All of You (78 page)

All Kat could manage was a nod.

“Nathan’s damn near having to hold him back from busting in here,” Fi said, grinning as she came to stand behind Kat. She wrapped her arms around Kat and rested her chin on her shoulder, careful to avoid the intricately arranged bun at the nape of Kat’s neck. “I’m surprised he didn’t hire one of his cop friends to guard you all day. I think he’s worried you might vanish into thin air before he can legally bind himself to you.”

“Nathan’s beyond holding him back at this point,” Stella chimed in. “As I was leaving the room, I heard him tell Danny he’d ‘punch him the fuck out’ if he didn’t sit down and stop pacing around like a lunatic. Of course, I loudly reminded Nathan that we actually considered pharmaceutically sedating his ass at our wedding.” She grinned. “I don’t think he liked that comment too much, but the rest of the guys and I got a good laugh out of it.”

“How does he seem?” Kat asked. “I mean, other than being nervous? Does he seem okay?”

“He’s fine,
cara
. Really.” Stella took a sip of her coffee. “I think his head is about to explode because he’s so excited and anxious to see you, but he’s fine.”

“I should have gotten him something,” Kat said quietly, head shaking. “I didn’t even think of it. I’ve been so preoccupied with the ridiculousness of this ginormous wedding you guys talked me into having. It never even occurred to me to send him something before the wedding. I don’t want him to think I’m not excited, too.”

“First of all, you making it down that aisle and marrying him will be the best gift you can give that man. It’s seriously all he wants. Second of all, you were never going to out-think and out-sweet Danny with this wedding. Ever. Nathan said he spent every minute of their downtime at work looking stuff up online because he wanted everything to be ‘fucking perfect’ for you,” Stella said.

Everyone but Nina and Kat
awwwwwed
. Nina, because she didn’t make that noise – ever – and Kat because she was too choked up to.

“Remember what Stell got from Nathan at four-thirty in the morning on the day of their wedding?” Nina asked, grinning. “A crumpled up note taped to the front door that said he’d understand if she didn’t want to go through with it and to please call him with her final decision ASAP, so he could ‘mentally prepare’ either way.”

Stella shot her a dirty look. “That’s
not
what it said.” She paused. “Well, it’s not
all
it said. And I thought it was sweet. The poor man was worried I was going to change my mind…and it’s not his fault he’s an adorable, neurotic planner.” She gesticulated wildly. “I love his awkwardness and him, so stop talking smack. You know I’m the only one allowed to pick on him.”

Stella turned back to Kat with an overdramatic eye roll. “
Anyway
, one hundred and fifty people is not ginormous. That’s about all I could talk Nathan into tolerating for ours. You remember Gigi’s spectacle.” Stella gestured toward Gigi. “You guys had, what, G, about four hundred people?”

“Carla and I only had fifty,” Nina interjected, mouth full of muffin.

Fi snorted. “Yeah, because you hate people. And because we all had to travel to Boston so you and Carla could be
legally
married.” She grinned. “Picky, picky, picky,” Fi added, with a wink toward Carla, who was sitting down at a table in the corner with Gabby and Sam.

The girls had just run in screaming about how much they already loved their Uncle Danny. Apparently, the huge box of donut holes and chocolate milks he’d gotten just for them had won him their undying love and devotion.

“And you know having this kinda fancy wedding has meant so much to Danny,” Stella continued. “Yeah, sure, we had to convince him to wait a little bit, but he had a blast planning everything with us and was so excited to get everything just right for you.” Stella smirked. “Which was nice since you couldn’t have cared less about any of it.”

“I did so care about it.” Kat reconsidered. “Well, I cared about marrying him. The rest of it all seemed a bit over-the-top and unnecessary, but I was a good sport.” At her sisters’ simultaneous brow quirks, she added, “Well, most of the time. Or I tried to be since it meant so much to him and all of you maniacs. I let you talk me into having this elaborate wedding and reception here at Whitney Manor instead of dragging Danny to City Hall like I wanted, right?”

“I’m sorry, but Fi you need to get away from her hair.” Gigi said, bee-lining for Kat. “You’re making me a nervous wreck.” Fi carefully extricated herself from Kat’s shoulders and Gigi did a quick visual inspection to make sure every strand was still perfectly in place. Satisfied, she stood back and eyed Kat up and down, a smile tugging at her lips as her eyes welled. Gigi grabbed Kat’s hand and squeezed. “I can’t believe our Kitty-Kat is getting married.”

“Save the tears for when we get her into the dress and Mama’s veil,” Fi said.

“And for when you see the look on Danny’s face when he sees her.” Stella shook her head, eyes welling, as she pulled out a few Kleenexes from the box still in Kat’s lap. “I don’t think I’m going to be able to look at him,” she said, pressing the tissues to her eyes. “I can’t even think about it without losing it. As much as you’ll hate one more set of eyes on you, Kat, I might have to look at you. Because seeing the euphoria on Danny’s face is going to be hard to handle.”

Everyone started talking and eventually wandered away to pull the plastic wraps off their silvery-gray bridesmaids’ dresses, because it was almost time to get dressed. Almost time for Kat to slip into the lacy, sequined, ivory wedding dress she’d declared “fussy,” but secretly loved – because she knew Danny was going to love it.

Despite the nearly debilitating anxiety centered around spending God-knew-how-many hours with one hundred and fifty plus people’s eyes glued to her, Kat smiled as she thought about the last line of Danny’s note:

“See you at the end of the aisle, sweetheart.”

She dug a pen out of her purse, pulled the card out of the envelope and flipped it over. On the back she wrote:

I can’t wait to be your wife.

YOUR WIFE. My two favorite words…today and always.

I love you, Danny.

See you at the end of the aisle.

Love,

Kat

*

“For the love
of Christ, are they coming soon or what?” Danny whispered to Nathan, standing directly to his left. “Maybe we should send someone to see what’s going on.” Danny ran a palm over his damp forehead and tore his eyes away from the back entrance to shoot Nathan yet another look. “That damn music has been playing for fifteen fucking minutes. What the hell could they be doing out there?”

Nathan quirked a brow. “Nice wedding language. Good thing you guys are getting married here instead of a church.” The corner of his mouth ticked. “Pretty sure you’d be struck dead by now.”

Danny scoffed. “Like you have any room to talk.” He glanced over at the officiant and then back at Nathan, voice lowering. “At least I haven’t called the officiant an ‘inconsiderate, tardy motherfucker.’”

“Well, he wasn’t late today, was he?” Nathan stretched his neck left, then right, and crossed his arms over his chest. “Our priest
was
an inconsiderate, tardy motherfucker that day. I wanted to get the damn thing over with and he was ten minutes late showing up.”

“He had a member of the congregation die that morning!”

Nathan’s lips pressed into a grim line. “There’s no excuse for tardiness. Especially not to an occasion like a wedding. That parishioner was close to death or already dead and, in the meantime, Stella and I were standing around like assholes waiting for the priest to show up.
And
she was pregnant and not feeling well. It was just damn inconsiderate all the way around.” Nathan glanced at his watch and pulled at the collar of his tux. “But I’m with you. I’m hoping they get their asses out here fast so I can turn around, because these people staring at us is starting to freak me the fuck out.”

Danny cracked his knuckles and swiped at his forehead again before turning back to Nathan. “Maybe-”

“She’s coming, brother, don’t worry.” Nathan met Danny’s eyes and nodded. “I know how you feel, but everything is fine and she’ll be coming soon.”

“But-”

Nathan shook his head once. “No.”

“Yeah, but maybe-”

“
No
.”

Danny exhaled a hard sigh. “Yeah, you’re right. It’s all fine. I’m sure she’ll be here soon.”

He slipped his hand inside the inner breast pocket of the tux and ran his fingertips over the paper.

She wrote you that amazing note back.

She snuck into your room last night and surprised you with a hot quickie.

She loves you and wants to spend the rest of her life with you…is excited about legally being stuck with you for better or worse, until death parts you.

She’ll go through with it. No way she won’t. Kat promised and she never breaks a promise.

His eyes glued hard to the wooden door, Danny’s body trembled as the demons of his past suddenly came back to haunt him in full-force.

You don’t deserve her and you never will.

Just because she thought she loved you last night, doesn’t mean she’ll still feel that way today.

She pushed you away once before…there’s nothing stopping her from doing it again.

People get cold feet all the time…maybe she’s decided this isn’t what she wants, after all.

A wave of nausea washed over Danny and every inch of his skin went clammy as his heart pounded against his chest wall. He flexed his hands and fisted them, over and over.

Go find her. Just to make sure. Once you talk to her, you’ll feel better.

Maybe she’s sick. Or MS stuff flared up. Or maybe she’s just really nervous.

Nobody will know you’re freaking out. They’ll just think you had to take a piss.

Just go make sure she’s okay and still wants to do this.

Danny dropped his head, squeezed his eyes shut, and gripped the back of his neck as what he knew in his heart to be true clashed violently with the mindfuck swirling around in his head.

“Mac,” Nathan said quietly and Danny slowly twisted his head to meet his eyes. With a slight nod toward the back of the room and a barely-there smile, Nathan said, “I think it’s show time, brother.”

Danny’s head shot up to see a Whitney Manor employee pushing at the heavy, dark double wooden doors. He held his breath – hands balled into sweaty fists at his sides and his heart going crazy in his chest – as all of the wedding guests simultaneously turned in their seats. The woman propped the doors wide open and a few seconds later, Fi and Anthony were standing in the doorway, arm-in-arm.

The compilation of background music he and Kat had spent hours picking out faded away and the first guitar strains of “Marry Me” by Train began…which cued massive waves of relief to roll over him – relaxing all his muscles, loosening his throat and chest, and slowing his breathing down…because it appeared he might actually get married to the woman of his dreams today. Right now.

“I told you she’d show.” Nathan leaned in a little closer. “Keep taking deep breaths and don’t lock your knees so you don’t pass out when you see her.” He grunted softly. “It’ll hit you harder than you expect, believe me.”

Danny nodded and the officiant stepped forward, gesturing at Danny to approach his left side.

Danny watched Fi and Anthony slowly make their way down the candlelit aisle, both of them grinning ear-to-ear. They reached the end of the aisle and stopped in front of Danny and the officiant, Fi winking at Danny and then veering to her left while Anthony veered toward his right as they both took their places.

Stella and Gianni appeared next…

And Stella was already openly weeping. About halfway down the aisle, she was forced to press a balled up wad of Kleenex to her eyes to staunch the flow, so she could see where she was going. They reached the end, paused, and then Stella clung to Danny.

The officiant uttered, “
Oh, dear
,” and Nathan exhaled a long, hard sigh as Stella clung to him.

“We just love you so much, Danny!” she whispered loudly. “And we’re just all so happy for you and Kat!”

With a huge grin, Danny returned her hug and whispered, “I’m so happy to be your brother, Stella. I’ve loved you as a friend from the day we met and now I am lucky enough to love you as family.”

Stella started crying harder.

“
Jesus, don’t talk to her
,” Nathan leaned in and hissed. “
Or hug her back, for Christ’s sake. You’re only making it worse
.”

Stella lifted her tear-stained face from Danny’s lapels and honed in on her man. “Oh, and don’t think you’re getting off easy, mister…” She released Danny and flung her arms around Nathan, eliciting loud laughs from the guests and a grunt from Nathan.

He gave her a quick squeeze and released her. “Okay, okay, enough,” he muttered gruffly, giving her a gentle shove. Nathan tilted his head to the right. “Now go stand where you’re supposed to before the dude’s head explodes.”