out. I always knew you were perfect for me, but today proves it beyond doubt.” She laughs and adds, “I didn’t know that you’d planned a first dance and we’ve never had an ‘our song’ but I’ve had the perfect one in mind since I was seventeen. I just asked for it to be played… and I was informed that we've picked the same song!…So please will you dance with me to our song?” she asks leaning in to my chest as I wrap my arms around her.
“Did you seriously pick the same song?” I ask in disbelief, as everyone cheers.
“Uh-huh.” She grins. I lead her down the steps as people move off the small dance floor in front of the stage.
“Why?” I ask, wondering if she would realise why it’s significant, we never discussed it.
“You know why,” she says close to my ear.
The music starts with the word ‘Wonderful’ and I hold her close as the bass drum sounds once. ‘Some kind of wonderful’ by The Drifters, fills the bar and Liv and I dance as if no one else is there. She looks in my eyes as we move. We aren’t great dancers, but it doesn’t matter.
“Why?” I ask her again. “Say it. I need to know that it means the same to you.”
“Because it was playing the first time we…our first time,” she replies, her smile glitters. I close my eyes and pull her tight. I never realised she even knew that, let alone remembered it. It was always on in her room, the ‘Dirty Dancing’ sound track, it was just chance that that track was playing. But I’ve never forgotten and apparently neither did she. While I’m lost in thought, her lips find mine.
Chapter Twenty-four
Danny
I love you too.
“Come to bed with me,” I whisper in Liv’s ear as she stands watching her sister and Jen tear up the dance floor.
She giggles. “We can’t just leave the party.”
“Half the guests have left since midnight, I’m getting impatient and those two could go on for hours.”
She looks like she’s considering it. “I should say goodnight,” she says.
“No! That'll take forever, please just sneak out with me.”
“We can’t!”
“Sure we can.” I grab her and scoop her up in my arms. Then I yell, “Night everyone!” I see people turn towards us but I don’t hang around, I take my wife inside as fast as I can. She’s giggling, while telling me off for being so rude to our guests.
“Relax, everyone important will be here for breakfast in the morning, my treat. We can apologise then. Right now, I want you and I don’t care about them.” She punches the code while I hold her. I won’t let her down in case she escapes. We’re kissing as we step into the hallway and I let her feet back down to the floor once the door is firmly closed behind us. Our kiss is hungry and we stumble slightly, trying to make progress on the stairs while greedily consuming each other. Eventually I step back and fall onto the step behind me. Liv climbs on top of me and I groan as she presses herself against me. I’m painfully hard. She has on that dress and I’ve been watching her all night, imagining taking it off, I can't stand it anymore, I have to shift her off me. As I do she glances up.