A Beautiful Wedding (11 page)

“Maybe you can talk him into being our stripper later?” America said, straight-faced.

Kara frowned. “America, no. Travis would be livid. Abby isn’t
actually
a bachelorette, remember?”

America shrugged, letting her eyes close behind her sunglasses. Although Kara and I had grown very close since I moved out, she and America still weren’t on the best of terms. Probably
because both of them said exactly what they thought.

“We’ll blame it on Harmony,” America said. “Travis can’t get mad at her. He’s forever indebted to her for letting him into Morgan Hall that night you were
fighting.”

“Doesn’t mean I want to be on the wrong end of a Maddox rage,” Harmony said, shuddering.

I scoffed. “You know he hasn’t lashed out in a long time. He’s got a handle on his anger now.”

Harmony and I had shared two classes that semester, and when I invited her to the apartment to study, Travis recognized her as the girl who’d let him into our dorm. Like Travis, her
brother was also a member of Sigma Tau fraternity, so she was one of the few pretty girls on campus that Travis hadn’t slept with.

“Travis and Shepley will be here tomorrow afternoon,” America said. “We have to get our partying in tonight. You don’t think Travis is sitting at home doing nothing, do
you? We’re going out and we’re going to have a damn good time whether you like it or not.”

“That’s fine,” I said. “Just no strippers. And not too late. This wedding will actually have an audience. I don’t want to look hungover.”

Harmony lifted the flag next to her chair, and almost immediately a waiter came over.

“How may I help you, miss?”

“A piña colada, please?”

“Of course,” he said, backing away.

“This place is swank,” America said.

“And you wonder why it took us a year to save up for this. ”

“You’re right. I shouldn’t have said anything. Trav wanted you to have the best. I get it. And it was nice of Mom and Dad to pay my way. I sure as hell wouldn’t have been
able to come otherwise.”

I giggled.

“You promised me I could be a bridesmaid and do everything you made me miss last year. I see them paying as a wedding present and an anniversary present to you, and a birthday present to
me all rolled into one. If you ask me, they got off cheap.”

“It’s still too much.”

“Abby, they love you like a daughter. Daddy is very excited about walking you down the aisle. Let them do this without ruining the spirit of it,” America said.

I smiled. Mark and Pam treated me like family. After my father landed me in a dangerous situation last year, Mark decided that I needed a new father—and nominated himself. If I needed help
with tuition or books or a new vacuum cleaner, Mark and Pam showed up at my door. Helping me also gave them an excuse to visit America and me, and it was obvious that they enjoyed that the
most.

Not only did I now have the unruly Maddox clan as family, but I had Mark and Pam as well. I’d gone from belonging to no one, to being a part of two amazing families that were incredibly
important to me. At first, it made me feel anxious. I’d never had so much to lose before. But over time, I realized that my new family wasn’t going anywhere, and I learned how much good
could come from misfortune.

“Sorry. I’ll try to just accept this graciously.”

“Thank you.”

“Thank you!” Harmony said, taking her drink from the tray. She signed the bill and began sipping the fruity concoction. “I’m just so excited to be going to this
one!”

“Me, too,” America said, glaring in my direction. She had barely forgiven me for getting married without her. And, honestly, I hoped she’d never try to pull the same move on
me. But marriage was still a long way off for her.

She and Shepley were going to get their own apartment, but both decided that even though they were always around each other, America would stay in Morgan, and Shepley would move into Helms, a
men’s dorm. Mark and Pam were happier about this arrangement. They loved Shepley but were worried that the stress of real-world bills and jobs would affect Shepley’s and America’s
focus on school. America was struggling, even at the dorms.

“I just hope it goes smoothly. I hate the thought of standing in front of all those people staring at us.”

America breathed out a laugh. “Elvis wasn’t invited, but I’m sure it will still be beautiful.”

“I still can’t believe Elvis was at your wedding,” Harmony said, giggling.

“Not the dead one,” Kara deadpanned.

“He wasn’t invited this time,” I said, watching the children taking lessons celebrate windsurfing on their own.

“What was it like? Getting married in Vegas?” Harmony asked.

“It was . . .” I said, thinking about the moment we left, almost exactly a year earlier. “Stressful and frightening. I was worried. I cried. It was pretty much
perfect.”

Harmony’s expression was one of combined disgust and surprise. “Sounds like it.”

Travis

“Fuck you,” I said, not amused.

“Oh, c’mon!” Shepley said, shaking with laughter. “You used to say I was the whipped one.”

“Fuck you again.”

Shepley turned off the ignition. He had parked the Charger on the far side of Cherry Papa’s parking lot. Home of the fattest, dirtiest strippers in town. “It’s not like
you’re going to take one of them home.”

“I promised Pidge. No strippers.”

“I promised you a bachelor party.”

“Dude, let’s just go home. I’m full, tired, and we’ve got a plane to catch in the morning.”

Shepley frowned. “The girls have been lying on a beach in St. Thomas all day, and now they’re probably partying it up in a club.”

I shook my head. “We don’t go to clubs without each other. She wouldn’t do that.”

“She would if America planned it.”

I shook my head again. “No, she fucking wouldn’t. I’m not going into the strip club. Either pick something else, or take me home.”

Shepley sighed, and squinted his eyes. “What about that?”

I followed his line of sight to the next block over. “A hotel? Shep, I love ya, man, but it’s not a real bachelor party. I’m married. And even if I weren’t, I still
wouldn’t have sex with you.”

Shepley shook his head. “There’s a bar in there. It’s not a club. Is that permitted on your long list of marriage rules?”

I frowned. “I just respect my wife. And yes, douche bag, we can go in there.”

“Awesome,” he said, rubbing his hands together.

We walked across the street, and Shepley opened the door. It was pitch-black.

“Uh . . .” I began.

Suddenly the lights turned on. The twins, Taylor and Tyler, threw confetti in my face, music began to blare, and then I saw the worst thing I’d ever seen in my life: Trenton in a man
thong, covered in about ten pounds of body glitter. He had on a cheap, yellow wig, and Cami was laughing her head off, cheering him on.

Shepley pushed me in the rest of the way. My dad was on one side of the room, standing next to Thomas. They were both shaking their heads. My uncle Jack was on the other side of Thomas, and then
the rest of the room was filled with Sigma Tau brothers and football players.

“I said no strippers,” I said, watching dumbfounded as Trenton danced around the room to Britney Spears.

Shepley burst into laughter. “I know, brother, but looks like the stripping happened before we got here.”

It was a train wreck. My face screwed into disgust as I watched Trenton bump and grind his way across the room—even though I didn’t want to. Everyone in the room was cheering him on.
Cardboard cutouts of tits were hanging from the ceiling, and there was even a booby cake on a table next to my dad. I’d been to several bachelor parties before, and this one had to win some
sort of a freak prize.

“Hey,” Trenton said, breathless and sweaty. He pulled a few yellow strands of fake hair from his face.

“Did you lose a bet?” I asked.

“As a matter of fact, I did.”

Taylor and Tyler were across the room, slapping their knees and laughing so hard they could barely breathe.

I slapped Trenton’s ass. “You look hot, bro.”

“Thanks,” he said. The music started and he shook his hips at me. I pushed him away, and, undeterred, he danced across the room to entertain the crowd.

I looked at Shepley. “I can’t wait to watch you explain this to Abby.”

He smiled. “She’s your wife. You do it.”

For the next four hours, we drank, and talked, and watched Trenton make a complete ass out of himself. My dad, as expected, cut out early. He, along with my other brothers, had a plane to catch.
We were all flying to St. Thomas in the morning for the renewal of my vows.

For the last year, Abby tutored, and I did some personal training at the local gym. We’d managed to save a little after school costs, rent, and the car payment to fly to St. Thomas and
stay a few days in a nice hotel. We had plenty of things the money could have gone to, but America kept talking about it and wouldn’t let us drop the idea. Then when America’s parents
presented us with the wedding gift/America’s birthday present/anniversary gift, we tried to say no, but America was insistent.

“All right, boys. I’m going to be hurtin’ in the morning if I don’t call it a night.”

Everyone groaned and taunted me with words like
whipped
and
pussy,
but the truth was they were all used to the new, tamer Travis Maddox. I hadn’t put my fist to
someone’s face in almost a year.

I yawned, and Shepley punched me in the shoulder. “Let’s go.”

We drove in silence. I wasn’t sure what Shepley was thinking about, but I couldn’t fucking wait to see my wife. She’d left the day before, and that was the first time
we’d been apart since we’d been married.

Shepley pulled up to the apartment and shut off the car. “Front door service, loser.”

“Admit it. You miss it.”

“The apartment? Yeah, a little. But I miss you fighting and us making shit tons of money more.”

“Yeah. I do sometimes, too. See you in the morning.”

“Pick you up right back here at six thirty.”

“Later.”

Shepley drove away while I slowly climbed the steps, searching for the apartment key. I hated coming home when Abby wasn’t here. There was nothing worse after we met, and it was the same
now. Maybe even more miserable because Shepley and America weren’t even there to annoy me.

I pushed in the key and opened the door, locking it behind me and tossing my wallet onto the breakfast bar. I had already taken Toto to the pet hotel to be boarded while we were gone. It was too
fucking quiet. I sighed. The apartment had changed a lot in the last year. The posters and bar signs had come down, and pictures of us and paintings went up. It was no longer a bachelor pad, but it
was a good trade.

I went into my bedroom, stripped down to my Calvin Klein boxer briefs, and climbed into the bed, burying myself under the blue and green floral comforter—something else that would have
never seen the inside of this apartment had Abby not had a hand in it. I pulled her pillow over and rested my head on it. It smelled like her.

The clock read 2:00 AM. I would be with her in twelve hours.

T
hose seated on the far edge of the restaurant began to scream, nearly pushing over tables and children to get away. Wineglasses broke and
silverware clanged on the floor. A pineapple-shaped hurricane was knocked over, rolled off a table, and broke. America rolled her eyes at the twenty or so people gathered a few tables over.
“Christ on the cross, people! It’s just a little rain!”

The waitstaff and hostesses scrambled to release the rolled-up walls of the outdoor restaurant.

“And you were grumbling because we didn’t have an ocean view,” Harmony teased.

“Yeah, those snobby bitches aren’t smirking now, are they?” America said, nodded and smiling to the six-pack of blondes now huddling and wet.

“Knock it off, Mare. You’ve had one too many glasses of wine,” I said.

“I’m on vacation, and it’s a bachelorette party. I’m supposed to be drunk.”

I patted her hand. “That would be fine if you weren’t a mean drunk.”

“Fuck you, whore, I am
not
a mean drunk.” I glared at her, and she winked at me and smiled. “Just kiddin’.”

Harmony let her fork fall to her plate. “I’m stuffed. Now what?”

America pulled a small three-ring binder from her purse with a devious grin. It had small, foam letters glued to the front that read
TRAVIS & ABBY
and our wedding
date. “Now we play a game.”

“What kind of game?” I asked, wary.

She opened the binder. “Since Cami couldn’t be here until tomorrow, she made you this,” she said, turning the front over to read the words painted on the front. “The What
Would Your Husband Say? Game. I’ve heard about it. Super fun, although typically it’s about your
future
husband,” she said, shifting excitedly in her seat. “So . .
. Cami asked Travis these questions last week, and sent the book with me.”

“What?” I shrieked. “What kind of questions?”

“You’re getting ready to find out,” she said, waving the waiter over. He brought a full tray of brightly colored Jell-O shots.

“Oh my,” I said.

“If you get them wrong, you drink. If you get them right, we drink. Ready?”

“Sure,” I said, glancing at Kara and Harmony.

America cleared her throat, holding the binder in front of her. “When did Travis know you were the one?”

I thought for a minute. “That first poker night at his dad’s.”

Errrr!
America made a horrendous noise with her throat. “When he realized he wasn’t good enough for you, which was the moment he saw you. Drink!”

“Aw!” Harmony said, holding her hand to her chest.

I picked up a small plastic cup and squeezed its contents into my mouth. Yum. I wasn’t going to mind losing at all.

“Next question!” America said. “What is his favorite thing about you?”

“My cooking.”

Errrrr!
America made the noise again. “Drink!”