Grounded (40 page)

“You’re engaged?” I questioned.

He shook his head, wearing his most boyish grin.
 
“No, but I want to propose.
 
I wanted to get your blessing first.”

I gave him an exasperated look, then laughed.
 
“Yes.
 
If you want to be silly and ask for my blessing, then you have it.
 
Always.
 
Nothing would make me happier.”

“It’s going to be smooth sailing from here on out, Bee.
 
We’ve earned it.”

I returned his carefree smile, hoping that he might be right.

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

Epilogue

NEARLY ONE YEAR LATER

I took deep breaths.
 
I counted.
 
I made my whole body relax.
 
I was nervous
—
very nervous, and skittish, but much less so, than I’d thought I would be for this day.
 

“Deep breaths, Buttercup,” Stephan said gently.
 
I couldn’t look at him today.
 
He, more than anyone, made me emotional today.
 
There was just so much joy in his eyes, so much barely suppressed excitement.
 
It made me want to bawl like a baby and I had just sat through a painstakingly elaborate makeup process.
 
Not to mention that my goal for the day was
not
to lose it in front of four hundred wedding guests.
 

“If you make her mess up her make-up right now, I will kick you,” Lana told him, but her tone was pure affection.
 
Stephan and Lana had taken to each other like, well
—
like Stephan and I.
 
She threatened to steal him from me nearly every time the three of us got together.

Lana looked stunning, of course, in a lavender dress that made those astonishing purple eyes stand out even more.
 
She’d picked the color.
 
As was her custom, she’d taken over that entire part of the process.
 
I hadn’t balked.
 
On the contrary, I’d only been relieved.
 
This sort of event was well out of my area of expertise.
 
I had never been the girl who dreamed of this, let alone ever thought of planning one of the things.
 
I had gratefully taken all of the help I could get.
 

“Bianca, you should know that I’ve been put on guard duty by your determined bridegroom.
 
He said that if you tried to run, I would get to tackle you.”

That made me laugh, and relieved some of the tension, as it was meant to.
 

“I don’t know if anyone’s told you this,” she continued.
 
“But I have quite the reputation as a kick-ass fighter in Maui, so I wouldn’t test me if I were you.”

Not only had someone told me that story,
everyone
had.
 
Lana’s Tutu, and her auntie, and even Akira loved to tell that story in great detail, and often.
 
One girl fight and they thought she was the lightweight champ…

Lana wasn’t finished, but she’d moved on from Stephan and me.
 
She had an elegant finger pointed at the two mischievous pixies who wore gowns that matched her own.
 
“And
you
.
 
The Debauched Duo.
 
You had better stay away from my brother at the reception.
 
I saw the way you were eyeing him.
 
Don’t even think about it.
 
I have plans for him that involve him finally settling down, and the two of you wouldn’t know settled if it invited you to a threesome!”

They just giggled, completely unfazed.

“We already bagged that one,” Marnie gasped.
 

“Double teamed him after the rehearsal dinner!” Judith said.
 

“He was awesome,” Marnie added.

Lana rubbed her temples.
 
“Oh, God!
 
I don’t know who’s more hopeless.
 
Him or you two?”

“Them,” Jessa added from where she was getting her hair finished up.
 
“I’ve known them for years.
 
Definitely them.”
 

“They told me a story about seducing a priest one time,” Danika told Lana, giving her a sympathetic look.
 
“Your brother is easy, but these two are
nymphos
.
 
So if we’re talking hopeless, I vote them.”

“I swear I saw them eyeing up the minister that’s performing the nuptials,” Sophia added helpfully, adjusting the sleeve of her own lavender gown.

“I’m almost positive they were trying to hit on my dad last night, before they disappeared with Lana’s brother,” Jackie added from where she was working on my hem.
 
I glanced down at her as she continued.
 
“My poor father’s been a widower for five years, and he’s approaching sixty.
 
They could have given him a heart attack.”

Marnie and Judith just giggled, enjoying the banter.
 

It all helped.
 
I needed distraction.
 
It wasn’t that I had doubts about James.
 
I was sure of him, sure that I needed him, and that he was good for me.
 
It was just the actual marriage part that got me scared.
 
And the over the top wedding, which had started out so small, wasn’t helping.
 
It had just sort of built into this thing that I couldn’t control anymore, though I wasn’t sure I ever could have.
 
We should have eloped…

I never thought I’d be that person with more bridesmaids than I could keep track of, but there it was.
 
I had opened my heart to more than Stephan, and it had opened like a dam breaking.
 
There were so many people that I valued in my life now.
 
My heart was no longer a block of ice with one thawed part just for Stephan.
 
It was warm in my chest now.
 
I was alive as I never could have been if I hadn’t met James.
 
He had been right from the start.
 
We were made for each other, and he had made me a better woman, a more complete one, when I’d let him into my heart.
   

I had calmed considerably by the time Javier peeked his head into the room.
 

We had decided on an outdoor wedding in the late spring, because we both loved the idea of a wedding amidst blooming flowers.
 
James had chosen Wyoming, insisting that there was no other place we could have our vows, since this was where he swore I’d fallen in love with him.
 
He claimed that I’d fallen for his mind-boggling equestrian skills first… I hadn’t been able to change his mind on that idea
—
I’d even admitted to him just how quickly I really had fallen for him, but he heard none of it.
 
I didn’t really mind.
 
I couldn’t think of a place I’d have preferred for such a beautiful day.

The ranch had been transformed for the big event, a huge clearing at the front of the house painstakingly perfected for the ceremony.
 
It was a vision of tall grass and wildflowers, well-groomed where the guests were seated, with flowers planted all along the perimeter, but the rest left running wild with riotous white and violet wildflowers.

Large tents had been set up on the side of the property for the reception that would follow.
 

One of the living areas near the front of the house had been turned into my bridal party’s prep station.
 
The groomsmen waited just outside, in the light-filled foyer, for the bridesmaids.
   

“Showtime,” Javier told us, grinning.
 

Stephan and Javier had been more impulsive than we had, and had already gotten married over Christmas.
 
They’d had a gorgeous commitment ceremony in Bali, with a reception afterwards that had turned into a four-day long party with all of their closest friends.
 
The entire trip had been magical, and I’d never seen two happier newlyweds.
 
Even several months later, they were both still glowing with it.
   

Stephan was happier than I’d ever seen him.
 
Two months ago, he’d even been contacted by one of his sisters.
 
She had just turned eighteen, and moved away for college.
 
She’d found him on Facebook, sending him an earnest message about wanting to meet him.
 
She had apologized for the way he’d been treated by their family, though of course she’d been too young at the time to have anything to do with the way things had happened.
 
Stephan had told me that they were getting to know each other slowly, but that they were chatting nearly every day now.
 

Javier blew us a kiss before letting the door swing back closed on him.
 
He’d ended up as part of the groom’s party.
 
Dividing our friends had turned into quite the debate.
 
We’d had a row over who would get Stephan.
 
The very idea had made me furious.
 

In the end, we’d decided on gender-bending wedding parties, with Frankie as James’s best woman, and Stephan as my best man.
 
It only made sense.
 
James had argued that he should get Lana, and I’d made a case for myself getting Javier, but in the end we’d let
them
choose, so Javier was a groomsmen, and Lana was mine.
 
I knew it was a sign of how blessed we were, that our friends were so intertwined that they belonged to us both.

One of the biggest wedding party upheavals was kneeling at my feet, fretting about some minor detail on the hem of my gown.
 
Jackie had taken some getting used to, but I’d more than gotten used to her.
 
Our friendship had grown over countless thoughtful little notes that she’d left in my closet.
 
Lana had been so right about her
—
that she needed to be challenged.
 
Something in her nature held a constant need for it, and I didn’t mind obliging.
 
First, I’d insisted on only wearing up and coming designers’ clothes for months, which had made her want to pull her hair out, but I saw that she grew to love the idea, the discovery of new designers presenting that challenge that she craved.
 

She’d learned to respect me, and as that respect had budded, so had our friendship.
 
And when we’d begun to hunt for my wedding gown, it had grown into a bonafide bond.
 
I’d realized that I had room in my heart for another sister.
 

Jackie and I hadn’t taken to each other right away, but you wouldn’t know it now.
 
As she’d obsessed over finding the perfect dress, I’d begun to tell her little details that I might like for a gown, and she had added her own persistent suggestions.
 
When she’d begun to make elaborate sketches for the elusive dress, I’d been impressed with her vision, and made the offhanded suggestion that she should design it herself.
 
She’d taken that suggestion to heart, and designed the perfect gown for me.
 
I knew by her talent, and the way the task seemed to fulfill her, that it wouldn’t be her last.
 

The women began to file from the room, giving me encouraging looks before they left.
 
The looks made me feel a bit like a crazy woman, since they told me clearly that everyone was still a little afraid that I would turn into a runaway bride.

Stephan and I peeked our heads around the corner to catch a glimpse of the altar.
 

James already stood there, looking too perfect to be real in a sharply tailored tuxedo.
 
He wore the classic black jacket and trouser, with an off-white silk shirt, vest, and tie.
 
His hair was styled artfully out of his face.
 
Frankie stood next to him, decked out in her own sexy version of a tux.
 

He saw us looking and grinned.
 
He knew I’d be nervous for this, just as I knew that he wouldn’t.
 
We shared one of those complex looks that said we understood each other.
 
His look took the form of an indulgent smile, and mine was a bit of a pained grimace.
 
I ducked back into the room.
 

In addition to being my best man, Stephan was walking me down the aisle.
 
That one hadn’t even been a question.
 
He wore a tux that was nearly identical to James’s, but with a lavender silk tie.
 
He kept an eye out for our cue to go, naming off the bridal party as they walked, and keeping me up to date on every detail, Stephan style.

“First is Elliot.
 
He’s got the ring on top of his head, and he’s hopping.”
 

I giggled.

“Now it’s Parker and Sophia.
 
They’re right on his tail, in case he runs off.
 
Oops, he made a dash… No, he’s okay now.
 
I think he was just faking them out.”
 

We shared a grin.
 
Elliot was too adorable.

“Next up are Lana and Akira.
 
He looks mean as ever, and she is the picture of elegance.
 
Seeing them side by side, they just make sense, but you’d have to see it to believe it, since they’re so dissimilar.”

I had to agree with that observation.

“Now it’s Murphy and Judith.
 
They actually look like they’re trying to behave themselves.
 
I was expecting a little dance down the aisle, YouTube style.”

“Murphy asked me if he could dance, and I said I didn’t mind, as long as no one expected me to,” I said.

“Oh, well, there he goes.
 
They’re doing that shuffle dance.
 
It definitely looks like they practiced.”
 
We shared a laugh.

“And now Javier and Marnie,” Stephan continued.
 
“He looks sexy as hell, and he just winked at me as he passed the door.
 
Now it’s Jessa and Damien.
 
They have huge smiles on their faces.”