Chapter 59 #3
“Go!” The woman lowered her arm before slamming her headset against her head. Saul took his step forward, and Jamie followed.
Although there was music and the sound of running water somewhere in the distance, the world was reverently silent. Gasps erupted as Jamie stepped into the sunlight, and everyone watched it shine upon her gown and reflect off her jewels.
She probably blinded a few people. I don’t care. She held back tears, words of awe and admiration for her father, the only one she had to hold onto right now – and who looked too proud to speak.
As soon as she had her footing on the catwalk, Jamie looked at the display below.
Hundreds of guests were elegantly spread throughout the gardens, sitting upon cushioned chairs while the colorful flowers brought out the hues of their dresses and cummerbunds.
Jamie didn’t recognize most of them. Yet they gazed at her, and soon enough, she saw friends and family sitting with the best view of the top balcony.
More than one person held up opera glasses.
For some reason, they stopped.
“Dad!” she hissed as Saul held his camera phone high above them. “Now is not the time for a selfie!” Out of the corner of her eye, Jenny had a conniption on her Bluetooth.
Saul smiled as he hit the photo button multiple times. “Shut up, Jam! We only get to do this once! Smile!”
To Jenny’s absolute horror, Jamie flashed a peace sign and smiled at her dad’s phone. Two clicks later, Saul put his phone in his pocket and waved to the crowd below. Jamie grabbed his hand and tried to haul him down the catwalk.
She barely had time to savor her moments walking down the aisle.
Cameras went off in every direction. People scrambled to get a better look at her.
Debates raged over who designed her dress.
Others swooned, whether lost in romantic notions or wishing that they were the ones getting married that day.
The only faces Jamie recognized were Bonita’s – because she was wandering around everywhere, whispering her name into people’s ears – the Blakes standing next to the Anderssens, Monique standing up with the aid of her sister-in-law, and Kathleen and Ira standing behind them, the latter smiling while the former looked like she was about to pass out from being at a wedding.
When they rounded the corner, Jamie heard someone shouting her name.
“Jamie!” It was Nala, threatening to climb the scaffolding if her girlfriend Varen didn’t keep her back. “You look awesome!” Jamie quickly shook her head at the security coming forward to calm things down.
Who were these other people? The sheiks and Saudi princes? The Liechtensteiner royalty Jamie heard she invited without even knowing it? The CEOs of other Fortune 500 companies that traded billions of dollars with Etta every week? Celebrities?
Jamie stopped caring as they rounded the final catwalk and ascended to the main balcony.
Because she saw Etta, and she became all that mattered.
Her fiancée and soon-to-be wife stood to the left of the officiant, princely in her finest Armani suit yet.
The woman hated tuxedos, but she allowed some of the style into her look that day.
She had the best cummerbund of them all, a large purple rose hanging from her breast pocket, and diamond and gold cufflinks that sparkled in tune with Jamie’s dress.
Who told her to wear gold? It must have been Adele.
Jamie grinned as widely as she dared, the moment Etta caught her eye and smiled at her first.
This is it. My whole world is changing. I can’t walk away from this. I can only walk forward. In step with her father, who squeezed her arm with his and continued to sniff as they approached the balcony.
She felt like Cinderella on the way to the ball.
She may not have had a carriage made out of her pumpkin, but she had her father, and he was sort of like a pumpkin sometimes – especially if he let his tanned stomach hang out for all to see.
She also had an assortment of fairy godmothers, some evil stepsisters who would always try to make her life hell, and enough friends in high places to keep the stepsisters at bay.
Tonight, it was all about the ball – her wedding.
Jamie ran her tongue over her chapped lips and chomped down as hard as she dared. Don’t walk out of your shoe!
Cinderella, however, only had the one night at the ball. For Jamie? This was forever.
Either way, Etta awaited her. She even came to Jamie as she stepped forward to meet her and Saul at the small steps leading down into the balcony.
Jamie took her hand. Soft, but strong and commanding, with every bit of force she kept stored in her body crying to show Jamie how worthy she was. Jamie didn’t need her to. She knew how wonderful Etta could be. Today, she hoped that everyone in the world saw it too.
Both Etta and Saul escorted her the final few feet to the officiant. It was here that Saul finally left her side and escaped into the house, hurrying to join his wife in the audience.
Jamie was shaking. Was there a breeze? Or was it all the cameras still going off behind her as she held Etta’s hand in front of the officiant? What could be making her shake so much? Could everyone else see her shaking?
“You’re the most beautiful woman I have seen in my life,” Etta whispered in her ear. “I have seen quite a few beautiful women. None of them are as gorgeous as you.”
Jamie tittered into the back of her hand, having to take a couple more seconds to compose herself. Rather hard to do when an officiant looked at her through weary eyes.
He said a few words. Loudly, near a microphone, so everyone down in the audience could hear what they said. Jamie did not retain any of it. Like at Helen and Monique’s wedding, she tuned everything out, her brain so far into overdrive that it blanked out.
All she saw was Etta, the woman she would call hers forever.
“Jamie,” someone hissed. “It’s your turn.”
“Huh?” What had happened? Who? Where? Jamie looked into Etta’s face, which did its best not to burst out laughing. Seena had trouble as well.
The officiant? He merely gazed at Jamie and repeated, “Do you, Jamie Joy, stand before us today with full consent to be wedded to this woman?”
What! Had they made it this far already? Did Jamie miss the part where Etta went first and said she consented to be married? I wanted to hear it… Jamie had to focus!
“I do,” she said. Her voice trembled. How could she sound nervous now? Of all times!
While they hadn’t written their own vows, they had chosen others to repeat. Etta was the first to speak, and this time Jamie actually heard it.
“I, Etta Coleman, take this woman, Jamie Joy, to be my lawfully wedded wife from this day forward. I promise to love and cherish her, to protect her from harm, to provide for her to the best of my abilities, and to be the greatest wife that she could ever ask for. I swear upon my life and my dignity to honor her, our relationship, and what we have set forth before the universe to mean our marriage. Should she become the mother of my children, I will honor her as such and swear to be a good and honorable parent. I will not defame my wife, and I will remain loyal until my dying day, so help me God.”
Jamie was glad that she only had to repeat what the officiant said, because she sure as hell could not remember or read anything else. She couldn’t even remember what came next, and could hardly believe it when Adele passed two rings into Etta’s hand.
“With this ring, I be wed,” Etta said softly, slipping the fitted band over Jamie’s left ring finger. It melded with her engagement ring, only now it looked stronger, more powerful. Her sweaty hand took the ring from Etta’s and attempted to shove it on her finger.
Oh my God. I am putting a ring on her! This was, perhaps, the most symbolic thing Jamie could have done in her relationship so far.
It’s like… collaring her… in a way. This was a woman used to having all the power.
Slipping a ring over her finger meant Jamie was as close as any woman would get to symbolically tying this woman to her!
“With this ring, I be wed.” Jamie was shocked at how easily the wedding band went over Etta’s finger. Hopefully, I’ll see it on her hand for the rest of my life. ‘Til death did they part.
The officiator said the one thing Jamie had been waiting to hear for so many weeks.
“May I present to you Etta and Jamie Coleman.”
A roar of cheers erupted from the garden. Etta took Jamie’s hand and turned to face them, the other arm slipping comfortably around her waist.
“Do we tell them that you might not legally change your name?”
“Nope,” Jamie said through a smile, waving at the crowd below. “I want them all to bask in the fact that I can legally be called Mrs. Coleman if I want.”
“It suits you well.”
They began the procession down the catwalk as two wives. “Yeah, well, you could always be Etta Joy, you know.”
“Somehow, that doesn’t strike fear into the hearts of my competitors.”
Jamie caught sight of her parents, both of them waving frantically with huge smiles on their faces. Beside them, Anne Coleman stood, stoic. Or at least Jamie thought so until she pulled out her handkerchief and patted her face.
“Somehow, I think that was the point, wife.”
“I could get used to you calling me your wife.”
They diverted into the manor, where more than one officiant – and their lawyers – stood by the marriage license, ready for them to sign.
The fact that Etta wrote her name with no hesitation before handing the fountain pen to Jamie filled her with more confidence than having her tell the whole world that she loved her.