Chapter 8
Francesca
“I don't know why you guys are making such a fuss over me going down for supper.” Giselle waved her hand and coughed as Eve sprayed her hair.
“Honestly, what's come over you people today?
Everyone's been acting so weird. And—” Giselle swatted her best friend.
“You are not putting baby's breath in my hair!”
Eve made an over-exaggerated pouty face. “But then you won't match us.” Eve motioned her hand between us. When Giselle wasn't looking, she gave me a smile and a wink.
“Who cares? You guys look ridiculous with that in your hair.”
Just then, Dani danced into the room. She wore a cute little white dress made of the same material as her mother's.
Eve said that Giselle had made them not all that long ago.
“Ohh.” Dani stopped mid-pirouette and stared wide-eyed at her mother.
“Mommy! You look—” she inhaled loudly, “beautiful!” She ran right up to her mother and gave her a hug.
“Daddy wants to know if you're almost ready for the fancy supper?” She let go of Giselle and spun around, her skirt twirling along with her.
“We're almost ready. Mommy just needs to put this in her hair. You want Mommy to match with you, right?” Eve overtly coerced the child.
Of course, it worked like a charm, and Giselle grudgingly was forced to put the baby's breath in her hair.
“I don't know. I'm feeling really tired. Maybe I'll just eat in bed. You guys can bring me a plate up here.”
Luckily for us—Dani had a near-meltdown. She told her mother in no uncertain terms that she was attending the big, fancy supper. Which was actually her mother's impromptu wedding that she knew nothing about.
No one did, besides the four of us—me, Eve, Carlo, and Nick. We didn't even tell the nannies just in case they let something out by accident. I'd bet that they all clued in when we started decorating, though.
“Okay, okay, I'll come to the fancy supper.” Giselle calmed her daughter down.
“Oh.” Eve pointed toward the door. “Uh, I think the food's here. We should get going so it doesn't get cold.”
I agreed and couldn't help but smile. “Good idea. I hate cold food,” I said, even though that wasn't true at all. That was what microwaves were for. But the food had already arrived. The catering crew worked hard to set everything up in the dining room.
“Let's go. We don't want to be late.” I grabbed Dani's hand and walked with her to the open bedroom door. “So, we're going to more than just a fancy supper,” I started explaining quietly to Dani.
She looked at me and asked, “There's no fancy supper?” Her pretty little face nearly crumpled.
“Oh, we're going to a super fancy supper. The fanciest.” That seemed to perk her up. “But it's also something else. You have to promise not to scream or yell when I tell you. Because it's a big, big, big surprise.”
Dani gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. “What is it?” She added her other hand to clamp it down over the first.
I giggled softly and stepped into the bedroom beside us. I picked up the basket of rose petals Eve and I stashed in there.
“Keep your hands over your mouth. Promise?” I held the basket behind my back as Dani bounced up and down—her hands still firmly over her mouth. “Your mommy and daddy are getting married.”
Her eyes went wide, and she—yelled.
“Yahooey!” she screamed with her arms held high above her head. And then she quickly remembered her promise and covered her mouth again.
I heard distinctly male laughter down below in the foyer.
“Sorry, Auntie Frankie.” Her words were muffled by her hands.
I gave her a quick hug and laughed softly. “It's okay, sweetie. You get to be the flower girl again. Isn't that special? Do you remember what you did when your uncle Stefan and I got married?”
She carefully grabbed the basket from me and nodded enthusiastically. “Do I ever,” she breathed out a sincere response.
“Good.” Then I gave her a quick rundown of what she was supposed to do.
“What the—” Giselle's voice interrupted our chat.
I looked up to see Giselle's face—finally—register what was going on.
But even if she didn't understand, Dani helped her out. “Mommy! Guess what? You're getting married!” Dani screamed excitedly as she jumped up and down. A good portion of the rose petals flew out onto the floor.
“Whoops,” I said, and then Dani and I started picking them up and putting them back into the basket.
“What have you done?” Giselle asked her best friend. And from the tone of her voice, I took it that this wasn't a good surprise for her.
Eve held onto her shoulders and attempted to calm her down.
“There's a man downstairs who wants to marry you. Very much. So much so that he enlisted everyone to help make it happen. And that man down there—” Eve pointed with her whole arm and hand, “is so freaking full of nerves—” Eve sniffled, blinking her tear-filled eyes, “he's shaking, Giselle.
He's so worried you won't have him. I kid you not, an hour ago, I had to talk him down from a full-blown panic attack in the backyard. I was this close to calling an ambulance.”
Now Giselle's eyes were full of tears. “Evie,” was all she could get out.
Eve shook her head and sniffled again. “No, not me. Carlo. You need to go to him. Show that man how much you want to be his wife. Because he wants nothing,” Eve shook her head, “nothing else than to be your husband.” Giselle hugged her best friend ferociously.
Then they carefully wiped each other's tears away.
“Ready?” I asked, wiping my own tears.
Giselle gave me a wide grin. “Ready.”
I stood and instructed Dani to start down the stairs. And right on cue, the music started. Dani giggled and waved back at me. I waved at her and whispered, “Keep going. You're doing great.”
I was pretty sure Dani had never been happier or more excited.
She turned and started walking down the stairs again. All eyes were on her as she tossed rose petals here and there. A handful even made its way over the railing and floated to the guests below.
There weren't many guests. But Anna made it. She was more excited than anyone to see her oldest son finally get married.
I quickly stepped into the spare bedroom and grabbed the bouquets. Giselle’s was bigger than mine and Eve’s. The scent of roses wafted up my nose.
“Oh, my gosh. Those are gorgeous.” Giselle’s eyes grew teary again as I handed her a bouquet. “Thank you.” Her lower lip quivered.
“Shoot, hang on. I forgot something,” Eve said in a panic as she raced down the hallway in her high heels. It didn’t take her long to run back completely out of breath—with a long veil in her hands.
It was my turn to start down the stairs, so I slowly began the long trek. Stefan's eyes immediately caught mine. He stood right beside his brother. Nick stood at the end.
Good grief.
The level of hotness in that lineup made my nipples hard.
They were all in tuxes—which somehow made them even hotter. Carlo had even agreed to a haircut. Eve gave him a trim. But it didn't matter how short Carlo's hair was—he still looked like a big, hulking lumberjack who could throw you over his shoulder and carry you off to the woods.
I smiled at Anna on the way and gave her a little wave.
The nannies had the kids dressed in white outfits that Eve had somehow arranged.
That woman was magic, I tell you. She knew all the little touches that would make this extra special.
The candles were my idea, though. We didn't have time for a lot of decorations.
But I figured candles would add a lot to the atmosphere down here.
We'd hung long swaths of white tulle all over.
Getting enough white roses on such short notice wasn't easy.
But somehow, we did it. Everything looked dreamy.
I walked up to the front and stood on the other side of the priest, opposite the men. I left room for Eve and Giselle.
Eve was halfway down the stairs. She was beautiful—her long blonde hair flowing over her shoulders as she walked. The tight black dress hugged her in all the right places. Even after having all those kids—her hourglass figure was incredible.
Nick smiled proudly at his wife as she made her way to us. I tried not to think about how devastated he would be once he found out what she was doing with his best friend.
That was a problem for another day. Right now, I needed to stay in the moment. All that other stuff would work out, however it worked out.
The music changed, and Giselle started her march down the staircase.
Carlo gasped audibly. Gosh.
He was sweet. For a great big cheater.
Beads of sweat dripped down his forehead, and that made me silently giggle.
Eve had been right. Carlo had been a freaking wreck the entire day.
He went from being excited at finally marrying his fiancée—to worrying she'd flat out refuse him.
I shouldn't have enjoyed his shifting moods as much as I did.
But I figured it was a decent payback for poor Giselle and what she was currently going through with her pregnancy.
Not to mention the fact that he was fucking around on her…
Carlo's chest started moving rapidly.
Uh, oh.
Eve noticed right away, too. “Carlo, breathe. Deep breaths.” She gave him a sharp warning. “You are not having a panic attack at the altar.”
He gave her a look of desperation and clutched his chest. “I can't fuckin' breathe. Fuck.”
“Oh, crap. Not again,” Eve said with a loud sigh. “Someone get a chair!” she yelled. “Before he goes down.”
Nick and Stefan jumped into action, each taking hold of one arm. I rushed over to the side of the room, picked up a chair, and brought it over.
They dropped him into the chair, but Carlo was still grasping his chest.
“Head between your legs, Carlo,” I instructed him and pushed his back forward. Gosh, he’d sweat right through his jacket. “Can someone grab a glass of water for him?”