Cole (The Leaves) (30 page)

“And this is from Rachel and me.”

“Rachel? You mean from the Bridal shop?” I took the bouquet in my hands and saw that the stems were encased in an intricately detailed cuff that matched my dress perfectly. It laced up the back through little grommets and reminded me of a corset. I almost wished I had lingerie that matched. “Oh, this is so beautiful.”

“I don’t think you knew this before, but Rachel is the mother of Nico.” Oh my God, I should have known that. Her tattoo. Now that I thought about it I could totally see Nico in her. They had the same mouth and eyes. “There’s a girl who lives above the tattoo shop in one of those darling cottages. She makes them. She suggested you wear it on your anniversary each year. Apparently they used to do that, but with the wedding dress, it was worn on the anniversary.” Trish said this to Jeannie.

“I love it. I love them both. Thank you!” I looked around. “Where’s Aimes?” Just then, she appeared.

Somehow her hair had been transformed into beautiful big curls atop her head. She was stunning. “Oh, Aimes you look so pretty.”

“Fuck. You.”

Yeah. I wasn’t expecting that either. “Huh?” I asked.

“If I say anything else that doesn’t sound mean and bitchy I am going to
cry
like a little bitch. Now, let’s get this party started, you ugly… truck stop… try hard… dollar shop bride.”

“I love you too, Aimes.”

I gave her the biggest smile I could and she spun on her foot and out the door. “I hate you.” She sang as she exited. Jeannie and Trish just laughed. I was pleased they had a sense of humor about it.

“I’m ready.” I stood before Trish and Jeannie went to the door where my dad stood waiting.

“Anika…” She began.

“Don’t, Trish.” I smiled and leaned in to whisper in her ear. “We’re free.”

She nodded and motioned for my dad to take my arm. “Here,” I handed him my phone.

“You’ll need a cell phone? Are you expecting someone to call? He asked with concern.

“No, I need to make one. Don’t worry, it’s a good thing.” He offered me his elbow and we began to leave the room, until he stopped suddenly.

“Ankia.”

“Yes?” I replied quickly. I mean, I had some fairly pressing things going on at the moment, but whatever he was going to say was important, urgent, and honestly this was something I never imagined would happen. My dad was going to walk me down the aisle.

“I’m sure by now you’ve figured out that I pretty left and began a…” He hesitated, searching for the right words, I think.

“
Relationship
with Jeannie. I wanted to forget, honey. Not replace you. I didn’t know about David until late in the pregnancy. I still struggled, three years until I decided to focus on the child I had instead of the one I lost. Jeannie and I were married when David was two. He stayed with his grandparents when we went on our honeymoon, but he was three then and that’s when I finally let you go. But I never forgot your birthday. Every year, I…” His breath caught and I knew, I knew he felt the loss as much as I did.

“I know, Daddy.” I said gently, remembering how he called me honey when I was a little girl. “Cole told me. We’ll have more chocolate cake.” I somehow managed to keep it together, but much like Aimes, if I started now, I wouldn’t be able to stop the tears and that wasn’t what I wanted to remember on my wedding day. “We better get going. I have somewhere I need to be.”

At the back of the hall, I heard the music begin. I heard the string quartet and turned to John Parker, my dad. “Is it everything you hoped it would be?” I asked.

“Doesn’t even come close, sweetie. My sun and my moon.” His eyes were wet, but he was truly happy.

“Phone.” I requested.

I put it to my ear and what sounded like a million voices echoing in the room started at once and ended with Aimes, “Who in the hell do you think you’re calling right now. Oh and you are so ugly it hurts to look at you. Seriously, you are burning my retinas out of my skull with your hideousness.”

“I love you too, Aimes. I’m calling Cole. Everyone be quiet so I can hear.”

I swiped the screen and heard, “Shot through the heart…..shot through the heart….”

It was a small chapel and the echo was incredible so I could hear him perfectly without even holding the phone to my ear. I couldn’t see him though. The string quartet stopped completely and I even heard gasps.

“Anika.” He chuckled and the beautiful sound made me close my eyes in happiness.

“Cole. Take the box out of your jacket. You can put me on speakerphone if you want. Have Olaf hold it.”

“Okay.”

“Don’t open it yet!” I wanted to make sure he didn’t jump the gun. Ha!

“I won’t. Alright. Everybody say hello to Anika.” He laughed again and much to my surprise, everyone did say, “Hello, Anika.” But they were also laughing which was fantastic. “I’m holding the box in my hands and Olaf is holding the phone.

“Hi Olaf.” I said.

“Anika.” I could tell he was barely keeping himself from a rolling on the floor in a fit of laughter.

“Will you hurry the hell up you, you… gah!” Poor Aimes.

“Aimes getting antsy?” Cole asked.

“A little. She said I look ugly.” The entire room laughed.

“I’m sure she didn’t mean it. I would like to see for myself though.”

“Okay.” Here goes nothin’. “Untie the ribbon.”

“Done.”

“I love you, Cole.”

“Me too, baby, but you’re kind of killing me here.”

“I know. Open the box.”

“The tissue?”

I took a deep breath.

“Open it.”

I heard him gasp. “Really?”

“Really.” I brushed the happy tear that seemed to somehow escape me away.

“Come to me, my beautiful girl.”

The doors opened and Cole stood there, and watched me walk to him. I forgot about the dress, the flowers, the people… all I saw was my destination… Cole. The man who sang to me, who gave me what I needed to heal, who saved me.

When I got to the end, Cole led me up the three carpeted steps. My dress was arranged behind me and for a moment, I couldn’t tell if he was happy or sad. Whatever emotion Cole was having, I’d never seen it. I started to get nervous, my breathing began to quicken and suddenly Cole dropped to his knees, took my hips in each hand and laid the gentlest kiss on my stomach.

He rose, taking each of my hands and kissed my fingers. I could hear the celebrant talk but I didn’t hear any of the words. I answered “yes” when asked and so did Cole and before I knew it, his lips were on mine, our future sealed in a beautiful kiss to the sound of laughing and crying all around us.

His forehead leaned against mine and he asked, “Are you happy?”

“Yes.”

“Are other people this happy?” He asked.

“I hope so.”

“I love you so much, Anika.”

“I love you too.” I whispered.

***

The rest of the day flew by. We ate, we danced, I had a token sip of champagne and before I knew it, we were on our way to the car. It looked like the car Mr. Big always came to see Carrie in which I would guess was a town car.

I totally married Mr. Big. Except, the reality was better than the TV show.

Olaf stopped Cole just as he was about to get in, “I thought you might want this. You know, sentimental reasons.” He handed Cole the box that held the pregnancy test. That stick with the plus sign had been around every table and in every hand at the wedding. People didn’t seem bothered by the fact I had peed on it at some point.

Olaf was yanked away and Aimes appeared. “Okay.” She said in a small voice that told me the waterworks were coming. Cole held my hand. “I love you, Ink. I’m your girl and no matter where you are or where I am, I’m still your girl. You are so pretty, and I am so… just… so happy.” She sobbed.

“I love you too.” I choked out. She started to move away into the waiting arms of Gus. “Aimes?”

“Yeah.” She sniffed.

“Thank you.”

“Fuck. You.” She smiled through her tears and walked away with a chuckling Gus who gave me a wink.

The door closed and I tucked myself into the arms of my husband. “Sleep now, Anika. It’ll take us a couple of hours to get there. We’ll have to stop and put the chains on too.”

“Snow?”

“Snow, my beautiful girl. Mrs. Anika Carlyle.” He brushed my cheek with his thumb.

“I love the way that sounds.” I said sleepily.

“It suits you.” I could hear the smile in his voice. “How long did you know?” He asked.

“The final dress fitting. I hated not telling you, but I thought you would appreciate the surprise.”

“No one will ever forget today, least of all me. Happiest day of my life was the one when I met you and each day since, it just keeps getting better, Anika.”

“Sleeping now.” I was exhausted. Cole slipped my silvery Manolo’s off and began to rub my feet. “Heaven.” I sighed.

“That comes later.”

***

I’m not sure how long it was before we arrived but when I woke up, I felt refreshed.

Mrs. Cole Carlyle. Mrs. Anika Carlyle.

I was still being held in his arms. “I love my new name.” I said, eyes still closed.

“Not as much as I love you.”

“Maybe…” I said lifting up to look at his handsome face. “Maybe we can just agree that we both love the name and each other. How does that sound?”

“That sounds perfect.” He looked out the window, “We’re here.”

I turned to see the entire place was lit beautifully. I knew instantly I was going to love this place. The car came to a complete stop and the engine cut.

“I’ll get out first. The driver will open the door, put the bags inside and then we’ll go in. Okay?”

Okay? Okay? Everything was more than okay. “Uh…”

“Is something wrong?” He asked, concern shadowing his features.

“Can we hurry it up? I need to pee. Again.” He laughed at me. It had been hours and this was a record. I was also confined to layers of fabric, tulle and lingerie.

“Of course.”

Less than a minute later, he was carrying me through crunching snow, a sharp biting air hit my face and was met (carried under the traditional threshold no less) with a delicious warmth.

He set me to my feet and pointed to a doorway, “Just through there. I’ll be waiting right where I stand.”

I bolted in that direction quickly did my business which, you know, was not easy in a dress with a long train, and returned to see Cole standing in front of the open fire place with tears running down his face.

I went to him, freaking out that something was wrong. A million things went through my mind in that moment: I wondered if he had gone to his dark place which hadn’t happened in… well, I couldn’t even remember the last time. Maybe there was something about this place that held a bad memory for him. Maybe whoever had set the cabin up had screwed up… but then, he held his arms straight out to me gesturing for my hand and pulled me to him when I gave it. My painting. Our painting. It was my other gift to him. His tears were not ones of sadness, they were ones of joy.

The large piece hung above the fireplace pride of place and there it was… the same tree that had been the symbol of my pain was now my salvation from it. It was a simple creamy background, a giant black silhouette, the leaves… my painful past on the ground with full foliage gracing the branches. I added a swing and on the left was a script letter A, the right a script letter C.

“This is why you didn’t need music. There wasn’t any pain to get out. Anika…”

He began with his hands at each shoulder, pulling me to him, his lips softly kissing my neck while long fingers trailed down my sides, gliding across the satiny fabric. He dropped to his knees and lifted the many layers, making quick work of the garter and tossed it somewhere. Then he pushed the waist up as much as he could and kissed my naked belly again. My many layers were returned. Cole again stood before me and spoke, “That was for our child. Now though, now I’m going to make love to my wife.”

His hand scooped under my knees, the other under my arms as he carried me to the bed in the open plan room. The thick curtains were all closed, tea-lights were lit all around and we were bathed in the glow of firelight. The shadows danced off of sketches, so beautiful….people, faces, nature… just incredible, all done by Cole. Released from my dress and undergarments, Cole again stood and draped the gown across a couch. Naked before me stood my husband. Every chiseled muscle, every delicious inch was mine to savor. Before I could make a move to him, he was over me, a deep plunging kiss, magnificent and sweet all at the same time heightening every touch. Wrapping my arms around him, I felt him sink into me in a deep, slow thrust. Oh, God. This is what I now had to look forward to for the rest of my life… no words, so wonderful. The gradual build and intensity, my body completely in tune with his, in wasn’t long before his rhythm increased and we both rose together, finding our grand finale of climax at the same instant. He slowed but didn’t stop, kissing and licking every inch he could reach and never, ever stopping.

“My wife.” He grunted. His eyes boring into mine.

“My husband.” I smiled, my lips inviting him to me again.

“Now, if it’s alright with you…” He ground into me and stopped at the root.

“Yes…” I asked.

“Now, I’m gonna fuck my wife.” He gave me a mischievous grin.

“My filthy, filthy man.” I laughed lightly. “I was hoping you would. Cole?”

“Yeah, baby?” He said tugging my lip with his teeth.

“Best. Wedding. Ever.”

“Stop talking, Anika.” He laughed as he pulled out and sunk into me again. “It was.”

“I love you, baby.”

“I love you too, my beautiful, beautiful girl.”

Nico

The studio was dark. Solitude. That’s what I needed. I couldn’t stop thinking about the girl in the cottage upstairs but every time I thought about going to see her, I chickened out and I never stayed around long enough to risk her seeing me.

The afternoon Cole and his buddy Olaf witnessed my drama with Tawnea, I hated that the beautiful girl I knew as Lark, the babe from cottage three as she was referred to by the guys, had seen me act like such a giant dickhead. God. Tawnea brought out the absolute worst in anyone and anything she touched. I was so happy I ended things before she could come to that wedding with me.