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As she kissed me, I felt everything falling into place, promising that what was to come would be different and so much better than anything that had come before.
Fifty
Ashlee
Mom tuckeda curl back up into the complex hairdo that my soon-to-be brother-in-law’s fiancée had done for me today. Trissa had set the bar high for being a great bridesmaid. When she and Joshua married next year, I’d have to try to figure out a way to be equally as great.
She said doing my hair was a thank you for allowing my bridesmaids to choose their own dresses. She was four months pregnant with her and Joshua’s first child, and while she wasn’t showing that much, I’d wanted to make sure she felt comfortable. I didn’t want anyone to look back on today with any negative feelings at all.
I smoothed my dress down again, even though it wasn’t wrinkled, and Mom caught my hands, squeezing them. She didn’t ask if I was nervous because she knew that wasn’t the case. I was eager, impatient to marry Nate and keep taking steps toward our joint future. Our lives had changed so much since we’d met, and I couldn’t wait to see what would come next. We were all moving on.
Mona had passed away not long after being put into hospice care. I’d gone to the funeral with Mom, more to be her support than to mourn Mona. I’d forgiven her, but I couldn’t forget what she’d done. Still, I was thankful that Mom had gotten the closure she needed to be able to move on.
Then, Finley had introduced her to the widowed cousin of the man he was dating, and to my surprise, Mom had accepted. The foursome was always going on double dates and seeing my parents happy was even better than being happy myself.
Nate’s family was happy too. Things were going well with him mending fences with David and their dad. They’d never be close – their personalities were just too conflicting – but the animosity and tension was gone.
Despite the fact that Joshua was the brother he’d directly hurt the most, the two of them had a better relationship. I suspected a lot of that was due to the changes at Manhattan Records.
Not long after I’d moved in with Nate, Zed Hipwood had shown up at a concert high and drunk. He’d then shouted obscenities, both sexual and racial, for nearly five solid minutes before the rest of Unraveling had managed to drag him off-stage, but the damage had already been done. The label ended up breaking Unraveling’s contract, and the band members had scattered. The last anyone had heard of Zed, he’d been kicked out of rehab for providing drugs to other patients.
The demise of Unraveling wasn’t really what had done it, though. It had been Nate offering Joshua a job. He’d brought Joshua into Manhattan Records as a producer who would also take care of some of Nate’s duties. Delegating some of the responsibility to Joshua allowed Nate to keep more normal work hours, and Joshua could make whatever music he wanted to without the need to answer to Nate for it.
Isti had taken a plea bargain, so we’d been able to put all of that behind us not long after the arrest. Calah, Roma, and Flora had all but disappeared from the media. I’d heard rumors that Flora had moved out of state, and Roma had last been seen hanging on the arm of some business tycoon. Calah had moved to LA and tried to sell her story, but surprisingly, no one had bought it.
I hadn’t needed to do anything to get the press to turn on her. She’d done that herself when she’d made a public diatribe regarding how it was all a conspiracy against her, naming specific groups specifically.
Between that and a few other national news stories that had come up, Nate and I had disappeared from the news before the summer had officially begun. I’d been especially happy about that since, by mid-July, I’d quit my job at Manhattan Records and started online classes to become a paralegal. I wasn’t sure yet if I wanted to go on to law school like a lot of paralegals did, but law seemed to be a better fit for me than business.
I’d taken a bit of a break right now, though, wanting time before the wedding to help Mom and Tabitha with the last-minute details, and then needing a couple weeks after for our honeymoon. Carrie and Gavin Manning, the owners of Club Privé, had given us an early wedding gift: VIP memberships to a Club Privé affiliate in the French Rivera. Every time I thought about it, a thrill went through me.
A knock on the door preceded Finley opening the door and stepping inside. “Is everyone ready?”
“We are,” Trissa said. She motioned for Julia and Catherine to follow her, leaving my parents and me alone.
“You look beautiful,” Finley said as he came over to me. He kissed my cheek, then did the same to Mom. “You look lovely too, Roberta.”
“You look great.” I squeezed his arm. “And I’m ready to go.”
The three of us left the bridal room, and Finley headed up to the front of the church where Nate and the other groomsmen would be standing shortly. Mom and I went to the back of the short line of my bridesmaids, and she took my arm. I could’ve had Finley walk me down the aisle and Mom wouldn’t have thought anything of it, but even though I loved my dad, Mom was the one who’d raised me. She was the only one I’d ever imagined giving me away. Besides, Finley was Nate’s best man.
Once the wedding party had found their places up front, the music changed, and it was my turn. Mom and I took two steps down the aisle, and then my eyes locked with Nate’s, and I didn’t see anyone or anything else. I gave the right responses at the right times, but my surroundings barely registered. Then Nate was kissing me, and the world flooded back in a rush of applause.
We turned to face our family and friends, our fingers threaded together, both of us smiling wide enough to hurt. As the minister introduced us as Nathanial and Ashlee Lexington, it hit me that this was real. This was my life. My family.
It wasn’t what I’d thought it would be. It was so much more, and I had no doubt that life would continue to surprise me, but I looked forward to it now because I knew I wouldn’t be experiencing it alone.
Nate was my partner, my Dom, my lover, and now he was my husband. We belonged to each other, and today was the beginning of yet another chapter in our life together.