The Trouble With Before (33 page)

I’
M GETTING MARRIED
. Today. Me. When I woke up I swore there would be a thunderstorm or some sort of natural disaster that would keep this from happening because, let’s face it, fate and I have a love/hate relationship. Luckily, today in Chicago, one of the places with the most bipolar weather, it’s a beautiful, perfectly sunny fall day. I’m so nervous I’m shaking like something is going to go wrong.

“Lisa! You have to calm down,” Lauren tells me as we walk down to the arch she ordered for us in one of the most gorgeous parks in Chicago. It’s straight out of a fairy tale, a beautiful real live rose garden. I still can’t believe that she’s here, and that she’s helped so much. I think I was shaking even more when I asked if she’d attend our small courthouse wedding, but I nearly dropped the phone when she said she wouldn’t miss it and that she had a super cute place in mind if we wanted something simple but beautiful, and it’d be her wedding gift to us. Who could say no to that? I didn’t want anything big since my social network is comprised of so few, but even aside from that I’ve always wanted something intimate with those I care about most, and even if no one showed up today, just knowing that Aidan would be beside me was enough; everything else is icing on the cake.

“I can’t thank you enough for being here,” I tell her as I squeeze her hand. She smiles widely at me.

“I’m a big supporter of true love,” Lauren tells me, practically glowing. She’s seven months going on eight, but she’s still tiny and just looks like she has a giant beach ball under her dress.

“Thank you girls too!” I tell her, my face at her belly, and she laughs. Seeing the beautiful archway reminds me again that this is real. I’m a bride, seriously. Not only that, but I’m marrying my best friend, someone who knows me inside out, who makes me feel all that a woman should.

“You look like a princess!” Willa squeals, her smile wide and bright, her hair falling over the cute white dress she picked out to wear as she bounces towards us.

“So do you!” I tell her, picking her up and giving her a big kiss on the cheek. At first Aidan and I were set on eloping to Vegas and had all but booked our flights, but we realized we both wanted Willa to be with us, and after us having ‘grown up’ thoughts we decided Chicago would be perfect. It wasn’t far from Michigan, so Grams wouldn’t have to make a long trip, and afterwards Willa could stay with Mrs. Scott at Lauren’s.

As we get closer I see the minister, Mrs. Scott, and oh my God, Amanda!

“You’re here!” I squeal while running over to her.

“I didn’t think you’d come!” I tell her in disbelief as we give each other a big hug.

“And miss your big day? Not a chance. What type of best friend would I be?” she tells me feistily and gives me a hug. I’m still shaking a little and I feel tears watering in my eyes. “That’s not all whose here,” she tells me, and I turn around to see my mother approaching us with a middle aged woman by her side. My heart almost jumps out of its chest. She has on a conservative blue dress and her blond hair pulled into a bun. She looks beautiful, and her smile is wide. She gives me a small smile.

“This is Emily, my AA sponsor,” she tells me, giving us a quick introduction. Emily and I give each other quick hellos, and I hug Evie tightly. She looks good, and it’s the first time in years her eyes aren’t red with bags under them. She’s been in rehab a month and it has done her real good.

“Thank you for being here,” I tell her sincerely.

“It’s the least I could do,” she tells me, tears in her own eyes, and I think it’s her way of apologizing for all that’s happened between us, and I accept it. How could I not after all that I’ve done to people that I love, hold on to what she’s done to me. Especially not when Ms. Scott stands with a small smile on her face, holding Willa’s hand.

“Here he comes!” I hear Willa say, and I turn to see my best friend walking towards us. He’s wearing a black suit; it’s simple, with a red tie and vest and he’s still the most handsomely rugged man I’ve ever seen. His smile is so wide it causes me to tear up, our eyes lock and he gives me a wink and mouths,
me and you
and I do the same. It’s not until we’re up close that I realize Grams is beside him wearing a wide grin, and Chris is there too! That makes my mouth drop open.

“I couldn’t let him get married without his best man,” Chris says quietly, with a tiny grin and shrug. He gives me a quick kiss on the cheek.

“You look beautiful Lisa,” he tells me before stepping back. I look over at Lauren, who has a wide smile on her face, and they wink at each other.

“He sure as hell wasn’t, I’d have had to kick his ass on my wedding day,” Aidan says, elbowing Chris, and he laughs. Then Aidan grabs me by the waist and pulls me into a long kiss, and I hear the giggles around us, most prominently Willa’s. When he puts me down, my throat is burning and I can’t stop the tears flowing from my eyes.

“Babe, what’s wrong?” Aidan asks, pulling me into him. I hear a collective “Aww” from all the women surrounding me.

“I’m-I’m just so happy. I can’t believe you all are here, ” I say through a wail, and I feel multiple arms around me, causing me to ruin my make up as I cry harder, not because I never imagined today being like this, but because I know how important this all is for Aidan, how much he deserves this.

“You’re such a cry baby,” Aidan whispers in my ear playfully and I playfully push him in his chest.

“You got my mom and Chris here,” I whisper in his ear, still in disbelief. He lifts my head with his hands and looks me dead in the eye.

“I’d do anything for you,” he says, and we kiss again, this time resulting in catcalls.

The pastor finally gathers us to start the ceremony, seeing as we’re so eagerly displaying our excitement for our honeymoon. He gives a beautiful speech about marriage being one of the greatest gifts to humanity, and that how we love each other is a gift to God. He tells us that when married we’re choosing partners for the rest of eternity and every day we get to choose for it to be heaven or hell and that tomorrow is always another day.

“Aidan wrote his own vows,” he says, and my heart skips a beat. He looks up at me with those gorgeous blue eyes that make me smile and melt at the same time, and to know that I get to look in those eyes every day is euphoric. He lets out a deep breath and rolls his neck around as if he’s about to enter a prize fight and I laugh and pout at him and then his smile breaks it down in tiny pieces and rebuilds the biggest one I’ve ever worn.

“You know I’m not the most eloquent dude in the world,” he shrugs, clearing his throat. He’s nervous, his voice a little shaky, and it makes me kiss him on the lips quickly, and then he laughs.

“I don’t know how to be a husband. I don’t know how I’ve done being a fiancé.”

“Great,” I respond happily, and he grins and runs his hands through his hair.

“What I do know is, I promise to love you every day. When you burn the food, when you make me watch girly movies, when you tell me you’re too tired for sex,” he laughs and everyone else does too, even Mrs. Scott while covering Willa’s ears.

“I promise to never leave no batter how bad things get, I promise to always be there as long as I have breath in my body, and even when I don’t I’ll bug the hell out of whatever higher power I’d be with for a body to haunt to get back to you when I won’t,” he grins and everyone laughs, and then he takes my hands and holds them in his.

“I will work to be the man you deserve every day. Even when you hate me I will love you enough for the both of us.”

I never thought a day could be more perfect than today has been. The ceremony was beautiful, all of the people I cared about were there, and best of all, I’m married to my best friend, who just also happens to be unbelievably handsome and makes me scream in bed. After the ceremony Lauren catered a dinner at her house which was perfectly intimate. There were so many great parts of the night, but the stand out was watching Evie turn down wine. Out of all the people in the world I know only a few can say that. “Come here,” I feel my entire body heat up as he stands behind me and takes my hand, leading me upstairs. When he closes the door he picks me up and carries me to the bed and I burst out laughing.

“We are not having sex in their bed,” I tell him playfully pressing my body against his, and he bites his lip.

“Don’t tempt me,” he says, squeezing my waist and kissing my neck, and I feel myself giving in but then he stops.

“I’ve got a surprise for you,” he tells me, his eyes lit up with excitement.

“The first one is we’re getting matching tattoos,” he tells me and I laugh at him.

“Seriously?”

“Yup, and the second . . .” I ask him in suspense.

“We’re going to meet your dad,” he tells me, and my eyes widen as big as a cat’s.

“Shut up!” I tell him, pushing his chest.

He teases me back.

“Seriously, Aidan,” I ask him again and he laughs and I cover my mouth and scream. My dad and I have been talking for the past month by phone and face-time. He seems great, but with him being a pilot his schedule has been super hectic.

“How? When did you . . . ?” I ask, and he covers my lips with a kiss that makes me think we’re totally going to have sex in their bed . . .

“SO YOU’RE TELLING
me that you two
just
got married?”

I clench my teeth together as the needle pricks my skin.

“Yesterday morning,” Aidan answers from the chair next to me as a needle darts into his own skin.

“And you guys came straight here, as soon as you got up?” Aidan’s artist asks with a smile in his voice.

“We sure did,” I tell her as I watch her mark his skin.

One of the clients behind us asks, “So you’re getting a tattoo that matches hers?”

“Sure am,” Aidan replies.

“What does yours say?” he asks curiously.

“Well, it’s just two words: hope and fate.” I tell him.

“And in the middle, we’re adding
us
,” Aidan says proudly.

“Aww,” the female tattoo artist swoons.

“Don’t swoon too fast. He wanted to just add
fuck
, but since we have an eight-year-old around, he came up with this.”

They all laugh.

“So where are you guys headed for the honeymoon?” the female artist asks curiously.

“We’re actually here already,” I say.

“Chicago for a honeymoon?” she asks.

“I can see it . . . Navy Pier in the evening, the beach in the daytime, and pizza and hot dogs in between,” the guy says seriously.

“I haven’t been here a lot, but my dad lives here,” I say happily.

I look at the tattoo on my wrist and realize that whether fate is real or not, as long as I have love right there in the middle, my hope will never die.