31. EVERLEE – LIZZY’S WEDDING
EVERLEE – LIZZY’S WEDDING
Breathe in. Breathe out.
Slow steady breaths, knees bent.
Don’t pass out.
Lizzy’s music starts and almost in perfect synchronicity, the crowd stands and looks towards the back, while my guys look at me. It takes my breath away, the breath I’ve been trying so hard to maintain, but their eyes… the way they’re looking at me, makes my stomach tighten with butterflies. One would think they wouldn’t affect me like this anymore, but they do.
Every. Damn. Day.
My eyes widen and a smile creeps onto my face. I give myself this moment, then shift my body towards Lizzy and nod at her. Jax rolls his eyes, and after a second, turns towards Lizzy.
There she is.
Stunning.
Breathtaking.
My very best friend in the entire world.
She’s wearing an ivory form fitting mermaid style dress with a sweetheart neckline. The bottom of the dress is layers of light fabric, creating a soft ruffle look with a small sweep train behind her.
As my gaze sweeps across the audience to look at Tony, I catch another pair of eyes on me. Derek. He gives a quick smile, then looks away. I didn’t even think he would be here. There’s obviously no love lost between us, since we went on like half a date a year and a half ago. It’s just a little awkward.
When my eyes land on Tony, he’s tearing up and looking so in love. It’s my favorite to watch the man’s face when their bride walks down the aisle. All the eyes are on her, but looking at him is where the real magic is.
He loves her so big.
After a few seconds of just appreciating the love he has for my sister from another mister, I look back at her. Her fingers are fidgeting on the silk stems of her bouquet as her dad walks her down the aisle. His lips are moving ever so slightly, but I can’t make out what he’s saying.
She takes her time getting to me, but after her parents give her away, she steps in front of me. Handing my bouquet to Beckett, I quickly move the bottom of her dress around and give it a fluff. Lizzy, being Lizzy, tucks her cheeks in and lets out a woo, when I puff it out and the crowd laughs.
The crowd sits and the ceremony starts. The officiant they’ve chosen to marry them goes through her part relatively quickly, then turns it over to Lizzy and Tony to read the vows they’ve written. I asked Lizzy if she wanted to share her vows with me several times, but she didn’t want to.
“Tony. My love. You were unexpected. I had always wanted to find my true companion, my soul mate, but after many failed attempts, I thought I was hopeless until we accidentally bumped into one another. And I swear, when we touched, I felt a literal spark travel through my body. I knew from the instant our eyes locked you were going to be special and after our first date, I knew you were going to be the one. I even ran home and called my bestie and gushed to her.”
When he looks at me, I shrug and nod.
Lizzy takes a deep breath. “You complete me and not in the cheesy romantic bulls-” She pauses and looks at the crowd. “Schnizz. Sorry mom and dad.”
The crowd laughs again.
“I had an entire speech planned, wrote it out and I’ve been practicing it several times a day for the last several weeks so I wouldn’t forget any words, but now… I’m just too excited.” Her hands dance in the air as she bobbles from side to side. She clears her throat, then turns back to Tony. “That’s what you make me. Excited. Excited to do life. To try things. I love we get to explore all the different facets of our lives that make us who we are. I love we get to discover new things about ourselves with each other.”
He tosses a wink at her, and she pauses, clearing her throat.
Unspoken Allure plug in the vows. Love it! Only those that know, know.
“Tony.” She takes another deep breath. “I vow I will be by your side through the good times and the bad. I vow I will argue with you when you’re wrong.”
“When am I ever right?” he teases.
“Exactly! You can always count on me to be there, educating you on my way, the right way.”
The crowd laughs again.
“I vow I will love you and that I will always pick you to be my partner if Everlee isn’t there or available.”
“Sounds about right. Chicks before di-”
Lizzy stomps her foot and nods her head towards the crowd.
“De-cidedly handsome men.” He nods. “Sorry moms and dads.”
“I promise I will never watch the next episode of any show without you, no matter how much I want to, or if it ever comes between choosing you or Lulu, I promise I will let you down gently.”
Tony shrugs and smiles.
“I promise to have your back in public, even when you’re wrong, and then correct you in private, and I promise I will never go over the budget on anything else again. This wedding should last me a lifetime. And I’ll just make my budget higher.”
“Seems about right.”
Lizzy grabs his hands. “But above all of that, I promise I will love you with every breath in my body and fight for our marriage, even when it’s tough. I will remember all the good times to help give reason to push through the bad times. I will always push you to be an even better man than you are today, even though that would be pretty hard, because you’re already pretty amazing.”
Tony’s lips flatten into a smile as tears form on the rim of his eye.
“I had lots of other stuff planned, but I went off the rails near the beginning and could never find the track. So just know that my vows were going to be kick ass.”
“Your vows were pretty kick ass and I don’t know how I can top them.”
“You can’t, but you can try. Starting with how wonderful and amazing I am, will be a good start.”
“Well, that goes without saying.” He takes a deep breath and squeezes her hands. “Lizzy. Lizzy, Lizzy, Lizzy. You’re a force to be reckoned with, a wild child, and the down-to-earth friend everyone needs. You say what’s on your mind and show what’s in your heart. Each day is a new adventure with you and gosh darn if I’m not the luckiest man. You’ve never met an obstacle you couldn’t beat or a job that you couldn’t handle. Just ask the fifty nail holes in the wall in our living room, but you found that stud.”
The crowd laughs.
“I did, and he’s standing right in front of me.” She shimmies her shoulders.
“And I promise that is where I’ll always be, and if I’m not in front of you, I will be behind you.”
Beckett snickers behind me and it takes all I have to not shoot my hand backwards into him.
Tony’s amused gaze flickers from Beckett back to Lizzy, “Where I will be cheering you on and supporting you on whatever wild idea you have. I promise to always tell you that you're the best driver on the road and always know where you're going, even if we are going in the opposite direction because it doesn't matter how we get to where we're going as long as I'm with you.”
“Pookie. That’s so sweet, but I would hope you would tell me I’m going the wrong way at some point.”
Tony shrugs and smiles. “I promise to not steal the covers off the bed and never watch any other episodes of our shows without you. Likely because we will still be searching for a show to watch, which I also promise to sit patiently and wait for even after we flip through thirty different shows before we go back to the first one. I also vow to always share my food with you, even if you have your own, because I know mine’s always better than yours.”
“It is.” Lizzy nods to the crowd.
“I promise that when I change the toilet paper, I will have the sheet start in the front, because we party in the front, not in the back. And last, I promise to always be your loving and faithful partner. And patient, extremely patient, partner. Because again, Lizzy Thompson, you are the love of my life, the peanut butter to my jelly, the sun to my shine. You are everything I could have ever hoped for in a partner and more. Your presence in my life brings me endless joy and laughter. You are loyal and caring, and you are my world. I love you, boo.” Tony holds his hands up and looks at me. “Don’t worry. I know boo boo is reserved for you.”
I toss him a quick wink and wipe the tears from my eyes.
“Well,” the officiant clasps her hands. “The love between you two is unmistakable. Do we have your rings?”
“Yes. One second,” Lizzy turns towards the right and looks down the aisle. “Here, Lulu.”
A second later, Lizzy squats down with her hand out as Lulu sprints down the aisle with a small bag hanging from her collar. She comes sliding to a stop in front of Lizzy and sits, tail swishing from side to side. “Good girl. Yes, you are.”
Lizzy quickly unties the ribbon and catches the satchel in her hand while Beckett steps from around me and hooks a small rope leash to Lulu’s collar and walks her off to the right. When I look to my side, I watch Beckett quickly lead Lulu back to the pen where Woodford and Blanton are waiting like the gentleman they are. The man standing by the pen must be the one that was holding onto Lulu.
By the time I look back at the wedding, Lizzy and Tony are exchanging rings.
“I now pronounce you husband and wife, partners for life. You may kiss the queen of your universe.”
“I made her say the last part,” Lizzy snickers towards the crowd.
“Shut up and give me a kiss, wife.” Tony steps forward, wraps his hand around the back of her neck and pulls her towards him, tipping her back a bit.
The crowd loses it with whistles and hoots.
After a moment, he stands her back up, and she wobbles a bit in her spot. She takes a step towards the crowd and I quickly make work of fixing her dress, fluffing it behind her, then quickly back out of the picture.
I watch in silence as she smiles and waves at the crowd, pausing every few moments for a picture and Tony is there, smiling and letting her have this moment.
Once they’re at the back of the makeshift aisle, I step forward to a waiting Derek. My eyes quickly glance at the men who are watching me, but are still sitting in their seat.
“You look nice,” Derek says, holding his arm out for me.
“Thanks. You clean up nicely, too.”
“You look good. Shit. I meant happy. Also, good, but that’s not what I meant,” he stutters over himself.
“It’s ok. I knew what you meant.”
“Are you dating the club owner?”
“Married, actually.” I hold up my hand.
“Wow. Congrats.”
I didn’t know how to say I was married to all of them. I’m not trying to hide it, but I don’t want it to be a thing tonight. That’s one thing we need to figure out. I want us to be ourselves in social situations, but also don’t want all the drama and looks.
“Thank you. Did you find anyone?”
We walk off to the side while the rest of the crowd disperses.
“I was dating a woman for a few months, but it didn’t really work out.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. Not trying to play matchmaker, but Keeley broke up with her boyfriend a few months ago.”
He laughs, then stops when he looks behind me.
“Derek,” Callum says coolly with a hint of a smile.
“Callum. Good to see you again. Congrats.” Derek thrusts his hands towards me.
“I was just telling Derek about Keeley.”
“I’ll go find her. Nice catching up. Have fun tonight.” Derek scurries off like a dog with its tail tucked between his legs.
“Did I say something?” Callum asks with a coy grin.
“I think it’s just your general presence.” Pressing my hand against his chest, I lean forward and plant a kiss on his lips.
“Let’s go find a place to sit while we wait for the photographer,” Callum says, sliding his hand down my back to just above my ass.
“Keep touching me like that, and we’ll miss the photographer.”
Callum laughs.