No Ordinary Romance (29 page)

"I know that was a severe blow to your
family. Thomas told me about losing his father and how he didn't
think he could go on without having him there."

"Tommy blamed himself for James death if we
hadn't supported him during that long trial; he felt that James
would have been diagnosed sooner."

"Thomas and I seem to have that in common as
well; we take the blame for everything that goes wrong."

Joanie clasped Connie's hand. "I almost lost
all hope that my Tommy would find someone. There's nothing greater
in this life than to love and be loved in return."

***

By the time Connie and Joanie made it to the
boutique, Jenna and Samantha were already inside conversing with
Jolene. Jolene took them downstairs to the showroom. "Come on
ladies, I already pulled some dresses based on the conversation I
had with Connie this week."

Samantha looked at Jenna with a furrowed brow
before addressing Connie. "Connie if you already have it in your
mind what you want, why are we here?"

"We'll you and Jenna are here to give me an
idea about hem lengths. You're the tallest of the bridesmaids and
Jenna is the smallest in stature. Whatever looks good on you two,
will work for the other bridesmaids. In addition, I need your
honest opinion about my wedding gown; I called Jolene just to give
her my preference. I don't want a one of those billowy organza
dresses that make me look like the Michelin Man and I know you love
me enough to keep me from looking bad. Thomas and his best man are
wearing black suits, the rest of the groomsmen are donning white
jackets. I think that the bridesmaids should be in black."

Samantha faced Jenna, "Did you know her
colors were black and white?"

Jenna laughed at Samantha's frowning face.
"No. Somehow I don't think it would have made any difference."

Jolene brought in four
black dresses for Samantha and Jenna try on. The first one was a
tea length chiffon, the dress was beautiful on Samantha, but made
Jenna look as though she were a little girl playing dress up. The
next dress was a pretty handkerchief dress that didn't do anything
for either of them. The next dress was a floor
length
, organza dress with a silver buckle.
It was a very beautiful dress, but not quite what Connie was
looking for. The last dress was a satin cocktail length with a
white satin bow. Connie could tell by the expressions on Samantha
and Jenna's faces that they both like the dress. "This is the
dress!"

"Wow that only took an hour and fifteen
minutes. Connie I think you were more prepared than you gave
yourself credit. Now why don't you go try on you selections while
me, Jenna, and Samantha enjoy some wine."

"Where did the wine come from, there was no
wine when they were trying on dresses."

"Don't over analyze it Connie, I just think
Jolene felt that we need a little stimulus to get us through the
next couple of hours."

Jolene and her assistant brought down at
least seven dresses for Connie to try on. "Connie I know that you
were worried about white clashing with your hair, but white comes
in many shades I think that you'll be pleased with the results.

The first dress Connie
tried on was a beaded lace on the net over satin
princess gown, with a
spaghetti straps, and a cathedral train. "It's absolutely
beautiful."

Jolene laughed,
"Connie you seemed shocked, I have every confidence you'll find the
dress of your dreams today. Let's go show the ladies."

Connie walked
back to the show room and stood in front of her friends and future
mother-in-law. She could tell by their bland expressions that they
weren't wowed. "Well don't everyone speak at once."

"It's a pretty dress Connie, but I just don't think it's you."
After saying her
piece,
Jenna took another sip of
wine.

Samantha nor Joanie said a word they just gave her a negative
shake of their heads.
"Oh God this is going to be a long appointment." The next
dress she tried on was a form fitting satin with a flowing taffeta
skirt. Connie liked this dress better than the last one. She went
out again to show the women the dress; b
y
the
vibe she was
receiving,
they all liked this dress
better than the first one.

"Okay I like
this one much better than the last one, it shows off your terrific
figure, and you actually look like a bride." Samantha clapped her
hands like a gleeful little girl.

Connie looked
at Jenna who gave her the thumbs up sign and Joanie gave her a
little smile. "I understand you all like it, but you don't think
it's me." This went on for the better part of two hours when Connie
tried on her tenth dress, at this moment all she wanted to do was
go home and crawl under the covers.

Jolene came into the dressing room with one more dress. Unlike
the
others,
it was encased in a black
garment bag. The dress was the color of polished ivory. It had a
sweetheart neckline, net over satin, re-embroidered lace dress with
pearl and crystal beading. It also had a removable satin skirt.
Jolene gave Connie a bridal headband with an elbow length veil to
try on.

The dressed
looked as though it were made just for her. She brushed past Jolene
eager for her friends to see her dress. They must have sensed her
exuberance; Samantha, Jenna, and Joanie were on their feet as she
burst out of the changing room onto the showroom floor. "This is my
dress!" She stood in front of the three-way mirror as the women
gave their approval.

Joanie came and stood
next to Connie and dried the tears from her cheeks. "You'll make a
beautiful bride my daughter."

The tears
really began to flow. "I didn't really think I would find my
dress." Jenna and Samantha joined her in front of the mirror, and
they had one big group hug.

Jolene gave her
assistant the thumbs up sign; it was moments like this that made
her go into business in the first place. She grabbed the bottle of
wine and made sure everyone had a glass. "Ladies, let's hear it for
the bride."

***

Connie brought over snacks and finger food
for Thomas's bachelor party. Thomas didn't feel that it was
necessary seeing as he only had one real friend. She was going to
enjoy margaritas with her friends tonight, and she didn't want to
feel guilty if he was all alone by himself. "I invited all the
groomsmen over for your bachelor party, so I want you to promise me
that you'll have a good time."

Thomas helped her unload her car, setting the
food on the kitchen table. "I feel like my mother just made a play
date for me. I can tell you right now; this is going to be one lame
bachelor party. I barely know Allen and Mike; they probably got
bullied into coming by their wives."

"That alone gives you something in common.
All of you can piss and moan about how your women made you come.
The fridge is full of beer, I even made you those double chocolate
macadamia cookies you love so much, I left four dozen that's plenty
enough for you to share."

"Is that all you have for me?"

Connie saw his heated gaze and quickly moved
out of reach. "Yes. A word of warning, if any of you show up to the
wedding with a hangover I will make all of you sorry."

"Come here Constantina we have time for a
little loving."

"I told Aunt Mabel and Johana that I would be
right back, besides you only have ten minutes before your guests
start showing up. The next time you see me will be at our
wedding."

Thomas groaned as Connie blew him a kiss
before disappearing out the front door. Exactly ten minutes later
Aaron arrived with a six-pack of beer and a pizza. "Come on in and
take a seat."

"I can't believe I'm the first to arrive.
Please tell me that I'm not the only person coming."

"Oh no, we're not that lucky, Constantina
invited the rest of the groomsmen, and God only knows who else so
we should have a smashing good time."

"I have a feeling that we're not going to
have the time honored bachelor party with strippers and
prostitutes. This wedding of yours is killing my social life this
weekend."

"What kind of trashy
bachelor's parties have you been
attending?
If Constantina thought for one moment I had women over here
she would castrate me for sure. Before I forget, lay off of Johana,
she's not for you."

Aaron set the beer and pizza on the table. He
crossed his arms, giving Thomas a stern look. "What in the hell is
that supposed to mean? I thought we clicked rather well at the
rehearsal dinner last night."

Aaron looked as if he wanted to argue, and
Thomas was determined to nip it in the bud. "She's not one of your
little bimbos, she's Constantina's cousin. I don't want you to
shower her with attention and then drop her like a bad habit."

Aaron chewed on the inside of his jaw as if
he were actually considering Thomas's request. "Johana's a
beautiful woman; you know how impossible it is for me to resist a
beautiful woman."

"She's not like the women you're used to
dealing with. She's a lovely person raising a daughter on her own
who doesn't need some asshole running a game on her."

Aaron put a hand over his heart. "You wound
me Tom, to think that you of all people think so little of me. If
it's that important to you, I won't actively press her for a
quickie at the reception. If she gives me the least bit of
encouragement all bets are off."

Fifteen minutes later Mike, Allen, and Chad
arrived. "Gentlemen come on in you met my friend and best man Aaron
Colton last night at the rehearsal dinner. The food is in the
kitchen, and the beer is in the fridge. I hope all of you know how
to play poker or this is going to be a long night." All three men
shook Aaron's hand and made a beeline for the food.

"You can bet your ass that our women won't
have that problem. Right now, they're drinking margaritas and
discussing all of our flaws. So that means that Jenna will be doing
most of the talking." Allen gave Mike a wicked grin as he piled his
plate full of chicken wings and nachos. Hey Thomas did Connie make
any of those Jalapeno poppers?"

"Yeah I think they're in the fridge, she made
potato salad too."

Mike held two plates of food in his hands and
was still searching the table for dessert. "What did she make us
for dessert?"

"I think maybe she forgot about the dessert.
Judging by all the food on your plates you wouldn't have room for
dessert anyhow."

Mike sat across from Allen who remained
focused on his food. "I don't like how this evening is heading;
this is not going to be pick on Mike night. Thomas you can't
convince me that Connie didn't make us any dessert, you've got to
be holding out on us."

Chad sat down next to Mike. "No way Connie
didn't make dessert, hand it over."

Aaron sat down next to Allen; he opened the
pizza box taken out several slices of pizza, adding it to his plate
of food. "I think I may have found something, there was a shopping
bag hidden in the garage. Inside the bag were about eight bags of
cookies."

"When in the hell did you find time to search
the garage?"

"Tom I'm your friend; I just knew you had to
be holding out on us." He held up the cellophane bag with six large
cookies wrapped inside. "It looks like some type of double
chocolate cookie. I can't wait to taste them. I've heard about
Connie's baking skills, and I just couldn't believe that she didn't
mean for us to have them. So I took the liberty of bringing the
shopping bag inside."

Thomas grabbed the bag
before the rest of the men could get a hold of it. He tossed a bag
of cookies to each man and hid the rest. With these greedy bastards
lurking around, he' have to stay on his guard. He took the shopping
bag into the garage and locked it in his car. He came back into the
house to find Aaron laughing and joking with the rest of the men as
if he'd known them for years. So that could only mean one thing, he
had become the new object of
ridicule
.

***

Connie was enjoying herself
immensely
. I
t was great being surrounded by
the people she loved. Aunt Mabel was in rare form tonight, she
never knew her aunt could be so raunchy. The real fun didn't begin
until Tati and Alexander got settled in bed. They played pass the
bouquet, wedding trivia and know the bride. Things began to loosen
up after the second round of margaritas and they started talking
about their men.

"Tell me ladies how did you get your men to
agree to the bachelor party?"

"I promised Allen a special massage when we
get home. Hell, we almost didn't make it out the house. He doesn't
have a lot of patience, so he'll probably be good for three hours
before he comes to collect me."

"Well I told Mike that I just knew you would
have some sexy party favors to play with later."

"Indeed I do. All of the prizes are sexy
party favors. I no longer own The Purple Feather, but I still get a
patron's discount."

Joanie sipped her margarita, "I heard a rumor
about the buyer for The Purple Feather; you know me, I don't like
to spread idle gossip."

Kimberly had a fantastic time. Her mother has
always been so open about sex and relationships. At first, she
didn't know if she wanted to come to a bridal shower with a group
of women so much older than herself. "Come on Connie spill the
beans who's the new owner of the store."

"Joanie, it's someone you know quite well or
should I say you know her mother quite well."