My Last - Riley & Chelle (2 page)

Aunt Wendy pushed her way through the small crowd of people waiting to sign the guestbook. She acted as though she were Chelle’s body guard, pulling her along, not letting anyone speak to her. Which, considering what Chelle was going through, she had to admit she was grateful for. Chelle wasn't exactly in the mood for pleasant conversation.

As they reached the side door to the bridal suite, Aunt Wendy flung the door open and bodily shoved Chelle inside while simultaneously pressing the side of her headset, this time announcing, “Delivered MOH, en route to ushers.”

Chelle shook her head, smiling. Aunt Wendy had clearly found her calling.

“See what I mean?!” Katie asked, a touch of panic at the edge of her voice. She was clearly not as amused as Chelle was.

Chelle turned to see her best friend sitting in the oversized chair in the corner of the room, leaning over and threading the delicate slip of leather at the top of her beautiful shoe around her ankle and through the diamond encrusted buckle it was meant to fit into.

Katie stood and smoothed down her simple, strapless, white satin gown. Her long, silken blonde hair cascaded in curls around her face and fell all the way down to her waist. Her make-up was understated and flawless. She looked ethereal.

Katie spun around once. “Well, how do I look?”

Chelle smiled, and this time she knew that the smile reached her eyes. Happiness for her BFF welled up inside of her. Well, Katie was more than her BFF, actually. She was her DFF (Diamond Friend Forever) – that is what they had considered each other since they were in elementary school and Aunt Wendy had told them that best friends were common but diamond friends were rare.
“Like an angel,” she answered.

Katie scrunched her nose, “That’s weird. That’s what Jas told me he thought the first time he saw me in Kindergarten. I’m no angel, I don’t get it,” she shrugged.

“You look so beautiful. I’m so happy for you guys!” Chelle could feel tears beginning to form again, but this time they were tears of joy. Well...mostly joy. There may have been some leftover emotions that had decided they wanted to rear their ugly little heads, not appreciating being shoved down and ignored. But
MOSTLY
it was joy!

Katie’s eyes met Chelle’s and a flash of concern crossed her face, “Are you
okay?”

Dang it, Katie had always been perceptive and once her “spidey senses” detected something, she would not drop it until she was satisfied with the answer she got.

If Chelle was going to pull this off, she was going to have to give it everything she had! Attempting to call on her inner Meryl Streep, she tried to mask any emotion that would raise suspicion. “I’m great!” She announced, perhaps a tad too enthusiastically. OKAY...so, Meryl Streep she was not. But she was giving it the old college try!

Katie cocked her head to the side and gave her a look that made it clear that she was not buying what Chelle was trying to sell, “Chelle, seriously...what’s wrong?”

Her mind quickly scrambled for a way out, a plan B explanation that would provide a simple and believable cause for her welling emotion. Oh snap, that’s it! Simple explanation!

“I’m just so happy to be here with you, you know...on your wedding day. I can’t believe you’re getting married. And I’ve missed you so much!”

The best lies, Chelle had read somewhere, were ones that were rooted in the truth – and what Chelle had just said certainly was the truth...if not the
whole
truth. But Chelle realized that the key to redirecting Katie’s attention would be to stick to the (palatable part) of the truth since Katie could sniff out a lie like a bloodhound.

Katie smiled and came over to give Chelle a hug. YES! Plan B was a success.

“I’ve missed you too! God, it’s so weird. I mean, a month ago I was living in California. I hadn’t even seen you or Jas in over ten years. Now, I can’t imagine my life without him, or    you,” Katie was shaking her head, but smiling from ear to ear, “I seriously can’t believe it’s only been a month.”

Katie had come back to Harper’s Crossing a month earlier for Sophie's, wedding. Katie had dated Nick, her next door neighbor and also Sophie's big brother, since they were in middle school. Nick had died tragically in an automobile accident the summer after their senior year, and Katie left town the night after his funeral. She hadn’t been home in a decade.

Sophie, who had always considered Katie her big sister, had asked Katie to be the maid of honor in her wedding. Katie, despite her reservations about returning to the place that had spawned such complicated feelings for her – feelings she had been running from for a decade – had returned out of pure love for Sophie. Over the course of that wedding weekend, which turned out to be the most fateful weekend of her life, she had reunited with Jason, who had been the best man in the wedding.

Jason had been in love with Katie since the first day they had met in Kindergarten, but he had never told her of his feelings until the weekend of the wedding, and - after spending a roller coaster few days together - he had asked her to marry him.

Katie had said yes, and Jason hadn’t wanted to waste any time getting her down the aisle. His feeling was that they had already wasted over 20 years not being together, and he didn’t want to live even one more day than he absolutely had to without her as his wife.

Katie, who was the sweetest person alive, hadn’t wanted to overshadow Bobby and Sophie’s recent nuptials and had insisted that they wait at least a month. In that time, she had headed back to San Francisco, with Jason by her side, and tied up some lose ends with cases that she had in progress, facilitating their transfer to other attorneys on staff at her firm. She had thought that she might be sad to leave her fast-paced life as an up and coming lawyer, but had ultimately decided that 80-plus hour work weeks and near-constant pressure to perform were not the life she wanted. She wanted to move home to Harper's Crossing, and - most importantly - she wanted Jason.

Chelle could honestly say she had never seen her diamond friend happier.

“And just think, in a couple of months...this will be
you
in the white dress, getting ready to walk down the aisle!” Katie exclaimed.

“Yep!” Chelle agreed and smiled widely...again, probably just a
touch
too brightly.

“Chelle…” Katie’s concerned voice and narrow-eyed suspicion were interrupted as the door burst open and one extremely frazzled matron of honor rushed in.

“Oh my gosh, I am sooo sorry I’m late, Katie! I was doing sooo good. I was on track. On time. Just finishing getting ready when Bobby came in and then…” she started to blush, “well, he sidetracked me and before I knew it I was off schedule. But I’m here now. What do you need?”

Katie laughed, “Ahhhhh the 'newlywed' excuse. I guess I’ll be able to use that one after today,” her eyes danced with delight as she hugged Sophie. “I’m good, Sophiebell. Honestly, more than anything, I just want to get this show on the road!”

Sophie looked up at the round clock hanging on the far wall of the small room, “Well, we should be getting started in about twenty minutes!” She enthused as she clapped her hands together joyfully.

The door swung open once again and Aunt Wendy appeared in the doorway, all business, announcing her arrival in no-nonsense tones through her headset.

Sophie turned and mouthed to Chelle, “Who is she talking to?”

Chelle shrugged and shook her head, eyes wide, to indicate her lack of knowledge. She didn’t know who was on the other end of that headset, but she
did
know that she was happy about the arrival of more people in the small bridal room! More people meant more hustle and bustle, which meant fewer opportunities for the attention to be focused on her. And that meant less of a chance for Katie to figure out something was wrong with her!

Aunt Wendy looked all three of the girls up and down, like some kind of impromptu bridal inspection, although her facial expression read much more 'drill sergeant' than 'kindly wedding coordinator.' Still, they must have all passed the test, because her expression of scrutiny melted into one of bliss, and she sighed happily, “Well, don't you girls just look as pretty as pictures!”

Chelle glanced over at Sophie who was in the same red halter-top, tea-length dress that Chelle wore. Sophie looked amazing. The contrast of the deep red color with her honey blonde hair was beautiful, bringing out the deeper and more complex tones in both the dress and Sophie's hair. It was like the sum of the parts created something even greater than what the two components had started out to be on their own.

And Chelle had to admit, although red was not normally a color she liked to incorporate in her own wardrobe,
Katie had chosen a very pretty and striking rich shade of red for the wedding.

Amber, who owned Bella, a small boutique clothing shop in town, had designed the one-of-a-kind bridesmaid dresses. As soon as Chelle had slipped the dress on, she had immediately fallen in love with it - and not just the fit, but also the unique shade of red, which offset perfectly her olive-toned skin and chestnut brown hair.

Then, when Sophie had come out of the dressing room and Chelle saw how good the dress fit her and how the red also complimented Sophie’s fair skin and golden blonde hair, she knew Katie had been her 'usual Katie self' and chosen perfectly.

The next half-hour flew by and, before Chelle knew it, she was walking down the center aisle of the church toward the altar. She concentrated hard on not looking at anyone in the pews,
as she didn’t want to see the wrong person (David!). With her head held high, she simply looked straight ahead and put one foot in front of the other.

Hey, she thought, that's not a bad metaphor for my life now – just look straight ahead and put one foot in front of the other...oh, and, of course, try not to collapse in a heap. That was also an important step.

Jason smiled at her as she came closer, his warm brown eyes filled with excitement as he waited for Katie to walk down the aisle and become his wife. The look in his eyes caused the floodgates to open and Chelle once again was filled with emotions. Mostly happiness, as she had always thought that Jason and Katie belonged together, even (if she was being honest) when Katie had been with Nick. Jason was such a great guy. She knew he would always take care of Katie and treat her right.

But happiness was not the only thing she was feeling.
Those other emotions she was trying her best to smash down and suppress kept trying to pop their heads up and ambush her. Nope, not today, she told herself grimly. They are just going to have to wait. She once again stomped them firmly down into submission.

Chelle got to her place, just to the left of the first step, and turned to watch Sophie coming towards them. Sophie was staring straight at her new husband Bobby, who was standing beside Jason. Chelle noticed Bobby wink at his new bride, and when she looked back at Sophie, she noticed a blush creeping up her cheeks.

Those two are so cute, Chelle thought to herself. Other people make love look so happy, so easy...what's their secret?

Sophie stepped up beside Chelle and everyone stood when the organist started playing The Bridal March. As the familiar strains of that well-known anthem rang out, Chelle couldn't help but hear the lyrics echoing in her mind, “Here comes the bride, all dressed in white...” and wondering if those words would ever be true for her.

NO, Chelle! Lock it down, she admonished herself.

There was a chorus of “OOOH” and “AWWW” as Katie slowly made her way to the front of the church, strictly adhering to the formal processional march, on the arm of Sophie's grandfather, Grandpa J. Katie had asked Grandpa J, aka The Colonel, to give her away since Katie’s father Craig had been MIA for most of her life – and, as she had found out later, had actually created an entirely new family in his absence!

Katie had just recently found out that she had four siblings - three half-brothers and one half-sister. Her brothers CJ, Caden and Corey were all in attendance today. Katie had briefly met her sister Carrie when she was out in California tying up loose ends, but Carrie was a student at UCLA and couldn’t make it out to Illinois for the wedding.

Grandpa J was technically Sophie and Nick’s grandfather, but he had unofficially adopted Katie as his own, and he loved her just as much as his ‘real’ grandkids. They had become very close over the time that Katie had lived next door to and dated Nick, back in high school.

Also, when Katie had returned to Harper’s Crossing last month for Sophie and Bobby’s wedding, Grandpa J had been the one to take the most drastic action in playing matchmaker – he had let the air out of the tires in Katie’s car so she would be forced to drive with Jason up to Whisper Lake, where the nuptials were being held. He had since said that, even during the years that Katie was dating Nick, he had always suspected that Jason was the right one for “his Katie girl.”

Chelle saw that Grandpa J had tears in his eyes when he leaned down to kiss Katie on the cheek. When the pastor asked, “Who gives this woman to marry this man?”

Grandpa J cleared his throat and smiled proudly as he said, “Well now, young man, I guess that would me.”

Then, when he passed Katie’s hand to Jason’s, he held his gaze and told him, “You take care of our girl, now, son.”