Page 52 of Brenna, Brat

This was it. I’d spent weeks preparing and now…

I turned to look at Nic, feeling just like when my stomach had started to revolt after that date in high school.

“Nothing in life will ever go totally without a hitch,” she told me. “Nothing’s going to be perfect, not ever. But you can’t focus on the flaws, and no one else will, either. They see something fun and beautiful, and they love it. I love it, and more importantly, the bride and groom do. They’re over the moon, Bren. You did a great job.” She turned to Juliet and grinned. “Let’s do this!” she said, and we all cheered.

And the day really started moving, and it became a bit of a blur. I remembered my sister walking up the aisle and Beckett, who had always seemed pretty stoic, wiped his eyes. He looked so handsome in the suit I’d chosen and Juliet…well, all my sisters had been beautiful brides, but she was breathtaking. It was her happiness that did it, I thought. It was like there was a glow around her when she looked at him, and then we were all carefully dabbing away tears. I had, of course, provided everyone with handkerchiefs which Addie and I had embroidered with the couple’s initials, and I’d edged them with lace that coordinated with her veil and her gown.

I heard the words that the judge spoke, kind of, and then I definitely heard them both say “I do.” We all clapped and whistled when they kissed and then we were following them back down the aisle on the runner that I’d carefully painted with the date and their names, all in subtle tones so that it didn’t read “homemade” or “craft.” Grace had helped with that. I’d allowed her to do the protective clear-coat, and she hadn’t messed it up.

We stood in a reception line as the guests entered the house, and I saw Campbell briefly then. But then the wedding party had to take more pictures. The photographer got all the shots from the very specific list I’d created with Nicola, and Patrick did a great job of keeping Mom occupied while Sophie fulfilled her role of steering Dad away from any tricky situations. Not that he seemed to want to tangle with his wife, as much as she may have wanted him to. That had always been the nature of their relationship: she was emotional and trying to engage, and he would shut off and close down. I remembered hearing their arguments, though. If he was pushed enough, he would respond, and no one wanted that today.

By the time that we got inside the ballroom again, my nerves were at another peak. It seemed to be going ok, with the guests enjoying drinks from the bar selections that I’d carefully chosen after consulting a lot with Beckett on his liquor choices (they were a little more high-brow than what I’d gotten sick on at that party in high school). They were also enjoying the appetizers that Sophie and I had spent hours choosing (and fighting about). I peered around the crowd, looking at faces, studying each man in a dark suit to find one in particular.

“Hey,” someone said behind me, and I spun, so relieved.

“Hi,” I said. I reached out, and Campbell took my hand.

“Holy shit, you’re shaking. Are you cold or is it nerves? You don’t have that blue color in your lips that you get at the rink.”

How attractive that must have been. “It’s probably nerves,” I said. “Or, maybe it’s too much adrenaline. My heart is pounding, too. Did you ever feel that when you played hockey?”

“I did,” he agreed, “and you know what helped? Champagne.” He took a glass off the tray of a waiter who was circulating just as I’d instructed, and he handed it to me. “Drink up.”

“You were having champagne during games, as a minor?”

“You have no idea what went on in those locker rooms,” he said. “I was a maniac.” He grinned at me. “You look beautiful.”

“Juliet does,” I corrected, and he had to agree. But then there were many things that I needed to check on, based on the lists that I had on my phone. I’d sewn a pocket into my bridesmaid dress so that I could have that available to me, and I took it out now and went into action. And Campbell helped, which was wonderful, as did my sisters. Even my mom did stuff, like talking to some of the older guests to make them feel at home.

All the guests did appear content. Juliet’s old neighborhood friend Liv was here with her husband, but Patrick (who had been engaged to her first, before he’d ruined it) acted ok about her presence. She was ready to pop with their first baby and she looked huge but very pleased about it. Her dress was the wrong color for her, but neither she nor her husband appeared to mind. No, they just seemed happy.

There was too much to check on, monitor, and solve for me to stand around and chat, myself. At one point, I did have to sit down and eat, though, and we heard speeches from everyone. My mom kept to the written words that Sophie and Nicola hadhelped her to prepare, and it was really beautiful. My dad spoke, too, and did fine although getting up in front of a crowd like this was really not his thing. Addie, the matron of honor, made us laugh and then also cry, and Beckett’s best man made everyone crack up all over again.

Then the groom stood and put his hand on Juliet’s shoulder. He talked about meeting her, how he’d seen her for the first time and been bowled over by how beautiful she was, and then by how much he’d liked her as they got to know each other. “I realized that I wanted to be around her all the time, that when we were apart, she was what I was thinking about,” Beckett said. “I needed to be with her. I had believed that I would probably never marry, because I didn’t understand what it meant to want to share your life with someone. It’s a gift.” He looked down at her and smiled. “And now, when I need her so much, she’s here. I hope that I’m always here for her, as well. I’m so grateful to her and I’m so grateful that I was given this gift, the love of this amazing woman.”

I looked over at my sister. She was holding herself together, but her control seemed fragile to me.

“She’s my strength and my backbone, and I couldn’t do it without her,” he continued. “I don’t want to do anything without her. I love you, Juliet.”

I realized that I was gripping Campbell’s hand very hard. He was here at the table with us, the bridesmaids and their plus-ones, because Nicola had looked at my seating chart and said no. She had grabbed my red pen and put him next to me. “That’s better, and don’t try to change it back,” she’d instructed.

And now, I was so glad that I hadn’t messed with things, because it was very nice to hold his hand. With my other, I picked up my glass of champagne and finished it before Beckett raised his to the crowd.

After the speeches, the newlyweds took the floor for their first dance, which was so sweet and beautiful that it made a lot of people among the guests wish that they had their own monogrammed hankies. Then my dad went with my sister and my mom went with Beckett, because he really didn’t have any close family. The rest of my siblings moved onto the floor, too. Patrick danced with his daughter, and Nicola, her husband, and their baby went together. Both of the little girls wore the dresses I’d made, which coordinated with the bridesmaid gowns. They were adorable and neither of them had spit up or gotten food on anything yet. Not yet, but I’d learned that babies had an unfortunate habit of mussing up their outfits.

“Let’s go,” Campbell told me. He offered his hands like when we went skating, and we walked out into the center of the ballroom.

Of course, he was a good dancer. He was so graceful on the ice, the way he moved his hips…no, I couldn’t think about his hips.

“The band is great.”

“What?” I asked. “I didn’t hear you.”

“Your mind is on everything that could possibly go wrong,” he said, and that wasn’t exactly true. “Stop worrying. Everyone’s having fun, and Juliet and Beckett love it.”

“Do you think so?”

“Look at them,” he told me, and danced us in a semicircle so that I was facing them. Beckett was definitely smiling as he talked to my mom, but my sister…

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