French Twist (29 page)
My mother came charging towards us. “Where have you two been? It’s time to start!” She made some kind of bizarre gesture I won’t even attempt to describe and ran back down the hallway towards the offensive room.
Kate and I scrambled after her. When we reached the door, she squeezed my hand and kissed me on the cheek. Then she turned to my father and said, “Don’t give her any shit right now. She’s in a delicate state.”
She quickly adjusted her calla lily bouquet and started walking down the aisle behind Zoe. Maya was already seated in the front row.
My father peeked at me innocently and whispered, “What else is new?”
My mother swatted him in the back of the head and glared at him. “Teddy!” Then she turned to me, smiled warmly, adjusted a few locks of my hair and took my right arm.
I elbowed my father in the ribs with my other arm and winked at him. He laughed and offered me his right arm. I carefully wrapped my arm around his, centered my bouquet and then closed my eyes and tried to center myself. When that didn’t work, I opened my eyes, looked from my mom to my dad and whispered, “I love you both so much.”
My father kissed me on the forehead. “We love you too, Duck.”
As the three of us walked down the aisle, I realized Kate was right about the focus not being on the hideous decor of the room. From the moment we entered it, all I could focus on was Louis. He was wearing a dark-blue suit, a French blue shirt, a white tie and the biggest smile I’ve ever seen on his face. Quite simply, he took my breath away. I grinned back at him happily.
When my father gave my hand to Louis, a collective gasp followed by a round of applause was heard from the laptop on the table next to the judge. That must have been where Charlie and Louis had set up the webcam for Louis’ family. At least I hoped that’s what it was; otherwise I had some serious questions for the judge about the town’s privacy policy. For the time being, I decided to believe it was indeed Louis’ family and found their positive reaction allowed me my second genuine smile of the day.
The ceremony was short and sweet, much like our courtship. I missed a decent portion of what the judge said because I got lost in Louis’ beautiful blue eyes. It was one of my favorite places to be and I planned to return there often over the course of my lifetime. When the judge starting talking about rings, I pulled myself back to the present since I would actually have to do something other than gaze at Louis…
The judge instructed Louis to repeat after her as he put the ring on my finger. He smiled mischievously at me as Charlie handed him a thin band of diamonds. (Did I forget to mention that Louis asked Charlie to be his best man?) I stared at Louis in shock. This was not the band I had chosen at the jewelry store and I had
never
mentioned to him how badly I wanted a diamond wedding band. Somehow he always knew what I wanted. I had tears in my eyes as he put the ring on my finger, promising his love and fidelity for as long as we both shall live.
Of course, when my turn came, both my hands and my voice were shaking. But for once in my life, I didn’t care about what anyone else thought. Louis and I were meant for each other and that was all that mattered. As the judge pronounced us man and wife, I kissed my husband knowing every moment we had together would be our version of perfect. And that was more than good enough for me.
Though the town hall was not my first choice for a wedding site (or even my thousandth choice), the image would remain distinctly in my memory as the place where I became Louis’ wife. The photos would have quite the heinous background, but as far as I was concerned, the joy on everyone’s faces would overshadow this in spades. Due to my father’s forthright thinking in bringing a bottle of champagne to the town hall, we were able to have a brief toast immediately following the ceremony and added a few stains to the scary gold carpet. My mother was truly horrified, but I found it to be a fitting turn of events. The Bennett family leaves its mark wherever they go…
The Bennett family also doesn’t disappoint when it comes to a party. My mom tends to run a little, shall we say, HIGH on emotion during the planning process, but once the event arrives, my dad supplies her with enough alcohol to keep her in a happy state. In fact, the entire Bennett family tends to imbibe rather generously leading to various degrees of hijinks. Our wedding, it would seem, would be no different. I could only hope
I
wouldn’t be an active participant in any of said hijinks this time.
The antics began once we arrived at the hotel for our wedding reception. It just so happened the ONE girl in Kate’s high school class who didn’t like her (that’s right; there was only one), worked at the front desk of the hotel. Melissa had been hopelessly in love with Kate’s high school boyfriend, Derek, and had done everything in her power to drive the two of them apart. Her efforts were never successful and Melissa’s resentment of Kate became astronomical by the time they graduated. To Nick’s horror, Melissa flirted shamelessly with him throughout the check in process.
When Melissa handed Nick their room key, Kate finally snapped. She slammed her hand down on the counter and proclaimed that if Melissa so much as
looked
at her husband for the duration of our stay in the hotel she would make her wish she had never been born. It was the most unKatelike statement I had ever heard her make and it was AWESOME. Way to go pregnancy hormones! I laughed for a good five minutes straight. It was an excellent way to begin the wedding reception.
Then about halfway through dinner, I received an unexpected gift from my father. My aunt had been making her usual string of veiled compliments regarding all the hard work my mom had put in for our wedding reception. Once she had beaten that to death, she moved on to insinuations about both my being pregnant and Louis needing a green card. (I know! Clearly, she shouldn’t be invited to
any
family events, but the guilt always gets to my mother.) Just as my father was about to begin a champagne toast, he accidentally tripped and sent my aunt flying into a serving bowl full of salad. It was going to take a LONG time for her to get the Caesar dressing out of her hair. And even longer to rid herself of the scent of garlic! Sweet!
After we had all partaken in the amazing three tiered chocolate wedding cake which Zoe and Charlie had given us, a very tipsy Zoe and even more tipsy Maya joined the band on stage for a rendition of “Love Shack.” While that in itself was pretty damn funny, the dancing which went along with the singing was over-the-top hilarious. Zoe had somehow found a top hat and was shaking it around while doing some kind of tap dance, while Maya had gotten hold of a feather boa and was doing something that looked a lot like it could turn into an impromptu strip tease. While Louis made sure to remove Maya from the stage before she actually removed any clothing, he managed to take a video of her actions leading up to that point and planned to use it to embarrass her at a later date. Payback is a bitch, my friend.
The most bizarre turn of the evening came when our party was crashed by an out-of-town fishing club. My father originally approached the six well-dressed gentlemen to ask them to leave, but as he was a fisherman himself, he was easily drawn into a conversation regarding current New York State fishing laws. After a few rounds of drinks, the fishing club moved on and my father began singing his favorite marching songs from the army. This was a sight I hadn’t seen before. I was going to peg it as the funniest moment of the night, until my father suspenders somehow malfunctioned and his pants ended up around his ankles. Luckily for him, Louis and I were the only ones who witnessed this. I laughed so hard Louis had to catch me before I fell over.
Sadly, I wasn’t immune to tales of hilarity. I was filled with so much joy in my role as bride that I had too much to drink. I thought a glass of wine or two would be fine, but the more wine I had, the happier I got, which meant I drank even more. This process coupled with the glass or two of champagne I’d consumed during the wedding toast made me fairly drunk. I, of course, had a great time. Louis had a great time the next morning telling me that not only did I have him brush my teeth for me (because I was too drunk to do this myself), but also, I had fallen out of bed in the middle of the night and he had a hell of a time picking my sorry ass up and getting it back into bed. What a hot wedding night it was!
But the best story of all involves my lovely cousin, Cynthia. It seems she
too
had become fairly inebriated and ended up hurling in the flower beds in front of the hotel. What made this even more priceless was that my father’s buddies from the fishing club were driving by in their rented limo and decided to stop to take photos - which they emailed to my father. I decided to have them blown up for my aunt’s surprise birthday party the following month. (It was cruel, I know, but she deserved it!) Cynthia managed to dispose of the full-sized posters, but we retained the digital images. Imagine our surprise when they somehow found their way into the slideshow of family photos which was shown during cocktail hour. It was my aunt’s best party yet!
In the end, our first wedding was far from perfect, but I had the perfect groom, and that was more than I could ever ask for. As I danced with Louis to our wedding song, “At Last”
by Etta James, I thought about how different my life had become since I had met him. In the last six months, I had experienced many things I had never experienced before. I had been pushed further than I ever had before. And I had become someone who I never imagined I would be: a remarkably sane and courageous woman (with just a hint of lunatic). I can say with all honesty, even though it felt like a crazy roller coaster ride and there were several times when I was scared shitless, I wouldn’t have changed any part of our story. My adventure with Louis had awoken a confidence in me which I had no idea existed and I knew in my heart we were going to have a wonderful (if slightly imperfect) life together.
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes as I rested my head on Louis’ shoulder. After such a flurry of activity, I was looking forward to living life in the slow lane for a while. Then it dawned on me that I still had to finish planning my perfect wedding. I sighed. One wedding down, two more to go. What could possibly go wrong?
Thank you so much for reading
French Twist
! If Sydney wormed her way into your heart, or perhaps tickled your funny bone just a little, I would be grateful if you took a few moments to write a review of your reading experience. Amazon or Goodreads; take your pick! Your time, effort and thoughtful words are greatly appreciated! Who knows? You may even wrangle a few unsuspecting folks into giving Sydney’s brand of humor a try!
I owe a debt of gratitude to my wonderful family for their generous love and support throughout this eye opening journey.
To my amazing husband, Sebastien, for sharing his life with me, for loving me unconditionally and for reminding me (often) that I could do justice to our story.
To my beautiful boys, Ryan and Xander, for filling my heart with so much joy.
To my sister, Megan, for championing my effort from the very beginning. Thank you for being my sounding board, my cheerleader, my story editor and my cover designer all rolled into one. You are the best sister a girl could ever ask for.
To my sister-in-law Jen, for sharing my excitement and delving into editing with gusto! Thank you for your inspiring ideas and for being a willing participant in our crazy family.
To my brother Colin, for having such a huge heart and for always making me laugh.
To my brother-in-law, Josh, for cheerfully reading this book despite its lack of zombies and aliens. Your kind words and keen insights into the realm of romantic comedy are greatly appreciated!
To my nieces, Sabrina and Skyler, for their unbridled enthusiasm, their creative input and their firm belief that a movie studio would purchase the film rights.
To my nephews, Jackson and Evan, for making me feel like a rock star for writing this book.
Thank you all for believing in me.
After thirteen years in the human resources industry, Glynis was inspired to create a work of fiction rather than continue to listen to employees’ fabricated complaints each day. In her debut novel,
French Twist
, she chronicles the accelerated courtship and marriage to her husband, Sebastien - with a little judicious editing. When she’s not writing, she’s usually rushing to the gym, wracking her brain to remember 3
rd
grade math to help her son with his homework, rescuing toys from certain destruction down the toilet or trying not to burn dinner. She currently lives in Westchester, New York with her incredibly romantic French husband and two angelic sons.