I feel so pretty in my wedding dress… another thing mother was disappointed about. She thought I should have picked out one with a huge train and pearls and lots of lace. What I wanted was simple… like me. I don’t think that being married to a man with a lot of money changes who I am. This dress is me and I love it. It’s a cream-colored antique lace gown and as I began my ascent up the aisle, it fluttered out behind me. I wore a hand-crafted wreath of white flowers in my loose hair and I carried a bouquet made out of white orchids. I was barefoot and so was Alex. I saw my mother glance down distastefully at my feet as I passed her. I smiled. She shook her head.
Alex wanted to be casual too. He wore an off-white linen suit, and he wore it well. He was smiling at me and the look in his eyes told me that he felt the same way about me as I did about him. I looked then at our little man who just turned one last week. He was chattering in his grandfather’s arms and reaching out his arms and legs, wanting to go jump in the ocean no doubt. I blew him a kiss and he squealed. My heart is so full.
I reached the altar that was decorated with precious shells and orchids. A sweet, delicate scent wafted from them and added to the ambiance of the day. Alex reached out and took my hand. He squeezed it and I shuddered and thought about how close I’d come to losing him last year and how quickly he had bounced back. He has nothing but a couple of small scars left from that horrible day… he tells me they make him look tough. I already thought that he did.
Cassandra had accepted the offer Alex put in front of her out of the blue… right after she got out of an overnight stint in L.A. County Jail for violating a restraining order. Maybe she had an epiphany in jail, or maybe it was Armando meeting her the day she got kicked from jail and letting her know that as insurance for his job he had kept a video of them together and in an attack of conscience he had decided to turn them over to Mr. Reigns. Last we heard she was living in Hawaii. The tapes are in the vault along with the Dictaphone for safe keeping. I hope the Hawaiian’s can handle her.
Alex’s mother is still somewhat cold and distant, but at least now he understands that it’s not about him. He told me that it’s easier to accept now that he understands the reasons behind it. Once things finally settled down after the court cases and the divorce, Alex hired a security firm to help his father’s investigators to look for his brother. Perhaps no one will ever know what happened to him, but I say a prayer for them every night that someday they will find their child and bring him home. She is starting to warm up to Michael and has shown up with James every day this week and gone on their walk with them. I even caught her taking a package of Goldfish crackers out of her purse to give to Michael before they left. When I told Alex he laughed and said that when he was a boy she would have never considered putting a snack in one of her thousand dollar bags.
“Michael’s charms must be melting the wall around her heart,” I said.
Alex had nodded and said, “She would have had to be the ice queen for them to not.”
James and Alex are closer than they ever were and James even bought a house not too far from us so that he could see the baby whenever he wants to. He hasn’t been back to Tuscany and Alex’s mother is beginning to go less frequently. James takes Michael for a walk every day. Michael is growing attached to him and although he’s only a year old, he seems to know each day that it’s time for his grandfather to come and get him and he wants to wait by the door. I’m not sure if it’s possible, but I think that James may have found his fountain of youth. The more time he spends with Michael, the younger and more energetic he looks.
My mother is the same as she’s always been. I can see her now, searching the audience of our guests, looking for her next victim. She is who she is… and she is my mother, so I deal with it. The day she got her invitation to the wedding and saw that it was going to be on the beach, she nearly choked.
“The beach? Seal Beach? Why on earth when you could get married anywhere in the world would you pick a place that you can’t even wear pretty shoes?”
“It’s our place, Mom. Alex and I both love that place. It’s where we want to start our lives together.” She sighed heavily. I didn’t care. I was marrying the man of my dreams, the father of my baby and I was nothing but happy about it.
My mother was just who she was and that would never change. She still doesn’t get me either. The day that I started school for my Physician’s Assistant Program she asked me, “What is the point in marrying a billionaire if you’re still going to work?”
I told her the honest truth, “Love. Pure, unadulterated love.” She sighed and rolled her eyes. I just smiled at her. I’ve come to believe that is how she shows her love. Anyways, I know for a fact that she’ll be impressed when the helicopter lands to take us to our honeymoon in the Cayman Islands.