Chapter 29
Elizabeth
WINTER SONG
Wedding Day
“Do you have everything you need?” I ask Nate as he walks out of his closet with the black garment bag in his hand.
“I have the tux.” He holds up his hand. “The shoes are…” He looks around the room.
“Wherever I threw them last night.” He chuckles as he puts the garment bag on the bed next to me, picking up the white shirt he wore last night that he threw over his shoulder before he banged me against his door.
“Here’s one,” he says, picking up his pants and tossing them on the unmade bed.
I curl one of my feet under my leg, as I take a sip of the coffee he just brought up to me as I got dressed in my jogging outfit. My hair is washed and piled on top of my head, ready to be styled for the day. “Where the fuck is the other one?” he asks me like I know.
“This is what happens when you pivot the plan and instead of banging me against the door downstairs, you ordered me upstairs.”
“I tried to do you against the door twice”—he walks toward the chair in the corner—“and each time Whiskey thought we were play fighting.”
I laugh at the memory because he really thought we were, and at one point he barked at us. “I mean we were play fighting.” He looks over at me and I wink at him. “I definitely wanted to play with your toy.”
“My dick is not a toy.” He shakes his head.
“Um.” I put the mug in front of my mouth to hide the smirk I have on my face. “It’s kind of like a jack-in-the-box if you think of it. You wind it up and eventually it pops right up.”
“Jesus, Elizabeth.” He chuckles. “Found it,” he says, tossing my dress, landing on his pants.
“Just pointing out the fact,” I explain and his phone rings and he groans.
“It’s your brother.”
“Shocking,” I deadpan as he slides his finger across the screen.
“Good morning, Joshua,” he greets. “Merry Christmas Eve.”
“Yeah,” he replies. “Where are you?”
“We just landed on the moon,” I tease. “We should be coming back into orbit in a bit.”
“Not today,” he hisses out, “you cannot fuck with me today.”
“So tomorrow I can fuck with you?” I ask and Nate comes over to sit on the bed beside me. My knee is on his thigh as he leans over and softly kisses my exposed neck. “Good to know.” I smile at Nate.
“You are supposed to be at my parents’ house in thirty minutes,” he reminds Nate. “Elizabeth has to be dropped off before you come here.”
“Joshua,” Nate says in a calm voice, “relax, buddy, it’s going to be okay.”
“Yeah,” I agree with Nate. “Besides, the only person you have to worry about showing up today is Macy.”
“Stop saying that,” he hisses and then the phone goes dead.
“Did he hang up on me?” I ask, grabbing the phone out of his hand and calling him back.
“What?” he growls instead of saying hello.
“You hung up on me.” I gawk at him. “The audacity.”
“You would think that would be a sign not to call me back.”
“I’m calling you back to say happy Christmas Eve. I’ve never been more excited for a day in my life like I am for today.”
“Aww,” he says.
“It’s finally fucking over now. I never have to hear about your wedding for the rest of my life.” I smile. “See you at the altar,” I say and hang up on him.
“As much as I love watching you fuck with him, how about for today you lay off him?” I raise my eyebrows. “At least until they walk down the aisle.”
“Ugh.” I roll my eyes. “Fine.”
“That’s my girl,” he praises and I don’t even know if he knows what those words do to me. “We should get going.”
“Yeah,” I agree, and before we get up, he leans in and kisses me. Something that feels like he’s been doing it his whole life. Something I feel like I have been receiving my whole life. Something that, come next week, I won’t have.
Five minutes later, we’re both walking out of the house.
He carries his garment bag with his bag of shoes hanging from the hanger and my bag in the other hand.
“Close the door, baby.” He’s called me that a couple of times, usually while we were in the middle of sex.
He’s never ever called me that outside of bed.
I don’t say anything back, instead I just close the door and meet him at the truck.
He shuts the back passenger door on his side.
He is wearing black joggers and a white sweater, his hair showing me where he ran his hand through it right before we walked out the door.
His eyes are bright green with the sun. “Ready?” I ask him and he nods his head.
Instead of walking around the truck to the other side, I get on my tippy-toes and kiss his lips softly.
My stomach flutters when he opens the door for me, slapping my ass before walking around the truck to his side.
Twenty minutes later, he’s pulling up in front of the venue where everything is taking place. “What is going on over there?” I point to the side where a white tent is now up and I see people rushing in with heaters. “This motherfucker is going to get married outside?” I shake my head. “Idiot.”
“I’ll let him know you approve,” he jokes as I reach for the door handle and open the door.
I’m about to get out when he grabs my hand.
“I’ll see you later,” he says and his hand comes up to hold my cheek.
Something he has done more than once over the last couple of days.
Something I’ve come to look forward to, before he softly kisses my lips.
“I’ll be one of the ones wearing green,” I tell him as a joke, getting out and grabbing my bag from the back. He looks at me with a smile. “Have fun.”
I close the door and turn toward the venue, opening the door and seeing Doreen there with her headset on again as she talks to someone, but stops when she sees me.
“Upstairs.” She points to the side stairs.
“Room numbers four and five are the changing rooms. Your dress is steamed and waiting for you. Rooms one, two, and three are the glam rooms. I think you start with your hair.”
I nod to her and head to the stairs, seeing the loft has a long table against the railing with food on it.
Everything from pastries to bagels to a man standing there in front of two hot plates that can do either pancakes or omelets.
I smile at him before heading to room five first to see if my dress is in there.
I find it in room four, hanging right next to my mother’s.
I put my bag that holds my purse and shoes down in front of it before heading toward where the voices are coming from.
I push open the first room and see my mother there with my aunts, all of them in chairs.
The room is transformed into a glam room, to say the least, with six hair stylists getting them ready.
“Hello,” I say, walking into the room and seeing the eyes all come to me.
My mother’s eyes light up. “Happy Christmas Eve,” I greet, walking to her and kissing her cheek and then grabbing the mimosa out of her hand and finishing it for her.
“Happy Christmas Eve, my love,” she replies softly.
I walk over to my aunt Zara, her smile fades and she glares at me. “If you are coming here to finish my drink,” she teases me, “think again.” I bend to kiss her cheek. “How’s my favorite niece?”
I sit in one of the empty seats as a woman comes in with a tray of drinks.
She does a quick scan of the room, coming straight to me, and I take one of the flutes from her tray, then look back at my aunt Zara.
“I have to ask you a serious question.” Her eyes go big and it feels like everyone in the room stops what they are doing and you can hear a pin drop. “Will you answer me honestly?”
“Of course,” she says and I can see my mother grip the arms of her chair.
“How many times have you said that to your other nieces?” I wink at her and she throws her head back and laughs.
“Elizabeth,” my mother hisses at me, “I thought you were going to ask her something serious.”
I roll my eyes as one of the hairdressers comes over and starts to do my hair. “I have a serious question to ask you.” Zara turns it around on me as I look in the standing mirror that is in front of each chair.
“Oh, I can’t wait for this one,” I quip, taking a sip of my own drink.
“When do you think you’ll move back home?” she asks, and before I answer, she starts, “I know, I know, you have a whole life there and whatnot.”
“And whatnot.” I laugh at that part of the sentence.
“Think about it,” she advises. “If you get married”—I look at her through the mirror—“you can’t get married there.”
“Why not?”
“Because you can’t.” That’s all she says, as if that’s good enough. “Then what if you have children. What are you going to do, raise them there?”
“Well, I never thought about that,” I answer her honestly, “but I don’t know if you know this or not, but they allow children in Australia. It’s even a happy event when you have them.”
“That’s not what I meant, smart-ass,” she chides. “How can you just raise a child when we all live so far away?”
A lump starts to form in my throat, because I have never not once thought about that.
I mean, in all honesty, I wasn’t thinking of the future.
A future that felt like it was just a wall of nothing.
Now if I close my eyes, I see Nate. “The good news is…” I look at her and to my mother, who looks down at her hands.
I see her blinking furiously, knowing she’s probably going to shed a tear. “I’m not close to that at all.”
“But what if you meet someone there?” She asks me another loaded question.
For the first time I admit to myself that I wasn’t ever going to meet someone there because the only fucking person I ever wanted was Nate.
My heart races and I have a hard time breathing.
“Can we not talk about this today?” I try to change the subject.
“Let’s talk about how amazing today is going to be instead.
” Zara looks at me, not saying anything.
“And can we talk about how Lexi is glowing?” Zara’s eyes water as she looks over to my aunt Zoe who just smiles and the tears flow. “Tell me everything.”
* * *
Three hours later, I turn around so my mother can zip up my dress.
Turning to look in the mirror, I smile at us.
“You look beautiful.” She puts her arms around me and hugs me sideways before walking away.
I stare at myself, my hair parted in the middle and tucked behind my ears, where pearl drop earrings hang.
The one-sleeved, forest-green satin dress is perfectly fit to me.
The sleeve is cut down the middle but cuffed at my wrist, showing a hint of my arm.
The knot at the side of the dress looks like it’s been twisted from the top to the bottom.
It falls right to the floor, where my sky-high nude heels peek out of the long slit that comes up my right leg to the middle of my thigh.
“We’re ready,” Doreen announces, “it’s go time.”
“I’m ready.” I take a last sip of my champagne before grabbing the bouquet of deep red roses that look almost purple.
I walk out of the room and see Macy standing there next to her parents.
I put my hand to my chest as I smile, and I have to blink my eyes a few times.
“You look beautiful,” I say softly, and she just smiles at me.
Her lace dress fits her like a glove, the sleeves tight until her elbows and then flow long to the side. “My brother is a lucky man.”
She looks down at her shoes. “That he is,” she admits to me, right before Doreen ushers us down the steps.
My parents wait at the bottom of the steps, my father’s face lighting up when he sees me. “My beautiful girl,” he says, kissing my cheek, “I love you.”
He’s told me these words my whole life, but I don’t know why today it feels different.
I grab his hand before he’s told that it’s time to walk down the aisle.
I get in line where we practiced yesterday, and when it’s my turn to walk down the aisle, all I can do is look ahead.
I smile at Joshua, who looks like he’s going to burst out crying at any second.
We share a look and I mouth, “I love you,” to him.
My eyes then go right to Nate, who is standing beside him wearing the same black tux as Joshua.
His eyes are bright, his face more handsome than ever before as he smiles at me.
I don’t know if it’s possible, but my smile just gets bigger.
My eyes are on his as I walk down the aisle and stand to the side.
I wait until the song changes and the doors open.
Instead of watching Macy, I watch my brother and see the tears running down his face filled with a smile.
Twenty minutes later, he kisses her like he hasn’t kissed her in a year.
Making us roar out with cheers. “It’s over.
” He looks at me. “No more wedding talk.”