Buckingham Nicks A/U Series: That's What Love Is All About

Prologue 1: Beyond A Shadow Of A Doubt

Birmingham, England
Saturday, December 14, 2024
(4:00 pm)
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"Okay now, I've got the new, the borrowed and the blue...shit, I need the old. I should have planned this ahead of time."

Olivia McVie stood in the center of the bedroom in the English castle that had been deemed Bridal Party Headquarters as soon as the women had arrived the day before. The long white satin gown she wore with its halter neckline and the mermaid bottom had just a sprinkling of tiny silver rhinestones on it which matched the silver rhinestone clip on one side of her long blonde bob, and Aunt Stevie had been teasing her since she'd gotten dressed by following her around, champagne glass in hand, singing, "Rock on, silver dust woman...take my crazy son, and you'll be brave..." Julia, her Matron of Honor, as well as her bridesmaids, Sara and Amber, had been laughing about it all afternoon, trading makeup brushes and hair tools as they sat in matching white silk robes custom-ordered on Etsy by the Mother of the Groom - well, her assistant Karen who knew how to use the internet - and Stevie had been adding lyrics every time she burst into song and parodied her own work. "Husbands make great lovers," she'd added. "You'll know that from the time he lifts your veil!" It was Olivia's opinion that Aunt Stevie was having way too much fun singing to her, which had been obvious when Amber had made mention of the wedding night some time before and Stevie, the mother of the man in question, had chosen another one of her greatest hits to joke around with and covered her ears singing, "Really I don't want to know."

Stevie nearly choked swallowing her champagne, jumping from her seat by the window that looked out on a snowy December afternoon in the English countryside. She just about yelled, "Liv! Holy shit I forgot!" She was rooting around in a Louis Vuitton duffel bag for something and quickly found it, shouting, "Eureka!" She was hurrying past her three confused daughters holding a pearl bracelet with a little silver snowflake clasp. "Your mom bought this for me when I had Amber in Aspen in the middle a snowstorm...and Amber's almost thirty so that's old enough." She laughed, looking at Amber, who tipped her champagne glass towards her mother with a wink. Stevie had been every bit as amped up a few months ago on her own wedding day, so much so that the Best Man, her husband's brother, had included it in his toast and joked about Fleetwood Mac in their cocaine years.

Stevie was already clasping the bracelet around Olivia's wrist, saying, "It's old, and it's yours, sweetheart. It's another piece of your mom you can keep with you today...and forever."

"Thanks, Aunt Stevie," Olivia said, hugging her. "Are you sure?"

Stevie nodded, careful not to allow tears to ruin her makeup. "Chris came to the house with gifts for the baby and then snuck this in my hand and said, 'So you can always remember that snow isn't so bad because it brought you another little Buckingham.'" Stevie's hatred of snow unless it was in Aspen was legendary. "Anyway, you keep it, Liv. Your mother gave it to me for the birth of my daughter, and now you're marrying my son...so basically, Buckinghams and McVies forever. One big family." The two women hugged again.

Julia, who was dressed for the wedding in her green velvet dress, looked up from her phone through her reading glasses. "Hey Mom, Sara, Daddy just texted me from downstairs to get both of you to go down there. Apparently Baby Lindsey is crying for Mommy."

Sara set her glass of champagne down on the table. Her daughter Lindsey, who was a year and a half old, was what Stevie called a "sweater baby" because she clung to her side. She said, "Ugh I get like twenty minutes and she's off and running...only sixteen and a half years till she goes to college!" But she laughed; Lindsey Christine Carter, a blonde-haired, blue-eyed baby girl sitting downstairs with her grandfather in her tiny plumb velvet dress, was the love of her life.