Winter Wedding (Blythe College #5) (4 page)

chapter 5

Drake

Seeing the tears that streaked Alexa’s face even while she slept broke my heart. All I’d ever wanted was her happiness. Nothing else really mattered, and I felt like I’d watched her struggle long enough. Now was time for action. Rolling out of bed, I moved as quietly and quickly as I could. I had a lot to do before morning if I was going to pull this off.

I threw on some clothes and grabbed my phone to fire off a few texts while I was on my way to the main house. By the time I got there, everyone was gathered in the kitchen. All eyes turned to me, and I could tell they were confused by my request to meet.

“Alexa shared with me the news about the Kaylie’s bed rest and how she feels like you need to go back now in case anything goes wrong,” I told Aubrey and her parents.

Mr. and Mrs. Silver looked at each other before he spoke. “We talked to Jackson and Kaylie tonight and decided we should stay until after the wedding. It’s only a couple more days, and Kaylie isn’t having any contractions yet.”

“While I appreciate your willingness to stay for Alexa, she would never forgive herself if something went wrong,” I explained. “I don’t think you realize how tightly wound she’s been the last few months, and this struck her deep.”

“Because of the way we lost her mom,” her dad interjected softly, his eyes meeting mine in understanding.

“Yes,” I confirmed. “The wedding already made her miss her mom even more than normal, and then to have an issue with Kaylie’s pregnancy? It has her terrified.”

“Megan and I can talk to her in the morning and alleviate some of her worries,” my mom said as she looked at Mrs. Silver, who nodded her head in agreement.

“Bed rest isn’t a bad thing. The doctors just want to be careful so the baby can get closer to full term. In a couple of weeks, they’ll take her off the restriction once it’s safer for the baby to be born,” Mrs. Silver explained.

“I don’t think she’s thinking clearly,” I replied, shaking my head. “She already heard you and your husband talking and has it set in her mind that there’s a problem and she needs to fix it.”

“She did?” she asked.

“Yes, Mom,” Aubrey confirmed. “She didn’t want to come in because she said we needed to talk as a family, but we both heard your conversation before I knocked. It was pretty scary stuff, even for me, and I don’t have the same issues with childbirth that Lexi does because of her mom’s death.”

“Which means she didn’t have a chance to hear what your mom had to say after she calmed down, thought it through more clearly, and stopped panicking,” Aubrey’s dad realized out loud.

“And by the time she made it to the guesthouse, she was practically inconsolable. That’s why I think this calls for drastic measures,” I said, leading into my crazy idea.

My dad nodded his head in encouragement, and I knew that, no matter what I said next, I at least had his support already.

“By the time Alexa wakes up, I want everything ready so I can fly her back home.”

“So she can see Kaylie and Jackson for herself? Can I come too?” Aubrey asked excitedly.

“We don’t have time for you guys to take a trip tomorrow, Drake,” my mom argued. “You have the rehearsal starting at four, dinner right after, and then the ceremony is the next day.”

“And that’s why I’m going to need all of your help to pull this off,” I said.

“I’ll do whatever you need if you think it will help my baby girl,” Alexa’s dad offered.

“Pull what off?” Aubrey’s mom asked, looking around the room in confusion.

“I’m going to change a few things for our wedding day,” I began.

“Unless this trip is extremely quick or your plan involves skipping the rehearsal entirely, I just don’t see how this will work. And how will we make the changes if you two aren’t even here to run things by?” my mom asked.

“Ohmigod!” Aubrey gasped as she must have realized where I was going with this.

Both men in the room were grinning at everyone’s reactions, and I thought they must have figured out part of my plan too. I took it as a good sign that neither of them were yelling yet since they were paying for the events we already had planned here.

“The things I’m changing are pretty major and require both of us to be back in Alexa’s hometown,” I replied. “Because that’s where we’re going to exchange our vows.”

My mom leapt from her chair and started pacing the room. “We have hundreds of guests coming for your wedding, Drake! You can’t just change the location to someplace several states away days before the one day before!”

“When the girl I’m going to marry is a licensed pilot and so is her dad, I can,” I argued reasonably. “And I am going to do it because this is what’s best for Alexa.”

“Calm down, honey. Let our boy explain what he wants before you fly off the handle,” my dad interjected.

“I want Alexa to be able to marry me in a place where she’s surrounded by her loved ones,” I said as I looked towards Aubrey and her parents. “Without feeling guilty about them being there.”

“Before you make a rash decision, let me talk to her when she wakes up and reassure her that there’s no need to feel guilty,” Mrs. Silver said.

Shaking my head, I looked at Alexa’s dad next. “And I want her to feel closer to her mom too. As morbid as it sounds to start our wedding day in a cemetery, I want her to be able to put flowers on her mom’s grave before she walks down the aisle to me. So her mom is a part of our special day even though she’s gone. And the only way that can happen is if we go back.”

Alexa’s dad’s eyes were filled with sadness as he returned my stare. “My gift will help her feel closer to her mom,” he reminded me.

“I know, but I think she needs more. Plus, if we do this at the Silvers’ house, then Jackson could be there too. And she’s been sad that he won’t be here for her wedding day too,” I said, explaining the last reason why I thought this was the right decision.

“How can we possibly move everything though?” my mom asked.

“That’s the beauty of my plan. We don’t have to move everything—just the rehearsal and the ceremony. We can fly in tomorrow and take care of any details we can’t do over the phone. Then we get married in the morning and fly back for the reception,” I told them.

“I have room for all of us on the plane,” Alexa’s dad said.

“And the flight’s only a couple of hours. If we time it right, the reception can happen without any changes at all, Mom,” I pleaded with her, hoping she’d agree.

“I think I know someone who can tape the ceremony so your guests can watch it from here if you wanted,” Aubrey offered. “I can make some calls and find a place that will set up a projection screen so everyone can see it.”

“But we’d be abandoning everyone here,” my mom worried. “How will we explain this if we’re all gone?”

“I’m sure your sister will be happy to be left in charge while we’re gone,” my dad told her.

“Yeah. Aunt Marci would be perfect. You know she’ll be happy to help,” I agreed.

“It doesn’t matter what I come up with, does it? You’re going to have a solution for everything?” she asked me.

Nodding my head as I walked towards her, I looked down at my mom so she’d see how serious I was. “Yes, and if I don’t, I know you’ll help me find one. Because this is what’s best for Alexa. And I grew up watching you and dad doing anything you needed to do to make each other happy. To make Drea and me happy.”

She started crying, and I hugged her close. “Well, I can’t exactly argue with that now can I?”

“Nope, you can’t,” I said.

“Well, then I guess I better get to work so we’ll be ready to leave in the morning,” she said.

“Can you let Drea know about the change when she gets back?” I asked. “When I texted her, she told me she was visiting a friend in town.”

“Sure, honey,” she agreed. “I’ll make sure your sister is ready for the flight in the morning too. And as long as she’s there already, I’ll call the owner of the dress shop and ask her to meet Drea there so she can pick up Alexa’s dress. They finished the additional alterations this afternoon and we were supposed to go back in the morning to get it.”

“Thanks, Mom,” I said as I gave her one last squeeze before letting go.

We spent the next thirty minutes running through the list of things that needed to be done in the next twenty-four hours if I hoped to pull this off. Once we divided everything up, they began leaving one by one to get a start on their lists until it was just Alexa’s dad and me left.

“Thank you for loving her so much. For moving Heaven and Earth to make sure she has everything she could ever need. You are exactly what her mom would have wished for our baby girl,” her dad murmured as he patted me on the back before walking out of the kitchen.

I took a moment to let his approval soak in before I shook it off. I needed to get moving too because I had a ton of stuff to do before Alexa woke up. Then I needed to convince her to agree to this plan too. Hopefully the toughest task on my list wasn’t going to be getting her to agree to this plan. Alexa and surprises usually didn’t go well together, and this was going to be one hell of a shock.

chapter 6

Alexa

“C’mon, baby,” Drake whispered in my ear.

I stretched and rolled over before I remembered everything that had happened in the last week. Wanting nothing more than to block it all out, I pulled the covers over my head.

“No,” I grumbled. “I know I’m supposed to be doing a million and one things before the rehearsal, but I just can’t do it. I think I’m just going to spend the day in bed instead. It’s not like things could possibly get any worse even if I did.”

The look of adoration that met my eyes when he pulled the blanket down made me feel bad for my pity party. It wasn’t Drake’s fault that things were going to hell with this wedding.

“Do you trust me?” he asked.

“Of course I do,” I replied.

As soon as I answered, Drake lifted me in his arms, blankets and all. “Then let’s get moving. I have a surprise for you.”

There were two black stretch limos in the driveway that were being loaded up with luggage. Aubrey and her parents were helping put their stuff into one while Drake’s dad and mine were loading up the other. Drea waved to me from the back seat of the car as her mom followed her inside.

“What’s going on?” I asked, confused by the sight in front of me.

“I’m kidnapping you.”

“Are things so bad that we’re eloping?” I half-joked, not expecting the worried look that entered his eyes. “Ohmigod, Drake. Seriously. We can’t do that. We have guests coming. Flowers and food and the baker. As much as I’d love for us to run off and get married without a care in the world, it’s just not possible.”

“Trust me,” he requested, his eyes locked with mine. “I know what I’m doing here.”

“And even if he didn’t, I do,” his mom piped in. “Now, you two get in this car and talk for a bit. We’ll ride in the other so you have some privacy.”

I watched as she practically dragged our dads to the other limo before Drake climbed in ours and sat down with me on his lap.

“What the hell?” I snapped at him. “I don’t understand what’s going on.”

“You went to bed crying last night, Alexa. That’s not acceptable to me. Ever. And certainly not two days before our wedding.”

“Drake,” I sighed. “I know you hate seeing me cry, but things were just crazy yesterday. And I’ve been under so much stress lately that it was almost a relief to let some of it out with a good cry.”

“Nothing about what happened last night was good, baby,” he disagreed. “But today’s a new day, and I’m hoping you agree with what I’ve decided to do.”

“What did you decide?” I asked, scared to hear his answer because I wasn’t sure about the gleam in his eye. He looked worried about my reaction, so I knew it had to be something big.

“We’re headed to the airport. Your dad called ahead to make sure the plane would be fueled up and ready to go so he could fly us back to your hometown. When we get there, you and I are going to Town Hall to apply for a marriage license. Luckily, there’s no wait and no blood tests are needed in Ohio,” he started.

“But we already have a marriage license,” I interrupted.

“Yeah, for here we do, but we’re not going to get married here. We’re going to do it there,” he told me.

I sat up straight and bumped my head on the roof of the car. Rubbing it, I looked at him in a daze. “What did you just say?”

“Baby, please let me tell you all of it. And then, if you think it’s a horrible idea, you can yell and scream at me all you want, okay?” he asked.

I nodded my head in response before he continued.

“I’ve been telling you that this wedding is about you and me and nobody else, but, baby, it’s really about you. As long as you’re happy, then I’m happy. And the only way I can see to make that happen is if we get on your dad’s plane so he can take us where we should have planned to have our wedding in the first place. Where we would have planned it if I’d been paying closer attention to what you needed.”

“No—” I argued, but I didn’t get far because he placed his finger over my lips. I hated the idea he felt like he’d let me down when I was the one who’d agreed to get married at his parents’ place when his mom had offered.

“It doesn’t matter how we got to where we are today. What matters is this is easy to fix. We’re going to get married in a place where the people who are most important to both of us will be there. And then, after I’ve made you my wife, we’ll celebrate with the huge party my mom planned for us. The best of both worlds with a short two-hour flight in between,” he told me. 

I was stunned silent for a moment as I realized what he and everyone else must have been up to last night in order to make this work. And then I felt a huge sense of relief.

“You really did all of this for me?”

“I’d do anything for you. You have to know that by now,” he said.

“And your mom isn’t mad about the change in plans? Everyone’s okay with this?” I didn’t want her to think I didn’t appreciate everything she’d already done for us so we’d have the perfect wedding, but the picture of Drake and me standing in the little gazebo and exchanging our vows where Aubrey and I used to play pretend wedding brought happy tears to my eyes.

“She was a little freaked out at first when I talked to her last night, but she’s fine now. She’s been on the phone and Internet making sure we’d have everything we need for tomorrow.”

“But I don’t even have my dress,” I realized out loud.

“Taken care of,” he assured me.

“Or the flowers.”

“Aubrey’s mom called up the local florist and sent her pictures of what you wanted. She assured her that she’d be able to duplicate what the florist here is going to do. You’ll just end up with two bouquets instead of one,” he explained.

“My shoes, makeup, lingerie…” I rattled off a list of things I’d need if I really was going to be a bride in a whole other city tomorrow morning.

“All packed up and ready to go. Aubrey gave me a list and double-checked to make sure I had everything you’d need.”

“We’re really going to do this?” I asked in wonder.

“As long as it’s what you want,” he replied. “You ready to fly away with me and elope, but with our families surrounding us?”

“Abso-freaking-lutely!” I squealed.

****

Drake hadn’t been joking when he’d told me that they had thought of everything. The next twenty-four hours flew by in a happy whirlwind. I woke up the next morning in my childhood bedroom with the man who would soon be my husband by my side. He’d put his foot down when Aubrey had said that we’d needed to spend the night apart. He’d told her that there was no way in hell that was going to happen and carted me off to my room for the night while she and his mom laughed their asses off.

We were on our way to Aubrey’s house now. Although they let him get away with disappearing with me last night, we’d already gotten texts and calls asking when I was going to be at Aubrey’s house this morning.

“Hey, did you forget where Aubrey lives that quickly?” I asked when he turned down the wrong street.

“Nope. We need to make a quick detour,” he answered.

After a couple of turns, I realized where he was taking me. I could barely see him through the tears welling in my eyes. “The cemetery?”

“Yeah,” he admitted as we turned into the parking lot.

He pulled into the spot closest to her grave and turned to me after shutting off the engine. Then he reached behind my seat and grabbed a bouquet of flowers. Red roses and white lilies—the same flowers I’d be carrying later in the day.

“For my mom?” I asked.

“I thought you might want her to be part of our day,” he explained.

“Oh, God,” I gasped as I threw myself across the seat and into his arms. “Yes, I do.”

“C’mon,” he urged.

We climbed out of the car and walked hand in hand to her plot. Drake stood waiting behind me as I took those last steps to reach her grave. I reached out to sweep some leaves off her headstone.

Marie Anne Hewett

1967 – 1992

Who knew that angels lived amongst us?

Let alone in our homes?

Beloved wife and mother.

“Hey, Mom,” I whispered softly as I laid the flowers on the grass. “It’s my wedding day. I’m marrying the most amazing man today. I think you’d love him as much as I do. Daddy even approves.”

The wind blew gently against me and I imagined that it was her letting me know that she approved. So I told her all about how we’d met and our plans for the wedding.

“I’m sorry, baby, but we need to go,” Drake came up behind me and whispered into my ear as he grasped my shoulders.

“Okay,” I agreed. “I’m ready.”

And I was ready. Drake had given me exactly what I’d needed today with this stop. A moment to feel connected to the mother I’d never gotten the chance to know on the most important day of my life. As we walked back to the car, I felt lighter than I had in months. It made the entire trip back home worthwhile.

****

I stood staring at myself in the mirror in Aubrey’s room. Aubrey and her mom had made sure I’d gotten into my dress without messing up my hair or makeup, but then I’d asked for a moment alone before my dad came to get me for the ceremony. My dress looked even better than it had with the new cap sleeves, and I felt like a fairy princess. When I heard the music begin playing from outside, I knew it was just about time. Then there was a soft knock on the door before my dad peeked in the room.

“You ready to go, sweetie?” he asked.

I turned to face him and he stopped walking as he stared at me in awe.

“My baby girl is all grown up. You look beautiful.”

“Thanks, Daddy.”

“I know between Drake and Aubrey you already have something new, something borrowed, and something blue covered. They left something old to me,” my dad explained before pulling a jewelry box out of his tuxedo jacket pocket.

Aubrey had assured me that they hadn’t forgotten the something old earlier in the day when I had worried it was missing. Drake had taken care of the something new with a set of teardrop diamond earrings and something borrowed with a fabulous diamond necklace that his mom had asked me to wear today. Aubrey had gone the traditional route with my pastel-blue garter.

“The day I married your mom was one of the two happiest of my life, and she walked down the aisle with this wrapped around her wrist,” my dad continued.

My hand trembled as I reached down to touch the simple gold bracelet he revealed when he opened the box. Knowing my mom had worn it on her wedding day made the bracelet priceless to me. I traced along the rope of gold with my fingertip.

“Your mom would be so proud of you, sweetie,” he said as he pulled the bracelet out of the box and clasped it onto my wrist. “You’ve turned into such an amazing woman. Every time I look at you, you remind me so much of her.”

“Oh, Daddy,” I sighed as I felt the tears well in my eyes, threatening to drip down my cheeks and ruin my makeup.

 “It’s not just your looks. You have her heart too,” he continued. “You were always so open and trusting. Willing to bend over backwards for other people. Until you weren’t anymore because your trust had been shattered. For years, I worried that I’d never see that side of you again. Then it was like you started to come back to life when you were near Drake, and I hoped it meant what I thought it did. That you’d met the person you were meant to be with—the one who’d protect your heart the way I protected your mom’s for the time I was lucky enough to have with her.”

I threw myself into his arms, feeling the loss of my mom more on this day than I ever had before. “I never got to know her, yet I miss her so much, Daddy.”

“I miss her too,” he admitted, and in loving Drake, I finally understood how acutely he must feel her loss. “But she’s always with me in my heart, and she gave me the most precious gift in the world—you. Now let’s do her proud and get you down the aisle, where Drake is waiting for you.”