"Ouch!" Verity cried out reacting to Regina pinching her arm.
"What was that for?" she hissed
"Just wanted to make sure I wasn't dreaming." Regina said as they watched Teresa escort their guest to the conference room.
"I know Mia Phoenix, world renowned rock star, fashion icon, model, and probably other things I don't even know about wants us to plan her wedding." Verity said with amazement, it would be their first celebrity wedding. Regina could only imagine the possibilities that would open up to them after the wedding.
"We better get in there." Regina said as she linked their arms together and headed towards the conference room.
"I really like this place." Mia said to her fiancé as Regina and Verity walked into the room and made their introductions.
"We never got a chance to have a phone conference so we don't know what you're looking for, so tell us what do envision for your wedding." Regina said as she opened her notebook to jot down notes.
"I want to have two weddings; one will be a private ceremony at my parent's country club so they can invite anyone who has ever seen me since birth. That's the Misty Harris wedding."
"Okay." Verity said as she scribbled in her notebook.
"That one I really don't care about, my mother will most likely collaborate with you for that one but the second one, that's the Mia Phoenix wedding. I want it to blow people's minds." She said with a huge grin, her brown eyes lit with excitement, Regina could tell that they were going to be in for a wild time.
"I want aerialists, pyrotechnics, a few tigers, I have a list." Mia said as she pulled her long jet black hair into a ponytail before she dug around in her bag while Regina and Verity sat in their chairs eyes wide with shock.
"She's been thinking about this since she was a little girl." Mia's fiancé Jett said with an apologetic look on his face. When Mia finally produced her list it was a legal sized notepad filled with notes on every page.
"Think Cirque du Soleil got together with Woodstock and had a baby, that's my wedding." Mia said as she pulled out another legal pad.
Oh boy Regina thought.
Two hours later Regina's mind was reeling from all of the things Mia wanted for her big day.
"How in the world are we going to pull this off?" Verity asked as she slumped down into a chair.
"I have no idea, the closest we've ever come to something this over the top was the Pirates of the Caribbean wedding we did." Regina said as she rubbed the back of her neck, the stress was already setting in and it was only the first meeting. A knock on the door pulled the women away from their thoughts to find Mia smiling at them.
"I forgot to mention that I'm inviting about a hundred of my fans on top of the guest list." She said before waltzing out as if she didn't have a care in the world, which she didn't.
"That's over five hundred people; we've never done something this massive." Verity said stating the obvious.
"How many attended Joy's wedding?"
"Two hundred remember she made her mother cut the list down." Verity said as she pulled her hair out of its bun.
"I'm going home now," Verity said as she took a legal pad and handed the other to Gina.
"Good idea, I have to get ready anyway."
"Hot date?" Verity asked hopefully.
"No dinner with dad."
"Oh, speaking of dates how was that date with the guy from the bookstore?"
Regina rolled her eyes and let out a sigh.
"Terrible, that's what I get for letting a guy pick me up at the bookstore."
"Aww I'm sorry sweetie, do you want me to slash his tires?" Verity asked as she ran her fingers through Regina's silky tresses.
"You can't do that now, you're married and have a child, and I will not have Dimitri coming for me when you end up in jail."
"That happened one time and you hold it against me for the rest of my life." Verity huffed. "You had to admit that idiot had it coming, I told him not to hurt you." She said in her defense.
"I didn't say there was anything wrong with it but you have to think about your family." Regina said with a laugh as she remembered the night Verity came to her house after she had broken up with her ex dressed in all black grinning ear to ear and out of breath.
"I slashed those bad boys up and ran like hell to you."
"That's when I knew we would be BFFFFF's" Regina said with a laugh.
"Man we were so young back then, where did the time go." Verity said shaking her head.
"Does your husband know how crazy you are?"
"Of course he does." Verity said sweetly.
"I don't think so; I hope that man never leaves you." Regina said she could only imagine the hell that Verity would unleash.
"He better not if he knows what's good for him, have fun with papa Washington tonight." Verity said before she kissed Regina's cheek and left.
Regina took her legal pad full of Mia's notes and went home to get ready for the dinner with her dad. As she frosted the German chocolate cake her father loved so much she couldn't help but think about how much their relationship had grown. After Verity connected with her biological mother's family and mended her relationship with her mother it encouraged to work on her relationship with her father.
Regina was raised by her father and was a certified army brat, Darrell ran his house like he ran his naval ship, and everything had to be up to par and not a single hair out of place. Regina resented her father for the way she grew up always moving and it seemed like she could never do anything right. It wasn't until she was older that she realized that her father was only doing the best he could, after her mother walked out on them. He could only do what he thought was best for his daughter even if she didn't agree.
Regina let herself in to the house she had called her home from the time she was fourteen until she moved out after college.
"Hey dad I'm here." Regina called out as she set her cake down in the dining room. Darrell trotted down the stairs with a smile on his face.
"I was beginning to think you were going to stand me up." Darrell said as he embraced his daughter.
"Sorry I'm late my last consult ran a little late."
"Did you bring my cake?" he asked as they walked into the kitchen.
"Of course,"
"Then all is forgiven."
As they set the table Regina told her father all about her consult with Mia and Darrell loved the way his daughter's face lit up whenever she talked about a wedding she was planning. Darrell couldn't understand at first what was so special about planning weddings for a living. He had thought that sending her to a school with a top MBA program that she would work on Wall Street as a stock broker not as a secretary for a wedding planner and he didn't let an opportunity pass without mentioning how he felt about his daughter's decision.
"Ms. Sandra isn't joining us tonight?" Regina asked when she noticed only two plates on the table.
"No she had to go out of town, so it's just us tonight." Darrell said holding out Regina's chair for her.
Regina never questioned if her father had girlfriends as handsome as he was with his milk chocolate complexion and dreamy bedroom eyes, but he never brought them around her. So when he introduced her to Sandra she knew that he was in love.
"So dad are you thinking about popping the question to Ms. Sandra I think it's time I had a mom."
"Regina you are a thirty-one year old woman you do not need a mom besides you have a mother she lives in Florida." Darrell said as he spooned string beans onto his plate.
Regina rolled her eyes at the thought of her mother whom she had only seen twice in her life and both times were a complete disappointment.
"You know what I mean dad, I know you're in love with her and I would love to plan my dad's wedding."
"I won't lie to you I have thought about it, but we are taking things slow."
"Any slower dad you two will be in your graves when you propose." Regina said shaking her head as she popped a piece of a buttered roll into her mouth.
"Sandra isn't in any rush to get married and neither am I."
"Okay dad whatever you say." She said with a smile knowing that her father was just putting off the inevitable.
"What about you Regina, is there any young man I need to have a background check done on?"
"Nope," she said simply and left it at that.
"Dad I am stuffed I don't think I can eat any cake." Regina said as she pushed her slice of cake away from her.
"More for me then," Darrell said as he took her slice causing her to laugh.
"Keep it up Captain and you'll end up with a nub." Regina said as she tried to pull the slice of cake away from Darrell only to get popped on the hand.
"I am too old to get popped." She said with a pout.
"Says who, as long as I am alive I will always have the right to pop you."
"You always were a cruel old man." Regina huffed as Darrell kissed her cheek.
"I know I don't say this enough, but I am so proud of you Regina."
"Really?"
"Yes really, you turned out to be a lovely young woman. You are beautiful, smart, and you have a mind of your own there aren't a lot of women like you nowadays. I love you baby girl."
"Thank you daddy," Regina said as she hugged him and tried to keep her tears from falling, she could always depend on her father to say the right thing when she needed it.
****
The next morning Regina woke up to her cell phone ringing.
"Hello." She answered groggily.
"You need to get down here now." Verity said
"Get down where? It's Saturday."
"The art gallery, I got a call this morning saying that Jess can't have her wedding there because they double booked. I am ready to strangle that fat neck lady."
"Verity calm down, does Jess know about this yet?"
"No,"
"Okay I am on my way." Regina said as she tossed the covers off of her and rushed to get ready, fifteen minutes later Regina was in her car speeding down the parkway to get to the gallery where the wedding was to take place. When she arrived she found Verity waiting for her in the front.
"Thank God you came I'm ready to bash that woman's head in with a brick."
"Will you calm down?" Regina said as she grabbed Verity by her shoulders.
"I don't know what's wrong with me today, I'm usually so calm when things like this but today I just-"
"-I know exactly what's wrong with you, take a freakin' pregnancy test and you'll know too." Regina said before walking.
"But I'm not pregnant." She heard Verity say and rolled her eyes knowing that she was in denial.
When Regina reached the manager Marta's office the woman was talking on the phone, Regina took a deep breath and walked into the office.
"Here is the wedding planner now." Marta said.
Regina shook Marta's hand and took a seat while the woman finished her conversation.
"I am afraid that we double booked and someone has to change their day."
"There is no way we are changing the day invitations have been sent out and our guest list is done. We booked this place a year and a half in advanced how could there be a mix up?" Regina said as she felt a headache coming on.
"The manager before me did not put down Kim's wedding on the books so it wasn't there when I booked the wedding for your client."
"So why does my client have to suffer for your lack of communication?"
"The other bride is coming so we can sort this out, she should be here any minute." Marta said before offering Regina something to drink which she refused. While she waited for the other bride to arrive Regina observed the art exhibit that was on display as she tried to shake the faint feeling that had seemed to appear out of nowhere when Verity rushed over to her.
"We have to go, like right now." Verity said as she pulled Regina towards the exit, her eyes filled with panic.
"Verity what is wrong with you? I'm beginning to believe that you're not just pregnant but actually crazy."
"Say what you want but we're leaving."
"We can't leave without getting this mess straightened out." Regina said as she pulled her hand away from Verity when a familiar voice called out to Verity.
"Damn it." Verity said as she turned around with a smile plastered on her face, when Regina turned around it seemed as if all of the air was knocked out of her. Regina looked at Verity and said, 'I'm going to kill you.' before she fainted into a pair of arms.