Chapter Forty-Four

Wedding Bells

It was the night before Chris, Addison, Ryan and I were going to go to the Cayman Islands. We had gone to see the guys once since our first visit last week and Chris thought that it would be a good idea to ask them to watch Jasper while we were gone.

I was finishing packing my bags and I was starting to pack a bag for Jasper as well when Chris came into the room.

"How was the movie?" I asked.

"Don't EVER watch Percy Jackson. Especially since we both read the books. It was awful. Totally far-fetched from the books. Ugh" he said sounding flustered.

He came over and kissed my cheek.

"Did you just use the expression 'far-fetched'?" I laughed somewhat quietly.

"Yeah. That's how bad it was" he chuckled against my temple.

"Yikes. Well how about you start packing to help get your mind off it?" I suggested slyly kicking his suitcase over to him.

"Well played Collins. Well played" he chuckled.

"I don't know what to pack" he whined.

"Chris, you're a big boy. Why can't you pack for yourself?"

"Because you're better at it than me"

I sighed and walked over to his dresser. I threw him three big shirts and two pairs of pajama pants. "Pajamas" I said. I walked into the closet that we now shared and grabbed six shirts. Two Hollister ones, four button-downs and an American Eagle one along with a few pairs of cargo and basketball shorts.

"There. All done" I joked.

"Thanks honey" he said kissing my cheek. Jasper barked from my feet; interrupting our moment. We both laughed and I bent down and kissed his nose. Jas and I let out a yawn at the same time and I decided to call it a night. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.

"Chris honey" I called.

"Yeah"

"Jas and I are gonna head off to bed"

"Okay I'll be there in a sec! Just grabbing some water. Want some?"

"Please and thank you"

I stripped into my bra and panties, threw on one of Chris's shirts and crawled into bed. I patted the spot next to me and since Jasper was about two months old, it was alright for him to climb up onto the bed. He was growing like a weed. When we got him about a month ago, he was probably nine inches long and barely five inches tall. Now, he was a foot and a half long and a foot tall. He was my big boy. I knew he would get big, but I didn't expect him to be growing this fast.

I was playing with Jasper on my stomach when Chris walked in. He handed me my water and layed down next to me.

"Thanks" I said taking a sip. I didn't realize how thirsty I was.

He reached his arm over me and pulled me to his chest. Jasper jumped off of me and licked his daddy's face.

"Okay Jas. Okay. I love you too. Now come lie down" Chris said through his laughter. He patted the bed cover in between our legs and Jasper lied down. That was his usual spot.

I cuddled into Chris's chest and he kissed the top of my head.

"Nicole baby"

"Hm"

"I love you"

"I love you too" I kissed his nose.

"You missed" he smiled.

I chuckled and he kissed my lips; the both of us smiling into it.

I woke up to Chris lightly kissing my nose.

I slowly opened my eyes to see a groggy looking Chris staring down at me.

"Guess what day it is"

I smiled and kissed his lips.

"August twenty-first 2013" he grinned widely "happy wedding day baby doll"

"You too hun" I kissed him again "now grab your tux and get out the girls will be here any minute"

"C'mon do I really have to leave?"

"Yes. It's bad luck now get out" I said pushing him out the door. I grabbed his shoes and tie and threw them over his shoulder, shoving him through the living room. Ryan was already waiting outside with a beaming Addison running up the front stairs with her bridesmaids dress and my wedding dress in dry cleaning bags so that they wouldn't get wrinkled and you couldn't see them.

Ryan had been talking to me about proposing to Addison. We went out the other day to pick out a ring while Addison was out running errands. I helped him with her ring size and picking one out. We settled on a gorgeous white gold ring with a beautifully cut diamond in the middle. I knew how he was gonna propose but I didn't know when. I didn't think he did either. But I had a hunch he would do it at the wedding. They were the cutest couple ever and they had been dating for just over a year now. I loved them both a ton and I couldn't be happier for them.

Addison and Ryan have recently bought an apartment together so it was just Chris, Jas and I. Me and my boys. Jasper was over a year old now and he was huge compared to the way he was when we got him. I loved them both to death and even though my parents weren't here with me, my life was perfect. Lena and Kara finished college and moved back home where they could get jobs and my job at the lawfirm was amazing. I was treated very well and healthily paid too.

Lena, Sam and Kara showed up minutes later with their dresses in one hand, and makeup and hair styling tools in the other. They had lavender coloured dresses that I let them pick out as long as I got to choose the colour. We all hopped into Lena's car and drove to the wedding venue where we would get ready.

"Addison"

"Yeah baby"

"W-what if he leaves me?"

"He won't honey. I promise"

"Y-you sure?"

"I am so positive you won't even believe it" she laughed.

"Okay" I said tearing up and standing to hug her.

She rubbed circles on my back in a soothing manner. "Don't cry. It'll ruin your makeup. Now, let's finish prettying you up"

I chuckled and sat back down in the chair in front of my mirror. Lena and Kara were helping Sam get ready because she wasn't very good with the whole hair and makeup thing. After Addison was finished doing my hair and makeup, there was a totally different girl looking back at me in the mirror. I wasn't a girl hiding in her shell waiting for her daddy to come home, or a girl sitting at home and eating ice cream trying to rid herself of the fact that no matter how hard she tried, her mum wasn't coming home anymore. I was a completely stronger woman and even though I wished mum could be here more than anything, that experience; no matter how awful it was, made me stronger.

I stood from the chair and hugged Addison. I tightened my robe and pushed her into the seat I just occupied. I did her hair in loose waves which looked great in her red shoulder length hair, and put light makeup on her already gorgeous face. By the time I finished with Addison's look, Lena, Kara and Sam were finished as well. I helped them all into their dresses before they helped me into mine.

Their dresses had a portrait neckline that was made of a sheer material so you could see through them, and each dress had a silvery-grey sash that wrapped around the waist. They were fitted at the top, and flowed from the bottom of the waistline down to the ground. The bodess had sparkly gems that created a sweetheart neckline and made sort of a line down to the waistline. My dress was a very light blush colour that was fitted at the top and had a lower waistline on it. It flowed perfectly to the ground. It wasn't too big of a dress; it was just perfect. It had lace covering the bodess and waistline, and more lace on the bottom of the dress. I was completely in love with the dress. The minute Addison pulled it off the rack I knew I would be married in it. Chris insisted on paying for it, even though I could afford it, and since he wasn't allowed to come shopping for a dress with us, he made Addison use his credit card.

As I pulled the dress on and Addison laced it up in the back, I found myself staring into the mirror. I had the necklace from mum on which matched the dress perfectly as well as the necklace Chris had got me on our first anniversary, and I had Kyle's necklace tied around my wrist like a bracelet. As weird as it may sound, it totally suited the look somehow. Addison had curled my hair and pinned it in a loose bun at the nape of my neck, leaving a few strands curled and hanging beside my face; framing it, and she pinned bobby pins with blue flowers and diamonds in the middle throughout my hair. They complimented my dirty blonde waves and the colours popped together. She had also used the hair pin my mum used on her wedding day to help secure my hair in place. I had:

Something Old: Kyle's necklace and mum's hair pin

Something New: My dress

Something Borrowed: Kyle's necklace and Lena's shoes

And Something Blue: My flower bobby pins and Lena's shoes

I was all about the bridal superstitions. I took after mum that way. I took a deep breath as Addison handed me my flowers. I had light and dark purple lillies to match the girls' dresses and they all carried blush coloured lillies to match my dress. Lena grabbed the veil off of the chair and carefully pinned it in my hair and smoothed it out. I gazed at myself in the mirror and couldn't help but smile. I looked amazing.

Just then, Lena's parents along with Kara's parents came bursting in the door. They were like my other parents and they treated me like their other daughter. I was very grateful for them.

"Lauren! Tom! Rachel! Bryan! I missed you guys!" I squealed hugging them all. Lauren and Rachel had tears in their eyes when they saw me in my dress.

"Your mother would be so proud" Rachel said quickly wiping her tears away with a tissue.

"Aw thanks" I said hugging her again and fanning my growing tears away.

"Don't ruin your makeup sweetie" Lauren said choking back her unshed tears.

"Well if you two would stop it..." I laughed still fanning my face.

I hugged them all once again before they had to leave before their seats were taken. I had asked Ryan to walk me down the aisle because for all I cared, he was my brother. And if I had a brother, he would be walking me down the aisle today.

Ryan knocked on the door a minute later while I was touching up my makeup and Addison was doing some last minute touches on my hair. He stepped in a second later and we all stopped what we were doing and looked over in his direction.

"Did I interrupt something?" He questioned looking around suspiciously.

"No we were just finishing getting ready" Addison said as everyone resumed what they were doing.

"You girls have been in here for hours and you're just finishing??" Ryan remarked sarcastically.

"Ha.Ha very funny Mr. Baxter" I said while touching up my lipstick.

When Addison and I had finished with our touch ups, I stood from my chair in the room and smoothed out my dress. Addison walked over to Ryan and he gave her a kiss on the cheek. He didn't want her kissing him because she, in his words 'would get lipstick all over his gorgeous face'. That earned him an eyeroll from everyone in the room even though Sam didn't really know him at all.

"You look stunning babe" Ryan winked at me and kissed my cheek. Babe was Ryan's nickname for me for some reason.

"Thanks Ry. You don't look half-bad yourself. Although, I'd expect you to know how to tie a tie properly" I winked fixing his tie for him. He had a blush coloured rose on his jacket; as did Chris and the other groomsmen because Addison made sure that the little details in everyone's outfits complimented mine in some way. Each of the groomsmen had a 'date' for the night which was one of my bridesmaids.

Dustin was with Kara, Jaxon was with Lena, Corey was with Sam, Addison was with Ryan and of course, Chris was with me. Each of the groomsmen had a lavender coloured tie to match the colour of the bridesmaid dresses and Chris of course, had a blush coloured one to match my dress. The wedding was all about being matchy-matchy with your 'date'.

"It's time to go. C'mon girlies let's go" Ryan said ushering all of the girls out of the little room and onto the grass outside of our wedding venue. Our wedding venue was an old barn in the middle of a secluded field in the middle of nowhere. All I had ever wanted was a rustic, country-like wedding and this place was exactly it. It had candles in mason jars lining the aisle that was created with flower petals and around the chairs on the old windowsills. It had a bunch of light strings lining the big wooden banisters on the roof and the archway at the front of the aisle. There were also some old school lamps sitting in the middle of each windowsill along with the mason jar lights. There were white coloured daffodils attached to the two end seats of every row of chairs. The outside of the barn had strings of lights outlining the entrance as well as the top of the woodworking. As you can probably imagine, it was a night wedding. Well, sunset wedding. The ceremony was taking place right before sunset when it was starting to get dark and then we would all go outside to the reception and watch the sunset over the field.

The reception area was created using a silk-like tent that was thin enough to see the stars through it. It was almost completely open and had the overhanging parts of the tent tied to make it more open. I loved the chairs in the barn for the ceremony so we were just going to move those chairs into the reception tent and use them again. The tables were similar to the chairs in style and they of course, had a blush colured table cloth across them, with lavender coloured napkins holding the silverware. There were more mason jars with candles inside on the table surrounding a vase filled with white daffodils and lavender lillies. The head table was essentially the same as the other tables except was up higher and the table was longer. But other than that, it was the same.

I also had always wanted to release Chinese lanterns at my wedding so we were also going to do that during the reception. Addison and I did most of the planning and Lena and Kara helped towards the end because for most of the planning, they were finishing up their college years. Sam helped a little but her and Derrick recently got pregnant so she was having some bad morning sickness. Thank goodness she was all better now. She was about three months along so she wasn't quite showing yet but if you looked hard enough, you could see a little bit of a bump.

I was snapped out of my little trance by Ryan literally snapping in my face.

"Nicole, earth to Nicole! Wake up babe! It's time to go" Ryan said while snapping and waving his hand in front of my face.

"Sorry. Just nervous" I smiled weakly.

"You'll do great. Chris is a nervous wreck but he sure as hell ain't leavin" he said wrapping me in a hug.

"Thanks Ry" I kissed his cheek and looped my arm through his and he wrapped his large hand around mine.

He kissed my head one last time before walking me out of the tent/dressing room and over toward the barn door. Ryan hid me along the side of the barn so Chris didn't see me when he went to walk in.

"Is he over there?" I asked Ryan. He peeked around the corner.

"Yeah"

"Can I see him?"

"No"

"Can I hold his hand?"

Ryan let out an exasperated sigh and walked around the corner. "You're lucky I love you" he said sarcastically.

"Whatever!" I called laughing.

"Nicole darlin?"

He didn't leave.

"Chris" I breathed. He reached his arm around the side of the barn and I took his hand.

"Don't leave" I pleaded.

"I would never. I was more worried about you leaving"

"I wouldn't"

We both let out a sigh. "I'll see you soon baby doll" he said as he kissed my hand "I love you"

"I love you too" I said as he let go of my hand.

Ryan came around the corner and I could see him shove Chris back into his position.

"Thanks Ryan. You're the best"

"I know babe. Trust me"

I laughed and the music started. I took a deep breath.

"This is it" I breathed.

"Yep it is. You'll be amazing and you look stunning. Chris is gonna cry, which is good for the both of us because it shows he loves you and I can make fun of him for it for the rest of his life"

I let out a laugh. "Thanks Ryan. I needed that"

"Stop worrying" he said twirling a loose strand of hair. I pulled away from him.

"Don't touch the hair!" I exclaimed laughing.

"Aaaanndd she's back" he laughed. We got a signal from one of the ushers standing by the doors which meant it was time for us to walk in. I took one last breath before looping my arm through Ryan's. I was still nervous and freaking out, but Ryan took my hand and rubbed my knuckles. I don't know how he knew so many ways to calm me down. But he was my brother afterall.

He led me to the open doors and the string band started the wedding march. Everyone stood from their seats and looked back at me. Ryan and I started walking and I spotted Chris.

I was nervously waiting at the front of the church or Nicole to make her appearance. It was the longest five minutes of my life. Then, at last she started coming down the aisle. She looked absolutely drop-dead stunning. A wide smile spread across my face and I couldn't believe she was mine. She was absolutely perfect and she was mine. When she saw me, her gorgeous smile made an appearance and all the stress evident in her voice earlier seemed to melt away. I couldn't describe how beautiful she was. Ryan winked at me when they reached the front and he handed her over to me after kissing her cheek. I took her hand and led her up the stairs to the alter. I kissed her cheek before taking her other hand as everyone got seated.

The preist started speaking and I couldn't take my eyes off the girl in front of me.

I looked into Chris's blue-grey eyes the entire time the priest was talking.

"You look stunning" he mouthed.

"Thank you" I mouthed back.

"Now do you, Christopher Jackson Garrett, take Nicole Jessica Collins to have and to hold all the days of your life, until death do you part?"

"I do"

"And do you, Nicole Jessica Collins, take Christopher Jackson Garrett to have and to hold all the days of your life, until death do you part?"

"I do"

"Now, it is time for the couple's vows" the priest said "Christopher"

Chris let go of my hands and dug into his pocket. He pulled out a crumpled piece of paper and carefully unfolded it. I let out a chuckle as he began reading.

"Nicole, you're my best friend-"

"Hey!" Ryan interrupted.

Chris turned and smacked him letting out a small laugh.

"Like I said, you're my best friend and my rock. You've been with me through so much and anyone else would have left me on the spot. I am so grateful for you and I love you with everything inside of me. You make me want to be a better man everyday and I couldn't imagine waking up next to anyone else. I promise to love you to the moon and back everyday of my life until the day I die and beyond" he spoke.

A few tears made their way down my cheeks. Chris leaned over and wiped them away with the pad of his thumbs. The audience erupted in 'aw's'. I blushed slightly.

"Nicole, your vows" the priest said.

I turned to Addison who gladly handed the piece of paper over to me, wiping a few of her own tears from her face. I smiled and thanked her.