Page 76 of Holiday Unscripted
“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.”
CHAPTER 30
Nate
THE CHRISTMAS SONG
I watch her across the altar as she trades jabs with Joshua. The two of them making everyone laugh with her teasing him one last time about his wedding. Joshua grabs Macy’s hand in his and kisses her fingers before aiming their conjoined hands to the sky. “Married.” Everyone laughs as they cheer them on. The two of them sharing one more look before making their way down the aisle. Joshua shakes his father’s hand as he walks past him. Zack with that proud look he has on his face most of the time we’re all together.
I clap my hands, turning my head to the side to watch Elizabeth, who smiles at them as they work their way down. I’m pushed forward by Jack, who is beside me. “Hurry up so we can get this over with, and I can go and be with my wife.” He pushes my shoulder to step forward.
Instead of walking forward, like we practiced yesterday, I tell him, “You take my place.” Trying not to let him know I want to walk with Elizabeth and not Belinda.
Belinda steps forward and looks at me, her eyes going big. “Hurry.” I push him and he steps forward, smiling at her and then I step forward and hold out my arm for Elizabeth, who looks up at me with a smirk. “Hi,” I say, my heart feeling like it’s finally beating at a normal pace, unlike when I watched her walk down the aisle. I thought my heart was going to come out of my chest, and the only thing I could think was, she is beautiful and I want her to be mine. Mine not just for the time she is here but for longer than that. But then the dread came creeping back up, the back of my neck got so hot I thought someone was pouring boiling water on me. It moved up to the back of my head and all I could do was look at her to calm myself down.
“Hi,” she replies softly as we walk down the aisle. Denise holds on to Zack’s arm as she smiles at us. “You look very dapper.” She turns her head to look at me, and I see the flash of the camera as they take a picture of us.
“You look like a million bucks,” I tell her. “More than a million, a trillion.”
“Whoa,” she jokes with me, looking down at her feet and then straight ahead again, smiling for everyone. Once we get to the end of the aisle, her hand falls from the crook of my arm as she walks over to Joshua.
“Now can I fuck with you?” she asks him and he barks out with laughter. His head goes back before he grabs her in his arms and the two of them share a big hug. “I’m taking that as a yes,” she teases and then Jack comes to them and the three of them share a hug.
“We need a picture of this,” Macy declares, “a truce has been formed.”
“She’s just having truces with everyone these days,” Jack teases her and then looks over at me, as if he knows what is going on.
“Not everyone.” She glares at him and that makes him laugh.
“If we can get everyone to clear out of this area,” Doreen instructs, “so the guests can come and congratulate the couple.” I step to the side and then look over when Elizabeth comes back to my side.
“She’s really bossy,” she mumbles and gives Doreen a chin lift.
“Stop making trouble, then,” I tease her, and she smirks at me before her face fills with a smile.
“Never,” she tells me as we are pulled away to take pictures. There are pictures of just the groomsmen with Joshua and then the bridesmaids with Macy. My eyes never leave Elizabeth’s as she smiles for the camera. Then they have one with all of us. I stand next to Jack with Elizabeth in front of me, my hand on her hip. She turns the hand that is hanging from beside her over so I can slide my other hand in hers, our fingers intertwined as we smile at the camera.
After what feels like an eternity, we finally are let go of our duties and we head toward the reception area. “We should get a drink.”
“I agree with this,” I tell her as we walk over to one of the empty tables that have been assigned for the bridal party. She puts her bouquet down as we walk to the bar.
