“But my mom will be so upset!” Sasha wailed, finally realizing the ramifications of what she’d done.
“Yes, because of you, my best friend will not be there when my only son gets married. I’m terribly disappointed, but I won’t for a minute do anything to make Alexa feel uncomfortable on her wedding day. Just as you should have never tried to hurt her feelings today. Unfortunately, your mother and I will both have to pay for your mistaken judgment,” she said, shaking her head sadly.
“I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I never meant for it to go so far.”
“You never did mean for things to go as far as they did when you were younger either. Eventually, you are going to have to grow up, and I can only hope that, this time around, your parents properly punish you for the damage you’ve caused here today,” she replied.
“You can’t really mean that. You’re my godmother. You’ve always stood up for me, and now, you’re just taking her side,” Sasha complained.
“I’m not choosing sides, Sasha. You still have so much growing up to do if you really think that’s what this is,” Grace explained. “What you did here today was spiteful. And just flat-out wrong. Drake adores Alexa, and so does the rest of our family. She’s already been accepted by everyone who counts. She doesn’t need to prove anything to anyone else.”
Sasha’s shoulders dropped in defeat. “I really am sorry.”
“And if you really meant that, you’d be asking for Alexa’s forgiveness instead of mine. That’s the second time you’ve said the words, and both times, they’ve been directed to the wrong person. Now go before I do something rash like call the police myself,” she said, ordering Sasha out of the shop with a finger pointed at the door.
After Sasha’s departure, Grace turned back to me.
“I have no doubt Drake will do everything in his power to ensure he remains at your side for the rest of his life just like his father has done with me. Don’t ever doubt his love for you.”
“I won’t,” I swore.
“Good. Now let’s see how much damage was done to your gorgeous dress. Jennifer, can the sleeve be repaired?” she asked the seamstress.
Jennifer examined the gown and muttered under her breath, “With the way it tore, I just can’t be certain. She’ll have to leave it here and I’ll see what can be done, but our safest bet this close to the wedding may be to alter it into cap sleeves or something. I’m just not sure I have enough extra fabric from the alterations to make a whole new sleeve if that’s what it comes down to.”
I looked to Aubrey for help since most of what Jennifer had said had flown right over my head. I was trying desperately not to cry at the thought of my gown being ruined.
“Go ahead,” she urged me. “Get changed back into your clothes, and I promise you we’ll fix this so you are even more stunning on your wedding day than when you walked out of the changing room here. Trust me.”
“Trust both of us,” Grace offered. “We have this under control.”
What other choice do I have but to agree?
As I stripped out of the dress in which I’d felt like the most beautiful woman minutes ago, a tear slid down my cheek. Sometimes, I didn’t even recognize myself anymore. I’d agreed to a wedding that required me to dress up night after night while we entertained guests, and I normally hated getting all fancied up. It was weighing on my mind enough that I now had recurring dreams about Jackson’s simple beach wedding because my envy over it was eating me alive.
Even worse, I missed my mom so damn much that sometimes I felt like my heart was breaking, but I hadn’t said a word to my fiancé about it until he’d forced me to do so—even though I’d promised him during our one and only huge blowout fight that I wouldn’t keep secrets from him. And now, in a dress shop, I’d gotten into a fight that had damaged the ridiculously expensive gown I was supposed to wear as I walked down the aisle.
When I’d told Drake that I felt like things were spinning out of control, I’d had no idea it would ever get this bad. I’d never hit another person in my life, and I wasn’t happy that I’d felt the need to do so now when I was the damn center of attention already because I was the bride-to-be. I certainly wasn’t acting like the blushing bride lately.
chapter 3
Drake
“What the fuck happened?” I growled into the phone, stunned at what my mom was telling me. I wanted to drive over to Sasha’s house and ream her a new one for having hurt Alexa, but I knew it wouldn’t solve anything. Her spoiled ass would probably have appreciated the attention even if it was negative.
“Don’t use that language with me,” my mom snipped back. “I had no idea Sasha was going to pull a stunt like this, but I’ve taken care of it.”
I took a few deep breaths, trying to calm myself down. I couldn’t picture Alexa punching anybody—let alone one of my childhood friends in a dress shop with my mom less than a week before the wedding. I’d cut off all contact with Sasha after the shit she pulled with us our junior year. We might have grown up playing together since our moms were best friends, but I wasn’t quick to forgive or forget the fact that her meddling had almost cost me my relationship with Alexa. There was no way in hell I was going to let her fuck with my woman again—not after last time when I flew off the handle and allowed her little rumor-building efforts to cause a huge fight between Alexa and me.
“Mom, thank you for being there when Alexa needed you,” I finally said once I was less agitated. “But you need to know I won’t put up with this bullshit. Not even for a minute. I know this might be hard for you to hear, but Sasha isn’t welcome in my life anymore. At all. Not even for you or out of respect for your friendship with her mom.”
“Drake,” she sighed. “When it comes down to it, Alexa is family. She’s going to be your wife. Eventually, she will be the mother of my grandchildren. Family comes first. Always.”
“Then you know what I have to do,” I told her.
“I’ve already done it,” she assured me. “Sasha has been told neither she nor her parents are welcome at the wedding festivities. My next call after talking to you is going to be to her mom to let her know what happened. I would have called her first, but the last thing I wanted was for somebody to hear what happened and get to you before I did, because then I knew you’d go off half-cocked and do something stupid.”
“You can’t make that promise, Mom. You don’t understand. She’s in a vulnerable place right now and it’s my job to protect her. A job I haven’t done very well lately,” I admitted.
“You had no way of knowing something like this was going to happen today. And she’s not as fragile as you think, son. She managed to break Sasha’s nose with one punch,” my mom pointed out.
I couldn’t help but feel a little proud that she’d popped Sasha one like that. “Did she hurt her hand? Did you take her to the doctor to have an x-ray done just in case?”
“Her hand is fine, Drake. She didn’t hurt herself and she doesn’t need to get it checked out,” my mom assured me.
“Are you sure? Because she’s the type to suffer in silence if she’s embarrassed by what happened. It might be hurting and you don’t know.”
“That’s it. I’m putting Alexa on the phone. Maybe she can talk some sense into you,” she said before I heard some muttering in the background and Alexa’s voice came on the line.
“Drake, I really am fine,” she insisted. “I’m sorry I made such a scene at the shop, but you don’t need to worry about my hand. Those self-defense lessons Jackson insisted Aubrey and I take years ago were finally put to good use. I remembered exactly how to make a fist so I wouldn’t get hurt.”
“Baby, I’m sorry I wasn’t there to protect you. Sasha never should have been there,” I apologized.
“It’s a dress shop. Women go there to buy stuff, and we both know how much she likes to spend money,” Alexa reasoned with me. “I’m sure it wasn’t planned and was a total coincidence.”
“Still, I don’t like it,” I grumbled
.
Alexa’s voice dropped to a whisper. “Neither do I, but it is what it is. She pushed my buttons, I broke her nose, and your mom disinvited her and her parents from our wedding. If anything, I feel bad for your mom because I could tell it killed her to have to do that.”
“Baby, how many times do I have to tell you? This wedding is about you and me. Nobody else,” I growled into the phone. “Say it back to me. Now!”
“This wedding is about you and me and nobody else,” she repeated.
“If anyone does anything at any time this week that you don’t like, I want you to remind yourself of those words. It’s our new mantra. Got it?”
Her giggles filtered through the line and the tension in my body started to seep away.
“We have a mantra now?”
“Yes. For this one week plus our honeymoon, the world revolves around us. And after that, my world will still revolve around you,” I reminded her. “Always and forever.”
“Love you,” she whispered back.
“Good. Then get your butt home. Your dad got into town and he’s staring at me with laser-beam eyes because I think he heard me say you punched someone. I may need you to come rescue me before he beats me up for letting his baby girl get into a fistfight,” I teased.
“Drake!” she gasped in a horrified tone.
“Too early for jokes?” I asked. Her silence was enough of an answer for me. “Okay, just hurry back because I miss you.”
“We’re on our way already,” she replied before disconnecting the call.
“Sounds like my little girl got into some trouble in town,” her dad said from behind me.
I’d asked him to meet me in the guesthouse so we could talk as soon as he got settled in. I’d been hoping he’d be able to help me find a way for Alexa to feel connected to her mom this week, but we’d been interrupted by my mom’s call as soon as he’d arrived.
“Yeah, you could say that again,” I agreed before explaining what had happened with Sasha.
“Ex-girlfriend?” he wanted to know when I was done. He looked pissed at the idea of Alexa paying for one of my past mistakes.
“No, we never dated. You have Jackson to thank for the amount of anger Sasha still holds against Alexa, although they technically didn’t date either. That and the fact her parents spoiled the hell out of her growing up.”
“Consider this a lesson learned then,” he told me. “I know you can provide well for my daughter and any children the two of you have, but don’t forget the important things in life. You make sure they know that the real things in life can’t be bought and family comes first.”
“I will,” I swore. “My parents taught Drea and me that lesson well while we were growing up.”
“I know they raised you well. If they hadn’t, I wouldn’t have let you get close to my daughter. I’m glad I trusted my intuition and didn’t interfere in your courtship,” he admitted.
“You went beyond not interfering,” I said. “There were times you flat-out helped my cause. And I need your help now.”
“I’m assuming it’s about Alexa since you wanted to speak with me before she got back” he asked. “If there’s something she needs, you know you don’t ever have to ask for my help. Just tell me what you need me to do.”
I went on to explain the conversation I’d had with Alexa the previous night and the things that were weighing on her mind—her mother in particular. “This week should be one of Alexa’s happiest times, but she’s been so damn sad. Is there anything you can think of to help her feel that connection? I don’t know how to help her get past this.”
Her dad was looking down at the ground, his head resting in his hands as he listened to me. When he lifted his head to look at me, there were tears in his eyes.
“I brought something that might help,” he offered. “I’d planned to give them to her on her wedding day so she’d have something of her mom’s with her as she walked down the aisle. A piece of jewelry I’ve been holding on to for this very occasion. But if you think she needs it sooner, then of course I’ll give it to her now.”
I thought about it for a moment and came to a decision, one I hoped I wouldn’t regret later. “Not yet. She finally opened up to me last night. I think it helped a little, sharing the burden with me. And now you, Aubrey and her parents are all here to offer support. That might just be enough for her to focus on the positive until the wedding day.”
“And I hope she doesn’t get into any more fistfights,” he joked in an attempt to lighten the mood.
“I wouldn’t bring that up with her if I were you. She didn’t seemed too pleased when I tried to make a joke out of it. Too soon yet,” I warned.
“Well, then let me rephrase that. Let’s hope nothing else goes wrong and all the bad luck is out of the way for the week,” he corrected his earlier statement.
Too bad it wasn’t an accurate prediction of what would happen in the days that followed.
chapter 4
Alexa
Everything seemed to settle down for the next few days. Guests started trickling in from out of town, and I got to meet more of Drake’s extended family. It was a little weird for me since mine was so small. I wasn’t accustomed to family get-togethers that included almost a hundred people, but his family was huge when you included all the aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and cousins, and that’s how many of them would be here by the time our wedding day arrived. It was going to take some getting used to, but it was also a comfort to know that they were all so welcoming.
All the details for the wedding finally seemed to be coming together smoothly for a change too. Or maybe it was just me who had changed now that I was reminded daily of our new ‘world revolving around us’ mantra by Drake. Although he kept an eagle eye on me too, so it’s not like I had a choice but to chill out about the preparations. After the fight with Sasha, he barely let me out of his sight. With him by my side, I felt like nothing could possibly go wrong and started to relax so I could enjoy the festivities too.
Having Aubrey and her mom here really made a difference. Both of them stepped in and handled any of the million little things that could have gone wrong, shielding me from all the stress. Aubrey insisted it was all part of her maid of honor duties. She knew me so well that she didn’t even have to come to me with most of the questions either. There was a definite advantage to having a best friend who’d known me practically forever. And since she’d bought into Drake’s mantra too, she wasn’t letting anything that could have possibly irritated me reach my ears.
Before I knew it, we only had two more days to go. Forty-eight hours until I walked down the aisle and became Mrs. Drake Bennett. I was so excited that I could hardly wait. Tomorrow was the rehearsal and dinner, so Aubrey was raiding my closet to make sure she approved of the outfit I’d chosen to wear.
“You really did go all out on the clothes shopping,” I heard her mumble as she rifled through the hangers.
“Not me. Grace and Drea,” I explained.
“Ahhh, that makes much more sense. I was beginning to wonder if you’d gotten a personality transplant and you were already spending your hubby’s money like a wild woman,” she teased. “Well, you are going to look amazing this weekend, and you have plenty of things to wear for the honeymoon, too.”
“Yeah, if only I knew what to pack for it,” I complained.
Aubrey’s head peeked out of the closet as she swiveled to look at me. “Drake still hasn’t spilled the beans on where you’re going?”
“No. He was only willing to tell me to pack lots of lingerie and bikinis,” I said, shaking my head in frustration. I was so not good with surprises, and it was driving me crazy that he insisted on keeping this a secret from me.
“He’s being pretty brave springing a surprise honeymoon on you,” she said, laughing a little because she knew better than almost anyone else how hard it was for me.
I heard a buzzing sound and pulled her cell from her purse since she’d thrown it on the bed and made
no move to leave the closet. She was too busy sorting through all my new purchases. If I left her to it, she’d end up packing for the honeymoon too, and I didn’t want to disturb her too much since that would be awesome. When I glanced down, I noticed that it was a text from Jackson.
“Hey, it looks like your brother is trying to get ahold of you,” I told her as I tossed the phone her way.
“Oh, no,” Aubrey whispered as she checked her text message.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, worried by how freaked out she appeared.
Aubrey looked up at me and there were tears in her eyes. “They had to put Kaylie on bed rest.”
My heart dropped at the news that something was wrong with the pregnancy. “How bad is it? Did he give you any details?”
“He just got off the phone with Mom and Dad, and it says they have all the details. All he told me is she’s already three centimeters dilated and ninety percent effaced. I don’t even know what that means except she needs to stay off her feet until she gives birth,” she explained.
“But isn’t it too early? She still has almost a month to go before her due date,” I asked.
“I know,” Aubrey sighed. “But it sounds like my niece got her patience from her daddy and doesn’t want to wait.”
Problems with pregnancies scared the living daylights out of me. I knew things had changed a lot medically since I was born twenty-two years ago, but this wasn’t something I could think about rationally. My heart ruled over my head on this topic as thoughts of my mom’s death haunted me.
“Let’s go find your parents then and see if they have more information,” I urged.
Aubrey’s hand trembled as she held mine while we walked down the hall to their guest room. Their door was cracked open slightly, and we could hear them talking as we neared it.
Winter Wedding (Blythe College #5) Page 3
