For the Love of Gracie (38 page)
Ashton opened the door and said, "Cars all packed and…what did I miss?"
Cameron stood up and threw his arms around Ashton. "Hold me." Ashton hugged Cameron tightly. I loved how he would appease him no matter what.
Displaying my wrist, I said, "Check out what MJ and Angel gave me, more charms for my bracelet."
Ashton smiled at them. "I have one for you as well." He pulled a small silver charm out of his pocket and it was a tree that matched Cam's. "They told me about the idea and I went with them. This is a matching charm to Cam's, to represent him as your protector on your bracelet. That way, you have all of us on there now."
From behind Ashton, Cameron shouted, "Son of a bitch!" I moved to see what was wrong. His hands were tangled in his shirt as he used it to blot the tears from his eyes. "That's it! I need out of this cryfest!" He stomped out of the room and down the stairs.
Angel snickered. "He's such a drama queen."
From down the hall, Cameron's voice yelled out, "I'm a drama
princess
! Gah! Get it right!"
The last of the boxes were packed. The house was emptier than I ever remembered it being. I remembered the day I moved in and it wasn’t this empty. Angel had moved in the day before and her things were strewn everywhere. Mary Jane and I gave her a hard time for staking her claim on her bedroom before we ever had the chance.
Everyone had moved outside where they were standing around, desperately trying to avoid saying goodbye. I stood in the doorway and as I looked in the living room I could see all of us sitting around the table playing cards. The laughter, the music blaring, the drinks sloshing, it was a constant party in this house at one time.
Angel came up behind me and put her arm across my shoulder. "You ready to go, chica?"
I sighed. "I'm going to miss this place."
She leaned her head against mine. "Me too. We had a lot of good times here." We left the spare keys on the stairs in an envelope for the landlord, along with a nice gift of thanks for always being good to us.
She pulled me outside and I closed the door on some of the best years of my life, when I closed the front door to that house. Mary Jane, Angel, Cam and I stood in a group hug, not wanting to let go. After more tears, we broke apart.
Angel turned to me one last time. "I'll be hopping on a plane to New York in a few days! Next time I see you, you'll be getting married!"
I smiled excitedly. "Can't wait. Love you guys! Be careful, please! Call me as soon as you get to Florida."
Mary Jane hugged me tightly. "I love you. I'm so sorry I'll miss the wedding." She pointed a finger in Cameron's face. "You'd better get a great video of it for me!"
He raised his hands. "Yes ma'am! When did you become Ms. Bossy Britches?" She tugged him into her embrace and gave him a kiss. As they were saying their goodbyes, a car pulled into the driveway.
Derrick stepped out and I looked to Mary Jane for her reaction. She hadn’t seen him yet. He stepped out of the car with a giftbox and ran to her. "MJ!" She turned and smiled as he ran straight for her. "I know you didn’t want me to see you again. I had to get this to you though." She opened it up and found a painted coffee mug. It had a handprint painted on the mug in pink with 'I love you' in black, the background of the mug was baby blue. "Katelyn painted it for you. She wanted you to have something to remember her by," Derrick said. She glanced inside and found movie stubs, a pink carnation and some tokens from Chuck E Cheese. "I added those to remind you of me. I won't forget our time together and I hope you won't either."
I clung to Ash as I watched the immense joy and heartache roll over Mary Jane, all at once. With his index finger, Derrick lifted Mary Jane's chin to look at him. "Are you mad I came by with it?" Instead of answering, she pulled him forward into a very passionate kiss. His hands tangled in her hair as her hands went around his waist and pulled at his shirt as though she couldn't bring him close enough to her. Cameron said, "Whew honey…" and before he could finish, Gavin and I both slapped our hands over his mouth to muffle him from interrupting. We stood watching them lose themselves in each other, for a moment. When the moment ended, they stood smiling at each other. "I'll call you when I get to Florida?" she asked, not sure how Derrick would feel about it.
His grin widened. "I'd love that. Be careful, sweetheart." He kissed her forehead, took her hand and walked her to the car.
We waved goodbye as they drove away. I couldn’t stop waving, until they were completely out of sight. My shoulders slumped, I turned back towards the house one last time. Ashton put his arm around me. "Come on, let's go home."
When the plane landed in New York, Cameron broke out into song. He walked through the airport singing 'New York, New York' as he kicked his legs up Rockette style.
Once inside the city, he was elated about everything. "This is just how it looks in the movies! I love this town! Look!" He pointed at a group of people that were all same-sex couples. "I'm in gay heaven." He turned to Gavin, grabbing his hand. "We may need to move here!"
My heart clenched at those words. He turned to me and winked. I relaxed knowing he was teasing me. Angel would be arriving later this evening. They had been gone for two weeks. Though we spoke every other day, I missed them immensely. Mary Jane and Derrick decided to be friends, as hard as that might be. They decided that they could see where their lives were and how they still felt in two years when her program was complete.
Ashton checked us into the hotel. Cameron and I shopped in the boutiques while he took our bags upstairs.
After an hour, we headed to the room. Ashton and Gavin would share a room tonight and I would be with Cameron. This was to keep up the tradition of not seeing the bride the night before the wedding.
I opened the door to the suite and stepped inside. The suite seemed to be bigger than my house. I flopped down on the plush white couch, propping my feet on the coffee table. Ashton smiled. "Go check out the bathroom. You can have your
Pretty Woman
bath moment in there."
I jumped up and ran to see. The tub was humongous and I couldn’t wait to use it. I ran across the living room to the bedroom and flopped on the bed, bouncing as I landed. I smiled at myself and the thought I had. I slipped my shoes off and pulled myself up on the bed. I began to hop up and down, using the bed as a trampoline.
"Can't take you anywhere, can we?" A female voice rang out. I screamed and fell to the bed as I was tackled by Angel. We rolled around, hugging. "Come help me with my damn bags."
For the next few hours, we explored the city. We didn’t have a lot of time to go to all the museums and shows that we would've wanted to. We visited the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building. Those places were fun, and we took crazy pictures to send to Mary Jane. Cameron wanted a picture of himself as he went up, inside the Statue of Liberty.
He posted it on Facebook with the caption of, "The one and only time I'll ever be inside a woman."
We texted that to Mary Jane, with the same caption, and she texted back immediately with as many LOL's as she could type.
Our last stop was to the 9/11 Tribute Center. Ashton stepped up behind me. He wrapped his arms around my waist and bent to rest his head on my shoulder. "This puts so much in perspective about things that are important in life." I ran my hand along the list of names on the plaques in front of us. "These people walked into work on a normal day and whether they were a victim or a survivor, their lives changed in that moment the first plane hit that tower."
"Nothing in this world has been the same since that day. I was a little girl when it happened, only nine. Yet I remember asking my mom about why the buildings fell. I remember asking how someone could be so mean. Do you remember where you were?"
Ashton replied, "I was fourteen, in high school. We were watching it on the news during first period. It was as though none of us could look away. The teacher ended up getting in trouble for letting us watch it for so long. I remember seeing people jump from the windows. It was like watching a movie,
it was unreal. Being here today makes it so real."
Gavin, Ashton, Cameron, Angel and I had our picture taken in front of the sight. All of us looked very serious and our eyes were ready to spill with tears. We headed back to the hotel for the evening. Cameron and Gavin said their goodnights while Angel went to set up some drinks for our evening of girl time.
"This time tomorrow, you'll be Mrs. Ashton Collins."
My heart fluttered at those words. "I can't wait." He pulled me forward and pressed his lips to mine. His tongue ran across my lips lightly, pressing me to open and invite him in. I opened my mouth and pressed closer to him.
"Ahem!" Cameron interrupted.
I giggled, pulling away from Ash. "Uh-oh, it's the make-out police again."
Cameron smacked my bottom. "Get to your room young lady. It is getting close to midnight and you cannot afford any bad mojo for tomorrow!"
One last kiss from Ash and I reluctantly left him to go to my own room. Angel had a couple of cold beers waiting for us. She turned on the television and found a movie on for us to watch. We had run ourselves so ragged, that the couple of beers we drank put us straight to sleep.
In the morning, I woke up smiling. I bounced on the bed to wake Angel.
"I'm getting married today!" I exclaimed.
She reached back to slap me and pulled a pillow over her face as she mumbled something in Spanish that didn’t sound like a nice word.
I ran to get in the shower and my phone beeped. It was a text from Ashton.
We can't talk or see each other but we can text. I missed you last night. Walk to the door. Place your hand in the center, right over the peephole.
I texted him back, one handed, and said, 'done'.
Now press your body against the door and press your lips to it, I'll do the same on this side.
I did as he asked. I heard snickering from behind me and saw Cameron texting and laughing.
I stood with my hands on my hips. "What the hell are you doing?"
He snickered. "Making you look like an asshat as you molest the door. Ash left his phone here last night, I couldn’t resist! Shit, you'll do anything he tells you to do." He made the motion of a whip with his hand and made a sound to accompany it, "Wi-kssh."
I rolled my eyes. "As if Gavin doesn’t have you whipped as well."
He grinned. "Touché."
The wedding was in Central Park and we had three hours until we were supposed to be there to meet everyone. Ashton's parents were meeting us there with Katelyn. They flew in the night before and kept watch over her so that Derrick and Ashton could spend time together.
Angel fixed my hair. She curled the edges and pulled one side back with a beautiful comb edged in diamonds. "The comb is your something new. Mary Jane and I bought it for you. As for your something old, " she reached in her purse and pulled out a pair of thunderbolt rainbow earrings, "remember these?"
I doubled over in laughter. "I wore those every day of high school! They were my favorite earrings until I lost them when we went camping. Where did you find them?"
She smiled. "I found them when I was packing the house. Now for your something borrowed." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a necklace.
"That's MJ's mothers necklace," I said as I reached for it.
Angel nodded. "She sent it for you to wear today as your something borrowed and as a piece of her with you." To hold back the tears, I inhaled deeply through my nose.
"Last but not least, your something blue." She held up a blue garter belt and wiggled her eyebrows at me. I grinned and stuck my leg up for her to slide it on.
Once we were all dressed and ready to go, we stepped outside to hail a cab. Angel gasped as she saw a horse drawn carriage approach. "Dang girl, that's the ride you need! Let me ask how much it would cost, maybe we can get it for you!"
Before she could move, the man on the carriage yelled out, "Ms. Gracie Walker, Mr. Cameron McIntosh, your carriage awaits."
Ashton and Gavin must have arranged the carriage for us. Angel, Cameron, and I squealed with delight as we climbed up into the coach. We were on our way to the park, in style. I felt like a true princess today in my beautiful gown. Everyone on the street waved and took pictures of us. Angel looked beautiful in her red satin dress with thin diamond belt. Cameron was dashing in his white tuxedo with his red rose boutonniere.
When we arrived at the park, I saw Ashton and Gavin standing together, under a flower archway. Ashton's gaze met mine as I was helped out of the carriage. His face illustrated the joy that I felt. We both sucked in our bottom lips to keep from crying.
Katelyn ran up to me with her basket of flowers. She stepped in front and led the way by scattering the petals. She was thrilled at the opportunity. Before Angel started her walk, she whispered, "Don't ruin your make-up or Cameron will kill you." I laughed and gave her a thumbs up. She moved down the carpeted walkway to stand beside Ash. Cameron stuck his arm out to me.