week it would end up raining anyway.
“This is perfect weather for the reception,” I said to Julie as we sat in a small room at the back of the church helping Dena.
“Did you and Nathaniel get married in the summer?” she asked.
“No.” I shook my head. “In the winter, but our wedding was perfect. I wouldn’t change anything.”
“As it should be,” she agreed.
I looked over to Dena. The wedding wasn’t for another hour, but she was dressed and ready. Her makeup and hair looked perfect. Her outside was radiant. Inside was a different story. She shifted from one foot to the other, refusing to sit down, and her eyes kept glancing at the clock. I was just getting ready to ask her if she was okay when she spoke first.
“Say something,” she begged us, looking from me to Julie to Sasha to her Domme friend, Kelly, and back to me again. “Anything.”
“I don’t know why you’re so nervous,” Kelly said, placing a hand on her shoulder. “You’re finally marrying Jeff.”
Dena shook her head. “I’m not nervous about Jeff. It’s my dad.”
“He decided to come?” I asked. Last I heard, Senator Jenkins had made it crystal clear he would not be present today. I wasn’t sure why Dena’s father didn’t like Jeff. What wasn’t to like about him?
“No, Mom called and said he was feeling light-headed and disoriented.” She took a deep breath. “She knows today’s my wedding day and that Jeff and I are going away for a week. I swear that man will end up in the hospital today just to spite me.”
“Oh my God,” Julie said, the rest of us being unable to find words. “How long have you known and why didn’t you tell us?”
“I figured she was just making it up, but the longer I sit here, the more I think, What if he’s really sick and I don’t go? I need Jeff.”
“Have you told him?” I asked.
“No, I don’t want it to spoil his day even if it spoils mine.”
Kelly looked at me over Dena’s head and mouthed, Go get him.
I nodded and left the room before Dena could try and stop me.
Nathaniel and Cole stood in the hallway outside the room Daniel and Jeff were in. The two men were laughing over something, but their expressions sobered when they saw me.
“Abby?” Nathaniel said, crossing the last few steps as quickly as he could. “What’s wrong?”
I nodded toward the closed door. “Is Jeff in there? Dena needs him.”
“Before the wedding?” Cole asked. “Isn’t that against the rules?”
“Her mother called and said her dad is having some neurological symptoms. Dena didn’t tell anyone and now she’s freaking out.”
“Bloody hell,” Cole said.
Nathaniel knocked on the door. “Jeff? We need you out here.”
The door opened and Jeff looked out into the hallway, all smiles and happiness. At least until he saw me. “Is Dena okay? Is it the baby?”
“Senator Jenkins,” I said. “He—”
“He’s here?”
“No, Dena’s mom called and said he’s light-headed and disoriented.” At my words, he started walking down the hall to where the women were getting ready. I walked after him. “She just told us, I don’t know how long ago she got the call.”
He knocked on the door. “Angel?”
Kelly let him in, motioning for Julie and Sasha to join us in the hallway, leaving the couple alone. I saw Dena stand and Jeff’s arms encircle her before the door closed. The rest of us stood in the hallway, not saying anything, not really knowing what to say.
I didn’t know the senator. I’d only heard bits and pieces through gossip. I couldn’t imagine he would pretend to have neurological problems just to cause his daughter stress on her wedding day. But that was the funny thing about people, you never really knew what they were capable of.
“If he’s faking, I’ll fucking kill him,” Cole said. “Doesn’t he know what he’s doing to her?”
“He probably doesn’t care,” Daniel said. “It’s killing him she’s marrying Jeff. Hasn’t even said anything to her about the baby, his own grandchild. And he has to know what losing the last one did to her.”
“I just want her to be happy.” Julie moved to stand next to Daniel and he put his arm around her. “That guy is toxic. And so is her mom for putting up with it.”
“Let’s not lynch the man yet,” Nathaniel said. “We haven’t heard the whole story and it is possible he’s actually having some sort of neurological episode.”
“Odds are he’s faking. I’ve had his number for years. It doesn’t surprise me at all he’s pulling something like this,” Kelly said.
“That may well be the case, but let’s wait until we know something more definitive.”
No one particularly looked as though they wanted to give the man the benefit of the doubt. For several long minutes we stood, silently watching the closed door and waiting not so patiently for it to open.
We all jumped forward when it cracked open and Jeff waved us inside.
“Dena called the senator’s housekeeper,” Jeff said. “Miss May has always held a special place in her heart for Dena.”
“Thank goodness for Miss May,” Dena said, and she looked so much calmer than she had a few minutes earlier. “I called her cell phone and made sure she wasn’t near Mom and Dad. She said Dad took some new medicine and he’s reacting badly to it, but they’ve called his doctor and he’s going to be fine.”
“Did your mom know it was only a side effect of the medication when she called you?” Julie asked.
“I don’t know,” Dena said. “And to be honest, I’m going to try and put it out of my mind.” She smiled up at Jeff. “I think I’ve spent enough time on Senator Jenkins for one day. I have more important things to do.”
“That you do, my Angel.” Jeff bent his head, as if he was going to kiss her, but Daniel pulled him away.
“None of that just yet. Wait until you’re pronounced man and wife,” Daniel said, and led Jeff toward the door.
“Ass,” Jeff said, but let himself be carried away. “I’ll remember this.”
When the men left, a calm peace settled over us. Dena was no longer stressed and she finally had the radiant look of someone about to marry her soul mate.
“It’s time, you guys,” Julie said, about fifteen minutes later.
We walked out alongside Dena with Sasha carrying her train. Because her father wouldn’t walk her down the aisle, there had been much debate about who she should walk with. All things considered, she finally decided to walk by herself.
“I walk down alone, give myself to Jeff, and we walk out together,” she’d said. “I like the symbolism of that.”
She looked stunning as she walked down the aisle. She’d chosen a strapless gown that gathered high above the waist. The fabric encircling her torso gave the appearance of a corset, and also served to showcase the pleated folds that draped gracefully down her tall frame.
With her hair pulled up and her long neck adorned by Jeff’s black-and-silver collar, she looked like a goddess. Or an angel, as her soon-to-be husband called her.
The man in question stood at the front of the church grinning bigger than I thought he could. His eyes were locked on her as she slowly made her way down the aisle. Their emotion was so vividly displayed in their expressions, my heart ached with joy and I brushed a stray tear from my cheek.
“I love you, Angel,” I saw him whisper.
I looked to my side and saw Nathaniel watching me. Like everyone else, I couldn’t go to a wedding without thinking back to my own. We had married in the winter, in a church about the same size as the one we were currently in. I was a fortunate woman to have my husband of so many years still look at me with a love and desire that had only grown since our wedding day.
As Dena and Jeff repeated their vows, I whispered in my heart my own back to Nathaniel.
“Do you take this man?”
Yes, yes, a million times, yes.
“For richer, for poorer. In sickness and in health?”