Epilogue #3
We’d practiced a very restrained, conservative kiss. We both knew that media had been invited to attend and cover the wedding. That was better than trying to keep them out.
I leaned in, ready for the gentle peck we’d practiced.
Instead, Reynolds grabbed me to him, laid a very non-PG kiss on me, and then dipped me to continue the kiss, almost making me drop my bouquet.
Cheers went up from the audience, and I felt my face turn pink.
The preacher cleared his throat, and Reynolds stood me back up, holding me to him and smiling down at me. He leaned in close to my ear and whispered, “You are so beautiful it almost hurts to look at you.”
I reached up and cupped his face with my hands and gave him another kiss.
“You may turn and face the front,” the preacher said in his serious, dry voice. We turned and stared out at all our friends and family, our fingers intertwined.
I noticed as we stood there, that there were a few fireflies flickering around the gardens in the early evening light.
Mixed in with the fairy lights, and the full moon that was just beginning to rise over the gardens, it gave off a magical effect.
I couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful night to get married.
“Ladies and gentlemen, may I present Mr. and Mrs. Taylor.”
More cheers and lots of clapping followed the announcement, and we walked down the aisle laughing and holding onto each other.
We milled around and talked to so many people that everyone’s faces started blurring together.
We spent a few minutes with Reynolds’ parents.
They seemed to have neutral feelings towards me, but they still hadn’t forgiven Reynolds for dashing their hopes of him running for a higher office than mayor.
They congratulated us, handed over a check, made their excuses, and left the wedding before the reception got started.
“Sorry, Reynolds,” I said, hugging him around the waist.
He laughed. “Don’t be. I quit being worried about what they thought a while ago. It’s been freeing. Besides,” he said, nodding towards our friends, “family is what you make it.”
“Plus, we’ll always have Mama,” I waved at my mother, who looked very glamorous in her champagne-colored silk mother-of-the-bride gown.
Mama was still dating two different gentlemen from her condominium community.
She was dancing with the one who’d scored the chance to be her date tonight.
She gave the two of us a little smile and wave.
“Yes, we’ll always have your mom.”
I’d told Reynolds he should call her Mama, too.
Both Reynolds and Mama thought that was weird, though.
They’d settled on him calling her Pamela instead of Mrs. Walker.
It had taken him a while to get back in her good graces after he broke my heart.
I was a much more forgiving person than she was.
But she’d come around and admitted the two of us were good together.
Now, she was close to treating Reynolds like the son she’d never had.
I loved it. It made me so happy that the two people I loved most in the world not only got along but truly seemed to like each other.
Madeline came hurrying over. She looked beautiful in the lilac-colored bridesmaid’s dress she’d picked out.
I’d laughed when she’d told me I should pick out the dresses.
I told her that only my prestigious personal shopper would be allowed to do that.
She’d complained but had gotten a huge smile on her face that I’d asked her to do it.
Madeline, Carmen, Daisy, Abbi, Glory, Nora, and Bethany—all my roommates from Cinnamon House—were my bridesmaids, while Jelly was my maid of honor.
I wasn’t as close to Glory, Nora, and Bethany as I was to the other girls, but I still liked them a lot.
There was no way I’d leave them out of my wedding.
Madeline had also been in charge of the slivery gray tuxedos worn by Reynolds and his team of groomsmen. He had asked Nico, Byron, Enzo, and a few of his friends that I didn’t know as well. Byron was the best man.
“Y’all are about to have your first dance. Then there will be two special dances. Then the wedding party will hit the dance floor. Got it?” Madeline directed.
I nodded, thankful for her once again.
“What does she mean by special dances?” I asked.
Reynolds’ eyes sparkled. “You’ll see, angel.” He dipped down and kissed me, and my arms wrapped around his neck. He tightened his hold around my waist and deepened the kiss.
“Would the bride and groom please make their way to the center of the dance floor?” the lead singer of the band requested at Madeline’s urging.
I laughed when Reynolds refused to let me go. Instead, he just picked me up and carried me, bride-style, to the dance floor. Everyone clapped, and several of the guys hooted and hollered. “I think they’ve hit the bar pretty hard already,” I said.
“Hell, yeah, they have,” he laughed.
We stood there for a moment while we waited for the music to start up. But then Madeline ran out and handed Reynolds a microphone.
“What is happening?” I hissed trying to look like I was still smiling, though I was suddenly nervous. I knew he wasn’t going to sing. He didn’t have a magnificent voice or anything.
“Good evening, everyone,” he said into the mic. “Nadine didn’t want us to write our own vows, and I understood that. But I couldn’t restrain myself from writing a little something.”
There were lots of ‘awes’ from the women and laughter from the guys.
“I’m going to get you back for this,” I said softly.
He covered the microphone and said, “punish me in bed, honey, okay?” He winked at me.
I grinned at him.
“Nadine, we didn’t meet in the most conventional of ways, but I’ll never be sorry for that.
Your physical beauty struck me before I had a chance to defend myself.
I’d already started to fall for you just based on how you looked.
But then you spilled a drink on me… on more than one occasion…
and you made me laugh. It wasn’t long before I realized that your personality outshined your beauty.
I wouldn’t have thought that was even possible since you are quite literally the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen in my life.
Being with you through the mayoral campaign while trying to pretend to date another woman was a crazy way to begin a relationship, but I don’t think I’d trade it in for anything.
“Having obstacles thrown in our way like we did, plus me screwing up a few times, made me realize how much I cared about you.
How much I loved you. And though I had always planned to be a lifelong bachelor, I was suddenly staring that reality in the face after you left my sorry ass for treating you poorly. As you should have.
“It crushed me. And then you moved on” he looked around until he saw Leo Salazar standing at the edge of the dance floor, a woman on each arm.
He gave him a chin nod. Leo grinned and nodded back.
“I drowned myself in my sorrows and realized that my life didn’t look good at all without you in it.
That’s when I knew I would never be happy without you beside me as my wife.
“I love you, Nadine, and I always will. You’re my everything, angel, and I plan to spend the rest of my life proving it to you.”
I had to wipe away a couple of tears as I grabbed the mic from him. Everyone was getting ready for a speech, but I was about to disappoint them.
“I love you, Reynolds Taylor.” Everyone looked at me, waiting for the rest. “Yeah, that’s it,” I said and laughed. Madeline hurried over and grabbed the mic, as our music started playing.
The strains of “Conversations in the Dark” by John Legend cut through the slightly humid night air.
Reynolds twirled and dipped me as we danced alone together in the middle of the floor.
Our eyes never left each other. It was wonderful to look at my husband and have no doubts that we were meant to be together.
“I love you,” I said as he twirled me into him.
“And I love you,” he said as he dipped and kissed me at the end of the song.
He pulled me in for a hug and we swayed together to our own music as Madeline hurried over to the band and said something. Then she turned and faced everyone. “Next, we need Nadine’s mama to come on out to the dance floor.”
Mama smiled and walked across the floor to me.
I looked at her questioningly.
“Just wait, peaches.”
“Many of you know that Nadine’s father hasn’t been in the picture for a long time,” Madeline said into the mic. “Mrs. Walker filled the roles of both parents for her daughter. So, instead of a father and daughter dance, we thought we’d have a mother and daughter dance instead.”
The strains of “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun,” started up, and I started laughing. She did, too, and we hugged each other and swayed to the beat for a minute before breaking it down. It was our favorite song.
“I’m so happy for you, peaches. I always thought when Carmen showed up and took you away that it was your way out. I just did not know how well everything was going to turn out. I’m so thankful. Truly.”
“Me too, Mama. Thanks for telling me to go. If you’d said not to, I wouldn’t have.”
“I know. You’ve always been a good girl like that. But I knew it was your chance to have something in this life.”
We hugged, and a few tears tracked out of the corners of my eyes.
“Enough of that. Let’s dance.”
So, we did. We twirled each other around, did hip bumps, and just danced to the song like we’d often done in the trailer.
At the end, Mama was a little breathless, and we were both laughing and wiping our eyes.
“Two more special songs before dinner is served,” Madeline said. “Let me first get the bridesmaids out on the dance floor with the bride.”