PART ONE HUNDRED TWENTY SEVEN
I wandered up to my room, Marnie snapping the door shut behind us. The pair of us were sharing that night, and then Marnie was in charge of getting me ready the next day with the help of a couple of the other girls.
“So… How you feeling?” she asked me.
“Right now? Wide awake.”
“I figured,” she grinned, going to one of her bags and dragging out a bottle of red wine.
“You want me to have a red wine hangover for my wedding?” I asked her skeptically as I eyed up the bottle.
“We’re not going to get plastered,” she sighed, “Why do you have no faith in me?”
“Sorry,” I shrugged, grinning. She knew that I was always a bit skeptical of her antics, it was only natural.
“Oh! Before I forget… Give me your phone.”
“Sorry?”
“I don’t want you secretly texting lover boy,” she said.
“I’m not allowed to see him, I can text him all I want,” I argued back.
“Jessica quit being difficult!!” Marnie exclaimed, snatching my phone from me.
Being stripped of my phone was hard for me. It was the last little bit of control I had over things, and all of a sudden it was gone. I felt helpless.
“Just relax,” Marnie laughed, passing me a coffee mug full of red wine.
“It’s hard.”
“You can do it,” she laughed, sitting cross legged on the bed.
We sat there for hours, sipping wine and laughing about random things. A lot of our conversation revolved around stories from our childhood, running wild at the estate.
“Remember that secret passage down to the wine cellar?” Marnie laughed.
“Freddy locked me in it for four hours,” I frowned.
“You screamed and screamed and he couldn’t hear you!” Marnie grinned.
“Yeah it took your mum figuring out that I’d gone missing for you to remember that I’d been locked in there.”
“Whoops!” Marnie grinned.
“We had a fantastic childhood here,” I sighed, laying back on my bed.
“We did,” Marnie agreed, “Would you bring your kids here in the summers?”
“My kids?”
“I mean, assuming you and Aston have kids.”
“Why are you assuming that we’d have kids?” I asked, leaning up on my elbow.
“Why wouldn’t you?” Marnie retorted. I gave her a faint shrug, laying back on the bed. “You and Aston would make fantastic parents you know.”
“Really?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Marnie said, “You’re just the perfect balance of fun and serious. And you both are blessed with incredible genes.”
“Hmm…” I sighed, “Well assuming we did have kids, which I’m not saying we will, I think I would like to spend time here.”
“You will,” Marnie laughed.
I rolled my eyes, laying back on the bed. I was finally starting to feel tired, which was good since it was after midnight now and I had to be up early the next morning to start getting ready.
I dozed to sleep after that, dreaming of the estate and the life I could have with Aston if we had a kid. It was weird to think that this was the next stop for us. We were getting married in just hours… The family was next.
I was shook awake the next morning by Marnie who had a massive grin on her face. “Wake uppp!!!”
“Coffeeeeee.”
“On your side table,” she laughed, jumping up from the bed. I turned to see a pastry and a cup of steaming hot coffee waiting for me.
I sat up in bed, sipping my coffee as Marnie wandered around the room digging around in bags to pull things out.
“We need you in the shower soon,” she said.
“Ok ok, let me finish my coffee,” I replied.
“You and your damn coffee.”
“It’s so delicious.”
“You know Aston made sure to bring that specific kind just for you,” Marnie said with a smirk, “I wonder if he put a sedative in it.”
“Shut up,” I laughed, although I was chuffed that Aston had been so thoughtful.
“Shower!” Marnie ordered as I just sat on the bed. I was surprisingly calm for it being my wedding day, something that definitely shocked me a bit.
“Yes ma’am,” I laughed, slipping out of bed and going to have a long hot shower. I took my time doing what I needed to do, enjoying the hot water and allowing my body to relax.
When I was done I wrapped my hair up in a towel and then dried off, slipping on a fluffy bathrobe.
As I was pushing my way out of the en suite Marnie stopped me.
“Don’t come out.”
“Why not?” I asked, confused.
“Just… Don’t.”
“Marnie, what’s going on?” I asked. Something was definitely wrong, and I was determined to find out.
I managed to push my way out of the en suite, standing in my room and looking around. At first I didn’t notice anything, and then I caught something in the corner of my eye.
My whole body went numb as I watched the torrential rain out the window, almost to the point where I would have fainted if I hadn't been so shocked.
“I said don’t come out,” Marnie muttered.
“I can’t even…” I stuttered, wandering over to the window and staring down at the garden, “Where did this come from?”
“No idea.”
“All the chairs have blown away.”
“Yeah…”
“And the flowers are fucked.”
“Yup.”
“And the trellis looks like it’s cracked in half.”
“I think you’re right,” Marnie said.
“Well this is fabulous,” I sighed, tears threatening to fall down my face. “What the hell are we supposed to do now?”
Marnie’s phone was ringing and she went to go grab it. She wandered out into the hallway to take the call as I stood dumbly at the window, wondering what in the world I’d done to deserve this. I'd worked so hard to plan the perfect day and it was all being ripped away from me by the elements... I had no control over it, something that freaked me out more than anything.
“I think,” Marnie said quietly as she came back in the room, “This is the time when you need to just put your trust in Aston and let him figure things out.”
I stared at her and nodded my head as the first few tears started to fall. It was like some ridiculous test from the fates to see if I was truly ready for this marriage thing.
“Relax,” Marnie said, coming to sit next to me on the bed.
“I am… I just don’t know what he can do to fix this.”
“You’d be surprised,” Marnie replied with a faint smile, “Shall I pour us a drink.”
I gave her a look like I thought she was crazy. It was just after 9am, way too early to get on the alcohol.
“It’ll calm you. And things might be delayed a bit anyways…”
“Oh go on,” I sighed, falling back on the bed and staring at the ceiling.
This is exactly what I’d been afraid of, everything falling out of my control.
PART ONE HUNDRED TWENTY EIGHT
*Aston’s POV*
“I can not believe this is happening…” I breathed out as I stood in a window on the ground floor of the estate, my groomsmen around me.
“Shit luck mate,” JJ said with an awkward laugh.
“Jess is going to freak out.”
“Well what can we do?” Marvin questioned.
We were all stupefied by the situation. Nowhere in the forecast was rain even mentioned. In fact, I’d watch Jess quiz the contractors about fifteen times to ensure that nothing like this would happen to the set up if we did it a day early. And here it was… ruined.
“We need to figure something out,” I said to everyone, “I’m not postponing this wedding.”
“So…” JB questioned.
“Well it has to be inside,” I said, striding away from the window and trying to rack my brains with some sort of plan. “And we need somewhere to fit 75 people.”
“The only place like that is where the reception is set up,” JB stated.
Without saying a word I wandered down the hall to the ballroom, the tables already set for the big meal. Originally Jess had wanted the wedding to be in this room, the reception in a tent outside, but we’d changed our mind at the last minute when it was clear the weather was meant to be good.
“What if we shove all the tables to the side?” I asked.
“What and set things up in here?” Marvin questioned.
“Yeah.”
“It’s going to be a task and a half,” JJ said.
“We’ve got to do something,” I replied, “We’ve got a few contractors here, and maybe some of the flowers are still ok, I don’t think they were done with the outside decorations yet.”
“Ast if this is what you want, we’ll do it,” Marvin said, the other guys nodding their heads behind him.
“Let’s get to work.”
I collared the two guys from the rental company and talked to them about resetting the room for the wedding. With the help of my boys and the caterers, they began to quickly clear the tables and store them away in the library across the hall, the chairs being moved into rows for the ceremony. We’d just have to do some magic to flip everything back quickly for the reception.
“Phone,” I muttered, patting my pockets. I needed to talk to Marnie before Jess got involved.
I hadn’t seen Jess yet, but I knew she’d emerge as soon as she realized what was going on. Hopefully Marnie had her under control, I could only imagine what sort of meltdown she would have when she realized that the setup outside was ruined. And then the subsequent attempt to take control.
Snatching my phone from JJ, who had hid it away from me, I quickly dialed Marnie.
“Ast,” she whispered.
“Where are you?”
“Outside Jess’ room.”
“Does she know?” I asked, worried more than anything.
“She’s just come out of the shower and seen.”
“And?”
“Right now, I think she’s more in shock than anything else,” Marnie said.
“I feel so bad,” I muttered.
“Neither of you could do anything to stop this.”
“I know but still,” I said, “Jess worked so hard to make this perfect.”
“She’ll get over it,” Marnie replied, “Now what’s the plan?”
“We’re setting up the ballroom,” I explained, “The boys are moving tables and chairs as we speak.”
“That’s good.”
“We need some time to figure out decorations,” I said, “It’s pretty bare bones in here.”
“Jess loves fairy lights.”
“Oh yeah,” I said, “I’ll send someone into town and see if we can get some.”
“And white lilies.”
“Perfect,” I replied, mentally jotting these things down.
“How much time are you gonna need?” Marnie asked.
“Well we’re all dressed and things are moving quickly. Give us an extra hour than planned to sort out decorations?”
“That works.”
“Marnie,” I said slowly, “Can you please make sure Jess keeps calm?”
“I’ll do everything in my power to keep her up here.”
“I want today to be perfect for her,” I said, “And right now the best thing she can do for herself is to just have a drink and relax. Take your time doing hair and all that beauty stuff.”
“I will,” Marnie said.
“You’re a star,” I sighed, just as JJ came running in with the florist. “Listen, I’ve got to go. Tell Jess I love her and that I’ve got this under control.”
“Ok, good luck!” Marnie said as I was already clicking off the call.
“What’s going on?”
“More than half the flowers are in the truck still, and they can run into town and get more if needed.”
“What are they?” I asked, wandering straight out the room towards the florist’s truck and cornering the florist.
“White lilies mostly, some other white flowers too. We’d been saving these to put in the big vases at the end of the aisles…”
“Perfect,” I grinned, explaining what I wanted them to do with the flowers.
I sent Marvin and Oritse into town in street clothes with a list of things to buy and then headed back into the ballroom to direct the efforts to move things around. It was looking better than I would have hoped for given the circumstances, and I was so pleased that everyone was so willing to help out.
My parents and Jess’ parents took on the task of entertaining guests in the kitchen and dinning room as we finished setting things up, everyone surprised at what was going on.
“Marv!” I shouted into my phone an hour after he’d left, “Where you at?”
“Just pulled in.”
“Perfect,” I said, running to meet him at the door. It was still raining a bit and I didn’t want to ruin my suit. “Bring the stuff in and then go get changed, we should have a wedding soon!”
“Good job Ast,” Marvin said, clapping me on the shoulder.
Together him and Oritse dragged in several bags full of white fairy lights, and two cases of champagne.
“Everyone is gonna want an extra drink or two after this ordeal,” Oritse explained.
“Seriously…” I grinned.
Taking the lights myself, I wandered back into the ballroom where everything was pretty much set up. Without any way to hang them from the wall or ceiling, I was at a loss of what to do.
A tap on my shoulder stunned me out of my brainstorm, Freddy Rego standing behind me. I watched him take a box and unpack the lights from it, plugging it in and then laying the lights out on the ground in bunches. When he was finished he grabbed another box, connecting the lights to the previous string and continuing on. It was unconventional, but the effect was actually quite pretty. He’d intentionally wrapped them around the base of the lily vases and was winding them up the side of a row of chairs towards the front of the room.
I gave him a big grin and then got to work, doing the same thing on the other side.
We had enough lights to put trails up the sides and the main aisle, and big bunches at the front of the room.
I grinned at the look, it wasn’t at all what Jess had planned for, but it was pretty nonetheless. She’d love it.
Turning to head out of the room I caught Freddy smiling, stood by the light to the ballroom. Slowly he lowered the lights, the fairy lights emitting a bright glow.
It was actually quite romantic and totally perfect.
I gave Freddy a thumbs up, crossing the room and giving him a big hug as he smiled away. I nodded towards the door, indicating it was time to let people come in. With a flick of the switch, Freddy brought the lights in the room up again, and I wandered out to let everyone know that the ballroom was ready.
“Aston this is marvelous,” Jess’ dad said to me as he stood at the back of the room, people filtering in around us.
“I did my best,” I said, exhausted from the effort. The rest of the day was going to be pure adrenaline for me.
“Jess has certainly met her match,” her father said, “She’s lucky to have you.”
“I’m lucky to have her,” I shrugged, “Speaking of… Thinking we can go get her pretty soon.”
“Ahh yes, we still have a wedding to do!” Jess’ dad grinned, clapping me on the shoulder and heading out of the room.
I gathered up my groomsmen and we made our way to the front of the room, most of the guests already seated.
This was it.
The one moment I’d wanted all along.
I was finally marrying Jess, and I couldn’t be happier.
My heart was thudding in my chest as I stood and waited for her to come down from her room. We were only forty-five minutes behind schedule, a massive feat on the part of my boys. I wasn’t sure I could wait another minute for this wedding to happen.
A flurry of activity at the back of the room indicated the bride was on her way, and soon Freddy had turned the lights down again, a murmur going through the crowd as they took in the sight before them.
But my eyes were only on one place. The end of the aisle.
And when my gorgeous bride finally came into the room I couldn’t help but shed a tear as I watched her face light up, taking in her surroundings.
And in that moment, I couldn’t be happier.