Chapter 60 #2
Jamie, on the other hand, longed to let this dreamy affair continue. Don’t tell me my wedding is over already. Seemed as if it had blown by without any warning. Even so, she kept her bearings as she turned to her wife and said, “I suppose I should go change, then.”
“Change? Why change?”
“I brought a more practical outfit for this evening. Unless you want to take me back to the penthouse in this huge gown.”
Etta’s hand pushed across her knee. Somehow, she had found it beneath all that fabric.
“There’s plenty of time to take it off later, my flower.
” Her hand rubbed the spot where Jamie’s garter was.
Like the damn pro she was, Etta managed to coax it down to her wife’s knee, all without breaking eye contact with Jamie.
Word spread. Both Jamie and Etta rose from the banquet table to rendezvous with Jenny. Etta’s limo pulled up in the driveway, bedecked in the usual “Just Married” flair.
Seena brought Jamie her bouquet. Purple and blue flowers looked back up at her, and the knowledge that this would be the last time she looked at them before going away to her honeymoon was almost too hard to bear.
For so long, Jamie had dreamed of this day.
Now she gazed upon the gathering crowd, fully aware that her name, in their eyes, was Mrs. Jamie Coleman.
Jamie had gone from nobody girlfriend to first – Excuse me, only – wife of a billionaire so quickly that some of them had whiplash.
It didn’t help that her parents, as proud as they now were, stood out like sore thumbs as they eagerly waved.
The crowd arrived. Bets were called. Women giggled, and others swore they weren’t going to participate.
While Jamie was seated on a stool and Luna removed her daughter’s garter, the newly married billionaire pulled five hundred-dollar bills from her wallet and fanned them to the tune of whistles and cheers in the background.
Jamie took the garter from her mother and handed the thin blue thing to her wife.
Although it was customary to toss the bouquet first, it was clear that things would happen out of order.
Etta already wound the garter around the wad of money and looked at the crowd with a cool look.
“I don’t care what you bastards think,” she said.
“You all know you want to be as lucky as me one day.”
Nobody refuted that. In fact, it riled up the crowd, each one jokingly climbing over the other in an effort to get the best spot for catching the garter.
Etta turned around, facing her wife. With a wink, she tossed the garter high above, completely missing the second fist fight that almost erupted.
“Ah, yes, everyone.” Jamie couldn’t bring herself to be surprised when she saw Ira Mathison come out on top, twirling the garter on one hand and pocketing the money with the other. “I believe this is a sign that we should all get piss-roaring drunk at the nearest bar. Er… where’s the nearest bar?”
What a fantastic segue to the bouquet toss! Jamie gazed at the women amassing on the other side and… well, she would be no Monique Warner that day.
I’ve thought long and hard about this. Four months ago, Monique decided that Jamie needed this bouquet more than any other. It was a sign that it was time for her and Etta to at least get engaged, not that anyone could have foreseen a wedding happening so quickly.
Unfortunately for Jamie, the only woman she could see paying it forward to was not present in the group.
She should not have been surprised that Kathleen had high-tailed it out of there – especially after the stunt her partner pulled – and was back at the bar getting a shot of tequila, but it put a damper on Jamie’s plan, nonetheless.
Her backup plan? The one where she would shove the bouquet in Adele’s hands and hope for the best? That wasn’t going to work either, because the woman was nowhere to be found.
“Fuck it,” she mumbled, and tossed the damn bouquet into the hormonal crowd.
Shrieks echoed. Hands were in the air. Hair let loose, and more than one bracelet snapped off a wrist until the ground glittered in diamonds and other beautiful gems. Yet it was not a woman struggling to catch the bouquet who won.
In fact, Natasha had only been standing there out of politeness.
It was one of the nasty socialites who knocked the bouquet out of the air and into Natasha’s idle hands.
“Oh… shit…” she uttered, staring in disbelief at the colorful flowers in her hands. “Hey, Mathison, time to put the garter on that young lady there.”
Natasha dropped the bouquet. The room fell silent, with Ira looking between the woman at the bar and her best friend looming in the corner shadows. Eve liked that idea about as much as Kathleen did.
“Think we’re good over here!”
Natasha gave Jamie a look of how could you as the bride took her wife’s hand and was led away from the reception.
The limo was ready. All that remained was driving away from the biggest wedding of the year. Jamie stood on the brick walkway leading to the private road, holding Etta back from making a break for it. I know you want to be alone, but there’s one thing I have to do…
“Thank you for coming to my wedding!” Jamie cried, to the polite applause of those who had followed her out.
The photographers were still going, clicking this, flashing that, catching every moment of her wedding in a blip of time.
This is still so crazy… “It means a lot to me that you would do this for Etta and me. I hope to see a lot of your friendly faces when I return from our honeymoon! And if you’re not so friendly to me, whether because you think I stole your chance, I’m too stupid, I’m too ill-bred, I’m too embarrassing…
well, I don’t give a fuck! I’m going to have an awesome marriage, whether it’s with your approval or not! ”
Most of the guests were too dumbfounded to respond. The only one to cheer was Lara Anderssen, who then knocked back a glass of champagne before climbing onto her spouse.
Etta let out a whistle as she opened the limo door and gestured for Jamie to get in. High from her declaration, Jamie picked up her skirt and stepped into the limo. I win today, assholes.
They were both barely in the limo before it pulled away. The manor quickly disappeared, the vehicle making its descent down a long, winding driveway as it prepared for the long drive to the city. The newlyweds would be spending the night in their penthouse before jetting off to Hawaii the next day.
“Phew,” Jamie said, slapping her hands against her skirt. The limo came to a stop at an intersection. “What a wild day!”
Etta glanced out her window, eyes widening in shock. “It’s staying wild.”
Jamie climbed across her lap to look out the window. There, pressed against a wall, were Adele and Amanda, doing something that coat closets were created for. Jamie barely caught sight of Amanda’s ass before the limo pulled onto another road.