Page 7

Chapter Six

As soon as I entered the reception, Jeanette Bilson descended on me with irritation written across her face. "Where on earth have you been, Lauren, and where is Andrew?" Jeanette asked.

"He's checking on his friend's girlfriend, who isn't feeling well. He'll be back soon."

"I hope so. Because we still have a lot to do. And where are your bridesmaids?"

"Uh, I don't know. Aren't they in here? Colin was dancing with Harper when I left."

"They're not on the dance floor now." Jeanette let out a weary sigh. "Could you try to find them? Honestly, I feel like I'm herding cats. We have one hour to go, in which we will cut the cake, throw the bouquet and the garter, and then do a champagne toast before you and Andrew call it a night. Can we get all that done?"

"Yes, we will get that done," I promised.

As Jeanette left, I walked further into the room, my gaze sweeping the dance floor. I didn't see Jamie or Harper, although Jamie's fiancé, Brad, was sitting in a corner, studying his phone, while he drummed his fingers on the tablecloth. Jamie was probably in the ladies' room, maybe with Harper. Although, I didn't see Colin, either, so it was possible the two of them had gone somewhere together. The other person noticeably absent was Allison, and I really didn't want to think about where she might be, because when I'd last seen her, she'd been very close to the villa where Colin, Jay and Dana were staying.

"Lauren?"

I turned my head to see my aunt and uncle approaching. "Hi," I said, feeling bad I hadn't spent any time with them. "Aunt Lydia, Uncle Hugh, I'm sorry we haven't had a chance to talk. Are you having fun?"

"It's been a beautiful wedding," my aunt replied. "Fancier than anything we've ever been to, isn't that right, Hugh?"

"Never seen so many silverware choices on a table," Hugh muttered. "First-class all the way."

"The Carringtons made sure of that."

"I'm just sorry your mother wasn't here to see you walk down the aisle or to meet Andrew," Lydia said, giving me a sad look. "Sarah would have been over the moon to see you being treated so well. She used to tell me how guilty she felt for not giving you a dad, a two-parent family. But I always told her she gave you all the love you needed."

"She did," I said feeling a lump grow in my throat at her words.

"And look at you, getting so far ahead of where she got in the hotel business. She never made it away from the front desk."

"I know. She sacrificed a lot for me."

"She was happy to do that. She loved you. Anyway, we're a little tired. Marian and Travis already left to take a walk down by the beach, so we're going to head to our room."

"We're about to cut the cake, if you want to wait a few minutes."

Lydia put her hand on her stomach. "I couldn't eat another bite. Thanks for including us, Lauren. I know we haven't been close. Let's try to do better."

"That sounds good." I suspected there wasn't any real intent behind her words. Lydia had barely made time for my mother; I couldn't see her making time for me. But it didn't matter. I had Andrew, and we would build our own family unit. I just wished he'd come back so we could wrap our arms around each other and let everyone else fade away.

I wandered around the room for the next ten minutes, smiling and chatting and trying not to wonder about where Andrew was, but the longer he was gone, the more anxious I got. I was about to go get my phone out of my bag in the lounge when Harper and Jamie joined me. At least they were back.

"Jeanette says it's time to cut the cake," Jamie said. "Are you going to smash it in each other's faces, or will the two of you be polite?"

"Polite. The last thing I need for the photos and video is cake on my face."

"It might make the video more fun," Harper suggested. "And real. But I guess we're not that interested in real ."

"No, we're not. It's about the dream," Jamie said. "And Lauren is right. The cake cutting and first bite should be perfect, because dreams aren't supposed to be messy."

"Oh, you two are no fun," Harper said with a roll of her eyes. "Sometimes you have to let loose and live a little."

"Is that what you're doing with Colin?" Jamie gave Harper a pointed look.

A somewhat secretive smile crossed Harper's lips. "That's between me and Colin."

"Since when do you not want to talk about private stuff?" Jamie asked curiously.

Harper shrugged. "This isn't the time or the place. I will say that I'm intrigued. Colin is more interesting than I thought he would be."

"How so?" I asked curiously.

"He's very well-read, for one thing. He brought a book on art history on his vacation. He loves jazz, and he played the saxophone growing up. I've never gone out with anyone who was interested in art and jazz. It's cool."

As Harper continued to talk about the apparently amazing Colin, my brain got stuck on what she'd first said. "Wait a second," I interrupted. "How do you know he has a book on art history?"

"I saw it on his nightstand."

"Were you in his villa just now? Was Andrew there?"

"I didn't see Andrew. Jay and Dana were settling in to watch a movie."

I wondered if Harper had just missed Andrew or if he hadn't gone there at all. "I thought Dana wasn't feeling well."

"She said something about having a headache."

"Why were you even there?" I asked.

"Colin wanted to check on Dana." Harper gave me an irritated look. "Just because I'm your bridesmaid doesn't mean I owe you every second of my time. I can have some fun, too, can't I?"

"Of course," I said, frowning as I wondered once again why Harper and I were continually at odds.

"Where is Andrew?" Jamie asked, cutting through the tension between Harper and me. "I haven't seen him in a while."

Fortunately, I finally had an answer to that question as Andrew walked over to us, with Jeanette right on his heels.

"He's here," I said with relief.

"Good, you're all together," Jeanette said as they reached us. "Except for my groomsmen. Where are my guys, Andrew?"

"Jay isn't going to make it for the rest of the reception. He's with his girlfriend who isn't feeling well. I told him to stay with her. I'm not sure where Colin is."

"I'm here," Colin said, coming up behind Harper. "What are we doing now? Is it time for cake?"

I couldn't help noticing that Colin looked a bit flushed, his hair windblown, as if he'd run in from somewhere. But there was no time to linger in that questioning thought as Jeanette turned to Andrew with annoyance.

"We really need Jay. The photos won't be balanced without him." She paused as Megan joined the group. "We're missing a groomsman," Jeanette told Megan.

"What? That's a problem," Megan said, distress in her eyes. "We need to get him in here, Andrew. He committed to all the photos."

"Well, he's not coming," Andrew snapped, for the first time losing some of his patience. "We need to make it work without him. We're just cutting a cake. It's not that big of a deal, is it?"

It was nice to have someone else tell Jeanette and Megan to make it work, because I was exhausted with trying to keep up with their demands.

Megan's lips tightened, and she shot me a dark look as if I was the problem and not Andrew. That was probably because I reported to her and Andrew didn't.

"Fine," Megan said. "We'll do a group shot around the cake." She paused. "Actually, why don't we lose one of the girls? Let's do you two," she added, pointing to Harper and Colin. "You look good together."

Jamie's expression darkened as Jeanette paired Harper and Colin together.

"I could bring my fiancé into the shot," Jamie suggested.

"He's not wearing a matching tuxedo," Jeanette replied with a dismissive wave of her hand. "That won't work."

"Fine," Jamie said. "I'm over this anyway."

"Uh, she doesn't seem happy," Andrew muttered, his gaze following Jamie's abrupt departure.

I couldn't help but agree. In fact, Jamie seemed unusually pissed. But since she was gone, and I wanted to get this over with, I said, "It's fine. I'm sure she doesn't care that much."

"She doesn't care," Harper agreed. "She told me a few minutes ago she couldn’t wait for this to be over."

Harper's words made me feel sad my wedding was such a chore for my friends. But it had been a long day, and I probably would have felt the same if I were in their shoes.

The four of us moved across the room to the cake table while the media team set up for the photos and video. Then Jeanette took over the microphone by the band, encouraging everyone to watch the cutting of the cake. As the crowd gathered in front of us with more lights and cameras whirring, Andrew and I picked up the knife, his warm hand covering mine. Then we slid the blade through the sponge cake.

After placing a piece of cake on a pretty china plate, we fed each other pieces of cake without smearing any icing on our faces. Although for a split second, I was oddly tempted to do just that. Everything felt so orchestrated and formal, so very unlike me. Andrew probably would have laughed, too. But in the end, I couldn't do it. I knew how important this campaign was and how costly it would be to reshoot anything, so I did my job, because that's what this whole wedding was about.

Once we were done, the catering staff took the cake into the kitchen to slice up individual pieces for our guests, and Jeanette announced the traditional garter and bouquet toss.

We made a big production of Andrew taking the garter off my leg. Then he turned around and launched it over his head like a slingshot. Colin jumped to catch it, looking triumphant, as if he had caught the winning touchdown in the Super Bowl.

Then it was my turn to toss my bouquet to one of the single women at the party. Jamie was sitting this out as she was officially engaged, but Harper was in the front row, so I wanted to toss it in her direction and hope she caught it.

As the band played a drum roll, I threw the bouquet as hard as I could, then whirled around, realizing that I'd actually tossed it to the back of the group, and it had landed in the hands of Allison McGuire.

Damn! What were the odds of that happening?

My gut tightened as she walked over to us. "I finally get a chance to officially meet the bride," she said, giving me a smug look. "I'm Allison McGuire. I'm a good friend of Andrew's." She sent Andrew a challenging look, as if she were daring him to refute that.

"Nice catch," Andrew said.

"Well, I have been thinking about moving forward in my personal life, so maybe this bouquet will bring me luck and love."

As they exchanged another look, I felt like a third wheel. Every word they spoke, every glance between them, seemed like it held some hidden meaning.

But then Megan asked the four of us to stand together, with Colin and Allison on one side and Andrew and me next to them. He put his arm around my shoulders, and my tension eased. I told myself it didn't matter if Allison still had a thing for Andrew. He was with me. He was my husband. And if he'd wanted to be with her, he would have been.

After a dozen more shots, Megan said it was a wrap, and I had never been so relieved to hear those words. We took the next twenty minutes saying goodbyes, ending with Victor and Paula Carrington.

"Thank you again," I told them. "This has all been amazing, better than I could have ever imagined my wedding being. I really appreciate all of it."

"I'm glad you enjoyed it," Victor said. "And thank you both for giving us so much great material to use in our campaign."

"You two are very photogenic," Paula commented. "Or maybe it's love that gives you that glow."

I didn't feel like I was glowing right now. I felt exhausted and wrung out, but apparently my makeup was still giving off the shine it was supposed to.

"We'll see you tomorrow for brunch," Victor added. "Some of our friends from the media are looking forward to speaking to you both at greater length."

I'd almost forgotten our duties would continue tomorrow. The events would be smaller and less formal, but they still required our attendance.

"We're looking forward to it," Andrew said, shaking Victor's hand.

Victor opened his arms to me, and I gave him a hug, and then shared a quick and very light embrace with Paula. Andrew did the same, and then it was time to leave.

We didn't have to say anything further to the crowd. We just waved goodbye as we left the banquet room. We were followed down the steps by some of our guests and the photographers and videographer, who captured us getting into the horse-drawn carriage waiting to take us on a starlit ride through the resort and then up to the hotel. It was all very romantic.

When we finally pulled away and the bright lights and cameras were gone, I looked at Andrew in the moonlight and felt a wave of relief.

He cupped my face and gave me a kiss, then said, "We did it, Mrs. Chadwick."

I couldn't help but feel a little thrilled with my new name. "I can't believe it's over."

"I hope you had some fun today."

"The best part was when we said our vows and now," I said as we exchanged another hot kiss in the cool night air.

"I agree. It's back to you and me, Lauren."

"I never thought we'd get here. My head is still spinning from all the people I had to talk to, all the smiles I had to give. My face is actually aching from those forced smiles."

"I hope they weren't all forced," he said, a questioning gleam in his eyes.

"They were never forced when I was looking at you, Andrew."

"Good."

"I just wish we didn’t have to do brunch tomorrow, and I've heard talk of other events, too. I thought we were going to be on our own for the next few days, but it doesn't look like that will happen."

"I can guarantee you it won't. Bennett told me he has a horseback riding session planned for tomorrow afternoon with some of his favorite influencers. We'll be doing that after brunch."

I sat up straighter. "Seriously? Horseback riding?"

"Yes. What's the problem?"

"I've only ridden a horse once, and I didn't like it."

"It will be fun, Lauren. A slow, picturesque ride through the hills. We won't be racing or anything."

"I'd still like to get out of it."

"You want to tell Bennett that? It's part of the campaign. It's what we signed on to do."

He was right. I really had no choice, and I definitely couldn't tell my boss's son that I was unwilling to participate in what he probably thought was a fun marketing event.

"Let's not worry about tomorrow," Andrew added. "It's the first night of our future together. That's something to celebrate."

I smiled, feeling like an idiot for not appreciating how fortunate I was to have met Andrew, fallen in love, and married him in a spectacular wedding ceremony. I was the luckiest woman in the world, and now I would get to be his wife, which was what I wanted most.

"Looks like we've arrived," he said as our horse-drawn carriage stopped in front of the building.

Andrew helped me get down from the carriage. Then we said goodnight to the driver and hurried into the hotel. Privacy was seconds away, and I couldn't wait.

Andrew must have shared the same thought as he started kissing me the moment we got on the elevator, and when the doors opened, he swept me up off my feet and carried me down the hall to the bridal suite.

Then he gave me a sheepish smile as his gaze met mine. "I don't have the key."

"I thought everyone had a key," I said with a laugh. "Mine is in my bag. You're going to have to let me down."

"Damn. This was going to be so romantic," he said as he set me on my feet.

I dug through my bag, pulled out the keycard, and then opened the door.

"Wait. Let's try this again," he said, before I could move inside. He picked me up once more and carried me over the threshold.

As Andrew set me down on my feet, his gaze narrowed as it moved past me. "What the hell?"

I turned around to see what he was looking at, and my jaw dropped in shock.

Our beautiful bridal suite had been completely trashed: the sofa cushions thrown around on the floor, and the champagne glasses from our earlier drinks smashed on the floor. The snacks had been tossed against the wall with smears of dressing still dripping down the mirror.

Andrew suddenly moved, striding toward the bedroom. I ran after him to see even more chaos and horror: the bed ripped apart, the pillows tossed on the floor. Chocolates smashed on the sheets. And another broken champagne bottle with sparkly liquid still spreading across the hardwood floor.

Even worse than the destruction were the words written on the wall by the bed:

You'll be sorry…