[ - ]
Table of Contents [Report This]
Printer Chapter or Story Microsoft Word Chapter or Story
- Text Size +
Chapter Forty One

Nick answered on the fourth ring.

“’Lo?”

“Nick, what’s going on?”

“What do you mean?”

“Angel just read your tweet about needing the emergency room.”

Nick laughed. “Oh that.”

“You’re killing me, Nick. Are you okay?”

“Don’t you girls have anything better to do than read my tweets?” Nick teased

“Don’t you guys have anything better to do than tweet?” I replied. Nick laughed.

“Your wedding planner is here making sure we stay on track. I think she has a crush on me. She’s kind of a cougar. I was getting ready to throw a rubber band into her big poof ball hair but it backfired and I hit my nose. There was a lot of blood but it stopped.”

I sighed. My hopes of getting through this day in one piece were rapidly disintegrating. I poked my head back into the living room. Ro was crouched next to Leigahnne. Ro looked up and met my gaze. She didn’t have to say anything. I knew.

“ Nick, you’re going to have to send Brian over here,” I said.

“What? Why?”

“Because Leighanne’s going into labor.”

“No I’m not!”

I looked over at her. Her hands were clenched into fists. The pain was making her stubborn.

I heard Nick say something to the room in general, a loud jostling filled the line, and Brian started talking in jagged sentences.

“What? Now? Sure?”

“Bri,” I said calmly. “Just come over here.”

He hung up before I had a chance to say anything else. I smacked my phone against my forehead. It was a little after one. We had to be dressed and out of the house no later than a quarter after two and I had a pregnant lady in labor in my house and a husband-to-be with a bloody nose halfway across town.

“Brian’s coming Leigh,” I assured her as I walked fully into the living room. I knelt down next to her and put a hand on her knee. Her face was flushed.

“I can make it,” she assured me. I smiled.

“I’d rather not take that chance,” I said softly. “I don’t think you want to go into labor and have a Backstreet Boy be the deliverer. After all, we want her to be normal.”

Leighanne didn’t argue back; in fact, she laughed.

“But what about your maid of honor?”

I glanced behind my shoulder.

“Hey Angel, you up for it?”

Angel nodded. “Sure thing.”

I turned back to Leighanne. “See? It’s all good. Now how far apart are your contractions?”

“About three minutes.”

That was closer together than I had thought.

“Has your water broke?”

She shook her head. “No, I figured I would have to admit defeat when that happened.”

Not wanting to leave Leighanne, but knowing that we still had to get the wedding together, I did some fast thinking. I looked over at my mom.

“Hey mom, do you want to take Brooklyn and go up with the girls and get changed?”

Mom nodded. “Absolutely.”

Angel, Leigh, Leslie, BJ, and my mom headed upstairs. Ro had moved from the floor to the couch. Leighanne seemed to have her hand in a death grip.

“I can wait too,” Rochelle said.

The minutes ticked by. I was pretty sure that Brian was going to be breaking some speed limits to get here. The hotel was twenty minutes away. Brian made it in fifteen.

He didn’t bother to knock. One minute Leighanne was hunched over, her forehead almost to mine. The next minute Brian had her hand in his and was in automatic new dad mode. He was wearing his white dress shirt, but it was half unbuttoned. His tie was wrapped around his neck like a scarf and I was pretty sure his pants were on backwards.

“Can you stand up?” Brian asked as Leighanne’s next contraction faded. She nodded. I could see beads of sweat breaking out on her forehead.

Ro and I stood up. Between the two of us and Brian, we got Leigh to her feet. She began to walk towards the front door. Ro and I followed behind.

“Your hair looks nice,” Brian said sweetly. I heard a weak laugh.

“You smell good. And you shaved.”

“Well then, I think we’re ready for a picture with our newborn.”

Ro and I grinned.

Brian managed to get Leigh down the front steps even though it was a slow process. They were almost to the car when Leighanne yelled out. Brian’s arms went around her for fear she was going to fall.

“Water just broke!” Brian called out. He looked back over to the doorway.

“Sorry about this Liv!”

I snorted. “Don’t be stupid. Just go have a beautiful baby. If you hurry, Nick and I can stop by the hospital for a visit before we take off for Australia.”

Brian grinned. He slowly settled Leigh into the car.

“We’ll call and let you guys know. Congratulations, Liv.”

I laughed. “Congratulations to you, too.”

Brian shut Leigh’s door and opened his own.

“By the way,” I called out. “This gives you no excuse for forgetting my birthday!”

Brian turned. He was smiling from ear to ear. “Or your anniversary!”

He slid into the car and gunned it down our drive.

“I think the bride needs to go get dressed.”

I looked over at Ro. She pointed to her watch. I glanced down. I had exactly twenty minutes to get dressed and get makeup on before we had to leave.

“Let’s do this!” I cried, racing for the steps.

------------------------------------------------------

“What the hell were you thinking?”

Six pairs of eyes were on my ass. Well, not on my ass, but pretty close to it. I had completely forgotten about the tattoo. In truth, once the pain goes away, it’s just there. In fact, it’s even grown on me. I love hearts, I love Nick. It’s really the perfect tattoo.

Except that my mom hated tattoos.

“I was drunk,” I admitted. My mom snorted.

“This is the stupidest thing you have ever done Olivia Renee.”

I figured arguing with her would only take up more precious time. I was changing into the Spanx and my tattoo wasn’t going anywhere. She was just going to have to live with it.

“I’ll be happy to discuss this with you later,” I said. “But right now I need to get my dress on.”

In all the other times that I had tried on my dress, I had slipped it on over my head. Because of my hair, I didn’t want to do that. It was even harder stepping into the dress and pulling it up, rather than down. Leigh, Ro, Angel, and my mom worked as a team as we inched the material up. I prayed that I wouldn’t hear a rip. Finally I felt the material loosen as we finally got the dress over my hips.

“You’re in,” Leigh said. I laughed.

“That dress is beautiful,” Leslie said.

“Nick’s going to cry,” BJ said happily.

I really hoped Nick didn’t cry. Just in case, I removed the mascara from my makeup selection.

Because of the July heat, all of the girls had opted for minimal makeup. I had handpicked a perfect shade of gloss and eye shadow. With the help of Rochelle, we were all done with five minutes to spare.

“Are we ready?” I said. Everyone nodded. I glanced out the bedroom window. A large stretch limo was waiting out front to take us to the beach.

“Our ride is here.” I was surprised to hear my voice shaking. Angel smiled and gave me a tight hug.

“It’s okay, sis.”

Oh dear Lord, please don’t make me cry….

We all made our way downstairs. Mom was carrying Brooklyn’s car seat but I couldn’t resist peeking in. I had found the prettiest white dress for her. Brooklyn seemed to be in awe of the ruffles. Her fingers kept touching the fabric and she kept letting out little laughs. Her feet were covered in white socks with yellow flowers and I had found the tiniest pair of black baby dress shoes. My mom had tied her hair into two miniscule pigtails, adorned with yellow and turquoise ribbons. I didn’t think I could love my little girl any more, but today was one of those days. As I got into the limo and her car seat was set by me, I stroked her little face.

“Your mommy and daddy are getting married today,” I said softly. “What do you think about that?”

Her blue eyes looked up at me adoringly. I waited for a smile.

Instead she burped.

--------------------------------------------------

The ride to the beach took forty five minutes. Valeria was waiting by the rock as we all scurried back there. Well, I didn’t scurry; it was more like a shuffle.

“You cut it close,” she said. I cracked a smile. Nick was right; her hair did look like a giant poof ball today.

“We had an emergency,” I explained. Valeria sighed.

“I know. So what have you decided?”

“Angel’s going to be Maid of Honor,” I explained. Valeria nodded.

“I’ll let Nick know.”

“Do we still have our ring bearer?”


Valeria nodded again. The poof ball swayed.

“Yes. Howie and Kevin said they would watch him. I’ll go get him. The guys are still in the limo.”

Her heels crunched perfunctorily on the sand as she walked off. The moment she did, I peeked around the rock. I smiled.

Valeria might be a little bit of a fuddy-duddy, but she had pulled off my vision for the wedding. A white runner stretched from the rock towards a white, turquoise, and yellow arch. White chairs were grouped on either side of the runner. Large turquoise bows wrapped around each chair. Through the knot in each bow was a yellow rose.

“It’s beautiful, honey,” my mom whispered. I smiled.

“It’s better than I ever imagined,” I said.

For some reason, seeing the beach set up and people in the chairs was the moment that nerves and reality crashed into me. My fingers pressed into the rock.

I was getting married in ten minutes.

On the beach.

To Nick Carter.

Who would be in full tuxedo.

Oh God.

“You don’t look so good,” Ro said.

“Do you need to sit down?” Angel asked.

“You still have time to change your mind,” Leslie added.

“Just take a deep breath,” Leigh suggested.

“Oh Nick looks so handsome!”

I turned to see BJ a few feet from the rock. I refused to look, but I knew the boys must have made their way from the limo to the arch. My guess was confirmed when Baylee ran up and threw his arms around me.

“Hi Liv!”

I smiled.

“Hey Bay. You ready to do this thing?”

He nodded. “You look really pretty!”

I laughed. “And you look very handsome.”

He did. His shorter hair brought out the sparkle in those eyes that were identical to Brian’s. His little tux made him look so grown up.

“Mommy and daddy are at the hospital,” he told me. I nodded.

“Yup. You okay hanging with us?”

He nodded again. “I wanna party.”

I grinned.

As Valeria came over and got us all into formation, my nerves played a back and forth game between calm and frantic. I took a deep breath.

At the moment, I kind of felt like Baylee did.

I wanted to celebrate. But before I could do that, I had to get through the cause of the celebration. I lifted my head confidently.

I had waited my entire life for this day.

As the music began to play and one by one the girls took off down the beach, my breathing slowed down. It wasn’t so much nerves as anticipation. In mere seconds I’d be walking up the aisle towards the man that I knew, without a doubt, that I’d be spending the rest of my life with.

And that was a great feeling.