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“Busted,” Cassidy whispers, giggling.
“Yeah, I didn’t care about that kind of thing to be honest, so I guess you and I have some shopping to do.”
“Sounds… thrilling,” she says, still giggling. “Oh, look! Lunch is here!”
Twelve
Cassidy
One of the best things about living in a small town is the fact that someone is bound to know someone else who can do something, so within a week after getting engaged, we had the officiant, photographer, and venue nailed down, and the country club was providing servers for the reception.
Mrs. Walsh’s grandson was a professional DJ, so he was going to handle the music, and our local florist was so excited to have such a large order for flowers, she was practically giddy. She also plans to create the centerpieces based on a picture I had in my binder, which has come in handy.
The RSVPs have started coming in, as well as gifts from those who aren’t able to make it. Every minute I’m not working, I’m at the new house, slowly moving in my stuff, and washing the things that came from the registry Jared and I created.
About the only issue I have is that Jared was unwilling to make love to me. As my hair is being done for the wedding, my mind drifts back to that day two weeks ago.
“Jared, we’re finally alone,” I whispered. Both of our moms had left about an hour before after spending the day organizing the kitchen and making sure everything was ‘just so’ as far as the decorative items we’d received.
“We are,” he agreed, pulling me into his arms and kissing me soundly.
“Maybe we should stay here tonight?” I asked, glancing up at him once we finally pulled apart.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Cass,” he murmured. “Because I’m holding on by a thread at this point.”
“Are you… do you mean you want to wait?” I asked.
I watched as his face flushed before he led us to the couch and pulled me onto his lap. He swallowed a few times and cleared his throat before he started speaking.
“Cassidy, God knows I want nothing more than to strip you bare and worship your body, but we’ve waited this long, so what’s a few more weeks?”
I closed my eyes hearing his words, but he said, “Look at me, sweetheart. Let me explain, okay?”
Shrugging, I mumbled, “Okay.”
“Back when everything went to hell in a handbasket, I never imagined I’d be here, with you, in this way. I knew because of how you blew me off that the likelihood of there ever being an us was slim and none. So, when I went to college, I started dating. The only problem is, none of them were you, Cass. I was never able to close the deal, so to speak, because I didn’t think it was fair to be intimate with someone else when you were at the forefront of my thoughts.”
I now want every name of every woman he ever so much as smiled at so I can smack them, although I realized that was unrealistic because it wasn’t like we were a couple then. Still, knowing he tried to have something more with others has my heart aching and I don’t understand why.
“Cassidy, the bottom line is I’ve never wanted to make love to anyone else. You’ve been my endgame for a long, long time now. I want to be able to stand before our family and friends with that promise ahead of us, sweetheart. You’re more to me than just a chance to get off, you’re the love of my life and soon you’ll be my wife. I want to honor that title and the best way I know how to do that is to wait. I hope you understand.”
“So, does that mean we’ll be figuring things out together?” I asked, grinning.
“Absolutely,” he whispered against my lips. “Now, let’s do another walk through and make sure everything is locked up tight. Our moms have both said that the day we’re due back from our honeymoon, they’ll make sure to stock up the refrigerator with the perishable things we’ll need.”
“They’ve already stocked the pantry and the deep freezer,” I replied, giggling. “They are aware there’ll only be the two of us, sometimes three if Mom doesn’t want to cook, aren’t they?”
“Okay, Cass, you can look now,” Christie, my hairdresser and another good friend, says, bringing me out of my musings. She turns me to face the mirror and I can’t help the gasp that escapes me when I see the finished look. “No, no tears, missy,” she teases. “We don’t have time to fix your makeup again.”
“Mags?” I call out, my voice wobbly.
She hurries to my side and crouches down so we’re right next to each other looking at our reflections. “Oh, Cass, it’s just like we always dreamed it would be. You look beautiful,” she replies, her own voice sounding a bit shaky.
I hear a click and realize the photographer snapped a candid picture of the two of us. It’s another for us to add to the plethora of photos we’ve taken together over the years. When Jared and I met with her, we told her we wanted as many candids as possible, and that we would do the wedding party photos before the wedding, separately of course, then a few with the families, but we wanted to enjoy our day. Since she feels the same way when it comes to weddings, we hired her immediately.
During last night’s rehearsal dinner, she got some great shots, and I can’t wait to see the final results. She has already taken pics of Jared and his dad, as well as his whole family, then came into the room I’m using to get ready and started with me. Now all that remains is my pictures with Mags, then me and Mom, before we walk down the aisle.
“Everything’s ready out there?” I question.
