My Christmas Doctor

I'd woken up early, feeling nervous about the day. Ellie found me at eight-thirty, in her kitchen cooking up a batch of waffles and bacon.

"You aren't going to eat all of that, are you?" She eyed the stacks of waffles and mound of bacon.

"I don't know, maybe?" And then I really looked at the food. "Okay, maybe not. You'll have to help me eat some of this," I added with a laugh.

"Me and an army! Why did you make so much?"

"Nerves, I think." I pulled another waffle out of the waffle-maker and added it to the stack.

Ellie grabbed two more plates and doled out two waffles onto each plate, added butter and syrup and two strips of bacon. She handed me one and pointed to the table. "Go, I'll clean this up."

Grinning, I took the plate and sat where she directed me. "I can clean it up after we eat, come on, eat yours before it gets too cold."

Ellie shook her head, turned off the waffle-maker and the stove, and then joined me. We ate silently, just enjoying the breakfast. Once we finished, she helped me clean up the kitchen, storing the rest of the waffles and the waffle batter in the fridge.

"What time is your hair appointment?"

I'd booked a salon appointment to have my hair done at the salon around the corner from Ellie's apartment, but Ellie's hair was perfect as it was in her black bob. She was only going to add a red rose clip that matched the velvet gown. "At nine-thirty."

"Okay, go get ready, we'll need to leave in about fifteen minutes."

I headed to her guest room and dressed in a pair of jeans and a button up blouse, then added my heavy coat. I didn't want to have to pull anything over my head after the stylist fixed my hair. Once we were both dressed, we grabbed our dresses, shoes, make-up, jewelry, my veil, and our bouquets and headed for the car. We stowed everything in the backseat, making sure my dress wasn't wrinkled, then drove to the salon.

I chose an elegant, reverse French braid from the style book and the stylist, Gina, got to work. When she'd finished, she'd added tiny white rosebuds to the braid along with some faux diamond gems to make it sparkle. My veil would tuck into where the braid ended, and my bangs began.

"You look amazing," Ellie said as we got in her car to head to Owen's bar where we were going to meet my mother.

"Thanks," I replied, smiling nervously.

"So, did his parents return the RSVP?" she asked as she drove.

I shook my head. "No. Owen spoke to them, said they wanted nothing to do with Brian marrying a gold-digging nobody harlot," I replied laughing. "I am honestly relieved. After what his mother did, I couldn't care less if we ever even meet."

"She actually said that!" Ellie looked at me with wide eyes as she pulled into the parking lot.

"Yeah, but Owen has joined Brian on the refusing to speak to them anymore side. I believe he told them that if they were going to be heartless assholes and behave as if they had no manners or civility, then he and Brian were both better off without them in their lives."

"Wow. Some family you're marrying into."

"I don't know how they managed to raise two perfect gentlemen, but I am so glad they turned out how they did and not like their parents." I smiled as she pulled into the parking lot of Owen's Outpost Bar and Grill.

We grabbed our things and headed inside.

"Ladies," Owen greeted us, "come on, I'll show you where you can set up."

"Thanks, Owen."

He brought us back to his office, which sat on the restaurant side of the bar and grill. The building was set up so that when you entered, the left side was the bar area and the right a restaurant, but the bar itself sat in the middle, serving both sides. The bar side had a stage where he had small bands play on weekends and a dance floor, with booths and tall cocktail tables in the rest of the floor space. For the wedding, he'd removed the tall tables and set up an aisle with chairs on either side for our guests. Owen and his staff had decked out the entire place with Christmas decorations and it looked festive and pleasant. We were having the reception on the restaurant side, catered by Owen's own exceptional staff, who were making double pay for the holiday plus the bonus that Brian promised them for giving up their Christmas Eve.

"Here you are, ladies," Owen swept the door open.

Inside, which was quite large, he'd removed his desk, but left the sofa and added a dressing table and bench for us to do our make-up. "Owen, you didn't have to do all this!"