My Sweetheart (26 page)

             
Tate caressed her cheek and his eyes warmed. “Your heart is so full of love and kindness who could ever resist that?”

             
The music started growing louder though and Kit motioned for her with her hand. “Come on! It’s time to dance!” she yelled.

             
Layla appeared at her side and whispered in her ear. Jane nodded immediately and hurried to the house leaving Tate with Kam and his friends. Tawni had brought a dress for her to dance in since no one with as many layers as she was wearing could do anything but imitate a bell ringing. No, if she was going to dance, she had to be comfortable. Layla helped her out of her dress and handed her the knee length cocktail dress in white. It had a ruched top, rhinestone belt and white feathers covering the skirt. She adored it.

             
She checked herself in the mirror, wiped icing off her mouth with a grin and let her hair down, running her fingers through the waves. She was ready.

             
Layla escorted her back to the dance floor and she saw immediately that Tate had taken off his jacket, tie and waist coat. He was unbuttoning the top two buttons of his shirt and laughing with his friends.

             
Kit joined them and looked Jane’s dress up and down frowning. Jane’s eyes went big in fear.
Please, please let Kit not be mad about her dress
, she said over and over in her mind until Kit’s mouth tilted up in a smile.

             
“You traded in poof for feathers. You are wild Jane. More wild than me it turns out,” she said looking down at her white cocktail dress which was more conservative, streamlined with different geometrical shapes that flared out to her knees in a triangle pattern.

             
Jane bit her lip hoping she didn’t have to hitchhike. “Well, Tawni had this dress and she insisted I borrow it. I can change back into my wedding dress if you want me to,” she said closing her eyes tight, not wanting to make Kit mad.

             
Kit sighed and pushed Jane. “You’re so lucky I’m in a good mood today. I hear hitchhiking is kind of dangerous these days,” she said narrowing her eyes at Jane as her sister gave up and giggled. Kit grinned and hugged Jane hard. “Let’s go have some fun.”

             
Jane’s face softened as Tate walked over to her, his eyes going bright and gleaming as he looked her up and down. “Now that’s a dress to dance in,” he said pulling her into his arms.

             
Kit narrowed her eyes at Jane’s dress one more time and then turned to find Hunter right beside her and she immediately forgot all about dresses and who had the best one.

             
Hunter stared lovingly down into Kit’s face, his eyes crinkling at the sides as he motioned to the dance floor with his chin. “I still remember how to do the sprinkler. You got any new dance moves you can show me?”

             
Kit grinned and took him by the hand, pulling him toward the dance floor. “Oh honey, you just wait.”
              The DJ announced the first dance and the couples moved seamlessly to Etta James,
At Last
, which Kit had picked out for their first dance. Jane stared up into Tate’s face and knew this song could have been theirs easily. They’d been through a lot to get to this point and at last she was right where she wanted to be. In Tate’s arms, as his wife.

             
The DJ announced her and Tate’s song and immediately she heard the strains of
When A Man Loves a Woman
. She glanced at Kit and of course, she was shooting daggers at her.
Crud
. If Kit had her way, she’d be hitchhiking. She let out a nervous giggle and hid her face in Tate’s chest. His strong fingers moved up and down her spine as they moved to the music and it felt like every word was written just for her and Tate.

             
When their song ended, The Lumineers song,
Ho Hey
started and everyone in the crowd joined them, dancing and laughing. The words,
I belong with you, You Belong with me, in My Sweetheart
played over and over and had everyone singing along. The next song was Matchbox Twenty’s
Overjoyed
, followed by
Good Feeling
by Flo Rida and that’s when everyone started getting a little wild. The DJ played classics like Busta Move but the crowd loved
Single ladies
by Beyonce’ probably the best. She and Kit and Layla tried to copy some of Beyonce’s moves but they were laughing too hard and couldn’t. Kit and Hunter’s favorite was Counting Crow’s
Accidently in love
. Tate’s song he’d picked for her was Phillip Phillips,
Gone, Gone, Gone
. She pulled a Layla and teared up as he sang the words in her ear as if every word was pulled right from his heart.

             
They danced for another hour but it was starting to get late and Tate leaned down and whispered in her ear. “Time to throw that bouquet Beautiful. It’s time to go.”

             
Jane licked her lips and nodded. She reached over and told Kit their plans and Hunter nodded his head quickly in agreement. She and Kit went to the table they’d set their bouquets on and picked theirs up. Jane had bought her flowers for her bouquet the night before at Costco and had chosen bright pink peonies. Tawni had helped her to wrap the short stems in silk ribbon and decorate it with faux pearls. Kit had ordered hers long before and had chosen white orchids. Jane had to admit Kit’s bouquet was exquisite.

             
“We can’t throw these, I want to have it dried and preserved,” Kit said staring at her bouquet longingly and at the crowd of single women lining up, looking at them with blood lust in their eyes.

             
Jane grimaced and looked back at Kit. “Yikes, they’re going to tear it apart. Look, we only need to throw one bouquet. Throw mine. Honestly, I spent maybe fifty dollars on it and yours is a small fortune. Seriously, throw mine.”

             
Kit frowned and looked at her and then smiled. “We’ll do it together.”

             
Jane nodded and they moved as one toward the line of women and turned around. They both put their hands on the bouquet and grinned at each other. “One, two, three!” they yelled and threw the bouquet as hard as they could up and over.

             
They whipped around, laughing to see who had caught the bouquet. A large almost angry murmur went up through the crowd and Jane stood up on her tip toes to see who had caught her flowers.

             
Rob Downing walked forward looking embarrassed as he held her bouquet. “I swear I wasn’t even trying to catch the thing. It was like it was aimed at my head. If I hadn’t caught it, it would have taken an eye out,” he complained, looking at the angry women apologetically.

             
Kit laughed and shook her head. “Well girls, he’s up for grabs! Who would like to dance with a man destined to be married soon?” she yelled to the crowd of women and suddenly the anger turned to speculation and Rob blinked in what looked like fear.

             
Jane held up her hand. “Now ladies, be gentle. This man is a dear friend of mine. Only one dance per lady,” she said, giggling as Rob was pulling back onto the dance floor by one of Tate’s tall Samoan cousins.

             
“He so deserves that,” Kit muttered and then looked for Hunter.

             
Jane sighed happily as Layla came to her, putting her arm around her shoulders. “Sweetie, it’s time to go. Ready?”

             
Jane nodded, feeling those butterflies multiply in her stomach. Layla walked with her back to the house so she could change into a pale cream suit she’d bought for just this moment. Meredith and Tawni ran up to her as she reached the front door.

             
“You got the buns to decorate Kit’s car?” Meredith asked, taking another picture of her with her camera.

             
Jane nodded, grinning wickedly. “Just give me one minute.” Jane rushed into the house and grabbed the bag of buns and whipped cream and brought it out to Meredith. “Now make it good and get some pictures, okay?

             
Tawni giggled and nodded. “This seriously makes me want to get married now. What about you Meredith?”

             
Meredith looked back over her shoulder at Kam dressed in a pale gray suit and smiled. “Just a little,” she said and saluted Jane before grabbing Tawni and heading back down the stairs just as Kit walked past her.

             
Kit stared at her suspiciously and frowned. “What are your little friends up to Jane?” she demanded. “They looked really guilty just now as I passed them.”

             
Jane squinched up her nose. She’d always been horrible at lying. “Um, probably because they were waiting for their chance to ask Hunter to dance. They were scared you would curse them if they did.”

             
Kit sniffed and tilted her chin up. “Smart girls. Come on, let’s get going.”

             
Jane and Kit changed into their demure suits and watched as their luggage was taken away. Layla shut the door and walked into the room and stared at her two younger sisters, looking more grown up than they ever had before and then promptly burst into tears.

             
Jane and Kit rushed to Layla’s side and hugged her gently as she sobbed her heart out. “It’s just . . ., you two are my little sisters . . . and you’re going off . . . and getting married. You’re both just so beautiful . . . I love you both so much,” she said, sobbing some more and hugging them tightly.

             
Jane kissed Layla’s cheek and smoothed her hair back from her wet face. “You and Kit both have made this the most amazing day of my life. You two are the best.”

             
Kit nodded and leaned her head against Layla’s. “You showed us how it was done Layla. If Jane and I can be half as happy as you and Michael are, then we’ll be deliriously happy the rest of our lives.”

             
Layla snorted loudly and laughed. “I have way too many hormones right now for that to be true, but I love you for saying it. Okay girls. Time to start your lives as Mrs. Matafeo and Mrs. Hunter. Ready?”

             
Jane and Kit looked at each other and grinned. “
Yes
,” they said at the same time.

             
They walked outside onto Hunter’s large porch and were joined by their husbands. As soon as they grabbed each other’s hands they were pelted with rice. Tate pulled her quickly through the crowd to his waiting car and she stopped in horror. Someone,
Kit
, had decorated their car with cans, lipstick, toilet paper and Oreo cookies stuck to every available surface. She turned and glared at Kit but she laughed and shrugged.

             
“That’s what you get for having a better cake and portraits and dress than me. I forgave you the roast pig though. Hunter really loved that.”

             
Jane sniffed and pointed to Hunter’s car and raised an eyebrow. “Well I guess we’re even then, aren’t we?”

             
Kit turned and looked at what Hunter was staring at. Meredith and Tawni had gone the second and third mile covering the entire car with cinnamon rolls and pictures of Princess Leia and Han Solo with the words Just Married over the back window.

             
Hunter turned and reached for Kit’s hand. “I love it,” he said grinning and insisted Meredith take their picture posing in front of the car.

             
Tate waited as Meredith took their picture too and then they waved to the crowd before slipping inside. As soon as Jane shut the door, she sighed in relief as the noise and the crowd disappeared.

             
Tate looked over at her and smiled tiredly. “Hello Mrs. Matafeo.”

             
Jane laughed softly and reached over for his hand. “That sounds beautiful, doesn’t it?”

             
Tate nodded and kissed her knuckles. “It does to me.”

             
Jane stared out of her hotel window at the blue ocean and felt Tate’s arms come around her. Tate leaned down and kissed her neck. “Let’s go swimming. I want to show you how to snorkel.”

             
Jane followed Tate down to the beach and put on her flippers and her mask and followed him into the water. She floated on top of the water and watched as the ocean came alive for her. Tate pointed her toward a few butterfly fish and a low-fin chub. She watched Tate swim closer to the reef and let herself float. She was at peace with the water, she was at peace with her life and she was madly in love with her husband.

             
Jane kicked her legs and swam to Tate, grabbing his hand in hers. He glanced at her and his eyes warmed and he smiled. She had once dreamed of being with Tate in the water.

             
Reality was much better.