Here Comes The Bride (3 page)

The priest completed the ceremony with one final traditional Irish blessing.

"May the road rise to meet you.

May the wind be always at your back.

May the sun shine warm upon your face, the rains fall soft upon your fields.

May
God be with you and bless you;

May you see your children's children.

May you be poor in misfortune,

Rich in blessings,

May you know nothing but happiness from this day forward.

And may the hand of a friend always be near.

May the road rise to meet you

May the wind be always at your back

May the warm rays of sun fall upon your home.

May green be the grass you walk on,

May blue be the skies above you,

May pure be the joys that surround you,

May true be the hearts that love you.

And until we meet again,

May God hold you in the palm of His hand."

When he finished he nudged us to face our families and guests.

"I present to you
, Mrs. Lillian and Mr. Aidan Walsh Iverson."

The music started, Phoebe handed me my bouquet and Aidan and I walked down the aisle
as husband and wife. We stopped just outside the opening doors and lined up for the receiving line.

"You look beautiful
, Lilli." I turned towards him. I hadn’t expected him to say anything.

"Um...thanks. You're not too bad yourself." I winked and smiled.

Before I could turn away, he cupped my cheek and kissed me tenderly. I was slightly taken aback. But, our guests started to approach us so I didn't have too much time to think about it.

The receiving line went smoothly, though it took over an hour. Once finished
, we were ushered to different locations in the large room for photos.

"We
’re seriously taking photos of this?" I whispered into Aidan’s ear as we posed in front of the sunset through the windows.

He rolled his eyes. "It is our wedding day
, you know."

I snorted, trying not to break into a giggle fit.

Aidan pulled me closer and kissed me. The flash went off. The photographer had been shouting out posing orders and I hadn’t been paying attention. There were photos with the wedding party, our parents, the priest and Aidan and I alone.

After all of the posing and the plastered smiles, the wedding coordinator hustled us up a floor to the reception room
where the wedding party was waiting for us. Phoebe and Celia were all smiles when Aidan and I arrived. A Uillean piper began playing traditional Irish music, indicating the arrival of the wedding party.

Walking into the room
, I was again awestruck by the décor. There were walls and walls of windows that looked out into the early evening and over the water. It was a stunning backdrop to the snowball flowers, candles and ivory and sage green lace that decorated the room.

Our guests stood and clapped as we entered. Once we reached the dance floor area, the Irish Wedding song began to play and Aidan wrapped his arm around my waist. We swayed on the floor. Viola had suggested we use the song and I agreed since I had no clue w
hich song would suit our situation.

As the song started to come to an end,
Aidan spun me slowly and dipped me backwards. I jumped, not prepared for this move. He started to chuckle and I smacked his arm slightly, laughing at myself. Flashes went off around us.

Once the song ended we sat down at our table with our family. Aidan was on my right
, my mother and father on my left. Viola, Liam and Maggie were to Aidan’s right. We sat in small conversation about the wedding ceremony. Viola was beaming. Traditional Irish music played quietly in the background as dinner was being served.

"Ahem," everyone turned.

James stood near the DJ table with a microphone. "It’s my duty, as the best man, to toast the new couple." James smirked at Aidan.

"Oh dear
God," Aidan groaned and rolled his eyes. I couldn’t help but giggle.

"Dear cousin, we have stood next to each other throughout the years
, more like brothers than cousins. I wish you the best." James raised his glass and drank.

"Wow and I thought that he would –"

"Dear, Lilli." My head snapped back to James, eyes wide with nervousness. "Lilli, Lilli, Lilli…you have had such an effect on our dear Aidan, more than you realize." James smiled mischievously, winking at Aidan. "Here’s to you! Keeping doing what you do to him or, rather, don’t do." Aidan groaned while everyone drank again.

"What –?"

"Don’t ask, please." He shook his head.

I laughed lightly. "Ok."

Once the dinner course was finished and dishes cleared, the music got louder and the bar saw more attention.

"So, Viola said you two will be going to a private island for your honeymoon, how long will you be gone?" My mother inquired while taking a drink.

I cleared my throat.

"Um…two weeks."

"When are you leaving?" Donald looked at me with guilt and tension.

I placed my hand on his.

"Not till the morning." I leaned over and kissed his cheek.

"Yes," Aidan cleared his throat. "We’ll take the jet part of the way and then we’ll have to take the boat to the island." He took a large drink.

Celia, Phoebe and Maggie came over and grabbed my arm, pulling me onto the dance floor with them. Reaching the middle of the crowd, we started dancing.

I plastered a smile
onto my face. I couldn’t keep my thoughts from wandering back to the honeymoon. Mostly, I think I was nervous about being alone with him for so long. However, I know that wasn’t all that was bothering me. What of all the sexual tension forming between us? What if we ended up hating each other?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Aidan

I could feel my palms sweating and my
heart racing. Standing at the altar, in front of family, friends and business colleagues, I was waiting for Lilli to walk down the aisle. This was it. After today I would be married. Part of me was relieved while the other part was nervous. Four years, four years with Lilli. She wasn’t too keen on having sex or being a married couple, which worried me. What would this be like? I was about to hyperventilate.

Lilli
began walking towards me, wearing Viola’s wedding dress. She was more beautiful than anything I had ever seen. My heart picked up speed. I locked onto her eyes and stared intently, in pure awe of her presence. This woman was amazing. When Donald gave her hand to me, I had to latch on tightly before she had a chance to change her mind. After my behavior at the rehearsal dinner, I was worried she would back out and run.

My worries subsided the moment there was skin to skin contact. The familiar tingling heat between our hands never seemed to dull or fade away
, but this time if felt like a fire starting between our palms.

As the ceremony progressed I couldn’t help but feel different about her, about everything between us. When we kissed I felt a wave of passion overtake my body
, having to pull back before I got carried away. Instead I thanked her before pulling away to face our guests.

I thanked
her for doing this, going through with everything and for the feeling she created within me. The moment I put the ring on her finger, I knew I could fall for her and that I may just want to. I shook off my thoughts as we proceeded down the aisle to stand in the receiving line.

"You look beautiful
, Lilli." She looked at me in surprise.

"Um...thanks. You're not too bad yourself." She winked and smiled.
The gesture was so endearing, I cupped her face and kissed her before she could turn away.

After the receiving line
, we were rushed around for wedding pictures and then led upstairs to the reception. Our first dance started innocent and routine, but the more I looked at her, the more she captivated me. I began to save to memory the light freckles across her nose and cheeks, the deepness to her hazel eyes, and the way her cherry floral scent filled the air when we spun. I couldn’t help but dip her. She jumped in surprise, but we both started laughing.

Dinner was being served when James felt the need to get up and grab the microphone. I could only imagine what would come out of his mouth. At first
, I thought he was actually just going to be nice, then he addressed Lilli. I groaned.

"What –?" Lilli had started to ask what he meant
. There was no way I was telling her how everyone found it hilarious that I wouldn’t be having sex with her anytime soon.

"Don’t ask, please." I begged.

"Ok." She agreed with a laugh.

The night was going well. Everyone seemed to be having a good time
and soon it was time to cut the cake. Lilli and I stood at a large table, holding handfuls of cake with evil smirks on our faces.

"Don’t mess up her make-up!" Phoebe yelled.

"Yeah, what she said." Lilli said, nodding toward Phoebe.

"Play nice
, Lilli." I laughed as our hands approached each other’s face.

Before anyone could say anything else we were shoving cake up each other’s noses and laughing hysterically.

"Kiss her!" the photographer shouted and I didn’t even think twice. Grabbing her by her waist, I pressed our cake covered faces into each other, making sure to greedily lick a little from her mouth. Pulling back, I couldn’t read her expression completely, but I definitely saw a hint of lust. I wanted to kiss her again but she pulled away and started to wipe her face.

Phoebe appeared and pulled her off.

"You two are horrible! Now we need to do a touch up." Phoebe grumbled and hurried them to the restrooms, Lilli laughing the whole way.

Once we were cleaned up and everyone had taken a seat for their cake and other desserts, Lilli and I were called out to the middle of the dance area. It was time to toss the garter. Lilli blushed and covered her face while the DJ’s helper brought a chair out for her to sit on. Lilli sat down. I knelt in front of her.