“That is so utterly romantic,” Amy whispered.
“It really is,” Hailey added with a sigh.
I looked at my parents. They both smiled.
“I’m not the least bit surprised,” my father said with a shit-eating grin. “From the day you two were old enough to walk, you’ve been inseparable.”
My mom wiped a tear from her eye. “All those times you declared you were going to marry Emmerson.”
Emmerson and my mother wrapped each other up in their arms as I smiled and watched the two women I loved more than anything cry tears of happiness.
With a clap of her hands, Paislie turned to the rest of the family. “Okay, folks, let’s eat up. We have a wedding to plan. A real one this time.”
Emmerson
IT TURNED OUT eloping in Texas was easy enough. We did have to wait for seventy-two hours like my brother had said, but after that we had up to thirty days to use our marriage license. Landon and I didn’t need thirty days, so we walked into the courthouse three days after we applied for the license. Then we both went back to work as Mr. and Mrs. Landon Lewis and decided not to share the fact that we had eloped. What was it with us and secrets? We decided that even though we couldn’t wait to get married, I still wanted to journey the whole process on social media—and we would still have a wedding ceremony in December as promised.
Our folks had thought we were kidding when we said we wanted to get married right away. They had even tried to talk us into waiting and having the ceremony at the house, but Landon and I were determined to get married at the courthouse. Only Noah and Hailey were there to stand up for us as witnesses. Of course, we had to bribe them each with something in order for them to meet us at the courthouse on a Thursday afternoon. Hailey demanded a weekend at a beach house somewhere, so she could hide away and mend her broken heart. Noah asked me to give Amy all the free wedding planning advice she wanted after he proposed to her.
I one-upped his ass and told him I would actually be her free wedding planner.
“Emmerson, are you even listening to me?”
I shook my head and tried to clear my thoughts. Our wedding ceremony had taken place only two hours ago, and I couldn’t stop thinking about how I was now married to Landon.
“I’m sorry, what were you saying, Bea?”
Bea was one of those brides who you really wanted to love, but instead prayed she would elope and not have a grand wedding at all. Her father was filthy rich and basically gave her an unlimited wedding budget, which made my life hell. Every other day, she was changing her mind about something based on what some blogger or actress was doing with her own wedding.
“I said, I think we should have that balloon artist make something for each table. Something grand, maybe clear balloons filled with glitter and sparkly things.”
I lifted one brow. “Instead of the flowers you ordered the other day?”
She looked up at the ceiling as if trying to remember the flowers that had cost her father a few grand. “That’s right, I forgot we ordered those. How can we mix these in?”
“The balloons?” I asked.
She sighed in frustration. “Yes, the balloons. Oh my gawd, are you paying attention? This blogger I follow who just got married had them at her tables. Everyone loved them and went on and on about them. I need them to be a part of the reception.”
I took in a deep breath and slowly let it out as I forced myself to smile. “Well, Bea, with a wedding as classy and sophisticated as yours, I’m worried balloon centerpieces might be…unexpected.”
She drew her brows in, staring at me with a blank expression. “In a bad way?”
From behind me, Bea’s future mother-in-law, Mary, whispered, “For the love of all that is good.”
I had to keep from laughing as I nodded. “People who are coming to your wedding—at one of the most elite country clubs around—are going to expect things like the stunning flower bouquets you picked out last week. Maybe, if you want to incorporate the balloons, we can do them at the kids’ tables?” I suggested, praying she would bite on that.
“The kids’ tables in the other room, right?” This came from Mary.
I had to agree with the woman. When Bea had told me she wanted all kids under the age of sixteen in another room, I had laughed, thinking she was joking. She wasn’t. She was dead serious, and even planned on hiring people to stay in the room to make sure “the littles didn’t get out.”
Bea started to clap her hands. “Yes! Yes, that is perfect. Oh, you are worth every penny I’m spending on you, Emmerson. I can’t even imagine how beautiful your wedding will be!”
I kept my forced smile on my face as I turned to Mary. “Do you have any last-minute suggestions or things you’d like to see at the rehearsal dinner?”
Bea spoke before Mary could. “No, Mary doesn’t have any input, do you, Mary?”
This time, I spoke. “With all due respect, Bea, Mary is paying for the rehearsal dinner, so you’ll forgive me if I think her input is valuable.”
Mary’s eyes widened as Bea’s brows pulled in tight. No one I had met so far in Bea’s circle had the balls to speak up to this woman—not even Mary’s son, the groom.
“Thank you, Emmerson. Everything for the dinner has been planned to my son’s desires and has already been taken care of.”
Bea rolled her eyes and then looked at her manicured fingers as if completely ignoring her future mother-in-law.
“Great. Then everything is ready to go, and in two weeks you’ll be getting married, Bea.”
This time, she looked up at me with a brilliant smile on her face. I had no doubt that Bea was madly in love with Jim, Mary’s son. She was just one of those brides who turned into a monster the closer she got to the big day.
“I’ll meet with you again two days before the wedding,” I said. “And I’ll also be at the rehearsal in case we run into any snags.”
Bea’s phone rang and she quickly reached for it in her purse. “Yep, mm-kay. Talk soon, love!” And just like that, she rushed out of the building and to a waiting car.
Mary and I watched as Bea slid into the backseat of a Maserati.
“I really don’t know what my son sees in that shallow woman,” Mary mused.
Not wanting to admit that I agreed with her, I chuckled. “Love is blind.”
Okay, so I might as well have agreed with her since my comment wasn’t any better than Mary’s.
Mary and I started to walk out of the country club, where we had met with the chef and on-site wedding planner to make sure everything was in order with the venue.
“Tell me, Emmerson, how did you meet your future husband?”
I wanted to shout it out that Landon was already my husband. That I had my wedding band tucked away safely in my purse. I wanted to tell her that all I really wanted to do was go back to Landon’s house and fall into bed with him for days.
“Well, we’ve known each other our entire lives. Our parents are best friends and business partners. We grew up literally living in the same house.”
She nodded. “How wonderful. The difference in you is amazing.”
“Difference?” I asked with a tilt of my head.