CHAPTER 20 Are We There Yet?
The Chief let me start my two week vacation early and gave me Friday off to go run errands with Emily. We got up early and went to the Westside for our final fittings and to do a little shopping for our honeymoon.
“Jake, after your fitting at the Armani store, can you bring the car around so I can put my dress in the car?”
“Can’t I walk into the dress shop with you? I’m dying to see what you look like in your dress.”
“Are you serious? I don’t want you to see it yet and Mom and Gram would have a heart attack if they knew you saw me in the dress. I’ll meet you there in half an hour.”
Emily dropped me off at my shop first to make sure I didn’t follow her to hers. After a quick fitting, I picked up my outfit and on the way out found a great dress for Emily to wear tonight to our dress rehearsal and dinner. Knowing she would frown at spending so much money on a dress, I bought it for her without her knowledge.
With our wedding outfits safely tucked away in the car, we went to lunch.
“What are you craving today, Love?”
“Let’s just have a salad. I don’t want to feel heavy or bloated for the wedding. Can you believe we’ll be married in two days?” Her grin made my face smile as well.
“In two days I get to sleep with you.”
“Is that all that’s on your mind?”
“Is that not all that’s on your mind?” I asked.
She only stared in wonder.
Home felt like an airport with people coming and going with their suitcases. Gram and her staff took up the entire third floor and several of my cousins decided to stay in Nick and Jane’s rooms even though their homes were only steps away. Emily was busy greeting my cousins and I walked over with all the guys and helped Aunt Barbara get her backyard ready for our Moroccan Riad themed dinner.
Before our rehearsal I took Emily up to our room to have her try on the dress I bought for her.
“Why did you spend so much unnecessary money?” I knew she would complain. “As it is the wedding will be expensive enough.”
“Because I thought you’d look beautiful in this dress.” I pushed her into the closet with her dress. “You need me to help you take your clothes off?”
Her glower gave way to a chuckle.
We finished our rehearsal and walked over to Aunt Babs’. Her backyard completely transformed into Morocco. My aunt had a treasured talent for throwing imaginative themed parties. During a delicious dinner musicians played while belly dancers danced all around us.
“This is so amazing, Honey. Did you know about this dinner?” She whispered in my ear.
“I had some idea but I didn’t know to what extent. Aunt Babs throws great parties.” I saw the Chief walk up to the mic. “I have one more surprise for you, Love. Watch and listen.” I whispered back while planting a kiss on her lips.
“Thank you all for coming to this festive event. We want to celebrate Jake and Emily as this day was a long time coming for them as well as for those of us who had to live with Jake during Emily’s absence.” The Chief rolled his eyes and shook his head. The crowd laughed. “Jake, come on up and continue our Reid wedding tradition.”
Kissing Emily one more time, I walked up with my fiancées wedding gift in my pocket.
“Most of us in this tent know that we Reids have a tradition at our dress rehearsal dinner. This tradition is started by the first child of his generation to get married and all the other children in that generation must follow the same tradition he chooses. Since I am the first among the cousins to get married, you all must follow my lead when you get married.”
There were a few unhappy faces in the audience. Wait till they saw what I got for Emily. There would surely be more unhappy ones.
“The Chief informed me I needed to pick from one of the wedding traditions of something old, something new, something borrowed, or something blue. Gramps apparently chose something old and gave Gram a pearl necklace that his mother wore on her wedding day. Gram?” I looked around for my grandmother. “Will you be giving this pearl necklace to my Emily as well?” She chuckled while everyone booed.
“Gram, I demand a recount. Who voted to give Jake the six carat diamond?” Doug, the contentious one, asked.
Before Gram could answer I ordered him to sit down and continued my speech. “The Chief continued the tradition by picking something blue and he gave his bride a measly blue garter to which all of his brothers had to do the same for their brides as a wedding gift. Now I must say, that was a crappy wedding gift.”
I made my mom and aunts proud with that declaration.
“Now it’s my turn and I chose to pick something old and something new.”
“Show off!” Cousin Glen yelled.
“The only way to outdo a six carat Asscher cut diamond ring is to shower my bride with more diamonds.”
This statement got every woman, including Gram, cheering for me while every unmarried guy rushed the stage and tried to hurt me. The guys picked me up and threatened to throw me off stage till they saw Gram’s unhappy face. As always, I was saved by my grandmother.
Walking over to Emily I could see the tears forming in her eyes. I wanted to carry her to my stage but knowing how embarrassed she would get I only held her hand.
“Emily,” my confession began, “after our first date, I knew you would be the girl I would marry. What I didn’t know was how deeply I would fall in love with you and still I grow to love you more each day. I cherish your warmth, your honesty, and the way you trust me to take care of you. In turn, I strive to be your shield and protector and make you the happiest woman in the world. In short, my life is only complete because you are here with me. I love you.”
Her tears of joy fell along with all the other women in the tent. I caught a glimpse of my mom and she beamed a proud expression. She approved of my future wife and knew I would be well taken care of.
“Emi, give me just a second.” I excused myself and walked over to Mom.
Hugging her I expressed, “Though Emily is my new love, you will always be my first love. I love you, Mom. Thank you for accepting Emily like your own daughter, and thank you for my thirty-one years of life. I promise I will continue to make you and Dad proud.”
“I love you, Son,” was all she could utter between the tears.
Back on the stage, I held out the same box I proposed with on Christmas morning. “Here is your something old.”
“I don’t have any fingers left to wear another diamond ring,” Emily spoke with both her hands up in the air, in an attempt to be funny.
She opened up the box with one diamond earring and looked confused. “Jake, this is gorgeous but how does it become something old and something new and why is there only one?”
I explained that this was the first diamond I proposed with back in December.
“The other diamond,” I pulled out the matching pair, “is a new one I picked up from Boucheron in Paris.”
Emily was quick to put them both on and thanked me.
The party done, everyone helped clean up and we all headed for our separate quarters. Emily was more than upset we wouldn’t see each other till our wedding day, to keep in line with our last Reid wedding tradition of keeping the bride and groom separated till they met at the altar. Trying to change her pronounced frown I aggressively kissed her till she could do no other than smile.
“I’ll see you at the altar.” I said walking my fiancée to her door.
I slept another uncomfortable night in Doug’s room and we all left early morning for a ranch.
“What’s on the agenda?” I asked my brother.
“I’m not at liberty to tell. You’re supposed to do everything as planned and Doug and I are your shadows till the wedding.”
Rolling my eyes I called my bride.
“Hello?” I didn’t recognize this voice on the other line.
“Who’s this?” I questioned.
“Jake, you’re not supposed to have any contact with Emily till you meet her at the altar.”
“Aunt Deb! Is this really necessary? You are holding on to Emi’s phone?”
“We all went through it. Bye.” She hung up on me. I was thoroughly annoyed.
At the ranch many of my college and medical school buddies waited for me to arrive and after an elaborate BBQ lunch we got into teams and went hunting. Not having done this since med school my shooting was rusty. I was told there was a prize for the group and the individual with the most game hunted. Competition on, my roommates and I, who used to hunt regularly in college, went after the prize with gusto. We were the first team to reach a team record of 25 birds with me having shot 10 birds – an individual high.
Our team won a full day shooting trip and I personally won a rifle which I didn’t think Emily would be too happy to have in the house. I asked Uncle Henry to keep it for me at his home instead. It was nice spending time with my buddies whom I had all but forgotten since Emily entered my life.
“So tell us about your fiancée, Jake. You haven’t been to any of the get-togethers in so long we know nothing about the woman you’re marrying tomorrow. Only through Nick did we hear bits and pieces,” my old roommate Steve asked.
“She is phenomenal. She’s gorgeous, kind, loving, sweet, bright, funny…”
“Never mind. It was stupid of me to ask you. What do you think, Uncle Henry?” Steve asked the Chief instead.
“I have to say everything Jake mentioned is true. My soon to be niece is pretty special.”
I high-fived my uncle.
“Hey, I saw Kelley the other day in Chicago.” My buddy Ron started talking. “I was there on business and I ran into her on the elevator.”
“How’s she doing? I heard she got married soon after we broke up.”
“She was pregnant with her third kid already. She looked great and she said she and her family lived in the suburbs somewhere near Chicago.”
In the middle of our conversation, I got a text from my love.
Just got home. If you are able, call directly to our room. Missed you very much. Can’t wait to become Mrs. Reid. Love you even more.
“Sorry guys. The Mrs. is texting. Need to call her.” I dialed our number immediately.
“Hi Honey. How was your day?”
“Hi Beautiful. I had a fun but lonesome day today without you.” I answered.
“Where are you and what did you do all day?”
“We’re about an hour north of home and we’re up at someone’s ranch, pheasant, quail and chukar hunting. I shot a Reid record ten, beating the Chief’s old record by two.”
“That’s great but what’s a chukar?”
“It’s a type of bird in the pheasant family. What did you do all day, my love?”
“We went to the spa and enjoyed every treatment thanks to Gram but I really missed you.”
“I missed you too.”
Listening to my bemoaning, all the guys made fun of me as some pretended to be me, crying, some mimicked my words, and others pretended to throw up. Emily laughed on her end.
“Who are all those people in the background?”
“My college and med school buddies along with the rest of the family. You’ll meet them tomorrow.”
“When do you get home?”
“I think we’re spending the night up here and then we have appointments at some spa tomorrow. I don’t exactly know. No one will give me a clear answer for fear I may bolt on them. The cousins are all seeking revenge because I gave you diamonds for your wedding present.”
“Oh, I see. What would they do if I came to see you?”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if Jane is guarding your door right now.” We both laughed. “I guess I’ll see you at the wedding.”
“Yes, you will, Dr. Reid.”
“Good night, my love. Sweet dreams.”
“I love you. Good night.”
Talking to her made me want to drive home and be with her tonight. Not wanting to fight with the uncles and cousins I decided to wait a few more hours when no one had a right to separate us anymore.