Consequences of Deception (26 page)

Sitting down with Demi and me, she asks what I’m looking for in a wedding gown. Like all girls, I’ve been thinking of this moment practically since birth, so I’ve got an answer.

“I’d like a satin gown that’s either ivory or cream because white makes me look washed out. I want a full-length skirt and I’d like the dress to be strapless. I want a little bit of bling but not too much. Something classic that I won’t look back at twenty years from now and wonder what the hell I was thinking. I hate tulle and I don’t want anything too heavy or too poofy.”

She writes down pretty much everything I say. When I finish describing what I like, she asks if I want to wear a veil. After some discussion with Demi, I decide that I do, but nothing that will cover my face.

When Raquel asks what my vision is for Demi, I tell her that I don’t have one and that anything Demi wants to wear is fine with me. I have one bridesmaid so the choice is hers. Raquel lets out what I’m pretty sure is a sigh of relief and she tells Demi and I to have a look around on the bridesmaid side of the store while she pulls wedding dresses for me.

Grabbing my hand as we walk, Demi squeezes. “Ohmygod,” she says all in one giant jumble of a word, “I can’t believe you’re giving me free reign you fool! What if I wear a tye-dye dress? Ooh! Or how about something short and slutty?”

Shrugging my shoulders at her, I stick my tongue out. “Hey, if you don’t mind looking like a fool in my wedding photos… have at it.”

Smacking my arm, she starts laughing. “Shit, I forgot that there would be pictures. Alright, let’s see what looks good.”

Ten minutes later we have narrowed it down to three dresses for her to try on, and I like every one of them. One is floor length lavender chiffon with a heart shaped bodice, the next is a strapless floor length cherry colored satin dress, and the final dress is a tea length navy dress with spaghetti straps. Of the three, the cherry colored dress is my favorite, but I’m leaving the choice to Demi.

Raquel meets us back at the dressing room area, and I can’t believe it but I’m a nervous wreck. I want to look perfect for Killian on our wedding day, and I feel like that may be impossible to do on such short notice.

The first dress I try on is just bleh. It hangs on me weird, my boobs look like they are going to pop straight out of the dress and I feel like a little girl playing dress up.

The next two dresses are so-so. Neither of them has a
wow
factor, but they aren’t awful, either. In a pinch, I could choose either one of them.

By dress four, I am losing hope and struggling not to cry because I miss my mom, my dad and Shannon. If life were the way it should be, all three of them would be here with Demi and me right now.

Demi seems to understand that I’m losing it, because she steps right up and puts her arm around me for a hug. “Hey, if none of these are working for you, I saw a really awesome cheetah print dress out there.”

That makes me laugh, and I force myself to stop being such a crybaby. Following Raquel back to the dressing room, I get out of dress four and maneuver into dress five.

Dress five is different, and I swear that I can
feel
the magic of it as she pulls it on. It fits like a glove and I can already tell that my boobs aren’t going to look like two rolls trying to escape a breadbasket. Turning to face the mirror, I let out a gasp. Turning this way and that, I look at the dress from all angles. It’s a creamy ivory, strapless floor-length gown with some beading on the top, beading at the waist and the most beautifully perfect skirt I’ve ever seen. It is neither too big nor too small- it is just right.

Leaving the dressing room to show it to Demi, I give her a big smile as soon as I come around the corner. When I step up onto the elevated area that is surrounded by mirrors and Raquel comes and attaches a veil to my head, I jump up and down like a dork.

“This is it! This is it! I found my dress!”

Demi cries as she comes across the room to hug me and tell me how beautiful I look. For the first time in my life, I feel perfect. I spend the next twenty minutes having the seamstress work with her pins. The dress fits like a glove so the only alteration is taking it up an inch so that I don’t kill myself tripping all over it. I’m wearing a four-inch pair of wedge sandals today so that I know exactly how high my wedding shoes need to be. After I get the dress off and Demi chooses the cherry colored dress for herself, we head out to go shoe shopping.

I’d like to say that I got beauty rest last night but I totally didn’t. Instead of going to sleep early, I got handcuffed to our bed while Mr. Insatiable worked me over for two hours. I think he let me sleep for two hours before he woke up and had me again, and then this morning he made love to me the second I opened my eyes. I’m not sure where he gets his stamina from, but I love it.

After we ate breakfast, he drove us out to the cemetery to visit my parents. I cried like a baby when Killian opened the trunk and showed me that when the florist had dropped off the wedding flowers, the order included a boutonniere to lie at my father’s headstone and a corsage to set at my mother’s.

When Killian spoke to their headstones and promised them that he would love me forever and would die protecting me if it ever came to it, I cried harder. He held my hand while I told them how much I missed them, and I loved him for being by my side.

When we finished with my parents, we drove to the other side of the cemetery and visited his parents and Shannon. Just like with my parents, he had brought the flowers that they would have been given for our wedding if they were alive, but it was the bridesmaid bouquet and the rose petals for her baby that he spread on Shannon’s grave that broke me down the most.

I love that he had no problem talking to them in front of me, no shame in telling them how he hoped that they were proud of us both. I held his hand tight as he told his sister how proud he was of her for saving me. You would think that I couldn’t love him any more, but being at the cemetery with him made my love for him grow.

When we got back to the hotel, he showered with me and made love to me, again. If we keep having as much sex as we have been for the last few days, I’m not going to be able to walk in a normal way soon. I’m not complaining about the near-constant sex, but I do wish that I didn’t have bags under my eyes. On the other hand, Demi says I’ve got a “fucked hard glow” about me, so there’s that.

Fortunately for me, the make-up artist that Killian hired for Demi and me is amazing and she’s done such an amazing job of enhancing my ‘fucked hard glow’ while minimizing the bags under my eyes.

The vineyard he’s arranged for us to be married at is beautiful. It’s exactly what I would have chosen had I been the one planning the wedding. How he got this all put together as quickly as he did is mind-boggling. When I say as much to him, he laughs and tells me that money talks. I guess if you are bound and determined to get married within forty-eight hours, being a billionaire is helpful.

Demi and I have been taking photos for the last thirty minutes or so with the photographer, and when there’s a knock at the door I am relieved that we are one minute closer to the wedding. I’m expecting it to be the wedding coordinator that Killian hired to make sure that everything goes off smoothly, but instead it’s Demi’s mom.

Rushing across the room, I fall into her arms. I’ve missed Demi’s parents so much, and I am so glad that they are both here to share the day. I have to bite my lip, hard, to keep from crying, but I manage it.

“I missed you so much, Mrs. T!”

“I missed you too, honey.”

Stepping back, she looks me up and down before bursting into tears. “Oh my Lord… Sloane, honey, you look like an angel. Your parents would be so proud of you. Your father always knew that you’d end up with Killian. I so wish that he and your momma had lived to see this day.”

Sniffling, I squeeze my eyes shut tight and take deep breaths until I am sure that I am not about to start crying. I’m told that my makeup is tear proof, but I don’t want to put it to the test right now.

Opening my eyes again, I nod my head. “I wish they were here physically, but I can feel them around me and I know they’re here with me now.”

“They are, sweetie, and I am so glad that you know that. I’m sorry if I made you sad—I know that it’s hard and I don’t want to make it harder for you. I have something to make you smile now. Your fiancée sent me to give you this.”

Lifting her hand, I see that she’s been holding a small gift bag in her hand this entire time. Taking it from her, I open it to find an envelope with Killian’s handwriting on it.

My Love,

I hope that what I’ve picked out for your wedding gift will match your dress. I can’t wait to see you walking down the aisle toward me.

I love you more than life itself, Sloane Renee Evans.

I’ll love you even more when you’re Sloane Renee Brandt.

-Killian

Choking back tears, I pull out a large velvet jewelry box from the bag. Opening the lid, I gasp when I see a diamond necklace with matching earrings and a matching bracelet. They’re absolutely stunning—delicate and beautiful—and I struggle not to run out of the room to find and thank him immediately.

Fortunately, I don’t have to wait long to tell him how much I love what he got me. After getting the jewelry on and fixing my veil, Demi, Mrs. Tate and I head out to start the wedding. From my hidden spot, I can see that there are three empty chairs on Killian’s side of the aisle and two on mine, and I know that he’s done this to mark the spots where our families would be if they were alive. The only guests are the Tates, Adam and Trey. Chord is up on the altar with Killian, standing up as his best man. I’ve come to find out that they’ve been friends for three years and that they hang out a lot outside of work, and I really like what a good friend Chord is to Killian.

When the wedding march starts, Demi gives me a quick kiss before beginning her walk up the aisle. I’ve never missed my daddy more than I do right now, and I wipe away a stray tear as I imagine how beautiful it would be to slide my arm through his right now. It’s not physically possible, but in my heart he’s right here at my side and my mom is sitting up at the front crying.

The wedding planner fluffs my train and veil one more time before giving me the nod to go, and with my heart in my throat, I turn the corner to start down the aisle toward my forever.

All of my sadness disappears when I see Killian’s response to seeing me for the first time in my wedding dress. I’ve seen Killian cry exactly twice—the day he told me that his father’s cancer wasn’t going to get better, and the day he told me that his father had died—and it makes me weak in the knees to see him shed a tear now.

My eyes fill with tears as I stare into his eyes. The emotion is overwhelming and I falter for a moment because I can’t see through my tears, but he seems to understand that I need him because he races up the aisle and meets me halfway. Looping my arm through his, he walks with me the rest of the way down the aisle.

When we turn to face each other in front of the Pastor, he wipes a tear from my cheek with his thumb before whispering, “You’ve never been more beautiful than you are right now. You look like… a princess.”

We both chuckle at that, and I cup his cheek as I smile at him. “That makes you my Prince Charming, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

I am glad that there is a videographer capturing everything, because I lose it when the ceremony begins and the Pastor explains that the ceremony is dedicated to the family members that can’t be with us today. I hadn’t expected that and it is hard not to cry like a baby. I’m in a fog as we take our vows, but it’s the best kind of fog. I repeat everything the pastor tells me to with my eyes locked on Killian’s and when it is his turn, he does the same. I lose it again when he slides two rings onto my finger- a diamond wedding band and a square cut diamond engagement ring. I can never say that he isn’t full of surprises.

The second that the Pastor announces that we’re officially Mr. and Mrs. Brandt, I break out in the biggest smile ever. Looking over at Killian, I see that he’s got a matching smile on his. We’re married!