9781631054631ChoiceAffairsSalisbury (4 page)

“It could be either
Lisa to do
our hair, or Maria, for our makeup.”

“I can’t believe you
have girls coming in to do our hair and makeup, Caitlyn. It’s so cool. I’ve
never had anyone do my makeup before.”

“Well,” I replied as I
walked toward the door. “Enjoy it. You know how much of a p
erfectionist Apolo is, so I figured this way we’d be set
for the photos and the day.”

Eloise had arranged
for two stylists and two makeup artists. That way, one could attend to Izzie
and me, and the other could be on hand for our mothers. It was one decisi
on I did not fuss about, as it helped me relax and not
stress about the small stuff.

Chapter
Three

Caitlyn

I stood in front of
the mirror in awe. I had to fight back tears as I looked at the woman staring
back at me. This was it. The moment every
woman
dreams of from the time she’s a little girl. I was a bride, marrying my prince
charming. And Apolo truly was a prince in every aspect of the word. He was a
God-send, my knight in shining armor, my hero. I was blessed, and I knew it.
Fate had brought
us together, and now today, we would
begin the rest of our lives as man and wife.

“You look
breathtakingly beautiful, Caitlyn,” I heard Izzie say in the distance.

“Thank you,” I
replied. “I feel as though I’m in a dream, Iz. You look beautiful yourself, by
the way.”

“Thanks. It’s time.
Everyone is in place, and your father is nervously waiting in the hall.”

I nodded my head.
“Have him come in.”

She opened the door,
and the next thing I saw was my pop walking into the room. “You look beautiful,
Caitlyn,” he
said, teary eyed. “You’re no longer the
little girl who once chased through the mud puddles in Ireland. You’ve turned
into the sort of woman any man would be proud to call his daughter.”

“Pop, stop, or you’ll
have us both bawling. You look very handsome yo
urself.
Thank you for everything. I mean that.”

“Well, if you’re
ready, my dear, I believe you have a most anxious groom
awaiting
at the bottom of that huge staircase.”

“Yes, I’m ready. Let’s
go.”

Izzie was waiting in
the hall, along with Eloise, who was t
here to make
sure everything got started on time and on cue. They turned and smiled in our
direction.

A photographer was
also there to get some images of this moment, which he discreetly did. Finally,
it was time. My father and I held back as Izzie poised
herself at the top of the stairs before descending.

Next, I descended the
staircase on my father’s arm. I tried not to think. The only thing I saw was
Apolo standing there, not fifteen feet from the bottom. Our eyes locked, and I
felt myself relax. Nothing
else mattered at that
instant. It was as though the universe evolved around just the two of us.

I gazed down at the
charcoal grey suit he was wearing.
Elegant.
I had to smile, as he had decided to
wear a pale pink tie to compliment my dress. Looking to hi
s left, I noted Anthony standing to one side with the same
style, but in a lighter grey. His tie, however, was a darker shade of pink to
match Izzie’s dress. My stare was quickly
back
on Apolo’s face, as though he were
willing me to focus on him and him al
one.

We approached. My
father took my hand, patted it, and relinquished me to Apolo. I noted that his
eyes were glistening with tears, but the smile on his face glowed with pride
and love. Somehow, Izzie had taken my bouquet from me, smiling one last time
before joining my father to one side.

I found all the gazes
on us unnerving, even though they were family. Something stirred in the corner
of my eye as I was starting to turn back toward Apolo. It was a flutter of off
white.

Slowly, I paused to
look. Incre
dibly, there sat my mother, in the very
Vera Wang dress both Apolo and I had expressly told her not to wear. I
pretended I hadn’t seen, turning to my moments-away-from-being husband instead.
I knew he had to be seething with anger, but he wasn’t about to g
ive her the satisfaction. One of these days, she would
learn not to spar with Apolo.

For now, however, he
had won. Mother just didn’t know it, yet. The look on Apolo’s face was wicked
and cunning.

“Don’t be so smug with
yourself
,” I whispered as he took my
hand.

His answer was a grin.

The ceremony was far
too short. Soon, I found myself saying my vows, ones we had written together.
They had all the usual wording, just our spin on them. Such as that I would
give myself entirely to Apolo, letting him worship
my
body, in sickness and in health, forever. Apolo’s expression when he cupped my
face to kiss me the first time as his wife was one of triumph.

Our eyes locked as he
ended the kiss, and we turned to face our guests. I heard sniveling. Mother, no
doubt. Iz
zie would be more discreet, as would Apolo’s
mother.

Apolo’s parents
approached and hugged us both, while Anthony kept his distance. Finally, he did
walk up and shake our hands, giving me a kiss on the cheek. Pop shook Apolo’s
hand before he hugged me, not
saying a word. None
were needed. Mother, of course, made her usual scene, as though she were the
only one with feelings. I saw Izzie rolling her eyes as she awaited her turn to
congratulate us.

“Congratulations, you
two,” she murmured. I saw her eyes glis
tening with
tears as she hugged Apolo then me. She looked over at my husband. “You better
take care of her. I’ll hunt you down if you don’t.”

“She’s in good hands.
You know that, Izzie.”

Of course, Mother was
still standing close enough to pick up on all t
he
conversations. She had to have the last say. “We’ll see about that.”

Izzie rolled her eyes
again.

* * * *

The next couple of
hours were like a blur. There had been little time between the actual wedding
ceremony and the reception. While we were all
gathered
in one of the many formal rooms of the house to have pictures taken, guests
were arriving and being led outside to the terrace and gardens.

Apolo had discreetly
managed to keep my mother a safe distance away from me. She was performing as
always.
To whoever would
listen.
Having defied our request that she not
wear the Vera Wang dress she had made for the occasion, my husband took her off
to one side after the ceremony and reminded her that there were consequences
for her actions. If she’d thought h
e was kidding, she
quickly found out she’d met her match.

The next thing any of
us knew, she was swooshing out of the room with a “Well, I never!” for anyone
who might be listening. The look on his face said it all. He’d gotten his point
across, at least f
or now. Then, Apolo was at my side,
guiding me toward the photographer who was anxiously waiting to begin.

“What did you say to
her?” I innocently inquired.

“Would you like the
actual conversation, or the watered down version?” he replied smugly.

“Watered
down is fine. I can fill in the blanks.”

“I reprimanded her for
wearing that dress and told her if she wanted to appear in any of the official
wedding photos that she’d go change into one of the two dresses you selected
for her. After that, I told her I di
dn’t care if she
walked around naked the remainder of it, but she wasn’t ruining your day.”

I desperately
attempted not to giggle. “Well, let’s hope she doesn’t take you up on that.
What I want to know is—how did she get that dress into this house?”

“I
would like to know the same thing.”

The photographer
worked around any and all shots that would require Mother. Finally, she
arrived, dressed in the rose-colored suit. Frankly, it looked far more
attractive on her than her earlier choice, but I’d never let
her know that. Just let sleeping dogs lie, as they say.

We finished up the
photo session as, one by one, everyone made their way outside and to the
reception. There was a good crowd by the time Apolo and I made our entrance as
husband and wife. We were su
rrounded by well-wishers.
People from both Apolo’s business
and political arenas.

Apolo had put out a
blanket invitation to all Choice Enterprises employees. Not surprisingly, I
noted a huge number of people had shown up. He was a decent and fair boss, and
today just reinforced that.

Standing by my side,
he introduced me to politicians and business moguls alike, many whom I’d never
met. I glanced around and found my father catching up with friends. Mother, of
course, was nowhere near him.
Typical.
Izzie was
holding
court,
it seemed, to a group of admiring young
men. I was amazed to note she was enjoying being fawned over.

Apolo passed me a
flute of champagne. “I’m going to make a toast, we’re going to cut the cake,
dance a couple of numbers, and then get the
hell out
of here.”

“We can’t just leave
like that, Apolo. That would be rude.”

“We can, and we will,
darling. We still have a good ways to go this evening to get to our honeymoon
destination.”

“You’re certain you
don’t want to spend the night somewhere cl
ose and
leave in the morning? It’s not like we haven’t already consummated our
relationship, you know.” I grinned naughtily at him.

“But not our
marriage,
and I have no intention of doing it
anywhere but where we’re going to spend our honeymoon.”

I knew it
was futile to try and argue, or even get him to change his
plans. Once he made up his
mind,
that
was the end of all discussion. “Where we’re going…you’re
not going to share…?”

“No, I’m not. You’ll
find out when we get there. Now, come.”

I let him lead me
by the hand to an area that had the cake set up. He stood
us in front of the table, and I heard someone clanking their glass with a piece
of silverware to get people’s attention.

“Thank
you, everyone.
Thank you for coming to this very special day. First of
f, I would like to toast my bride.” He turned to me, glass in one hand.
“Caitlyn, it has taken many years to get me to this point. I never thought I’d
marry. Until I met you, that is. I knew from that very first day that we were
meant to be together. I lov
e you with all my heart.
Thank you.”

I caught Izzie
standing in my line of sight, discreetly motioning off to one side. Glancing to
my right, I was flabbergasted to see my mother and Apolo’s old flame,
Delpheine, standing side by side, commiserating. The t
wo
of them deserved each other. I gave her an
I-told-you-you’d-never-get-him-back-in-your-life-bitch smile

Next, we cut the
magnificent wedding cake. Though the trend might be for untraditional cakes,
Apolo and I stayed pretty much old school. I had chosen
a chocolate fudge cake with chocolate ganache filling and a white
chocolate icing topped with fondant. It was elegant and looked every part of
belonging to a gazillionaire and his bride.

After the first dance,
I watched Apolo ask my mother for a spin and
knew
they had some things to discuss. What I didn’t expect was what came next.

I had no sooner taken
a sip off my champagne when I turned and saw that bitch leading Apolo back onto
the dance floor. I was utterly naked, with no one to support me. It was so
obvious what she was attempting to do. Even Izzie shot me a
look. I merely held my ground until my mother came up to my side.

“You still have
competition, Caitlyn. Don’t ever forget it. She’s not going to go away
quietly.”

“Trust me, Mother. If
she knows A
polo at all, she’ll go back to whatever
pathetic place she came from and forget all this nonsense. Apolo doesn’t play
nice when it comes to people who don’t take ‘no’ for an answer.”

“Hmmm, I wonder how
well you really know your husband.”