“We won’t be here this weekend to celebrate with the band. This is huge! This is a first, and we’ll be in Florida.”

“You’re kidding right?”

“No! I want to be here with our friends.”

“We’ll be back on Sunday night to celebrate. This weekend is huge too.”

When he looks at me, his smile melts my heart. He’s making me number one. With another milestone in the rise of Sayge on the horizon, Declan puts me first.

Chapter 40

Amelia Island

“Seventy five degrees and sunny in February? That’s awesome!” I look through my sundresses.

“Yep, and pack a suit. The pool is heated.”

I pile our clothes in a suitcase together since we’re only going to be gone three days. Our flight leaves early tomorrow morning and Declan is trying to help me, but he is really making me crazy. He seems to forget this is like a work trip. We’re not going on a weekend getaway. We have appointments and tastings and all thing’s wedding filling up our days.

We have a room booked in the resort hotel, but the event planner is going to show us several condo’s available for the wedding weekend.

“Declan, do you have your birth certificate?” I ask as I pack mine in my wedding folder.

“I think I have a copy in the guest room, why?”

“We need it for our wedding license. We’re going to get them tomorrow afternoon.”

“On it, what else do we need?”

I point to my list on the bed and continue packing. Once I’m satisfied we have everything we need, I look over my folder and double check my notes. My mom came over the last two nights to help me with my list. She and I were able to narrow down most of the decoration decisions with the brochure. While I worked with my mom, Declan locked himself in our room and wouldn’t tell me what he was working on except it was a surprise.

We had no other incidents this week after Monday. My dad talked to the Dean, and he was having the school’s Communications Director put together a mass email to all students. Apparently there were several other instances that questioned the Vanderbilt safety and security practices.

Robbie and Will followed me the last two days around school but didn’t make themselves known. Nothing suspicious happened, so they told my dad it looked like an isolated incident. Robbie talked to Brent about keeping an eye on me, and I saw Finn more on campus than usual. I knew he did this on purpose.

Tomorrow’s a lecture day, so I have Mari sending me the notes. I worked really hard to make sure when we left at four thirty for the airport, wedding planning was the priority.

*****

We have an excellent driver on our ride from the airport to Amelia Island Plantation. His name is Chris, and he is a local. He also offers to be our driver this afternoon into the town of Fernandina to get our wedding license and show us around. I mention to him we want to look at restaurants for our rehearsal dinner. He promises to get a list of ideas from the concierge and take us by the places this afternoon.

While we sat in the line to go through the security gate, I took in the surroundings. It’s beautiful. Huge oak trees canopied over us with ponds and fountains outlining the road. When we pull up to the Omni, my eyes fill with tears. Even though we’re still in the car, I see the sand dunes and deep blue ocean through the lobby doors. Declan has to nudge me to get me to step out when the bellhop opens the door.

“Welcome to the Omni at Amelia Island Plantation, ma’am.”

My first impression is this is perfect. Declan and I follow the gentleman to the reception desk where we have an early check in. Once we have our key cards, Chris walks us over to the concierge to introduce us and tell her what we are here for. She promises to get a list of restaurants, and we make plans to meet back in the lobby in an hour.

Our luggage is already in our room when we walk in, and there’s a beautiful fruit basket on the coffee table. We have a small balcony that looks out over the ocean. Declan opens the doors, and the smell of salt air fills our room immediately. His smile mirrors my own. He tugs me to him and kisses me deeply. My legs go weak, and I hold onto his shoulders for support.

I move to pull his shirt over his head when there’s a knock at the door. Declan sighs against my mouth and arranges his shirt. I answer the door to a very perky lady wearing a blue business suit and nametag. I recognized her name as the lady I spoke to on the phone a few weeks ago.

“Miss Hayes? I’m Laurie your wedding and event coordinator.” She reaches her hand out to me.

“Hi Laurie, call me Raven. This is my fiancé Declan Collins.” I motion to him behind me. He reaches to shake her hand, and I watch her blush slightly. I don’t blame her, even after waking up at the crack of dawn and traveling the last three hours, he looks delicious.

“Reception told me you arrived. I’m glad our welcome basket was here. I know we are not scheduled to meet until tomorrow, but I wanted to introduce myself and let you know I can be available today for anything you need.”

“Thanks, Laurie, but we’ve made some plans today.” She looks disappointed but nods her head.

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