Page 65 of Lucky 22

She gets it.

All the movies I grew up watching…I am living them.

We have dessert, and we’re getting ready to wish everyone agood night, when Mrs. Lucas’s phone rings. I can’t speak for everyone, but Iknow my heart stops. I grip Christian’s hand tightly and can feel the tensionrolling off him.

She steps away from the table, speaking softly. No onemoves. No one follows. We see her shoulders sag, and all I can think is,“Please, God. Please don’t let this be bad news.”

It feels like forever, but when she turns to face us, she’scrying. Christian lets go of my hand and rushes to her, followed by hissiblings.

And then she smiles.

“Tori is approved to donate her kidney. Your father has adonor,” she says through the tears. “He’s going to be okay. It’s a miracle!”

Tori is married to Christian’s brother, Karl. She had to gothrough a bunch of tests to make sure she could donate, and now that we knowshe can, this is an answer to all our prayers. The relief is palpable, and thenwe’re all laughing and crying and hugging before we sit back down to celebrateall over again.

It’s a great day, and it just reinforces my thoughts fromearlier today.

Magical.

ChapterEleven

The next ten months are an absolute whirlwind. Therewere days I wasn’t sure I could survive it. Planning a wedding is stressfulenough, but when you add in a fiancé who plays Major League Baseball and has aheavy schedule, and a bride-to-be who is busy filming a hit TV show,flying from LA to Atlanta to St. Louis almost constantly while regularly doingpress and red carpets, I’m not sure when I was even getting any sleep.

However, my publicist gave me a fabulous idea. I talkedabout the engagement and our upcoming wedding a lot while promoting Workin’ for Laughs and other projects,and it really paid off in some fun ways.

I was on the cover of not one but two bridalmagazines. I was sponsored by a wedding dress designer, and we are even goingto be featured in a couple of magazines on our honeymoon.

Work smarter, not harder, right?

The night before the wedding, we have our rehearsal dinnerwith our families and a few close friends. I am just so happy to have everyonehere and all the planning and work finally over. Christian’s dad had his kidneytransplant three months ago, and he’s here to celebrate with us. Everythingfeels complete.

I’m standing alone, having a contemplative, quiet moment tomyself to admire how beautiful the room looks, how perfectly everything cametogether, and watching everyone enjoying themselves, when his dad comes tostand beside me. I smile at him, marveling at how good he looks after beingsick for so long.

“Having a good time?”

He nods.

“How are you feeling?”

“Fine.”

Okay…

“Tell me, Ella,” he says as if it’s a test. “Ninety-five percentof actresses’ marriages fail. What’s going to make this one different?”

Um…wow. That’s not a question I expected. I get that he’snot the warm-and-fuzzy type, but this pushes me too far. I know that he’s justbeing protective of his son, but he clearly doesn’t know me, and I don’tappreciate the implication. I don’t know what comes over me, but I suddenly geta warm rush throughout my body, and words fly out of my mouth.

“Interesting. I’ve heard that ninety-five percent ofbaseball players’ marriages fail, so what's going to make this onedifferent?”

We stare at each other in a silent battle of wills, and thenI walk away. I cannot believe I just did that. It feels like he’s been puttingme through a probation period to see if I’m worthy of his son. However, we aregetting married tomorrow, and I love Christian more than anything. When I firstmet him, I wasn’t looking for a husband—I was focused on my career. But my momtold me that when I met “the one,” I’d just know. Christian is “the one,” andwe’ve both made so many sacrifices to be together. Mr. Lucas needs to acceptthat I’m here to stay, and we will be in the five percent ofactress-athlete marriages that succeed.

The following day, on November 26, I can honestly say I havethe wedding I’ve dreamed of since I was a little girl.

It’s a fairy tale wedding from start to finish. From theceremony in the Catholic church that Christian went to while growing up, to thereception at The Grand Brightwater Resort. The theme is “When You Wish Upon AStar,” and the number twenty-two is incorporated throughout. Over three hundredof our friends and family came to the wedding, and it’s a big party with lotsof food and dancing.

Every little detail has been thoughtfully planned out. Imade sure to take everyone into consideration for the menu, the music…all ofit. We even give away miniature baseball bats as our wedding favors. It’s acelebration of love—not just mine and Christian’s, but the love we have for ourfriends and families, as well.

As the day goes on, however, I realize that I made onecrucial mistake. My new husband is a very shy and private person, and I planneda very over-the-top event with tons of publicity. ESPN did a feature, and ourwedding will be in a bridal magazine. It’s all been way too big for Christian.