2 A Christmas Wedding To Die For

Large flakes of snow drifted down onto the giant Christmas balls, tied with huge bows throughout the pine trees and clear sparkling lights, as Maxine drove into Butchart Gardens.

She loved Butcharts at Christmas. The chance to produce the wedding cake for a Christmas wedding at this wonderland had her on cloud nine. Heath just shook his head.

"It's not as if you're the one getting married," he'd said as she danced around the kitchen where they prepared all their chocolate wonders. These included everything from wedding cakes to the chocolates for her shop, 'Au Chocolat' downstairs.

As the owner and operator of 'Au Chocolat', a chocolate shop and catering business, Maxine Peters had weathered a rough start and was now beginning to reap the rewards of her hard won success.

The opportunity to provide the wedding cake to the premiere wedding of the season was a feather in her cap. And while Heath didn't share her excitement at the chance to participate in a wedding at Butchart Gardens he'd proved himself a loyal and trustworthy assistant. More than once he'd saved the day.

Six feet two with spiked brown hair, a tattoo on his arm and boundless energy he made even Maxine feel old. This wasn't easy considering she was all of twenty-six herself.

"Wedding party?" the girl at the gate asked spying the Vendor card Maxine was holding. "Just straight down that lane and turn right at the end instead of going into the main parking lot. That'll take you down to the back of the house where you can unload your supplies." She smiled at them. "It should be a wedding reception to remember."

How true that was, Maxine had yet to realize, as she made her way to the loading zone. Or in this case the unloading zone. She backed the van in as Heath continued to babysit the cake in the back.

She didn't move the cake in one piece as so many shows on Food Network did, preferring to put it together at the destination, but she still wanted someone in the back with such an important cake. She drew to a stop carefully.

"You stay here for a minute," she said to Heath. "I'm going to find where we have to work and hopefully get a trolley to wheel the cake in on."

She went in search of Kevin, the main caterer and wedding organizer, returning fifteen minutes later with a trolley for the cake, bubbling enthusiasm.

"I can't believe how beautiful it looks. It's got these beautiful flower arrangements with orchids and Christmas berries along with red roses-very tasteful with linen table-cloths and crystal glasses."

"It's amazing what money can do," Heath said, grinning at her.

He helped her load the cake layers on. The doweling which would be put through the middle of it was in a plastic container along with all their tools for assembling the cake and adding the finishing details.

The cake had decorations that showed what the young couple were interested in and what was important in their lives. Julianna or Julia, had shown a notable disdain for any hint of gaming considering the family she came from, while Rohan's' grooms cake was made to look like a computer gaming console.

The main cake included friends, shopping, travel and fun. Julia had wanted 'lots of bling and shoes' in addition to those central themes.

"Man, I can't believe we're doing the wedding of AC Gamers," Heath said in awe. "I grew up playing some of those games."

"Not just AC Gamers," Maxine said. "Juliana's family owns AC Gamers but Zone 2 Gaming is as big or bigger."

"We're talking Dynasty here," Heath said, shaking his head in wonder.

"As long as we can keep it from becoming a war zone," Maxine said sharply. She knew Kevin had hired extra security with that in mind.

The competition between the two companies was legendary. The two founders started off together, fresh out of university. At some point they'd started fighting with Julianna's dad, Zeke branching off with a new game.

A game Amoury, Rohan's dad, had always claimed was stolen from Zone 2 Gaming. The two had gone on to become wildly successful, in their own rights, while remaining fiercely competitive.

And then, Rohan, for whatever reason, had quit university part way through to take an entry level job at AC Gamers, instead of finishing university and going into Zone 2 Gaming. Maybe Julianna had been the draw from the beginning.

Maybe once Rohan started working there, they became closer working on projects together, where Julianna's love of social translated into marketing success, while Rohan's gaming skills had resulted in a brand new game and huge success in the online gaming world.

And then they decided they were in love and wanted to get married. Tension didn't begin to cover the situation. Rumor had it Amoury had blown his top when Rohan announced his plans to marry Julianna. Zeke on the other hand took Rohan under his wing declaring him an honorary son even before the wedding took place.

Kevin found himself strategically separating the two camps as much as possible.

"It could be worse," he'd declared grimly. "Julianna seems a lovely girl and Rohan's mother and sisters are rallying around. They're keeping a lid on the dad with Rohan's mom stressing that they don't want to lose their son."

"So, one big happy family," Maxine said cheerfully.

"I've still hired extra security," Kevin said grimly. "Tension was so thick you could cut it with the proverbial knife during the wedding planning whenever the two families had to get together."

"They won't be the first couple to buck family expectations and marry," she said. "If they love each other enough the families will come around."

"If," Kevin said grimly. "I can't help wondering if they're not doing it just to spite their families."

She winced. Maxine, herself, lived in the downstairs apartment of her Grandma Ellie's house. She adored Grandma Ellie as did most people who knew her. She couldn't even imagine being at such logger heads with her own family.

The wedding hall was fully decorated with a minster already in evidence along with the very first of the guests already there. She knew that some had come early to wander around the gardens first before arriving in the wedding hall for the ceremony. Afterwards they would make their way into the dinner and reception area.

A winter wonderland, all decked out for the holidays, Butcharts drew thousands to its' annual Christmas displays with carolers dressed in eighteenth century costumes caroling and families skating on the small skating rink or riding the carousel as well as doing a loop around Butcharts to enjoy the twelve days of Christmas done Butcharts' style, along with a hot chocolate from the coffee shop or something more substantial from the Blue Poppy restaurant. The stage on which numerous plays and skits had been performed stood empty although that might change later.

The snowfall, which didn't seem to be stopping anytime soon, only added to the winter wonderland effect, although it did seem to have cut down on the crowds out enjoying Butcharts in the public area. So far it seemed unlikely to make a difference to the wedding party although Victorians were known for their dislike of driving in the snow.

With hours to go before the dinner, chefs in charge of the wedding dinner were buzzing around the kitchen with dinner preparations in full swing, while in the dining area florists were working on the flower arrangements both for the tables and a band practiced songs ranging from traditional favorites to the latest top ten. A separate area was being set up with a wide array of games for anyone between the ages of two and eighty-two.

Maxine was given a space in the kitchen. Working quickly she and Heath assembled the layers on the cake with the dowel through the middle to hold it in place. They then carefully smoothed out the fondant layers and fixed any small cracks which had appeared during transit. While Heath started working on some of the chocolate gaming pieces they'd decided to do on site rather than risk transporting them and the breakage that would occur, Maxine started piping a border of white pearls interspersed with sugar diamonds around each of the layers.

The cake itself was a dark chocolate devil's food cake that had been the overwhelming winner of a taste test put together by the bride's mother, the bride and the groom himself. With a raspberry ganache filling it was a rich and decadent cake including one section of gold cake with an apricot filling, for anyone who didn't like chocolate.

Although it must be admitted Maxine had a hard time believing such people existed. With mottos such as 'no such thing as bad chocolate' and 'everything goes better with chocolate', she was practical enough to know she needed to offer an alternative to anyone who didn't share her tastes while privately considering such a person crazy. Just her opinion of course.

Suitcases and pictures of exotic travel locations done in rice paper were added next with sugar work diamonds and bling draped strategically over designer purses and fancy shoes. And through all this Maxine piped flowers cascading down the tiers of cake with the top showing a traditional bride and groom in what looked like the middle of a garden. Butchart Garden to be precise. Maxine had worked from photographs of the garden taken in the summer when the two had come often admiring the world famous gardens while enjoying picnics on the grass or watching the fireworks on a Saturday evening.

The guests of honor seemed to be running late judging from the flow of conversation around her as people arrived and took their places while the catering staff moved faster finishing off last minute details in the dining and reception area with the buzz of voices rising.

Kevin, known for never losing his cool, was beginning to look noticeably worried.

"Is there anything I can do to help," she asked as he checked the kitchen once more as if half expecting to find the bride hiding out behind the cake or in the pantry.

"Find the bride," he said grimly.

She raised her eyebrows. "Surely they're not that late?"

"She IS that late," he said emphasizing the singular. "So far every single one of her bridesmaids are here, the groom and all the groom's party. And until shortly before they left Julianna seemed the happiest of them all."

"She didn't come with anyone?"

"She was supposed to come with her mother and bridesmaids in a limousine."

"And -?"

"At the last minute she got a phone call, told the bridesmaids she'd catch up with them and dashed out."

"You're sure the groom is here?"

"Pacing nervously, muttering his vows under his breath."

"Has anyone called her?"

"Repeatedly," Kevin said impatiently. "She's not answering."

That alone told Maxine how serious this was since Julianna practically lived with her phone glued to her ear. It was hard for her to imagine what would cause Julianna to disappear so late in the game without a word to anyone.

She couldn't help it. Fear gripped at her stomach, causing it to twist in knots. She shivered, suddenly cold although the temperature hadn't changed.

"I'm not sure it will help but the cake is ninety-nine percent done. Would you like Heath and I to take a walk around the gardens and see if there's any sign of her?"

"Would you?" Kevin asked, grabbing her hands and acting as if she'd thrown him a proverbial life raft. Definitely not like Kevin.

"A quick look," she said hastily. "Although she'll probably have appeared long before we've done a walk around."

"If she does I'll call you," Kevin promised as Maxine made sure she had her cell phone with her ready to take calls.

Outside snow was falling faster covering the grounds in soft white flakes and driving all but the most determined visitors out, in an effort to make it home safely before snow made roads impassable.

Inside laughter and music bubbled out from the Butchart mansion, the warmth and light inviting, as Maxine and Heath looked around.

"Where would you go if you were Julia," Heath asked, looking hopelessly lost.

"Your guess is as good as mine. However I promised Kevin so let's do a quick loop around." She pushed Julianna's phone number hoping against hope that she would pick up with some explanation and everything would return to normal. Not surprisingly, there was no answer.

They made it past the partridge in the pear tree, the five wedding rings and the eight maids a milking, still none the wiser. Periodically Maxine tried calling her on her phone with no answer. On the home stretch with ten lords a leaping she heard a faint answering ring from a cell phone when she hit call.