Three Loving Words (27 page)

“Yes,” I said and threw myself at him much like I did the first time.

“Oh, and one more thing,” he said between kisses.  “Please move back home.”

“Absolutely.”

“I love you,” he whispered against my lips, my favorite three words ever.

So I responded with what became his favorite four words, “I love you, always.”

*****

“You make a stunning bride,” Gerry told me as he walked into my bridal suite at the Westshire Hotel.  It was the most beautiful hotel I’d had ever seen. I was twelve when I attended a family friend’s wedding there and vowed I would get married at the Westshire.  It hadn’t worked out that way the first time around, but Enzo made sure I got to fulfill my dreams somehow.

When Enzo asked me how and where I wanted to renew our vows, I told him I didn’t care because he’d already fulfilled all my dreams.

“I’d be content with a simple ceremony, just our close friends and family.  I just want to stand in front of the people who matter the most and tell them just how much you mean to me.”

“Sounds perfect,” he said against my lips.  He hired a wedding coordinator who seemed to pretty much agree with everything I said.  She brought designs and patterns, pictures and vendors straight to my doorstep.  I had never heard of anything like that before, but I figured money bought that convenience.  Little did I know that it was all for show.  She and Enzo were appeasing my “simple” request so that I would be none-the-wiser to what was really going on.

When the white vintage Rolls Royce appeared at our home waiting to escort me to my supposed destination earlier that morning, I knew something was up.

“This isn’t the way to the banquet hall,” I told the driver.

“I know,” he told me.  I started to panic and immediately called Enzo.

“I see you’ve got my surprise.”

“How … how did you know this was the car I wanted for my wedding?”

“A magician never tells his secrets.”

“A magician?”

“Yep,” he popped the “p.”  “Today, I’m making certain decisions disappear while other plans reappear.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Just go with it, Paige.  I promise you’ll like it.”

Enzo refused to sleep apart the night before what I termed our Renewal Wedding, but he left early that morning to run mysterious last-minute errands.  He never mentioned any change of plans, though.

It was only after I pulled up to the Westshire that I started to understand just what he meant.  My eyes glazed over with unshed tears.  And then I saw my mom, Connie, Chandra, and Nora waiting for me in the lobby and tears started falling.

They whisked me away to a private room where a beauty team awaited to treat us all.  I had never been pampered like that before.  It was only after Chandra and Nora got dressed in the room that I realized they weren’t wearing the dresses I picked out, yet they were, just not recently.  They were the same flowing satin material, an almost identical design, and a shade slightly off from the ones I had pictures of in my wedding scrapbook.

“I don’t understand,” I told them.

“I was instructed to give you this note if you had any questions,” Nora said as she handed me a piece of paper no bigger than a Post-it note.  I recognized Enzo’s handwriting immediately as I read out loud. “A magician never tells his secrets.”

I smiled wide even though I still couldn’t figure out what was going on.

Nora’s phone dinged shortly after my hair and makeup were done.  “Your presence is requested by your Prince Charming,” she said as she did a mock curtsy.

“He can’t see me before the wedding!  It’s bad luck.”

“Renewal, P.  I think it’s a little different.  Besides, you’re not wearing your dress yet.  We’ll save that for the ceremony.”

“Fine, where to?”

“We’ll take you there,” Chandra told me.  “But you have to put this on first,” she said as she handed me a blindfold.  Nora and Chandra led me out of the room, but I had no clue where we were going.  It took a few minutes of trusting them not to lead me directly into a door before we stopped and Chandra told me I could take off the blindfold.

I did and immediately gasped.  I covered my mouth with both hands as the tears gathered in my eyes.  It was only for the distant awareness that I was in full makeup that held them at bay.  It didn’t stop the silent sobs that rolled through me.

“It’s … it’s … I have no words.  It’s magical.  But how?”  I was on the rooftop of the hotel overlooking the entire city.  The sun hadn’t set yet, but I could imagine just how beautiful the twinkling lights of the buildings would look as a backdrop to our vow renewal.  That wasn’t even the best part; the best was the scene before me.  It was an exact replica of my ideal wedding straight from my scrapbook.  A dusty ivory gazebo with calla lilies intertwined stood in the center of a circle of chairs so that everyone could see the bride and groom and the view from any angle.  There were two aisles leading up to the raised platform of the gazebo with elegant calla lily bouquets to match the design in the center.  There were Christmas lights strewn along the sides of the entire rooftop and on the backs of some of the chairs.  And in the middle of it all stood Enzo, a mischievous smile playing on his lips, his gaze focused solely on me as I took everything in.

“This isn’t a simple ceremony,” I remarked as he started to walk toward me.

“No, but this is the ceremony you dreamed about.”

“I still don’t understand,” I told him when he was standing just before me.

“A magician never tells his secrets,” he repeated, “but this one vowed he’d never keep anything from you.”

As hard as I tried, a tear escaped my eyes.  Enzo leaned in and kissed the stray drop.  “No crying today, Paige.”

“They’re happy tears,” I told him as I dabbed my eye with the blindfold I was still clutching.

“I still hate to see you cry.”

“I know, but you still haven’t shared your secrets.”

“I told you that I would give you the life you deserved and the wedding of your dreams, didn’t I?  Whatever you decided with the wedding planner wasn’t what your heart truly wanted.  I couldn’t very well tell you that I was going to plan it all, so we let you believe you were getting what you described.”

“How did you know?” I interrupted and squeezed my eyes shut to prevent any more tears.

Enzo chuckled at my antics.  “I had a lot of help from your friends and our families, but it was pretty easy to plan all this out with a play-by-play of exactly what you wanted.”

“My scrapbook!” I cried.

“Your mom found it some time ago and gave it to me, told me to hold it dear, and I did.  This is what you wanted, right?” he asked, suddenly sounding nervous.

“It’s everything and more.  But Enzo, I would have been happy at City Hall.”

“I know, but I wanted to give you what you’ve dreamed of since you were a little girl.  I hope I got it all right.”

“Well, I guess we’ll have to wait until I see the ballroom just to make sure,” I teased.

“I promise I followed your instructions there too,” he told me seriously.

“I’m kidding, Enzo.  We could renew our vows in a rowboat in the middle of the ocean and I’d still be the happiest person to ever exist.  I am so lucky to have you.”  I threw myself into his arms and hugged him fiercely before pressing my lips against his with such fervor that he actually took a step back.

“I’m the lucky one, Paige, and in a few hours when you tell me ‘I do’ and mean it this time, I’ll have won the jackpot.  I love you more than you could ever understand. This,” he motioned with his hand, “is what I can give you, but if I could, I’d give you the world so you know just how much you mean to me because, Paige, you are my world.”

Our lips met again and it wasn’t until I heard someone clear their throat that I realized I had forgotten Nora and Chandra were still on the roof with us.  “I hate to break up the party,” Nora said, “but we have to finish getting your girl ready so you can make an honest woman of her.”

“She is an honest woman.” Enzo laughed.

“Semantics,” Chandra added.

I gave Enzo a quick peck before I headed back down and continued getting ready.

“Thank you,” I told Gerry as he took in my appearance.

“I never told you this, but I’m thankful to have a daughter-in-law like you.”

“I’m thankful to have a father-in-law like you.  I owe you a lot.”  I meant it.  Forgiving Gerry had actually been harder than forgiving my own parents.  I think it was because the more I learned about Enzo as he shared his childhood with me after we had got back together, the more I hated what a horrible father Gerry had been.  Enzo had forgiven him and my dad almost instantly, especially after Gerry helped in Enzo’s successful attempt to win me back, but it took me a little longer.  It was only after I witnessed Gerry’s softer side toward Enzo when Enzo started working for him about a month after his second proposal that I started warming up toward him.  And then came our beautiful baby, and Gerry literally changed overnight.  He might have been a shitty father, but he was meant to be a grandfather.  Being a grandfather actually suited him, and anyone who was that great with my kid was all right in my book.  We never talked about things, we never had it out with each other, and I never mentioned his role in my life. It was just a gradual transition from me not being so nice to Gerry to welcoming him whenever I saw him.

“I don’t know if you remember this,” Gerry started, “but a little girl once walked up to me, bold and confident and said, ‘I’m going to marry your son one day.’”

“Oh, my God, I remember that.”  I was maybe five or six when I had been crying because I scraped my knee, and Enzo walked up to me and kissed my knee.

“My mom does that to my boo-boos,” he’d told me with a shrug and then walked away.  I was smitten.  I stopped crying and marched up to Gerry and told him I was going to marry Enzo.  I had forgotten all about that until now.

“Do you remember what I said?” he asked.

“No.”

“We’ll make it happen.” He smiled wryly.  “I kept my promise, Paige.”

I was torn between wanting to laugh and wanting to cry.  “Yeah … yeah, I guess you did.”

He hugged me, and I froze in shock for a minute. We were on good terms, but he’d never shown affection.  It took a minute, but I wrapped my arms around him.

“Thank you, Gerry. Thank you for your unconventional methods and good heart.”

“It was my pleasure.”

We were interrupted by a knock on the door and my dad poking his head in.

“I’ll leave you two,” Gerry said as he quietly left the room.

“You’re beautiful, Paige,” my dad said as he enveloped me in a hug.

I had forgiven my dad surprisingly quickly.  After Enzo had told me everything he knew about our fathers’ decision, I wasn’t upset with my mom.  She hadn’t been involved in the scheme, and I couldn’t fault her for not wanting to tell me the truth when she finally found out.  My dad, on the other hand – I couldn’t fathom why or how he could do something like that to me.  I refused to speak to him for a few weeks, even with my mother’s wishes to listen to him.  It was only after Enzo pointed out that if I hadn’t given him the chance to explain things, we wouldn’t be together that I finally caved.

I met my dad at my parents’ place so we could discuss the situation privately.

“I’m so sorry, Paige,” he started after we sat down in the living room.

“Are you really?” I asked.

“You want honesty?”

“Yeah, Dad, I do.”

“Then I’m sorry for the way you found out and that you were hurt, but I’m not sorry I did it.”

“I knew this was a bad idea,” I mumbled as I started to get up to leave, not wanting to hear any more.

“Please, Paige, just listen.”  It reminded me so much of Enzo’s plea for me to listen that I couldn’t leave without hearing more, so I sat back down and nodded.  “All your life, you looked up to Nora and tried to be her. I know you did that because you felt Nora was the shining star of the family and you were looking for attention from us.  I’m sorry we never made you feel special and I’m sorry we weren’t there for you the way you needed us to be.  Your mother and I, we don’t have any valid excuses for making you feel lesser than what you are.  All I can say is that it wasn’t for lack of love or because we didn’t believe in you.  You are special, Paige, always have been.”  I had been stoic when I arrived, determined to stay angry with my father, but I was furiously wiping the tears streaming down my cheeks.

“Then why didn’t you ever tell me that?” I cried.

“At first, I didn’t think you needed to be told.  We babied Nora because she was the kind of child who needed the praise to succeed.  You seemed to do just fine without it.  Maybe we weren’t ready to be parents or maybe we just weren't good at it, I don’t know, but we didn’t see it at first.  It wasn’t until you were older that I finally realized what you were doing.  You weren’t pushing yourself to be better for you; you were pushing yourself to be better for us. I didn’t know how to approach you then.  I spent the better part of your life treating you one way, so I didn’t know how to change that overnight.”

“I needed your love and approval all my life!”  I told him. The pain, sadness, anger, relief, even slight joy at knowing my parents hadn’t truly cast me aside, were threatening to overtake my heart.