8. Maverick
Chapter eight
Maverick
T he rest of the weekdays were a bit of a blur between spending all of Friday getting ready for the ceremony on Saturday – setting up décor, making sure that Stacey and Caleb had all of their clothing and jewelry ready for the day, including the rings they would exchange – and the actual ceremony on Saturday.
And then there was Maria. I know what I felt that night we danced, but Maria seemed just the same, like it wasn’t any big thing to her. I knew I needed to watch my step and stay in line. We had only met a few days ago and were here to support our friends and family in this marriage. Besides, I live in Idaho, and she lives in Texas. What kind of relationship would that be? Not one that would work I’m sure.
I had to admit that the ceremony was wonderfully beautiful. The pastor that Maria, Stacey, and Caleb had found conducted the ceremony flawlessly. The photographer had been ready for everything – including a light drizzle as everyone was coming in.
I half-expected Stacey and Caleb to get some beautiful shots in the rain because he’d simply grabbed a poncho, wrapped it around his camera, and continued to take photos. The guy had been prepared. And, well, Stacey looked beautiful coming down the aisle. Moved Caleb to tears, and that’s all that mattered at that moment.
Now, after coming through the arch of balloons at the doorway, we stood in the large reception room that had been so carefully decorated yesterday afternoon. The plan had come together very well if I had anything to say about it. The baby pink table runners looked elegant against the white tablecloths. Each table had a vase packed with pink peonies. Simplistic and beautiful. The head table had a white tablecloth with greenery and baby’s breath as a table runner and several large arrangements of pink and crimson roses interspersed down the table.
Once everyone had been seated, I gently tapped my knife against my glass to get everyone’s attention.
“We all know how uncomfortable it can be to sit through uncomfortably long, sappy speeches,” I started, “so I’ll keep mine short and simple for the food. I’ve known Caleb since I was in elementary school, and when he introduced me to Stacey, I couldn’t explain it, but I knew that this was the woman he would marry. Even told him myself after Stacey went home that day. He didn’t exactly believe me because they’d only been dating for aa few months at the time, but here we are. The more I got to know Stacey, the more I could see how perfectly matched she was to Caleb. So, as we are here celebrating their love story, I offer a toast of love, best wishes, and a happy marriage to you both. May the marriage be as happy and playful as your dating years have been and just as full of love.”
I raised my glass to toast them which ended my speech with a soft round of applause. As I sat down, Maria stood up. Having known that she was to follow me, I hoped that she had prepared something of similar length. We were waiting for the speeches to finish, for the bar to open, and for the food to be served.
That was only part of why I had prepared such a short speech. The other reason was that I had suffered through too many long-winded best-man speeches at other weddings. It wasn’t fun for the guests, and the reception was supposed to be the part of the night where everyone had fun.
“Wonderful speech, Maverick. Thank you.” Maria smiled in my direction before turning to face her sister and her new brother-in-law.
“Stacey, when you first told me that you had suspicions that Caleb was going to propose to you, I have to admit that I was shocked that you wanted me to be your maid of honor. Anyone who knows us knows that I am the disorganized chaos of the family. But, upon hearing that you had gotten engaged, I was so excited for the two of you. Here we are, enjoying the beautiful day that you’ve both put so much thought into.
Caleb, when we first met at our parent’s house for dinner, I was skeptical that my sister would stay with you for long. Other men had been around but couldn’t handle Stacey’s intense need for perfection. On that day, you and Elliott decided you had to go outside and throw the football around. Of course, both of you have a competitive spirit, so it quickly turned from tossing the ball back and forth to trying to outwit the other and score a “touchdown” or trying to tackle the other one. Suddenly you were both rolling on the ground and rolled right into that mud puddle. You should have heard the squeals of laughter from inside. Of course, Mom, laughing almost uncontrollably, had to direct both of you to the back door, where she made you take everything off while Stacey ran to get each of you a robe. Mom then directed the two of you to a shower in the house and found clean clothes for you. When dinner went less than perfectly that night because, in mom’s hilarious distraction, she burned the potatoes and overcooked the meat, Stacey laughed it off. I realized something had changed for the better.
With you at her side, I am sure she will be able to handle any curveballs life throws at her,” Maria stated. “With all the love in my heart and more over the years to come, I’m sure I want to say that I wish you both a very happy marriage. Let that first dinner with the family guide your decisions to allow things to be less than perfect, and I think everyone will be quite happy. Especially you, Stacey.”
Maria toasted the happy couple before sitting down to a round of laughs and clapping. Both fathers made a quick speech welcoming their new “in-law” to the family, and then food was served. Maria’s speech was by far the longest and the funniest.
Guess I could forgive her for being a little long-winded. However, I was glad to see that others had followed my lead and made shorter speeches.
What I couldn’t get over was how beautiful Maria was. Her dress was a beautiful baby pink, a little darker than the rest of the bridesmaid dresses. It must have been how Stacey wanted to denote who her maid of honor was. It was an absolutely gorgeous dress: off the shoulders, a little bit of a puff sleeve, a slit up to her thigh in the skirt, and the bodice hugged her abdomen like ribbons on a spool. She wore a pair of metallic gold heels to top the outfit off, and the only piece of jewelry she wore today was the gold chain with the ruby pendant. Her hair had been pulled up into a beautiful, braided bun, and Maria looked like a goddess.
An honest-to-goodness goddess.
Then, she sat down beside me after getting her food.
“Your speech was beautiful, Maria, in a comical way,” I said.
“Why, thank you, Maverick. And I enjoyed yours as well.”
Now that most of the bridesmaids had gotten food, I excused myself to get food. As I stood in line, the other guests told me how much they liked the simplicity of my speech against Maria’s longer, humorous one but that they thought both speeches showed how well we knew the couple. I’d picked that particular story to share because I thought everyone would get a kick out of it. Apparently, Maria had thought the same thing when she picked the story she shared about meeting Caleb and the dinner that they had.
While getting my food, I picked up a glass of wine for Maria. She hadn’t gotten a drink, and I’d picked one up shortly after my speech because there had been no line.
“A glass of red for the goddess with the ruby pendant?” I asked as I set it down in front of her.
Maria blushed deeply.
“Thank you, Mav,” she said. “And thank you for all your help this week. I don’t think the wedding would have gone so well if you hadn’t been willing to keep us all in line.”
“It’s no problem at all. I’m happy I was able to help,” I replied with a soft smile. “And I’m glad that you knew how to take the well-meant criticism. I never meant to rain on your parade, after all.”
Maria laughed a little as she started to eat the meal that had been served.
Once we finished eating, the church volunteers helping with the reception combined the food onto a couple of the larger tables and removed the rest of the food tables, making for a nice open area at the end of the large reception room.
There was now a dance floor. Caleb and Stacey shared an intricately choreographed waltz that then turned into a fun party song for the rest of the wedding party. I remained off to the side after that dance, though. Dancing wasn’t my favorite thing to do, although I had really enjoyed it the other night with Maria. But I would at least help out where I could and dance with other guests when asked.
About halfway through the reception, after the cake had been cut, Stacey threw her bouquet. Unsurprisingly, all the other bridesmaids playfully helped shove the bouquet towards Maria, who paled upon catching it with a nervous smile. I laughed a little to myself.
Oh, poor Maria. She seemed quite happy in her life as she was, and to abide by the superstition that whoever caught the bouquet was next to marry was a little odd for her, I thought. However, I supposed it was only fair that the maid of honor caught it.
Then, Caleb pulled out a fresh garter. I had suggested against it, but I had been outvoted. Caleb had told me I didn’t have to participate if I didn’t want to, so I started towards the bar for another glass of water before Maria stopped me.
“Aren’t you single too, Mav?” she asked.
I nodded.
“But I suggested against this, and Caleb already knows how I feel about the garter toss,” I replied. “I think much too highly of you to try and win the right to dance with you in this manner. If I wanted to dance with you, I’d ask for one.”
“I didn’t want to do the bouquet toss. It’d make me feel less of a fool to see you do the garter toss,” she whispered. “You don’t even have to catch it. Just go participate. Please.”
She glanced up at me from the bouquet, and I could tell that she was genuine in her intent. It felt less like she was trying to win a dance with me and more like she just wanted to be less alone in feeling like she’d gathered an honor she didn’t want. I sighed softly.
“All right. But you have to stay to watch.”
“… that’s a fair thing to say, I suppose.”
With that, I walked over to where all the groomsmen were readying to catch the garter. The only saving grace in all of this was that he had heeded my suggestion to use a garter that Stacey hadn’t worn. In all honesty, I wasn’t even sure she was wearing a garter – and it wasn’t any of my business.
“You ready?”
The rest of the groomsmen cheered. I nodded curtly.
Then, Caleb threw the garter up over his head.
I initially made no move to try and catch it, simply watching as it sailed through the air. One of the men behind me – potentially Elliott, trying to save Maria from having to dance with someone who would make unsavory comments – accidentally shoved me. My arms flew out to balance myself… only to end up catching the garter.
Maria started laughing off to the side, as did most of the groomsmen. But they all called it a valid catch, and I stalked off the floor with my ‘prize.’
Right to Maria.
“I suppose this means I must dance with you, but… I’d like to do it properly. May I have the next dance, Maria?” I asked, reminding myself that the other night had been no big deal.
“Mav, you are all gentleman. Sometimes, I wonder if you belong in this century at all,” Maria teased as the DJ started to play a slow song.
I took her out to the dance floor, and we swayed in rhythm to the song. She was both all blushes and all smiles as we moved. Being so close to her again almost… electrified my body in a way I hadn’t expected – or hadn’t wanted to happen. I wanted to hold her close like this all night long. To simply be this close to her all night long, with her head almost resting on my chest.
But I didn’t get the chance because as soon as the dance was over, Stacey asked Maria for help changing into her secondary outfit.
When Maria returned, she walked over to me.
“How about a walk around the church grounds instead of a dance? It’s too hot in here,” she said.
“That can be arranged,” I replied as I held my arm out for her.
We walked out to the church grounds together, where there was a beautiful garden to explore. As the sun set, it looked as gorgeous as I thought it might.
“What are your plans for after the wedding, Mav?”
I pursed my lips.
“Just returning to Waterfront, going back to my job,” I replied. “I don’t have anything super fun coming up. Just living my life. What about you?”
“I’m returning to Lantana.”
I nodded slowly. She didn’t say much more, but I wanted to know everything. We simply didn’t have the time for it. I let go of my previous thinking to just forget what happened the other night and the way I felt. I picked the question that nagged at the back of my mind the most. Why waste time with the formalities when I didn’t have the time to waste?
“Would you ever leave Lantana?”
“I don’t know. I enjoy the business Jade and I have and where we’re trying to take it – more online kind of thing. So if I were to leave Lantana, it would probably be for one thing and one thing only - love.”
I put my hands on her shoulders and turned her towards me. “And have you found - love?” I asked her, stumbling somewhat to get that word out. She stared into my eyes, and then, we kissed—a bit unexpected for both of us, I think.
She pulled back. “Well, that was a bit of a surprise,” she said breathlessly. “I really need to get back inside.” And she turned and walked back into the church.
I continued walking the gardens for a little longer, wondering what had just happened. And thinking that I had really misjudged our feelings all along.
Could I be falling in love with Maria Underhill? Or was I imagining it?