All for Maddie (34 page)

Eight months of planning, eight very long months of
Connie and Regan’s constant wedding preparation. I was really doing this. I was
going to be Mrs. Alex Wesson in less than twenty minutes.

“Sit down, Whitley!” Regan ordered for the tenth time.

“I can’t. Why did I let you talk me into this? I don’t
even know these people. We should have just gone to the court house,” I ranted
with all nerves.

“Don’t look at me. Yell at your mother in-law over there.
She made me do this too.”

I smiled when I saw the text message.

I love you. Are you happy?

I am very happy. I will see you at the altar, and I
love you too.

I was happy. All but missing my dad. My dad was supposed
to be here for this and, almost a year later, he still chose to keep me out of
his life because of the choices that I made. He knew about this day. Connie
sent them an invitation, I saw it. I sighed a deep sad breath.

My sadness and animosity about my dad was quickly
replaced when my daughter walked in with Trenton. She was the cutest little
flower girl on earth. Her white dress was breathtaking. I could imagine what
kind of price tag it came with.

“Maddie! You look so pretty,” I exclaimed.

“You look pretty too, Mom.”

I hugged her, taking in her powder fresh scent and the
soft little cheeks that were losing their baby-ness. Maddie was five. I
couldn’t believe Maddie was five and my little girl would be going to
kindergarten in a couple of weeks.

“It’s time,” Regan warned. I groaned.

I watched Maddie walk down the aisle first, then Trenton,
and then Regan. My knees were going to buckle at any second. I turned around
looking for Alex’s dad. The wedding march was going to start any second and he
was AWOL. Yup, I was going to faint.

I took a deep breath, relaxing when the wedding march
began and I felt his arm loop through mine. And then, well then I cried, as I
slipped my arms around my dad’s neck.

“Shhh, stop it. You’re makeup is going to run all over
your pretty dress,” he cautioned with a smile.

“Daddy?” I said. I couldn’t believe it. He was there. My
dad was walking me down the aisle. I couldn’t stop the tears.

“Yes, Whitley. I’m here. You really didn’t think I was
going to let anyone else give you away did you? Here,” he said, handing me his
white hanky. Connie ran to my rescue with a powder brush and a tissue.

“Okay, that’s the second time they have started the
wedding march. Go get your husband,” she smiled.

That truly was the happiest day of my life. Nothing could
have made it better. I knew my dad and I still had some issues, but they would
be resolved. I was sure of it. He might not have admitted it at the time, but
he was happy. I could tell by the way he kept dabbing at his eyes during the
ceremony, how he held me at the reception during the father daughter dance, how
he looked at me with a look of admiration when he watched Alex and me dance,
kiss, and laugh together.

“We’re married,” Alex grinned, spinning me around the
dance floor.

I giggled. “Yes, we are.”

“You are Mrs. Wesson.”

“I am,” I agreed, smiling like a giddy teenage girl. “Oh
my God, Alex. We’re married. We really did it,” I exclaimed, suddenly.

“Yes, and I couldn’t be happier. I never in a million
years thought you’d ever stop hating me.”

“I never hated you.”

“Yes. You hated me. You could have set me on fire, and I
couldn’t blame you.”

“I don’t think I ever hated you. I tried to hate you, but
you were always so damn good with my daughter, you made it impossible.”

“Our daughter,” he corrected with a smile and a kiss to
my forehead. “What the hell are we dancing to?” he asked and I burst out
laughing. The song was saying something about Tulsa Oklahoma and a shotgun
wedding. Alex looked to his mother singing the words and knew who picked it.

“I don’t care what song it is. I can’t hear the words.”

“You can’t hear the words?”

“Uh-uh,” I replied, closing my eyes in the crook of his
neck as he pulled me closer.

“I can’t hear the words either.”

Once we were finished slicing the traditional first piece
of cake and smeared it around each other’s face, with our mouths in a little
too provocative kiss, we continued with the rest of the wedding traditions.
Alex removed my garter belt with his teeth and my dad’s evil eyes boring into
him. I cared a little bit, but not much. I was walking in the clouds, happier
than I’d ever been in my life. My dad was there, and I was married to Alex
Wesson. I was very happy.

I walked out from changing, quietly walking up behind
Alex sitting alone with Maddie on his lap.

“I want to go to the honeymoon too,” Maddie whined.

“Honeymoons are for married people. You can’t ever go on
a honeymoon. I’m never letting you leave me. Promise me you won’t ever get
married.”

“I’m going to marry Jaron,” she assured him. I laughed,
causing them both to look up to me.

“What do I say to that?” Alex asked taking my hand.

“Nothing, she’s going to marry Jaron,” I winked.

“Mom, my finger hurts right here,” Maddie announced,
holding up one finger as Alex and I gazed into each other’s eyes. I took her finger
as she slid from her dads lap.

“You have a hangnail. Go see Grandma Dana, she has
clippers.”

“I love you,” Alex smiled as Maddie ran off. “And my
daughter is not marrying Jaron.”

I laughed. “Agreed, now can we go get this honeymoon
started?”

“You want to get the honeymoon started?” he asked,
standing and wearing his sneaky little grin that I had learned to adore.

I said goodbye to everyone and hugged Maddie. I looked to
see where Alex had gone, wondering if I should go save him. My dad had him off
to the side, lecturing him I was sure. I smiled as I watched my dad extend his
hand. Now I was the happiest I’d ever been in my life.

It’s funny how things turn out. How you could never in a
million years guess the way things would end up. I guess I had to get rid of
the life that I had not planned when I was seventeen, and then the planned life
after Maddie, in order to have the life that was waiting for me now. I have
found that if you love life, life will love you back. I am loving life.

                                    
The End

If you have read this to the end,
and if you have read Underestimated, you will be the first to know. After
numerous emails, instant messages, and Facebook posts, begging for Drew’s P.O.V.,
Underestimated Too, Drew’s eyes, is well into the process and I am shooting for
a March 7
^th
release date.

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