The Wedding Wager (McMaster the Disaster) (19 page)

Okay, and Jake.

The drone of a helicopter, muffled only by the sound of the tent added to the excitement.

Still in my regular clothes, I was ushered through the tent quickly, then through hall after hall after hall and I couldn’t help but wonder if my wedding was going to be in a funhouse. With Mattie involved, one could never rule anything out. All the while, the people whisking me through kept rushing me.

“What’s the hurry, anyway?”

“Can’t risk seeing the groom,” a large man said, looking in every direction, then pressing his hand against his ear as if listening in an earpiece.

All this just so I wouldn’t see the groom? I thought. It had my mother written all over it. Of course that would mean…

I couldn’t help but be the teensiest disappointed that they had negotiated to do Mom’s wedding. I mean, it was going to be beautiful of course, but I couldn’t help but think Mattie’s whimsical one suited me just a little bit more. I could only imagine what my mother had to do to make it happen. Probably pay poor Mattie off or something. Or, perhaps poor was the wrong word, at least if he’d been bribed. I hoped he’d still come to the wedding. I couldn’t imagine the most important day of my life without him.

I shouldn’t have worried.

The second we finally reached our destination, Mattie himself flung open the door, as if he knew we were coming, which I suppose he probably did, given the fact he had one of those fancy earpieces too.

“What’s my code name?” I couldn’t help but ask.

Mattie looked at me like I was crazy though I wasn’t sure if he was more surprised at the question, or the fact that I was holding him up.

Finally, I supposed he thought it would be faster just to answer the question. “Cinderella.”

A huge grin crept across my face.

Which, of course, Mattie made a face at. “Your mother won.” He grimaced again.

“What did you want?”

“Alice.”

“As in an old lady?” I was so not seeing the connection to me and an Alice.

He scoffed. “No, as in falling down the rabbit hole Alice.”

“Ahhh…” I said.

He tugged on my arm as if to say the conversation was over; there were much more important things to do.

I was happy to be dragged along though. It was, after all, the happiest day of my life. You know, unless he left big red welts on my arm, which I was actually getting a little afraid of.

But no, even that couldn’t spoil it.

For the next two hours I was effectively a makeup, hair, and wardrobe dummy. Dozens of people in and out of the room, all in one huge hurry. I didn’t have to do a thing by myself. Seriously, one lady even went into my mouth with a water pick. I was amazed and a little disgusted at the same time, though admittedly, my teeth had never felt cleaner.

As the time neared for the ceremony—well, I could only assume, since no one had actually given me any sort of timeline—they sent me into a room by myself to get into the correct undergarments. I quickly changed and took a minute to sit down and wonder if this was what it was like for runway models at a fashion show. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, the panic and stress of the past couple hours draining away.

A smile spread across my face.

I was getting married.

Soon more people entered the room and a dress was wheeled in on a dressmaker’s dummy. It was spectacular. Very traditional of course, making me even more sure my mother had won out on the negotiations. Mattie was being such a good sport still agreeing to be the stylist even though all his ideas were obviously shut down.

“You are such a good friend,” I said to him as I stepped into the dress.

“Thanks hon,” he said, winking.

Jen and Rosie came in after I was finally buttoned into the dress and both of them looked like they might cry. Rosie looked gorgeous in her shimmery taupe strapless dress, which showed off the paleness of her skin beautifully, and Jen looked just as amazing in it, the dress somehow almost hiding her baby bump and she had a glow like only a pregnant woman could have.

Mattie handed me a bouquet of cream, beige, and the lightest of pink roses, an absolute perfect compliment to my bridesmaids’ dresses. He turned away quickly, thinking he would hide the tear in his eye, but he wasn’t fast enough. I decided to let it slide without comment though; he’d had enough to deal with, what with my mother winning out on the entire wedding and everything.

As one last swipe of powder was administered and Mattie turned around the full-length mirror with a flourish, giving me the first look at myself.

I looked so different I nearly cried. But in a totally amazing way.

My hair was done in an up-do, which did make me pause, wondering what on Earth they’d put so many curls in for, but it looked spectacular. The dress was an absolute perfect fit, I had no idea how they got it that way without any fittings, but somehow it was like it was made for me. A strapless, sweetheart neckline in the simplest white fabric, though you could tell it was of the highest quality the way it draped.

Long gloves finished off the effect and I could see then why they made my code name Cinderella. It was like I belonged in the wedding scene of the cartoon, without any of the cheese factor that went along with it. This wedding would have nothing but the best; my mother would make sure of it.

And in that moment, as if she knew I was thinking of her, in walked my mother. One glance at me and tears actually came to her eyes. Tears! I was too stunned to talk.

“You look like you belong in a storybook,” she said, hugging me, careful not to mess my hair or makeup.

“Thanks,” I said, my own eyes threatening to spill.

Mattie fluttering around me like a bee, tissue in hand for any possible tear incidents.

“Everything is perfect,” I said to my mother, pausing to glance at Mattie with an ‘I’m sorry’ look, but he was being the perfect gentleman and had taken a few steps back, pretending he wasn’t listening.

“I’ve dreamed of this day since you were born,” Mom said, holding my hands, and in that moment I felt bad for all the times I’d been impatient with her, for all the times I’d fought with her, for all the times I’d avoided her calls.

Then her brow crinkled. “This wasn’t the shade of lipstick I chose,” she said, grabbing my head with both hands, craning my head from side to side so she could get a better look.

“It’s time,” Mattie said, rescuing me and dabbing the corner of my eye with a tissue, careful not to mess up my makeup.

My stomach leapt practically out of my body and I hoped momentarily that I wouldn’t puke all over my gorgeous dress, but it settled as quickly as it came and I realized it was only excitement and maybe a few jitters.

Most of the people cleared out of the room, including my mother, who’d regained her composure from the lipstick incident and blew me a kiss on her way out.

I smiled. Some things would never change.

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly through my mouth in a zen calming sort of way.

“Okay, here we go,” Mattie said, opening the door.

I could only hope it wouldn’t be as far of a walk to wherever the ceremony was being held because the heels I was wearing were not the type for hiking across a building that seemed to be as big as a stadium.

But it’s not like I was going to complain or anything.

Thankfully, we walked only a short distance to a service elevator. It took a minute or two to get my bridesmaids, Mattie, and my entire dress into the bloody thing, even though the capacity was twenty-two people. The dress, needless to say, was the real task.

The doors opened and I half expected to be inside the hall area, but all it was, was another hallway.

Mattie whispered, “Cinderella has arrived for the ball,” touching his earpiece and in about fifteen seconds, Here Comes the Bride began to play.

Even I rolled my eyes at that one, my mother was nothing if not predictable.

Rosie went through the door and started her decent down the aisle and I strained to catch a glimpse of the decorations, but the curtain covering the door closed much too quickly. Jen’s cue came and she was off, again the curtains drew shut before I could catch much but a burst of flowers.

And then it was my turn.

The fabric parted and I took my first step into what could have been a church if I hadn’t known better. All the people I knew, and some I’m pretty sure I didn’t know, stood, their chairs in perfect lines, just like the pews in a cathedral. Every chair had a shimmery cover over it, and the ceiling was draped in droops of flimsy, silky fabric.

I was so busy taking everything in—the hundreds of candles, the floral and spicy scent, and what must have been several thousand roses, in vases, petals on the ground, and the huge topiaries that my mother and I had gone to check out ages ago—that I’d nearly forgotten the eyes of the crowd were on me and I was supposed to be doing something.

Like, you know, taking the biggest step of my life.

Luckily, a big step like that required that I only take a few small steps in order to get down the aisle. And they were some of the shakiest steps I’d ever taken in my life.

Fear surged through me, but not as much as excitement did. My head spun and my stomach flipped. I tried to focus on the people in the crowd, I wanted to remember who had come to my wedding obviously, but it was impossible to pick out even one person in the waves of smiling heads.

Then I looked ahead.

And saw Jake.

My vision tunneled and my head stilled, my heart calming to a completely relaxed state. He looked at me and smiled, his eyes glistening just a bit. Nothing else entered my mind. My focus was clear. Jake. Nothing but getting to Jake.

He took my hand and the whole world fell into place. I knew then that nothing could be more right than in that moment, in one of the most beautiful rooms I had ever seen.

It was weird, I noted, that the room was so tiny. Given the size of the building, I figured the place would be massive, but I supposed maybe Mother hadn’t rented the entire thing. I didn’t give it much thought because the priest or JP or whoever he was started to speak.

I fought the whole way through not to cry. Every time I thought I might start leaking like a faucet, one glance at Mattie set me straight. He’d shake his head ever so slightly and point to his eyes, reminding me I’d look like a ridiculous raccoon if even a hint of a tear escaped.

It went by in a blur and the only words I remember hearing for sure were ‘I do’ coming out of Jake’s mouth, to which I literally sighed with relief, not quite believing we’d ever get to that point for real.

My life still seemed like a dream. And that day was more of a fairy tale than any.

“You may kiss the bride,” the man said and Jake leaned in.

It was then that my heart started to beat faster again, realizing that I was kissing my husband for the first time. His lips were as warm and soft as ever as he pulled my head gently to his.

I heard Mattie gasp, no doubt worried about my hair, but in that moment I lost myself to Jake. I thought of all the times we’d kissed before and all the times that were still to come.

We finally parted and the crowd started cheering. One glimpse at my mother and I could tell the cheering was certainly not part of the planned event. It looked somewhat like she’d just stuck an atomic lemon candy in her mouth.

But she quickly recovered, straightening, and even getting in a tiny clap of her own.

Jake and I walked back down the aisle hand in hand, waving at the odd person in the crowd. I couldn’t have wiped the gigantic smile off my face if someone had told me it was a matter of life or death. At that moment, I would have died happy anyway.

Jake pulled my hand in close to his chest like he wasn’t ever going to let me go, and that was exactly the way I planned for it to be from now on.

“Picture time,” Mattie said, clapping his hands together. “And we gotta be quick, your guests are waiting.”

“Waiting? You’re seriously going to let all those people sit in there while we get pictures taken? Mattie, they’re going to start leaving.”

“No they won’t,” he said. “We’ve put out snacks and music. Okay, more importantly we’ve put out the booze. Plus we’re showing the new ten-minute preview of Jake’s new movie. They’re getting a sneak peek.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Nice work my friend,” I said, a little jealous that they got to see it before I did.

Although the whole fairytale wedding thing was doing wonders to calm my jealousy.

“Besides, the pictures are only going to take a few minutes.”

“A few minutes? God, they seemed to take hours for Emma’s wedding. Or maybe they just felt like hours since I was all itchy and rashy through half of them.”

“Oh they took a while,” Jake agreed.

Mattie shrugged. “I guess we’re just better organized. We’ve got them planned out to the second.”

And then a weird smile crossed his face as he turned away from us, like he knew something we didn’t, but it disappeared as quickly as it came and I was left wondering if I’d seen anything at all.

The room for the pictures was pretty amazing, and certainly higher tech than any photo studio I’d ever seen. Gadgets filled the room in front of a giant screen, which I was surprised was just a simple sky backdrop.

We pasted our smiles on as the photographer scuttled around us, moving my veil in almost imperceptible amounts until he decided it was just right. Of course, Jake was perfect just the way he was and needed no adjusting.

I kept imagining how plain the pictures were going to be until near the end I caught another glimpse of the backdrop. It had changed to a picture of a nighttime castle scene, complete with fireworks above.

Maybe the pictures wouldn’t be so boring after all. I couldn’t wait to see all the backgrounds the guy had.

Jake held my hand the whole time.

Except, of course, when Mattie grabbed my other arm to whisk me away from my groom.

CHAPTER 22

“Mattie! What are you doing?”

“Costume change, my dear.”

“Costume change? God Mattie, we’re not in a play.”