by Lea Kinkade
“That would be perfect. Now, keeping in mind that we have every member of my family available to make things happen, I want you to make a list of things that you can’t do without at our wedding. I’m planning the honeymoon, and it’s going to be a surprise, so you don’t have to do anything but pack what I tell you.”
They sat in bed for the next hour, writing out lists of traditions they wanted to be a part of their big day and things that they didn’t care about. Their lists matched except for the removal of the garter. Xander wanted it, and Jordan thought it unnecessary. Since Xander had compromised on a lot of other things, Jordan let him have his way and added a garter belt to the things she needed to purchase to wear for the wedding.
“I got you an extra debit card for my checking account and wrote the PIN on a sticky on the back of it. Once you get off bed rest, you and Jessie can go shopping for the wedding dress and everything. I’ve got the number of a wedding consultant, and I want you to use her for the legwork so that you’re not overworked.”
“I’m paying for my own wedding dress, Xander,” Jordan said stubbornly. “It’s the bride’s responsibility to pay for the wedding, isn’t it? The groom covers the honeymoon. I have enough money in trust from my mother to pay for the wedding. You just worry about the honeymoon.”
“Angel, this wedding, despite the quick turnaround time, is going to be bigger than you think. There’s just no way to get around it, with the size of my family and the friends that my mother’s going to want to invite. I don’t want you to dip into your inheritance just because my parents insist on inviting the whole damn world to it.”
He could see she was about to argue the point when he offered a compromise. “How about you buy your dress and the bridesmaids dresses and all the trimmings and you let my family cover the rest?” Xander knew how independent she was and that he needed to give on something.
“Okay,” she said reluctantly. “But I want the wedding to be as small and intimate as possible if it’s okay with you. I don’t need 2,000 people ogling my expanding belly, gossiping about how I’m after you for your money. It will be embarrassing enough with just close family and friends.”
“My mom already put a list together. I promise it’s not 2,000 people, but it’s damn near close,” he responded, semi-joking with her. “And you have no reason to be embarrassed.
“How about you put together a list of people the two of us would want there, not counting my family, and I’ll give it to Mom. She can add them to her list. Since most of the guests are family or friends of her and Dad’s, she offered to address and mail out the invitations once we pick them out.” She quickly put together her list. She didn’t have that many people to invite. A few of her coworkers and the women from the Friday night get-togethers and she was done.
Jordan listened while Xander called his parents with the news that Jordan had accepted his proposal and the date they had picked for the wedding. He gave his mother the additions to the guest list and asked her how many invitations they should order. When he repeated it to her to make sure he had heard correctly, Jordan gasped out loud and cringed. Smiling apologetically, he closed the cell phone and just shrugged at Jordan.
He brought her laptop over to her, and they got online and picked out some invitations together. They were gorgeous and classy, just like Jordan. They were ivory, tri-fold invitations with an embossed bloodred rose cutout on the front. The wording they wrote up would be printed in black. Jordan picked out a matching red for envelope inserts. They picked out coordinating thank-you notes and ordered an equal number of those. They put his parents’ address down as the ship-to address so that his mother could get them right away. Due to the wedding date being so soon, they paid for rush printing and delivery.
Jordan wanted a red, black, and ivory wedding. She would find an ivory wedding dress and have her maid of honor, Jessie, wearing black or red, depending on what they could find. That way, Jessie could wear the dress again. That pleased the fiscally responsible part of Jordan. She thought a bouquet of red and ivory roses with black ribbon would be perfect, with matching corsages and boutonnieres. Wondering what florist to use, Xander told her that he always used Bach Florists. Although Bach’s might be more expensive than other florists in the area, their quality was unsurpassed. He reminded her that was where he’d gotten the gorgeous roses for her back when she was so mad at him. Jordan put them down as someone to contact. She had no idea of what flowers they would need besides her bouquet and a boutonniere for Xander. Xander’s mother probably knew exactly what flowers she would need. She would call her later.
Xander left her to make lunch, and Jordan took advantage of his absence and looked at several different sites for wedding dresses. There were several wedding shops in Corpus Christi that had websites. She found several ivory dresses that she liked and that would be camouflaging of her growing belly. She looked at matching veils as well. She’d always wanted her husband to lift the veil from her face in order to kiss her after the vows were said, so she definitely wanted a veil.
Knowing that she’d want new lingerie for the wedding as well, Jordan went to her favorite website and found several pieces of lingerie especially for the bride. She found an ivory corset with matching thong panties, garter belt, and lace-trimmed stockings. They also had a beautiful ivory garter that she decided to order. Looking at the nightwear for fun, she was floored to find a lacy and diaphanous ivory nightgown. It was long and had an empire waist with spaghetti straps. There was a matching robe with a single drawstring closure right under her breasts. Figuring she might as well go for it, Jordan added it to her cart as well and then quickly checked out. She didn’t want Xander to see her selections. They would be a nice secret for the wedding night. She was just leaving the website when she heard him on the stairs.
* * * *
He had made chicken-salad sandwiches and had fresh fruits and veggies for them to munch on. He brought two plates into the room and placed them on the table they had used for breakfast. Smiling, he told her he’d bring her the phone book so she could make some phone calls of her own while he returned some urgent calls from yesterday. He could tell she felt bad that he was having to take so much time off, but he assured her that things wouldn’t fall apart without him for a few days. He could take care of most of the really important stuff from home. The rest of the time he wanted to spend with her.
Xander watched her discreetly while she ate her chicken-salad sandwich and munched on the fruits and vegetables. He knew that he was to the part of the wooing plan where he was supposed to tell her everything about what had happened with Sophie all those years ago, but he was too happy right now. Jordan seemed happy as well, and he didn’t want to take the chance that she would remember how he had reacted after she had told him about the baby.
Jessie was coming over to see Jordan tonight. He couldn’t put her off any longer. Taylor was coming over tomorrow in the morning for a while so he could take a meeting at the office that he’d already put off twice. His mother had promised to bring over lunch for the girls tomorrow, so he had the whole morning to get through with the meeting. His brothers were content to wait until Jordan got off bed rest to see her.
Leaving her with the phone number of the wedding consultant, he took the dirty dishes downstairs to the kitchen and put everything else away. The dishwasher was full, so he started a load then went to his office. He got the phone messages from his e-mail and returned several calls. It took much of the afternoon. He took a break and went to check on Jordan at about 3:00 p.m.
When Xander came back upstairs, he found Jordan laying across the bed on her left side, watching a video on television. She smiled at him when he stood in the doorway and asked her if she needed anything. She told him she had already had a decaffeinated soda and munched on the cheese and crackers from the fridge. Xander told her he had a few more calls to make and asked what she wanted for dinner. He promised her he would be upstairs with it by 6:00 p.m.
Xander knew that she
was anxious to see the doctor next week, but he knew she didn't want to complain. She wasn’t going to do anything to jeopardize their baby, and though she was bored as hell, she would stay in bed as ordered. He was glad she at least had the wedding to plan and she told him she was looking forward to Jessie’s visit tonight and Taylor’s and Cassie's visit tomorrow. She had already called the wedding consultant, and she was coming over at 11:00 a.m. the next morning so both Taylor and Cassie would be here to help her make any decisions the consultant wanted her to make.
Jessie showed up just as Xander was taking down their dinner tray and washing up in the kitchen. Reminding her softly that he hadn’t told Jordan everything and Jordan hadn’t remembered it all yet, he walked upstairs to the bedroom with her and asked if he could get them anything while they visited. Jessie said she’d get something later if they wanted it and shooed him out of the room. Xander went into the family room and turned on ESPN. Periodically, he could hear laughter coming from upstairs, and he was glad that Jessie had come over to distract Jordan from her enforced bed rest. Jessie stayed until 10:00 p.m., coming down to tell Xander she was leaving and would be back in a couple of days. She asked Xander if he was coming into the office the next day, and Xander said he would come in while Taylor and their mother were there visiting with Jordan.
Locking up the house, Xander headed upstairs to Jordan. He was glad to see more color in her cheeks and that she was smiling softly when he entered the room. He asked her if she wanted to take a shower with him and had to smile at her quick agreement. Turning on the shower to the warm temperature he knew Jordan preferred, he quickly took off his clothes and turned around in time to see her shrug off his T-shirt and her panties.
As always, his cock shot right to attention. He wondered if he would always have this visceral reaction to her and thought he probably would. Following her into the shower, he gently helped her shampoo and condition her hair. Once her hair was thoroughly rinsed, he shampooed his own hair with his own shampoo. Both of them reached for the other’s bodywash and started laughing. Grabbing her lilac-scented bodywash, he poured some quickly onto a washcloth and proceeded to lather her body from head to toe. She did the same with his soap, paying particular attention to his turgid cock.
Stopping her with a hand on hers, he said huskily, “I don’t think sex against the shower wall was what the doctor had in mind. Why don’t you get dried off and sit at your vanity. I’ll dry your hair again.”
* * * *
Pouting slightly, Jordan exited the shower stall. She’d had high hopes for a little vertical action in the shower. They’d only fucked once in the shower, and Jordan wanted to do it again. She sighed heavily and quickly dried herself off, wrapping the towel around her as she went to sit meekly at her vanity. Xander came up behind her and gently started brushing her hair. Once he started the blow dryer, his ministrations took on a distinctly erotic quality. He only had a towel around his waist and kept rubbing up against her. She could feel his hard cock against her back and arms as he continued to dry her hair, the towel tenting out impressively.
Xander told Jordan to go to bed and he’d meet her there. Though she was exhausted from wedding planning and Jessie's visit, she wanted to make love with him tonight. She knew Xander thought she'd fall asleep if he left her waiting in bed for a while before he joined her. She'd just have to stay awake until he got here. She wasn't giving up tonight. As she lay in bed waiting for him, she yawned deeply and her eyes kept drifting closed. She was asleep before he came to bed but vaguely felt him pull her body into his as he settled into sleep.
* * * *
Xander was frustrated. He had been in the office all morning while Jordan met at the house with the wedding consultant. He needed to get out of here in the next five minutes, or he and Jordan would be late getting to the doctor’s appointment. Finally telling the man on the other end of the line he had a prior appointment and that they would have to continue their discussion at another time, he hung up the phone and bellowed for his assistant.
“I’m leaving now to get Jordan and take her to her doctor’s appointment. Have you cleared my schedule for the honeymoon yet? Remember, we’ll be gone for ten days. Contact Levi or Rio for most of the Ranch business. If they don’t know the answer, they’ll talk to Dad. Don’t let anyone go to Dad but Levi or Rio. I don’t want him sucked back into the drama,” he stated brusquely. “Mom would kill me. Send any other important messages to me at home. I won’t be back today.”
When he got to the house, Jordan was waiting in the family room. He gave her a dark look chastising her for coming down the steps on her own, and she flipped him the bird. Knowing how bored she had been for the past week and also how good she had been at following the doctor’s directions, he laughed at her. “You ready?” he asked.
“Am I ever. I can’t wait for the doctor to tell me I don’t have to stay in that bed anymore. I don’t think I could handle it any longer,” she sighed dramatically.
“Well, angel, let’s go see what the doctor has to say.” He chuckled again.
Chapter 16
Two hours later, the doctor had just come back into the examination room. Jordan didn’t like the look on his face. He seemed concerned. “Well, I have good news and bad news for you, young lady. What do you want to hear first?”
“Please tell me I don’t have to stay in bed anymore. I don’t think I could take it.” Jordan smiled at him earnestly.
“The good news is that the baby is doing fine. I was able to tell what sex the baby was, so if you change your minds, I can tell you.”
Xander and Jordan looked at each other with trepidation. That must be the good news. Obviously, the rest of what the doctor had to say wasn't going to be as lighthearted.
“Now for the bad news. Although I’m not going to keep you on strict bed rest, I’m not releasing you back to your normal routine either,” he said gently. “When you got here, your blood pressure was elevated. After you laid down for twenty minutes, your blood pressure was back to normal. So, while I am not going to put you on strict bed rest, I am putting some severe restrictions on you.” He looked at her like he expected her to argue with him.
“You can’t go back to work. Being on your feet all that time is just going to keep your blood pressure elevated. That’s not good for you or the baby. Right now everything appears to be fine with the baby, and we want to keep it that way, right? You can be up and around for short periods of time. Nothing too strenuous. No playing basketball or jogging,” he joked. “Sexual intercourse is okay, but nothing too rough and no marathons.” He chuckled when Jordan looked at Xander triumphantly.
“You need to lay down and rest regularly. You can go up or down one flight of stairs at a time, resting in between. You probably shouldn’t be driving, but there’s no problem with you being a passenger on trips not lasting more than a couple of hours. I understand you’re planning a wedding, and I’m allowing you to go to Corpus Christi to look for your wedding dress, but I want you sitting down often in between trying on the dresses.”
He paused again for his words to sink in. “I’m sending home an automatic blood-pressure meter for you to take your blood pressure several times a day. You should take it with you if you travel any distance away from home. If it reads high and doesn’t go down after you lay down and rest for twenty minutes, I want you to call the office. If anything unusual happens, I want you to call the office. Call the service if it’s not during office hours.” He waited for her to say something and appeared to be satisfied with the sober look in her eyes.
“Do you think you can do all that? I know it’s not what you wanted to hear, but if you don’t, you may end up hospitalized for the rest of your pregnancy. I’m not trying to scare you, but high blood pressure in pregnancy is not something to fool around with. It worries me that your blood pressure is elevated at this early stage of your pregnancy,” he went on to say. “We’ll talk about the wedding and honeymoon when it gets closer. I don’t know where you h
ad planned to go for your honeymoon, but you might want to stay in the continental U.S. for now.” He gave them a soft smile indicating that he was only partially joking.
Jordan saw Xander look at the doctor with the same stricken look that she knew was on her face. This was not what Jordan had expected. She thought coming in today was a mere formality and that she would be able to resume her normal life. She knew she wasn’t going to work at Chaps & Spurs anymore—mainly due to the secondhand smoke issues but also because of the amount of time she had to spend on her feet. It would just get harder as her pregnancy advanced. Xander had told her he wanted her to quit, anyway, and she had reluctantly agreed. She wasn't reluctant because she wanted any harm to come to the baby but because she valued her independence. Not having a job made her dependent on him in a way she had never been dependent on any one but her mother, and her mother had been gone more than four years now. She knew she still had the money in her trust, but she also knew Xander didn’t want her to touch that money. He wanted to support her and the baby. It was a man thing, not a control thing, with Xander.
What the doctor was telling her scared her to death. She knew she would do anything to keep herself and this baby healthy. Besides, she told herself bracingly, it wasn’t going to be like the past week. She could get up and do things. She just had to take it easy. She could do this. She would do this. She would do anything for her baby. She looked at Xander and was profoundly glad that the doctor had told them both they could still have sex. That look on Xander’s face didn’t bode well for her chances of getting any loving anytime soon. Damn.
The doctor told them he wanted to see Jordan weekly for now and had them make an appointment before they left. Reminding them to call if they thought anything was wrong, he left them in the examination room.
