Moore Than Forever (27 page)

“Speaking of fonts,” Seth grabbed his laptop bag and gave Mia a coy look, “I have something else that needs your approval.”

Mia looked lost. Reaching into the bag, he slowly pulled out a large thick padded envelope and placed it on the table, sliding it over to her.

“What is this?”

“Just fucking open it, BBC.”

Unfastening the clasp, Mia reached into the envelope and gasped as she pulled out the surprise contents. “Oh my God, wedding invitations.”

“Your wedding invitations.”

“Oh my God,” there were tears in Mia’s eyes as she leaned over to kiss Seth.

“Well, look at them already. I’m dying,” Seth grabbed the contents from Mia’s hands, laying out three very different prototypes, a black linen envelope fastened with a cream satin ribbon, a six inch long thin white box bound with a two inch white and gold paper sheath, and a flat square black raw silk box.

Mia started with the black linen envelope, inside was a simple and elegant black and cream wedding invitation, timeless in its elegance.

“This is beautiful. It is classy and classic,” smiling at Seth, “much like the man I’m marrying.”

Seth nodded, “That’s a good way to describe him. He is classy and classic. I like that.”

Already removing the gold and white paper sheath from the thin white box, Mia was clearly going to power through this, hoping to make a decision and get it out of the way. Loving the details of putting together an elegant affair, Seth would have loved for her to savor this part of the process, but Mia was going to have no part in that.

Opening the box, “Ahh, a scroll. Very cute,” she unraveled the parchment and picked up the two elaborate gold rods that inserted at the top and bottom of the scroll. “It’s cute but it requires assembly, so this one is out.”

Reaching for the black satin box, she opened it and quickly rifled through all the black and white components inside. “This is very elegant, too, but a maybe a little showy and I think way too formal for a beach wedding.”

“So, if you had to rank them, the black satin envelope with the cream sash would be your first choice?”

Mia looked at them all a second time, then nodded. “Yes, it’s beautiful, but again, is it too formal for what we’re doing?”

Seth shook his head, “Yes and no. There’s no right or wrong in a situation like this. It just comes down to personal preference. Yes, you are getting married on the beach, but this is not some hippie wedding out of the ‘70’s. You’re getting married at one of the most prestigious resorts on the east coast.”

“You shit,” Mia punched Seth in the arm, “did you forget to tell me something, Princess?”

“Oh yeah, I guess I should have mentioned this. You’re getting married September 27th at Gurney’s.”

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh,” Mia’s screams scared Nathaniel, his lower lip immediately starting to tremble as his little face collapsed.

“Oh my sweet boy,” Seth went to him immediately, scooping him out of his Pack ‘N Play, “did your crazy BBC mommy scare you. She scares me too sometimes.”

“How am I going to be ready for a wedding at the end of September,” Mia’s green eyes were wide with fear, “there’s so much to do.”

“BBC, you need to stay out of this,” Nathaniel had his head on Seth’s shoulder, while Seth gently rubbed his back, calming him down, “Elan and I have this under control. We’ll let you and gorgeous know when we need you to step in.” Sensing a combination of panic and Bridezilla behavior coming on, “Breathe, BBC. We’re not continuing until you get hold of yourself.”

“Bitchy queen,” she muttered under her breath.

“I heard that,” he continued to rub a now sleepy Nathaniel’s back. “Ok,” he continued, “because I know you as well as I do, there’s one more invitation I’d like to show you.”

Reaching back into his laptop bag, Seth extracted a square tan kraft box embossed in gold “Join Us” with a fancy gold scroll design above and below the letters. He slid it across the table to Mia.

The simple box was significantly more casual than the first three options Seth had presented. Mia lifted the cover from the box. Inside was gold pearlized tissue paper. She could see something dimensional beneath the paper and was eager to find out what was below. Flipping the tissue paper back made Mia gasp. Looking up at Seth, her mouth hung open.

“I love it,” she exclaimed, “you knew I’d love it.”

“Mais oui,” he looked very satisfied as he confirmed in French.

Underneath the tissue paper was a beautiful, white starfish - a real starfish, lying on heavy ocean blue and sand-colored damask cardstock, secured with a double gold rope tied in a nautical knot.

“It’s creative, it’s different, it’s whimsical, it’s beautiful and it totally fits a beach wedding.”

Inside the box was a host of components; a sand dollar shaped invitation that opened like a bloom, a reply card and matching envelope, an additional information card and a gold paperclip with a seashell topper holding the whole thing together.

“So do we have an invite?” he got up to put Nathaniel down in his playpen to sleep.

“As far as I’m concerned, yes. But I guess I should run this by Schooner.”

Waving his hand at her, Seth dismissed her comment, “Trust me, he doesn’t care as long as you, BBC, are happy. Ok, well I need to get firm invite counts from the two of you because these are handmade and assembled by a woman out of Newport, Rhode Island.

Mia felt her stomach knot at the mention of Newport. “When do you need the counts?”

“Yesterday.” Going back into his laptop bag, he pulled out several pieces of paper, “On to the next item we need to take care of,” he paused, “you.”

“Moi?” Mia reached for a bottle of water.

“So, I’ve been scouting dresses…”

“Oh God, I love you. If you could try them on for me, life would be perfect.”

“I may borrow your dress for Halloween. Get a big gold necklace that says BBC. Go as you.”

“Anything for tits, huh?” Mia laughed.

“You know it. Anyway here is what I was thinking. Obviously not some big, garish, overwhelming dress.”

“Right, I was thinking tea or cocktail length. I think long and sand is a mistake.”

“I totally agree and we have to make sure it’s mature enough without being dowdy,” he added, rifling through the papers.

“Totally agree,” Mia reached for the papers he had cinched in his hands. He quickly pulled them out of her reach.

“Not so quickly, BBC. I looked at the designers you’d expect first. Didn’t find anything with the right length that wasn’t poufy. And I know you don’t want poufy. It would be hideous and you’d look fat.”

“Thank you,” she fake smiled.

“Well, you know it’s true. So, I did find some possibilities, first is this champagne lace sheath from Monique Lhullier,” he passed the first sheet of paper to her.

“That’s very pretty. Very elegant. I need to start dieting now,” Mia studied the dress closely.

“Then I thought, what about vintage?”

Their eyes met, Mia had her hand out for the second sheet of paper, but Seth was not handing it over.

“I like vintage. A lot. Just as long as it’s not a big skirted thing.”

“Unfortunately, that was most of it, but I did find this edge of the shoulder Ian Stuart at Kleinfeld’s,” he finally handed the page to Mia.

“Oh, that is very pretty. I love the lines and the lace. But it’s total bride. I think I’m going to look ridiculous in a real wedding dress at my age, don’t you?”

Seth nodded, “It’s a risk. And it’s not Schooner’s first wedding and he’s got two grown kids.”

Mia started to pout, “Why am I even doing this Seth? We should just go down to City Hall and be done with it.”

“Not an option, BBC,” he snarled at her, pissed off that she would even suggest such a thing and rob everyone around her of the enjoyment, “you are so selfish.”

“Show me that last piece of paper, Princess.”

Without saying a word, he handed it over to her. Mia’s face immediately lit with delight.

“I like this. I like this a lot. It’s dressy, but casual, age appropriate, it’s understated, you know” she continued to study the BCBG/MaxAzria white lace high-low dress, “and it’s got a great line to it, so I think it will fit me fine.”

“You do realize that your shoes will be more expensive than this dress?”

Looking over at him, Mia laughed, “That’s actually really funny. But you’re right.” She looked back at the paper, “I should order one and have it shipped out here to see if it fits.”

“No need,” Seth walked in the house and came out a few minutes later with the dress in her size, “I’ve been dressing you for how many years now,” was all he said.

Grabbing the dress, she ran passed him into the house. Seth picked up Nathaniel and brought him in, laying him down at the center of Mia and Schooner’s bed.

A few minutes later, Mia emerged from the bathroom.

Seth’s eyes immediately teared up, “So, what do you think?” he asked, no snark at all in his voice.

Mia just nodded her head. She couldn’t speak, overwhelmed by a myriad of emotions, as she stood before her best friend, wearing her wedding dress.

“You look beautiful, Mia.”

Again, she nodded, her lips forming a silent thank you as tears began to roll down her cheeks.

“We have been through so much, but we came through it. And here you are, about to marry your true love, a guy who came back for you because he was as broken without you as you were without him. He stayed married to someone he didn’t love because he didn’t want to feel, and you almost drove yourself over the edge trying to feel, something, anything. But I have to tell you, you two are not broken when you are together. You compliment each other’s strengths and fill in the gaps of each other’s weaknesses. You guys dream together and then turn it into reality. I know what I want now, Mia. I want to find the other half of me. My Schooner.”

Crossing the room to the bed where he was sitting, Mia sat down next to him and put her arms around him. The tears burned at the back of her throat and nose too much to speak at first, “He’s out there, Seth and he’s thinking the same thing you are, ‘Where is he?’ And he’s dreaming about Sunday Brunch and the New York Times and art openings, and traveling together. Think about it, before that day that Schooner’s friend request showed up, none of this was even remotely on the horizon. I wasn’t even dating anyone. And now I’ve got two kids and on September 27th I am marrying the love of my life.” She looked up at him, “It can happen. It will happen. And we will laugh about this moment because it will feel like a million light years away from your new reality.”

“You’d better be right, BBC.”

Mia stood up and put her hands on her hips, “Haven’t you figured out by now that I’m always right,” the devil grin was shoving the tears away.

Rolling his eyes and snorting, “Just get the dress off before you ruin it.”

Chapter Fifty-one

“Is it Friday yet?” Snuggled in their bed at the beach house, Mia was under the covers propped up against a wall of pillows.

“Two more days, Baby Girl and I’ll be out for a long weekend.” Schooner was in the same position as Mia, but in their loft’s bedroom.

“So, I have a lot of news for you,” she was smiling and twirling a curl.

“Ok, lay it on me,” he laughed, stretching out and getting comfortable.

“We’re getting married on September 27th.”

“Wow. That is huge news. Where?” Schooner found it amusing that he and Mia were just being told where and when to show up. The two of them were alpha, control freaks and here they were both riding shotgun on the biggest day of their lives.

“Gurney’s Inn in Montauk.”

“Are you happy with that?” Schooner wanted this to be the best day of her life.

“I’m not unhappy with it.”

“Mia, that’s not what I asked you. If you are not ecstatic then they need to scrap the plans and start again.”

“No, no, no. I’m fine with it. It’s a beach wedding, it’s perfect for us. It’ll be elegant and casual at the same time. I think that fits us.”

“Baby Girl, I want you to be ecstatically thrilled about our wedding. If you want to do an elegant Manhattan space, we can do something like 583 Park Avenue.”

“Schooner, 583 Park is stunning and I’ll bet if I had gotten married in my twenties, that is exactly the kind of cool and elegant space I would have wanted. But it’s us and the babies, and Holly and Zac, and I want it to be lovely, but still have a laid back vibe and I think we’ll get that at Gurney’s,” Mia shifted the phone and grabbed one of his pillows, it still had his scent. Breathing it in deeply, she could feel tingling between her legs and smiled.

“Then why does it sound like you feel you’re settling?”

“I don’t know, maybe because I’m not doing the bridey kind of stuff. But with Seth and Elan and my mother working on the details, you know it’s going to be mind blowing. I did pick out invitations and a wedding dress today,” smiling, she knew he’d be shocked at the news.

“What?”

His response didn’t disappoint.