Chapter 70

Saturday Morning. Wedding day.

I lie there. I open only one eye and stare at my alarm clock. 7:05, wedding at 1pm across town at the perfect wedding location around. I had a few hours to kill. What should I do now?

I rolled back over and tried to go back to sleep.

knockknock "Paul, you awake?"

"Ya, I'm awake." I rolled out of bed and headed for the toilet. i went to the door and Scott was in the kitchen setting a cup out for me for coffee.

"Well good morning sunshine!" he laughed at me. "About time you get out of bed. I thought I was gonna have to call the bride and get her over here and let her deal with you. I think I would love to see that actually." He pulled his phone out of his pocket and started typing.

"Don't you dare." I said while pointing at him.

"Ashlee, Paul is still asleep and told me he isn't coming" he said while fake typing.

"Don't." I said moving toward him. He moved away from me still typing.

"Sorry to tell you the bad news. Please come over and get him up for me."

"Scott" I came toward him reaching out for his phone. "Don't do it."

"Since he doesn't love you, why don't you marry me..."

He laughed at me and I finally managed to knock the phone from his hands and then we scrambled to pick it up. I beat him to it and looked at the screen. Nothing. "Ha Ha." I handed his phone to him.

"See. I would never do that to you guys. Come on, what are friends for?"

"Ok." We went about our time getting food ready for breakfast. Scott was supposed to get me to the church on time, then everyone else was going to meet either at the chapel or at the hotel where the reception was going to happen. All I had to do was get dressed and show up on time.

After breakfast Scott and i went our separate ways to get dressed.

ring ring I check my phone and find my mother calling.

"Hi mom."

"Hello my son, are you up and getting ready?" she asked knowing full well that I was definitely up and getting ready.

"Well good." she paused for a moment. "Where are we supposed to meet you? Did you say that the bus was coming here to pick us up or are we supposed to find our own way to the garden chapel?"

"The bus is going to meet you at the hotel and take you to the garden chapel. It'll then take you back to the hotel for the reception." I took a breath while putting my clothes on. "Anything else mom?"

"No honey." she paused again.

"What is it mom? I can tell you want to say something."

"Honey, are you rushing into this? I mean it has only been a year since you lost them."

I sat down hard on the bed and put my head in my hands. She always did this. She always asks me things like this to throw doubt into my mind. It is really annoying.

"Mom," I said as calmly as I could and not rip her head off. "You brought Ashlee into our family over Christmas. You were there when her soul was saved. You loved her as a daughter when she comes home with me. What are you doubting? She and I are going to have a wonderful life together, we are going to have a couple of kids together and then Lord willing, we will grow old and die together. There is nothing to doubt. Every step of the way, her presence in my life has been confirmed that we are supposed to be together. What has you doubting it?"

She sighed and if I know my mother, she also sat down to talk to me. "I'm not doubting. Ashlee is a wonderful woman and Brenda is a wonderful granddaughter. I can't wait to spend more time with both of them next week. That trip sounds wonderful by the way. Thank you for inviting us. I was making sure that you thought about all of us realistically."

"Mom." I said rather sternly. "In case you didn't know, she and I have a prenup agreement already signed and filed with the court. If you are worried about money, don't. She and I already talked about that and gotten everything arranged. Don't worry about anything."

She sighed over the phone in a way that I could only assume was happiness. "Good. A lot has happened to you over the year and I didn't want anyone taking advantage of you. Well, I'll see you at the chapel. Love you."

"Love you too mom." We hung up and I went to the bathroom and took a towel, stuffed it into my mouth and SCREEEEAAAAMMMMMEEEDDD!!!!

"Why does she always do this? She manages to say one little thing and just hijack an entire day. Why does she do that?" Walking around my bathroom talking to myself does tend to draw attention to yourself and Scott was right there knocking on my door asking what was the matter.

"Nothing, just a phone call from my mother."

"I hear you. Ready to go?"

I grab my jacket and open my door and say, "Yup."

We put our jackets on and check ourselves in the mirror, "We look good." Scott jokes while we check ourselves out.

The limo is downstairs when we walk out the door. Of course, just as I open the door, I realize I forgot all of the guy's gifts upstairs. "Hang on, forgot something upstairs."

"I have the ring right here." Scott says. He is standing at the door as I run back upstairs.

Elevator still there, punch my floor, wait ... wait ... finally arrive after the doors close. Key in the door, I rush in and into my bedroom. I grab the gift bag on the dresser, check the contents and all three gifts are there. I rush back out, lock the door, and back into the elevator and wait ... wait ... finally arrive at the lobby and outside. "Thanks for waiting." I pant as I jump into the car.

"What's in the bag?" Scott asks sitting next to me in the back of the limo.

I close the bag keeping him from looking inside of it. "You will have to wait for later."

"Ok fine." We chill in the car as we head over to the hotel to pick up Alex. He crashed at the hotel with Amber. Their little relationship has really taken off. It wouldn't surprise me to see them doing this next year.

"Alex!" we shout as he comes out of the hotel doors.

Man hugs are given and received. "How are you guys?"

We get back in the limo and talk and take advantage of the champagne in the back. Alex broke it open while we drove. I didn't know Alex was such a drinker.

Ok, so we talked and relaxed and sipped our champagne as we left the big city and went out into the country to the garden chapel.

When we arrived at the front gate, the attendant confirmed who we were and let us through and was met up with a golf cart who lead us to the gravel road that lead us to the chapel. No one else was there except our wedding planner and her staff making sure that everything was perfect.

I walked in and was kind of blown away. The building was still the same, but the bushes have been cut back along the path from the bus drop off to the chapel. More flowers had been planted and were all blooming beautifully. Inside, the aisle was covered with white cloth for the bride to walk on. Flowers were all over everywhere and the whole room smelled great.

"Wow, the wedding planner out did herself." Scott said standing next to me.

"Ya, they did. Where did you find her?" Alex asked.

"Ashlee found her. I pointed them in the direction, wait no. Ashlee pointed her in a direction and this is what they did."

"Thanks boys." the wedding planner said as she walked past us. "Why don't you three head downstairs and relax until the time arrives.

She points to a set of stairs and we head downstairs. The basement is set up with bathroom and a sitting room split down the middle with a curtain to prevent anyone seeing the bride before it is time. The chairs were all leather lounge chairs so I took one and my guys took theirs.

"So, I have a gifts for you guys." I open the bag and pull out two boxes and handed each one of the boxes. They tore the paper off of it and opened the boxes.

"Wow!"

"You can't be serious!"

"Yes I am serious. These watches are for you guys as my way of saying thank you for standing with me on my wedding day." I just gave the guys gold and platinum Rolex watches, each was about $5,000 and usable to a depth of 1000m in water. Spend that sort of money, it had better be waterproof.

They try them on and only Alex's watch fit him. Scott will have to have his sized a bit before it will fit comfortably. This one just sort of hangs off of his wrist.

Alex reaches over, "Thanks Paul. this is great." I shake his hand and then Scott does the same thing. He had been looking it over and close to drooling all over it. "Thanks Paul. This is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen."