Here Comes the Bride (24 page)
Read Here Comes the Bride Online
Authors: Theresa Ragan
And even better than that, Sam, after a year of writing and re-writing, had finished her first romance novel. Pretty darn exciting. Her aunt planned to query a few dozen agents, but Emma had researched self-publishing and was convinced that was the way to go. Emma wouldn’t mind going to a few book signings with her. That would be fun.
Emma had been warned that the wedding ceremony would be short and sweet, and they weren’t kidding. Sam had barely taken her place before the minister said, “Will you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?” He had to shout loud enough to be heard over the helicopters hovering above, which made the whole thing seem sort of comical, a good scene for Sam’s next romance novel, Emma decided.
“I do,” Dominic said.
“Do you, Samantha Sue Johnston, take Dominic Damarion DeMarco to be your lawfully wedded husband?”
Sam’s eyes widened. “Did he say Damarion?”
A ripple of laughter came from the guests.
Emma had promised to keep her mouth shut, so she didn’t say a word. It was difficult not to laugh.
“You’ll have to take it up with my mom,” Dominic told Sam.
“Wow, it’s been over a year and we still don’t know much about each other, do we?”
“We have our whole lives ahead of us,” he reminded his wife or wife-to-be, whatever.
“We really are going to grow old together,” Sam said with a shake of her head, which Emma didn’t get because they were both already pretty old.
“Shall I repeat the question?” the minister shouted.
“Yes!” Emma shouted back, hoping to get things back on track, move this wedding along so they could get to the good part: eating the strawberry cream cake and watching everyone make fools of themselves on the dance floor.
After the minister said it all again, Sam finally said, “I do.”
Emma gave a great sigh of relief. Samantha and Dominic made a pretty cute couple. In a way, Emma realized, they had managed to bring the entire family back together. Grandma and Grandpa were talking about getting remarried, but Grandma had moved in with Beverly DeMarco and was playing hard to get.
Emma, fifteen and a half now, would be driving soon. That’s all she thought about these days. She wanted to be a racecar driver like Danica Patrick. She was pretty sure she would never get married. Mostly because she didn’t see the point. Boys were silly creatures. They got all tongue-tied and weird when she talked to them.
Emma and Tom followed Dominic and Sam down the aisle. And that’s when Emma spotted Jason Marsal.
“What’s wrong?” Sam asked when they got to the spot where they were supposed to greet the guests.
“Why didn’t anyone tell me that Jason Marsal was coming today?” Emma felt her chest tighten and her mouth turn to sandpaper. “Somebody should have warned me.”
“Oh, I see. He is cute, isn’t he?”
Emma fanned herself in an exaggerated manner. “Cute doesn’t even begin to describe Jason.”
“Looks like somebody has a dance partner,” Sam said. “Just do what I do out there on the dance floor and you’ll be okay.”
“Are you serious? You dance like a wild turkey looking for a mate. Isn’t that right, Dominic?”
“If Sam’s a turkey, I’m a turkey,” Dominic said.
Emma rolled her eyes. It was all over after that. Sam and Dominic couldn’t keep their hands off each other. It was going to be a very long day.
She felt a tap on her shoulder. It was Jason.
“I heard you like NASCAR,” he said, his expression all cool and laidback as if he didn’t have a care in the world.
Emma ignored the sudden racing of her heart. She even followed Jason inside the house, where they found a nice quiet spot to sit and talk about everything. It was amazing how much they had in common. They both liked vanilla cake with chocolate frosting, hated doing homework, thought their families were sort of lame; the list of commonalities went on and on.
Today was going to be the best day ever.
The End
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