by Beth Ehemann
We left the spa a couple hours later with smooth skin and pretty fingers and toes.
“Do you have to get back, or do you have time for a late lunch?” Mom asked.
“Um…” I glanced at my phone. “Sure. Alexa and I were supposed to go over some last-minute flower details, but I can’t get her to text me back.”
“There’s a really nice Italian restaurant that just opened down the street here. Wanna check it out?”
It wasn’t worth driving, so we walked the two little blocks to Cellucci’s. The hostess welcomed us, grabbed a few menus, and asked us to follow her. We walked past a handful of empty tables and I wondered why we were being led all the way to the back of the restaurant. We passed through a set of large, wooden saloon doors and—
“Surprise!”
My head whipped forward and my mouth fell open.
Alexa, Lauren, Darla, Shae, and JoAnn all stood near a large table in the middle of the room that was exploding with flowers and balloons and streamers. Mom and the girls turned to face me and once again, tears filled my mom’s eyes.
“What’s going on?” My hands covered my mouth as my eyes darted around the whole room.
Lauren walked up and pulled me into a tight hug. “A surprise shower, silly.”
“But I said—”
“We know, we know. You didn’t want a shower.” Mom rolled her eyes. “But your friends are excited and wanted to celebrate with you. Me too, so have fun.”
Max wobbled over, wrapping his chubby arms around Lauren’s leg. I bent down and gathered him up. “Hey, buddy.”
Darla came over and hooked her arm through Lauren’s. “Blondie here says this place has great food.”
Lauren laughed, glancing at Darla and back at me. “Why haven’t I met her before? She’s hilarious.”
JoAnn walked up with Shae and planted a kiss on my cheek. “Congrats, honey. I know you and Brody aren’t technically married yet, but I already think of you as a daughter.”
Before I could get a word in to respond, Shae threw her arms around me, squishing Max and I together. “Congratulations. I’m so happy for you guys.”
I tried shifting Max to my other hip as I hugged her back. “Thanks for driving all this way. I can’t believe you guys did all this.”
“That Alexa, she’s quite the party planner, huh?” My mom gave JoAnn a quick hug.
Craning my neck to the left, I peeked at Alexa, who was standing next to the table, rocking Joseph in her arms. I passed Max back to Lauren. “I’ll be back in a minute, okay?” Lauren and Darla nodded.
“Hey.” I hip-bumped Alexa.
“Hey. Congratulations.” She smiled at me.
“Thanks for this. For everything.”
“Nah, don’t mention it. It’s the least I could do for the girl who’s been my best friend for years and years.”
Resting my hip against the edge of the table, I looked out at my best friends and family, all gathered in the room to celebrate my wedding to Brody, and laid my head on Alexa’s shoulder. “How do you always know? I said I didn’t want a shower yet you knew I’d love it.”
Her shoulder raised then lowered with a hefty sigh. “When are you gonna learn, Kacie? Alexa is always right.” She smiled.
Tomorrow I’m marrying the girl of my dreams. I take that back. I’m marrying the girl of every man’s dreams. I’m just the lucky bastard that tricked her into picking him. I hear my friends joke a lot about getting married and having an ole ball and chain, but to be honest, I was so excited to marry Kacie that I wasn’t kidding when I offered to fly her out to Vegas and elope the night I proposed. I’m glad we waited though.
The barn looked amazing, I had a special tux made for Diesel to be the ring dog, and I was beyond ready for some Oreo wedding cake. The one thing I couldn’t wait for was to watch Kacie walk down the aisle toward me, hold my hand, and swear to love me for the rest of her life. Everything else would forever pale in comparison to that moment.
Kacie and I had agreed not to see each other for a few days before the wedding, but I had something to give her and I couldn’t wait anymore. I knocked on the big wooden door of the Inn and took a few steps back. The knob turned and four tiny fingers curled around the front of the door. As it pulled back further, Lucy saw me and her big brown eyes widened in response.
“Brody!” She flung the door all the way open and jumped into my arms.
“Hey, kiddo.” I kissed the side of her head. “Where is everyone?”
“Brody!” Piper came flying out of the house and leapt into my free arm.
“They’re in the family room. Come in.” Lucy giggled, covering her mouth.
I was walking through the hall toward the kitchen area with one Twinkie in each arm when Sophia spotted us. She did a quick double take and held her hands up, halting me in my tracks. “Stop!” she yelled. “She’s trying on her dress.”
“What? Brody’s here?” Kacie hollered. “We aren’t supposed to see each other ’til tomorrow.”
“Sorry.” I shrugged. “I couldn’t wait.”
As I stood in the hallway making goofy faces at the girls, Sophia watched Kacie take her dress off, but kept a close eye on me to make sure I didn’t try to sneak a peek.
Smart lady.
“Okay.” Sophia waved us into the room. “She’s gone.”
I laughed as we made our way into the kitchen, where I deposited the girls at the island. “Sorry about that. What are the odds that the exact moment I stop by, she’s trying on her dress?”
Sophia shook her head back and forth. “That was close.”
“Tell me about it. I saw my life flash before my eyes.” I winked at her. “So what’s everyone up to?”
“What are you doing here?” Kacie came down the hall from their apartment quickly. “Is everything okay?”
“Everything is fine.” I caught her as she barreled into my chest. I felt bad that I’d worried her. “I actually just wanted to steal you and the Twinkies for a couple minutes. Is that okay?”
“Sure…” She sounded perplexed.
This oughta really throw her for a loop, then.
“And”—I took three blindfolds out of my back pocket—“would you please wear these?”
Blinking a couple times in confusion, Kacie furrowed her brows and looked to her mom for answers. Sophia chuckled and shrugged her shoulders as she wiped down the kitchen table. “Don’t ask me. I quit trying to figure this boy and his tricks out months ago.”
The girls skipped over and happily took the blindfolds with their hesitant mom right behind them.
“We have to wear these now?” Kacie asked.
“Yep,” I answered.
She sighed and shook her head. “I have no idea what this means.”
I’d never forget how cute my three girls looked, standing in the kitchen completely confused, wearing dark purple blindfolds.
“Okay. Lucy and Piper, hold hands, then Lucy, hold your mom’s hand,” I ordered.
They did as I asked and I took a tight hold of Piper’s hand. “Okay, I’m leading the way with Piper. We’re going to walk nice and slow.”
“If I fall and have a black eye for the wedding, you’re dead meat,” Kacie warned playfully. The girls giggled hard at their mom’s warning.
I led them out the front door onto the porch. “We’re going down four steps in a second. Be careful.”
Lucy and Piper counted as we walked. “One, two, three, four.”
“Good job, guys. Keep going.” I held Piper’s little hand as we walked slowly, one foot in front of the other, about one hundred yards into the woods. I kept peeking back to make sure everyone was upright and no one was crashing into any trees. We came to a clearing and my heart started racing. I was beyond nervous for them to see what I’d done.
“All right, here we are. Kacie, take your blindfold off first.”
Her hand slid the blindfold up her forehead just a tad before she saw what I’d led them to and gasped. With her mouth hangin
g open and her eyes wider than I’d ever seen them, I whispered to her, “Watch their faces.”
“Okay, Twinkies, take off your blindfolds.”
They lifted their hands to their blindfolds and ripped them off, squinting against the sun until they saw it.
Their castle.
Technically it was a playhouse, but it was the mother of all playhouses. Piper screamed so loud I’m pretty sure she sent animals within a five-mile radius running for their lives, while Lucy stood frozen, just like her mother, not able to form a response.
“What do you guys think?” I laughed.
“Can we go in it?” Piper started running toward it before I could answer her, with Lucy tailing right behind.
“I… What did you… This is…” Kacie stuttered, shaking her head slowly.
“Told you I’d get them a castle.” I nuzzled her neck. “Come on. You have to see this thing.” Grabbing her hand, I pulled her toward it. Admittedly, I was as excited as the girls were, maybe more.
As we ducked our heads under the arched front door of Lucy and Piper’s new castle, Kacie’s eyes skimmed the whole room. The girls ran from the first floor up the wooden spiral staircase to the second.
“It has a staircase?” Kacie’s voice squeaked.
“Hell yeah, it has a whole second story on it. And look at this.” I reached past her and flicked a light switch next to the front door, making the overhead light flip on. “Working electrical.” I wiggled my eyebrows at her.
“This is insane. It’s even painted like a real castle. Who did that? Is this drywall or brick?” She slid her hand along the smooth wall. “And is that a sink?” Rambling off question after question, she spun in circles, trying to take it all in.
I laughed, attempting to keep up as she wandered around the first floor. “Yes, it’s drywall, but I had an artist come in and paint it to look like real stone. And yes, that’s a sink that will eventually have running water.”
Kacie turned to face me, still completely baffled. “Brody, this is amazing, but it’s too much.”
“It’s not even close.” I walked over and put my hands on her shoulders, bending my knees until I was eye to eye with her. “I promised my Twinkies a castle. No way was I letting them down.”
She sighed happily and slid her arms around my waist, resting her head against my chest.
“I’m not done.”
Her head snapped back. “What?”
“I have one more surprise.”
“Brody, I don’t think they can handle any more today.”
“This one isn’t for them.” I walked over to the little kitchen counter and picked up a small box about the size of a phone book. “This one’s for you. It’s your wedding present.”
“First of all, our wedding is tomorrow. Secondly, I don’t know if I can take any more today either.” She bit her lip and looked up at me.
“Open it.”
She slid the ribbon off and removed the lid, revealing a piece of paper. Her face twisted in confusion as she tried to control her eyes enough to read it. “What is this?”
“I know we agreed we weren’t gonna talk about where to live until after the wedding, and I hope you’re not mad, but I made a decision. That’s a property deed to the land we’re standing on. I bought it from your mom.” I grinned even though she wasn’t looking at me. “Lift the paper.”
Her hand moved the sheet off to the side, exposing the cover to a huge book of house plans.
“Pick one.”
Her hand flew to her throat as she took a stumbling step back, looking at me incredulously. “Are you serious?”
“I’m serious, Kacie. Let’s live here, next to your mom and Fred and the lake and our pier. I want to live here. I want the girls to grow up here, just like you did. I want all of our kids to grow up here.”
“But your condo, you love that condo.” Her hands were shaking as she rubbed the sides of her face, still not fully comprehending what she was hearing.
“I do love that condo, so I was thinking, why don’t we keep that condo in case you and the girls come to a late game and we don’t want to drive all the way back here after? The commute isn’t that bad for me, and it’s really only three quarters of the year I have to make the drive anyway.” The girls stomped through the second floor above our heads as I took Kacie’s hands in mine. “Come on, what do ya say? Let’s build here.”
A heavy sigh shuddered through Kacie’s body as she closed her eyes, opening them when she exhaled. “I’m still waiting to wake up from this dream where I find out you aren’t real, that none of this is real.”
“You’re awake, babe. We both are and we’re gonna live out these dreams together.”
She rolled her tongue in between her teeth and her lip. “All right, Murphy. Let’s do it. Let’s build a house.”
“Yes!” I fist pumped in the air. “I built a castle for my princesses, now it’s time to build one for my queen!”
I reached around Kacie’s waist and pulled her toward me, closing the space between us and tilting her face up. She lifted onto her tippy toes and pressed her lips against mine. She tasted sweet, like strawberries. I eased her lips apart gently with mine and swiped my tongue against hers. Her hands fisted the cotton of my T-shirt and she dragged me tighter against her.
Lucy and Piper came flying down the stairs, causing us to break our kiss and settle for a hug. “Mom, you have to come look at this! There are beds up here.”
“And a bathroom!”
Kacie narrowed her eyes at me and cocked her hip to the side, crossing her arms over her chest. “A bathroom?”
“What if they have to pee?” I grinned, grabbing Kacie’s hand and pulling her upstairs.
I’d learned that every bride worries about the little things that could potentially go wrong during their wedding. Maybe the flower girl pouts and refuses to walk down the aisle, maybe someone has a coughing fit during the vows, maybe a groomsman drinks too much and passes out in a corner. Those were the types of horror stories I’d been hearing about from every person I came across over the last couple months, all the way down to the cashier at the grocery store telling me that her now husband cried during his vows and it pissed her off. It pissed me off too, frankly. Not that he cried during his vows, but that she was mad about it. When did the world become so worried with the wedding and less excited about the reason for that wedding?
That’s what I was excited for, to spend the rest of my life with Brody. Our wedding was just a party to celebrate that first day, in my eyes. I didn’t care if the cake tipped over or if my dress ripped, as long as I was Mrs. Brody Murphy at the end of it all.
“Mama?” Piper’s little voice pulled me off my wedding soapbox and back to reality.
“I’m awake, baby. Come on in.” I sat up in bed and glanced at the clock on my nightstand.
7:45
Piper’s crazy bed head shot out in ten different directions as she slowly made her way across my bedroom. I pulled the covers back as she climbed up next to me, tucking us back in tight. I hooked my right arm around her and laid my head on hers. “What’s going on?”
“I’m nervous.”
“Nervous? How come?”
“What if I don’t do good today?” Her voice trailed off.
“What do you mean?” I shifted to the side so that I could look her in the eye.
She shrugged. “Lucy told me yesterday that I walk too fast and throw too many flowers. I tried telling her it was just practice and I’d do better during the real wedding, but I’m scared. What if I mess up again?”
“Oh, honey.” I hooked my arms around her and pulled her into my lap. “First of all, there’s no rule as to how many flowers you can drop at once, nor is there a rule about walking slow. You just do whatever feels right for you, and Lucy will have to deal with it. I know you’re gonna do an amazing job, and I can’t wait to walk down the aisle and see you.”
Her shoulders relaxed as she leaned into me. “Okay.”
&nbs
p; We didn’t say anything else. We just sat snuggled up in my bed, rocking back and forth as she thought about conserving her flowers and walking slow. All I could think about was how lucky I was to be her mom.
If you would’ve told me a year ago that I’d be getting my hair done for my wedding while sitting in Brody’s mom’s kitchen, I would’ve told you you were crazy. Yet there I sat on a wooden kitchen chair with my stylist, Sammie, putting huge, heavy curlers in my hair.
“Are you nervous?” Alexa asked.
I shrugged. “Not really. I’m just ready to see him and get this started.”
Lauren and my mom sat in two other chairs with two of Sammie’s assistants standing behind them.
“You have the most beautiful hair.” One of them gawked at Lauren’s long blonde layers.
“Ugh,” groaned Alexa, dropping her cereal bowl into the sink. “Would you believe she wakes up like that? It’s disgusting.”
“She does.” I laughed. “Luckiest girl in the world.”
“Honey, I’m gonna take your dress up to Brody’s room, okay?” JoAnn appeared in the doorway carrying my wedding dress bag.
“Sure, thanks.” I smiled.
“Wait, Brody built this house for his parents, right?” Alexa rubbed her chin, staring off into space as she tried to remember.
“Yep.”
“Then why does he have a bedroom here?”
“It’s not like a childhood bedroom. You’ll see when we go up there. It’s actually pretty cool.”
An hour or so later, we all looked absolutely stunning from the neck up. From the neck down, we all had on baggy button-down plaid shirts. Lucy’s and Piper’s went all the way to their ankles, which they thought was hilarious.
“Okay.” I took a deep breath. “Dress time.”
We all walked slowly upstairs, careful not to lose a bobby pin or uncurl a curl. I opened the door to Brody’s room and everyone filed inside.
“Holy crap.” Alexa spun slowly with her mouth open. “It’s like a Brody shrine.”
