My Body-His Marcello (3 page)

“
Thank
you so much for coming. Would you check on Parker for me? I don’t
think she’s recovered from my nipple piercing. She seems off to
me.”

“
You
just got them done?” Jeff said, his jaw dropping.

“
Yeah,
just before the wedding,” I said.

“
Doesn’t it hurt?” he asked.

“
They’re throbbing like hell, but there is so much else going
on, the pain is not difficult to ignore.”

As they strode
away I heard Jeff say to Allison, “You have some strange
friends.”

Luke came back
over to my side with the final member of our wedding in tow—my
mother. I could have predicted her outfit: a beige wool skirt
hemmed right above the knee, a colorful long-sleeved blouse,
matching suit jacket and low beige heels. She never took the
Florida weather into consideration when dressing. Her salon-coiffed
hair would have withstood hurricane-force winds.

“
I
won’t hug you like that,” she said to me.

“
I
understand,” I said.

“
I
promised your new husband I would behave, so the less said the
better.” With that she headed straight to the bar.

“
I
can’t imagine what you said to her, but thanks,” I said to Luke. He
wrapped me in his arms and kissed me deeply.

“
Shall
we get this party started?”

“
Wait,” I said. I pulled him down so I could whisper in his
ear. “Can I please take out the butt plug? It’s starting to chaff
and I won’t be able to dance with it in.”

“
Yes,
love, but it’s going to cost you later.” He smiled so I assumed he
was joking. “Let’s make our formal entrance and then you can take
care of it.”

“
Thank
you,” I said.

We promenaded
hand in hand to the head table set for two. After seating me, Luke
announced, “Please welcome my beautiful, incredibly courageous
wife, who has given me the greatest gift of sharing her body and
her life with me.”

The people who
were sitting stood and everyone
cheered
. My mother remained in her seat, refusing to
look in our direction. Her hands were clasped in her
lap.

As the applause
died down a lone clap rose above the rest. It came from a
voluptuous woman whose physical beauty demanded attention. Everyone
paused as she approached the reception from the French doors in the
back, her clap echoing along
with
the clicking of her shiny black heels. From the
stretch halter pinstriped corset with lace accents at the cups and
buttons down the front, to the tight jeans that hugged her curves
with rips in the fabric tapering at her ankles—no one could look
away. Large hoop earrings adorned her ears and a diamond pendant
nestled between her luscious breasts.

My heart stopped
beating and my insides flipped upside down. I recognized her from
the photograph Luke had hung in his office in our old apartment,
the pictures in his album and the pages and pages of images—she was
featured more than anyone else—on his website.

“
I
never thought I would see the day ...” she said as she
conspicuously sauntered up to the front of our table swinging her
long black hair over her shoulder.

“
Janice,” Luke said, a threat in his voice.

She ignored him
and continued, “That you would find ‘the one’ and actually tie the
knot. You must be very
special
,” she said to me, the word
“special” dripping with sarcasm. “You should know,” she said, “that
none of us last for long. I don’t suspect it will be any different
with you.”

Luke swayed
toward me and brought his face close to mine. “I’ll take care of
this. And Jane … I love you.” I picked up on the cue and rose to
leave them alone.

I hated Janice
for barnstorming my wedding. I could have hit her. Instead I strode
right in front of her and then rocked back to say to Luke, “Yes,
please take care of it.”

I saw the shards
of abject hatred her eyes hurled in my direction.

Just before I cut
across to the house I looked over my shoulder. Luke had snatched
Janice by the upper arm and was escorting her over to the beach. By
the time they had disappeared down the stairs, Parker and Allison
had joined me at the door.

“
Shall
I bring out the hors d’oeuvres?” one of the servers
asked.

“
Yes,
right away,” Parker said.

Once we were in
the bedroom I said, “Give me a sec while I use the bathroom.” I
went in and carefully removed the butt plug. Maneuvering out the
widest part made me yelp, but it was a relief to finally be free of
it. I sat down on the toilet to pee and buried my head in my hands.
Why had she decided to show? Why the hell had he invited her in the
first place? Would he ask her to leave?

I finished up in
the bathroom and returned to the bedroom.

“
What
was that all about?” Allison asked.

I sat down on the
edge of the bed and grabbed the corner of the bedspread to cover
myself. I felt exposed enough emotionally, and my nakedness with my
girlfriends threatened to pushed me over the edge.

“
Ex-girlfriend. That’s all I know. After her little scene you
know as much as I do.” I lay back in bed and let out a long exhale.
“I do know that he invited her to the wedding. I can’t imagine what
he was thinking. He said he wanted her to see how happy we are. I’m
guessing she was the one calling the apartment repeatedly a while
back. I figured it had to be an ex-girlfriend, but all Luke said
was that he would take care of it and the calls stopped. Oh my god,
do you think he’s seen her since we’ve been together?” I rolled
onto my side and pulled my knees into a fetal position. I had no
desire to rejoin the wedding or unearth myself from that spot. I
considered telling Parker and Allison to turn off the lights and
shut the door.

“
I can
tell you this: he wasn’t happy to see her. That was evident,”
Parker said.

“
Do
you want me to check out what’s going on?” Allison said.

“
I
don’t want to budge. I want this day to start over. Oh fuck,
scratch that. After tonight I will
never
again saunter naked
through a large group of people. I want this all to be over. Right
now. Can we just send everyone home?”

“
No,
Jane. Sit up,” Parker said, grasping my hand and pulling me to a
sitting position.

“
Why
do you always have to be so damn pragmatic?”

Luke opened the
door and Parker and Allison quickly took their leave.

“
I’m
sorry about that. I thought she might come but I didn’t think she
would make a scene. She promises to behave herself.”

“
You
didn’t ask her to leave?” I was fighting back tears.

“
It’s
going to be fine.”

“
She’s
still in love with you, Luke. Why invite her in the first
place?”

“
Because I thought if she saw us together she would be able to
move on.”

“
She
was the one making the phone calls?”

“
Yes.”

“
Did
you go and see her?”

“
When
are you talking about? When I was in Japan? No, of course
not.”

“
Have
you seen her since we’ve been together?”

“
Honey, let’s not talk about this right now. They’ve started
serving the hors d’oeuvres and we still need to have our wedding
pictures taken.”

“
I
have so many questions and you keep putting me off. Fine. You want
her to see us happy. I can pretend to be happy but don’t think for
a minute that bringing your ex-girlfriends around is going to be
something I can live with. Clearly she’s not over you and I am left
wondering how over her you actually are. Why display the picture?
Why invite her? How did she get your new number in the first
place?” I put my hand up and added, “I know, I know, you’re not
going to answer.” My shoulders slumped and I just wanted to crawl
under the covers and go to sleep.

“
Janey, look at me, please.”

I reluctantly
peered up at him. “I’ve never asked another living soul to marry
me. I never considered asking Janice to marry me and she even
hinted around about it. I promise you now—and you know I keep my
promises—to answer any questions you have about Janice later. Right
now, though, let’s make this the night we’ve been looking forward
to. Come here, baby.” He wrapped his arms around me, and I
straddled his lap, snuggling in close. Lifting me up off the bed,
he carried me through the house and out to the
reception.

“
Only
You” played as the waiters passed trays of food around the party. I
saw Janice sitting with Sandy and Allison and hoped they were
getting the story from her.

Luke gently
lowered me to the floor and then held me in his arms for our first
dance as husband and wife. As he deftly guided me about the
hardwood dance floor that temporarily hid our pool, I wondered
again about this man who had swept me up into his life. I had never
been much of a dancer, but his strong lead made me Ginger Rogers to
his Fred Astaire. Our grand waltz had me giggling with happiness.
Luke remained a man of mystery and I longed for the keys to
understand him. I hoped that someday soon he would truly let me
in.

Halfway into the
song I stopped thinking altogether, reveling in the strength of our
connection, losing myself in his eyes and his strong body that
moved me along at his whim.

After the song
ended Luke rounded up Parker, Marcello, and my mother for pictures.
My mother avoided eye contact as we made our way onto the beach.
The sun hung low on the horizon, leaving the sky dusky pink. The
photographer arrived shortly. Luke knew what he wanted and the
picture-taking session was over quickly. My mother refused to put
her arm around my waist so I figured our pictures would come out
looking odd. Mother’s attitude aside, I was glad to have a break
from the party during that time.

We walked back to
the pool area and as we got closer, Janice approached.

“
Can I
speak to you for a minute?” she asked.

“
Uh,
sure,” I said, wrapping my arms around myself. I didn’t really have
anything to say to her but curiosity compelled me.

We came to stop,
allowing the others to pass. I saw Janice and Luke exchange
a
look but was unsure
what that glance meant.

“
I’m
sorry for the … intrusion,” Janice said once we were alone. “Things
ended rather abruptly for Luke and me and I haven’t quite
recovered.”

“
Oh,”
I said. “I don’t know what to say. I honestly don’t know what he
was thinking inviting you.”

“
I
think he thought if I saw you for myself it would help.”

I hated that I
liked her. I actually felt sorry for her. “Did it help?”

She surprised me
by saying, “Not so much. I don’t think there’s any help for either
of us.”

I bristled at her
presumption and marched back to the reception.

The rest of the
wedding was fairly uneventful. My mother avoided me from then on,
as did Sandy. After the sun set, a slight chill was in the air, and
Luke presented me with a robe to cover myself. Robed in blue silk
with the softness of an embroidered dragon against my
back
,
I sighed in utter
relief to be covered to mid-thigh.

We danced
together several more times and then treated our palates to amazing
Italian food from Marcello’s Ristorante.

As the guests
finished their dinners, Marcello stood, clinking his champagne
glass with his fork. “If I may have your attention, I would like to
make a toast ... to
il mio
fratellino
—my little
brother—and his beautiful bride, may you be as happy forever as you
are today. I’m proud of the man Luke has become and his choices in
life, most especially his choice in a bride. Jane, I hope you will
be like family to me as well. Thank you everyone so much for coming
to celebrate Luke and Jane’s wedding.” He lifted his glass and said
with gusto, “
Salute
!”

I enjoyed the
toast but found it odd that the wedding was the first time I had
met Marcello—he was supposedly such an important person in Luke’s
life.

Most of the
guests echoed, “
Salute
,” drank their champagne and prepared
to receive their slices of cake.

Luke had chosen a
traditional three-tiered, white wedding cake, capped off with a
clothed bride and groom. The irony was not lost on me. I felt
slightly annoyed by the fully dressed bride but she also made me
laugh.
A traditional cake to go along with our crazy
wedding?

Luke deserved
some credit, though. He had the decency to feed me my first bite of
cake without mashing it into my face. He did take a dollop of
frosting and cover my lips. Leaning forward, he tickled the
frosting ever so sensually with his tongue. In spite of an urge to
laugh aloud, I finally submitted and joined him in sharing one of
the best and tastiest kisses ever.