Away From the Spotlight (51 page)

After introductions,
Emily was the first to speak.  “Is Shannon going to be my Auntie?”

Will picked her up, gave her a hug, and responded in the affirmative.

Olivia
then
sp
oke
, “Welcome to our family.  We’re
couldn’t be more
happy for you and Will.”

“Thank you,” was all I could say.  I was nervous.

I then met Will’s
middle
sister, Emma.  But for the fact that I knew she was a few years older, I would have thought that
she and Will
were fraternal twins.  She had brought her boyfriend, James, with her.  James looked to be of my relative gene pool, with dark brown
ish-red
hair
, brown eyes
and freckled skin
that was darker than mine
.
 
R
ed hair definitely
became
him
.

I took the opportunity to thank Emma for shopping for me.

“Emma, I can’t thank you enough for all this.  You have excellent taste.  I loved the blue dress from last night as well.  I don’t know how you managed it, but they both fit perfectly.”

“I can’t take complete credit for it.  Will got your
sizes and
relative measurements from your clothing
and shoes
when he visited you in Berlin.”

I looked at Will questioningly, wondering when he had time to do that.

She continued,
“I had
them
translated into British sizes.  I then called your sister to find out what you liked.”

“What did she think you were doing?”

“I told her you were going to a party with Will.  She asked a lot of questions though.  You’re going to have to call her soon if you haven’t already.”

I just
then
realized that I hadn’t had a chance to call my family.  I had thought about it th
at
morning, but the time difference meant that it was the middle of the night
in California
and then the day got away from me.

“Well, you did an excellent job.  These clothes seem to fit like they were made for me.
”

“You look beautiful.  I’m glad you like them.  Hopefully, sometime in the near future, we’ll be able to go shopping
together
.”

“Absolutely.  I hope you come to L.A.
soon to
visit.”

“I’ll plan on it.”

Will then
led
me to
greet
his friends from
S
hepperton
.
Pete had a girlfriend with him, but Niall and Damon were
s
tag.  The guys all gave me
cheek
kisses and hugs.  I could see a little envy in Niall’s green eyes
and
he hugged me a little tighter than he should have considering I was engaged to one of his best friends.

“You’re gorgeous,” Niall said in my ear.
  He spoke to me like Will did and it made me uncomfortable.
  The fact that he looked at me as if I wasn’t wearing anything didn’t help.

Pete
then
introduced me to his girlfriend, Susan.
Susan
, a tall, thin and fair woman,
looked almost as awed by our surroundings as I was.  She seemed to be comfortable around Will though, like she had known him for a while.  I assumed that Pete and Susan had
been together for a long time.

I then met Will’s roommate from his
university
days
, Patrick
,
Patrick’s
girlfriend Sarah, and two of Will’s supporting
cast-mate
s from his first big film,
the third installment of
The Adventures of Henry Blake
,
Jane and Gerry
, along with
their
respective
dates.

Finally, we greeted Pam and
Jane
, who were both practically jumping up and down when they saw
us
headed their way
.  Pam looked at me almost like she didn’t recognize me.

“Look at you!  You’re so beautiful.  My God!”

“She
always is,” Will interrupted.

“Let us see the ring.”
Pam was impatient.

I
held up my left hand for
them.

“Wow!  Congratulations again,” Pam gave us both hugs and cheek kisses as did
Jane
, although
Jane
blushed after kissing Will.

Will’s mother came
over
to us at that point and asked that we all take our seats.  We were led to the two seats
in
the middle of a long table on the side that faced the window
s
.  There were ten seats on each side of the table with a chair for little Emily on one end where she co
uld be flanked by her parents.

Will
’s parents sat directly opposite us and the rest of the guests fanned out on either side.  Will sat to my left, continuing to hold my left hand.
Emma and James sat to my right.  Pete and his
girlfriend were on the other side of Will. 
I noticed Pam toward the end of the table on the opposite side of me and that Niall was sitting next to her.  I smirked as I realized that Niall now had found a
nother
red
head
to draw his attention.

As we sat down, we were served champagne and Will’s father led a toast to start the evening, congratulating Will on his brilliant choice of fiancée and welcoming me to the family.

I smiled and mouthed the words, “Thank you.”  Had it not been for the candlelight, I’m sure it would have been clear that I was blushing.
  Will squeezed my hand
under the table
and started playing with my engagement ring with his thumb.

After the toast, we were served wine and soup to start.  It appeared that this was going to be a multi-course meal.  I was nervous and played with my soup a little before tasting it. 
N
erves were killing my appetite.

Will must have noticed because he leaned over
to whisper in my ear.  “Relax.”  Then he kissed my neck just under my ear.  With everyone looking as he did this, the last thing I was going to do was relax.  When he noticed that this seemed to have the opposite effect, he took my left hand between both of his and started to massage it.

I decided that I should probably go to the restroom and splash a little cold water on my face.  I excused myself and Will followed me until I got out the door.  As soon as the door closed
behind us
, he pulled me close and kissed me.

“Are you going to be all right?”

“I’m fine.  This is wonderful.”

“Are you sure?”  He didn’t believe me.

“
I’m j
ust a little overwhelmed.  A little cool water will make me human again.”

“Okay.  Don’t be too long.  I love you.”

“I love you.”

He kissed me again, let me go
,
and returned to our guests.

I hadn’t been in the ladies
’
room too long before Pam joined me.
  As she
entered
, I was putting a cold wet towel on my face.

“Where did you get that dress and those shoes?”

“A surprise from Will.
His sister, Emma
,
picked them out.”

“Wow!
  You look stunning.
But are you ok
ay?  You looked a little terror-
stricken there for a minute.”

“Oh my God!
  Do you think everyone noticed?”

“No.  I just know you.”

“This has been a bit overwhelming.  I certainly didn’t grow up poor by any stretch of the imagination, but this is all just too much
:
 
m
ovie star fiancé, massive diamonds, designer clothes,
world-
class hotels.
I keep waiting to wake up.”

“You’re not the only one.  You know Will is putting
Jane
and me up here as well.”

“Why am I not surprised?” I asked rhetorically.

Pam answered anyway. 
“Will thought it would be too far for
Jane
and me to drive home tonight.  I guess most of his family and friends
don’t live
that far from here.  Thanks to you, besides staying at this palatial estate, I flew first class and had my own suite
at a luxury hotel
in Berlin.  Not quite the starving student tour of Europe we planned, is it?”

“No
, b
ut a
t least you don’t have twenty people out there wondering how you could possibly be good enough for someone like Will.
”

“I don’t think they’re thinking that.”

“How could they not?”

“Because you’re a class act, Shannon. 
It’s obvious. 
You belong in this world.”

“I don’t feel like
I do
.  I feel like a fish out of water,
and
that Will’s friends and family will realize I don’t fit in his life.”

“They won’t.  Besides, even if they did,
which they won’t,
it wouldn’t matter because Will
thinks you do
.  He loves you.  It’s obvious.  Now let’s get back in there and enjoy your party.”

“Thanks for the pep
talk.”

“What are friends for?”

Before we walked in the room together, I thought I would return the favor. “By the way, I noticed that you were sitting next to Will’s friend, Niall.”

“Yes.  I met him.  He’s
very
good-
looking.”

“I should warn you.  He has a thing for
red
head
s.”

Pam stood up a little straighter and smiled.  “Really?  I’ll keep that in mind.”

We walked into the room together and no one seemed to make anything of it as it was n
ot
uncommon for women to go to the restroom in pairs.  They didn’t seem to guess that Pam had gone to pry me out of the
re
.

I sat back down at the table and Will grabbed my hand again.  He turned to look at me and asked, “Better now?”

“Yes.
I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to worry you.  I just needed a few minutes.”

“I’m glad you’re back.  I missed you.”

I squeezed his hand in response.

The salad course was served next.
  I picked at it a little, still having butterflies that were interfering with my appetite, but I knew I had to eat something
in light of the
champagne
I had
and
the fact that I
was
currently
drinking wine.

During this course, Emma turned to me.
 
“So, tell me, how was Will’s proposal?”

“It couldn’t have been more perfect.”

“I’m glad.  He was
so
nervous.”

“I couldn’t tell.”

“He’s a good actor.  He has a bit of a perfectionist streak and he was worried
about
get
ting
everything just right.”

“He shouldn’t have worried.  I don’t need all this.  I just need him.”

“I
thought
as much.  I don’t think he would love anyone who
would
require
all
this.
  He’s just a romantic, that’s all.  Olivia and I trained him well.”

“Well, thank you for that.  I’m very lucky.”

“Yes, you are so you’ll have to humor him sometimes.  I’ve been hearing about
you
for months though and, from what I’ve heard, he’s pretty lucky too.  I
spoke with
him the week h
e met you and I was
certain
even then that this was
what he ultimately wanted
.”

James asked Emma a question and she turned to speak to him.

I leaned over to Will and whispered in his ear, “I love you.  I’ve loved you since the moment I met you.”

“What brought this on?  What did Emma say to you?” he whispered in my ear.