Just Play Along

One Hundred Twenty-Five & One Hundred Twenty-Six

PART ONE HUNDRED TWENTY FIVE

*Jess’ POV*

Running around the house I kept throwing things into the suitcase that was open on the floor of my room.

“This is the most random collection of stuff I’ve ever seen,” Aston said, standing over it and peering down at the mess of things.

“Stop looking!” I shouted at him from the walk-in closet.

“What is all of this stuff anyway?” Aston asked, coming to stand in the doorway of the closet as I dug through pairs of shoes on the floor.

“Things I might need for the wedding.”

“You won’t need any of that stuff.”

“I might need it!” I argued back.

“Jessica,” he said, sitting down next to me on the floor, “Everything is going to be fine.”

“How do you know?” I challenged.

“Because you’ve put your heart into planning this wedding,” he said, pulling my hand away from the shoes and holding it in his own, “I know it will be perfect.”

“What if everything goes wrong though?” I worried.

“It won’t.”

“What if…”

“Jess,” Aston grinned, dragging me over to him so I was pretty much sat on his lap, “Just take a few deep breaths and relax, it’s going to be the best weekend of our lives.”

“I have no doubt it will be,” I said, “But this is what I do.”

“I know,” Aston said, kissing my cheek, “And I kind of love it.”

“You love watching me stress out?”

“You know what I mean.”

“I really don’t,” I told him as he got up from his seat and left me to dig through my shoes some more.

It was Thursday night and we were getting ready to drive up to the estate for our wedding weekend. We both had Friday off, and were planning on getting everything sorted around the estate while some people started to arrive for an evening rehearsal dinner, the wedding on Saturday afternoon with the party going well into the night. Sunday was to be a recovery day and then we were off on a two-week honeymoon in the Pacific Islands.

Somehow we’d made it to wedding weekend without the press finding out about things. I don’t know how we did it, but I was confident that we’d be left alone once we made it up to the estate.

“We’re leaving in half an hour!” Aston called through the house, “Are you going to eat something?”

“Shit,” I muttered, dumping two pairs of heels into the suitcase and standing at the top of the stairs, “Can you make me something?” I shouted down.

“Already on it!” he called back.

“Love you!”

A quick wander into the bathroom to make sure I had everything and then I zipped up the spare suitcase, dragging it down the stairs to add to the collection of other suitcases and garment bags. I couldn’t trust Marnie with my dress so I’d made my mother pick it up for me.

It was one of those no-brainer decisions I’d made, getting my dress sorted out. Instead of sitting in a dressing room and trying all sorts of dresses, I’d called up a designer that had done a dress I loved and had asked to get something similar in white. The end result was better than I could have ever imagined. It was classic looking with lace detailing and a long silk train. A very similar design to a certain teal dress I’d worn the first time I’d ever been to an event with Aston. It would be interesting to see if he would notice!