Mixed Blessings (2 page)

"You look just beautiful, sweetheart," he beamed at her. He had always been so proud of her, so decent and kind and supportive. She had no complaints about her parents, there had been no hidden agendas here, no unreasonable demands, no animosities, not even as she was growing up, from what she remembered. Gayle had had a harder time with them, and she and their mother had had their share of violent disagreements.

But Gayle was their first, and "I was breaking them in," she always explained later. But Diana had always thought her parents were pretty reasonable, and Samantha agreed with her, most of the time, although at first the senior Goodes had been a little nervous about her marrying an artist. But eventually they had grown to admire and respect him.

Seamus was a character unto himself, but it was difficult not to like him.

And they had no reservations at all about Andrew Douglas.

He was a lovely man, and they knew Diana would be very happy with him.

"Scared?" her father asked gently, as she paced a little in their living room, waiting the last few moments before going out to the limousine that would take them to her wedding.

They still had a little time, and suddenly Diana wished it were all over and done, and they were at the Bel Air that night, or on the plane to Paris the next morning.

"Sort of." She grinned, looking like a kid again. Her long, reddish-brown hair was swept up in a bun beneath her veil, and she looked remarkably sophisticated, and at the same time very young, as she looked at her father. She had always been able to turn to him, to tell him what she felt, to share her griefs and fears with him. But she had no serious fears now, only a few unanswered questions.

"I keep wondering if it'll be different now . . . being married, I mean . . you know, instead of living together She sighed, and smiled again. "It all seems so grown-up, doesn't it?" At twenty-seven she still felt so young, and yet at times so old. But it seemed a good time to be getting married, especially to a man she loved as much as she loved Andrew William Douglas.

"It is grown-up, her father said with a smile, as his lips gently brushed her forehead. He was a tall, distinguished-looking man with white hair and intense blue eyes. He knew her well, and liked the woman she'd become, and the man she was planning to marry. He knew they'd do well. He had no fears in his heart for Andrew and Diana. If life was kind to them, they would go far, and he wished them well for their journey.

"You're ready for it. You know what you're doing, and he's a good man.

You won't go wrong, sweetheart. And we're always here for you . . .

and for Andy. I hope you both know that."

"I do." Her eyes filled with tears as she looked away. She suddenly felt so emotional to be leaving him, and this house, even though she no longer lived there. It was harder leaving him, in some ways, than her mother, who was busier and more matter-of-fact, and had been engrossed in straightening Diana's veil and keeping the children from stepping on her train before they left for the church. But there were no distractions now, only love and hope, and an avalanche of feelings, as she stood in the living room with her father.

"Come on, young lady," he finally said, his voice gruff but loving.

"We have a wedding to go to." He grinned at her and offered her his arm, and he and the driver helped her into the car with her long train and full veil, and a moment later she was settled in the backseat, carrying her huge bouquet of white roses. The fullness of the gown was spread all over the car, and she was suddenly startled as they drove away to see children waving and pointing at her. "Look! . . .

Look!

. .

A bride, It was funny to realize that she was the bride, and she felt giddy with excitement as they drove away. Suddenly she could feel her heart pounding, as she readjusted her veil and straightened the lace bodice and huge satin sleeves that had been adjusted endlessly in the fittings. The dress was very Victorian in style, and extremely formal.

They were having three hundred people to the Oakmont Country Club for a reception afterward. Everyone would be there-her old school chums, her parents' friends, distant relatives, people she knew from the magazine, Andy's friends, and a host of people he had invited from the network.

His closest friend from work, William Bennington, was going to be in the wedding. And a few of the stars he had worked closely with on their contracts were coming. His parents and all three of his brothers had come too. Nick, who'd been in Scotland, was working in London now, and Greg and Alex, the twins, were at Harvard Business School, but they had all come. The twins were six years younger than Andy, who was thirty-two, and he had always been their hero. They were crazy about Diana, too, and she was looking forward to seeing more of them, to having them come out during vacations from school, or maybe even talking them into moving to California. But unlike Andy, the other Douglas boys preferred the East, and Greg and Alex thought they would probably wind up in New York or Boston, or maybe even in London, like Nick.

"We're not star-struck like our brother," Nick had teased him good-naturedly the night before at the rehearsal dinner.

But it was obvious that they admired his success, and his choice of bride. The three boys were clearly very proud of their oldest brother.

Diana could hear the organ music in the church as they stood outside.

She took her father's arm, and she felt a little tremor of excitement run through her. She looked up at him with eyes as blue and electric as his own, and as they started up the steps of the church she squeezed his hand.

"Here we go, Daddy," she whispered.

"Everything's going to be just fine," he reassured her, just as he had the night of her first play . . . and the time she'd fallen off her bike and broken her arm when she was nine, and he drove her to the hospital, telling her funny stories and making her laugh, and then holding her tight against him when they set it. "You're a wonderful girl, and you're going to be a great wife," he said to her as they stopped just outside the main door, waiting for a signal from one of the ushers.

"I love you, Daddy," she whispered nervously.

"I love you, too, Diana." He bent and kissed a froth of veil, as the pungent smell of the roses seemed to surround them. It was a moment they both knew they would remember for a lifetime. "God bless you," he whispered as the signal came, and her sisters began walking slowly down the aisle, followed by three of Diana's oldest friends, in the same peach gowns and huge organza hats, and then a cavalcade of adorable children.

There was a longish pause as the music became more imperious, and then slowly, slowly, regally and gracefully she came, a young queen going to meet her consort, in the white satin dress with the narrow waist and the beautiful ivory lace inserts.

The veil seemed to surround her like a soft haze, and beneath it the well-wishers could see the shining dark hair, the creamy skin, the brilliant blue eyes, the nervous half smile, her lips slightly parted, and then she looked up and saw him, tall and handsome and blond and waiting for her. The promise of a lifetime.

Andrew had tears in his eyes as he looked at her. She looked like a vision as she glided slowly down the aisle carpeted in white satin.

And then at last, holding her bouquet in trembling hands, she stood before him.

Andy gently squeezed her hand, and the minister solemnly addressed the congregation, reminding them of why they had come, of their awesome responsibility as family and friends to support the young couple in their vows, for better or worse, in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, until death did them part. He reminded Andrew and Diana that the road would not always be smooth, that the fates may not always be kind, but that they must be there for each other, in witness to their vows, faithful to each other, and strong in their love for each other and the Lord.

They made their vows to each other in strong clear voices, and by then Diana's hands had completely stopped shaking.

She wasn't frightened anymore. She was with Andy. Where she belonged.

And she had never, ever been happier in her life. She was beaming when the minister declared them man and wife. The narrow gold band Andy had slipped on her finger gleamed in the sunlight, and as he bent to kiss her, the love in his eyes was so tender that even her mother finally cried. Her father had cried long before that, when he left her at the altar beside the man she loved. He knew that it would never be quite the same for them again . . . she belonged to someone else now.

They walked down the aisle looking radiant and proud, and they were still beaming as they got into the car to go to the club for the reception. And after that, the dancing went on until six o'clock. It seemed to Diana as though everyone she had ever known, and several hundred people she hadn't, had been invited. And by the end of the afternoon, she felt as though she had danced with everyone there, and she and her sisters had had a hysterical time doing the limbo with Andy and his brothers. Both of the twins had had to dance with Sam, since there were four Douglas boys and only three Goode sisters, but Sam seemed to love it. She was only a year younger than the twins, and they were all great friends by the end of the reception.

And Diana was touched to see how many of Andy's friends from the network came, even the chairman had come with his wife, although they only stayed for a little while, but it had been nice of them to come at all, and her editor in chief from Today 5 Home had come, too, and he had danced several times with Diana, and with her mother.

It was a beautiful afternoon, a perfect day, the beginning of a life she had always dreamed of. Everything had worked out perfectly in her life so far. Andy had come into her life at the right time, they had been happy for the past two and a half years, and she had loved living with him, and now it seemed the perfect time to be married. They were both sure of each other and themselves, and what they wanted out of life. They wanted to be together, to share their lives, and to build a family like each of their own. They had so much to share, so much to give. Diana felt for an instant as though it was almost too perfect, as she stood and looked at him, just before she went to change out of her wedding gown. She hated to take it off, never to wear it again, to turn the reality into a memory. She wanted the moment never to end, as she looked up at her brand-new husband.

"You look incredible," he whispered to her, as he swept her onto the dance floor again for one last waltz before they left the party to begin their life together.

"I wish today would never end," she said, closing her eyes, and thinking of how wonderful it had been.

"It won't," Andy said quietly, pulling her even closer. "I won't let it. It'll always be like this, Diana. . . . We have to remember that, if things ever get tough between us .

"Is that a warning?" She pulled away a little as she smiled at him.

"Are you going to start giving me a hard time now?"

"Very." He grinned, moving closer to her, and his meaning was not lost on her as she chuckled.

"Shame on you. She laughed at him as they continued to waltz around the dance floor.

"Shame on me? Who left me alone and went back to her parents' house to be a virgin?"

"One night! Andy!"

"It was not one night . . . it was longer . . . I know it." He pulled her closer to him again, and rested his cheek against her veil, as she gently touched his neck with delicate fingers.

"It was one night "You'll have to make it up to me for weeks, starting"-he glanced at his watch-in about half an hour." The music slowly came to an end and he looked at her tenderly. "Ready to go?"

She nodded, sad to leave their wedding, but it was time, it was after six o'clock, and they were both tired.

Her bridesmaids went upstairs with her while she changed, and Diana slowly took off the beautiful gown and the veil. Her mother carefully hung them up on specially padded hangers, and watched the younger women's excitement with a little smile, from a distance. She loved her girls more than anything.

They had brought her such joy, and now she was happy to see them all well settled, and happily married.

Diana put on the ivory silk suit her mother had picked out with her at Chanel. It was bordered in navy blue, with a handbag to match, and it had big pearl buttons. Diana had bought a cream colored hat, too, and she looked wonderfully chic when she went back downstairs to meet her husband, carrying the huge bouquet of white roses.

His eyes lit up as she walked into the room again, and a moment later she had thrown her bouquet, and he had thrown her garter. And amidst a hailstorm of rice and rose petals, they ran to their car, after quick kisses to their siblings and their parents. They promised to call from the trip, and Diana especially thanked her parents for the beautiful wedding. And then they were gone, in a long white limousine, off to the Bel Air Hotel for their wedding night, to stay in a huge suite overlooking the hotel's carefully landscaped gardens.

Andy put an arm around her as the car drove away, and they both sighed in relief and exhaustion.

"Wow! What a day!" he said, as he leaned back against the seat and looked at her in silent appreciation. "You were a gorgeous bride!" It was so odd now to think it was all over.

"You looked pretty good yourself." She smiled at him. "It was such a beautiful wedding."

"You and your mom did a fantastic job. Every time I talked to someone at the network they said it was better than anything they've seen on a movie set." It had been loving and happy and filled with their family and friends, but it also wasn't showy. "Your sisters were a riot too.

You guys really get out of hand when you get together, don't you?" He teased her, and she sat up in feigned outrage.

"We do! We do? I'd say the Douglas boys don't do badly in that department either! You guys were outrageous!"

"Don't be silly." Andy looked demure as he pretended to look out the window, and his new wife pushed him, almost onto the floor, as he chuckled.