Chapter 15
Emily and Christine had this idea that Karen and I shouldn’t sleep together the night before our wedding so I slept in our room with Christine and Karen slept in the girls’ room with Emily. The idea had more to do with no seeing the bride on the day of the wedding.
I slept well though I felt lonely. I had always slept alone, until a couple of moths ago when Karen had moved in with me, and I had never felt alone in bed. One night without her and I already missed her.
I had an early breakfast with Christine before she went back to be with Karen. Pedicures, manicures, hair and makeup were in order for most of the morning for the bride and her two bride maids. All I had to do was shower, shave, put on a suit and made sure I had the rings. I could do all that in an hour.
I put on a bathing suit and headed to the beach instead of spending the morning in the suite. I tried my best not to think about the wedding early this afternoon. I had some success until Mr. and Mrs. Johnson found me sitting by myself under an umbrella. They joined me and we talked about the wedding, their marriage, our kids, their kids, jobs and a bunch of other stuff. Eventually they left as they had planned to go into town for lunch and some shopping in the afternoon. At ten thirty I made my way back to the room. I took a long shower and was in a hotel bathrobe shaving when I heard someone enter the suite.
“Dad, are you here?”
As I walked out of the bathroom I wondered who that was. It sounded like Christine but I knew Emily was the only one calling me dad. Well that and Karen when she was referring to me.
I walked out to living room to see Christine with her blond hair up, looking as beautiful as I had ever seen her. She wore a beautiful ankle length, flowing ivory dress and matching high heels.
“Did you just call me dad?” I asked.
“Ah, no. You must be hearing things. The wedding is in forty five minutes. You’re not even dressed. Hurry up. I need to get a couple of last minute things for mom. Are you okay?”
I nodded my head. Christine smiled at me before heading into my room to get Emily’s things. I tried to help her find what she was looking for but she knew exactly where it was. She was gone in a flash. I went back to the bathroom to finish shaving.
After I was dressed I looked myself in the mirror. I had worn this suit when I worked for WGW only when I was about to make a killer deal. I figured this was about the biggest deal I was ever going to get myself into and therefore I had brought my lucky suit. Cufflinks and a tie that Karen had specifically picked for me finished the look. I grabbed the small box with the wedding rings and put that in the outer pocket of the suit. On each of the two inside pockets I put a small jewelry box. Those were for after the wedding.
Twenty minutes before we were supposed to start there was a knock on the door of the suite. It was the wedding planner the hotel had provided for us. He held up two flowers for my lapel, a red one and a white one.
“I don’t know. I don’t want the flower to draw attention away from Karen. You choose,” I said.
“He pinned the white one on me and talked to me as we headed to our wedding site. Now I was starting to get nervous. We reached the site and it looked great. There was a small tower which looked to be like that of a castle, without the castle and a gentle upward sloping area behind the tower. The minister stood there waiting for me and I stood to his left. He chatted with me softly as if to calm me down. It didn’t work.
Seven minutes after I arrived, my girls arrived with my bride. Christine walked down the aisle first and stood to the right of the minister. Emily came next with Karen’s arm around her daughter. Emily wore a similar dress as Christine and looked just as pretty. Karen had on a strapless white wedding dress with a veil that cascaded down her back. Her makeup and hair were perfect. The pearl necklace and earring brought out more of her beauty. She looked like an angel.
My knee buckled a tiny bit when I saw her. The minister put his hand on my elbow to steady me and I nodded at him to let him know that I was okay.
The ceremony went well until I had to get the rings. In my nervousness I forgot which pocket I had put them in. I finally found them and we continued. That first kiss of my wife at the end of the ceremony was the best I had ever experienced with anybody.
Our photographer, provided by the resort, took pictures before, during and especially after the ceremony. After a lot of pictures I was getting hungry and I knew my wife was too so I called off the pictures and we headed over to eat.
Our after ceremony lunch was served at a private balcony away from the rest of the restaurant. I was still so amazed from what had just happened that I almost failed to notice how good the food was. The girls seemed to be just as excited as me.
“I’ve decided that after college I want to be just like you dad,” said Emily, as I smiled. “I want to be a playboy.”
“No, no, no, you don’t want to do that,” I replied as my smile quickly faded.
“Honey, playboy is the term used for men. The one used for women is more derogatory,” explained Karen.
“I didn’t say I was going to be easy. It’s just that I saw those pictures Christine showed me from the barbeques you attended at her mom’s place and you always had a gorgeous girl with you and it was never the same girl. That’s what I want to do, date hot guys, lots of them.”
Christine was smiling at me waiting to see how I was going to talk my way out of this one. Karen was just staring at me with a serious face.
“Emily that’s a hard life. I mean, I went to a party when I was twenty years old and I left when I was thirty eight. It takes a lot out of you. Look at it this way, I have never been happier in my life than I am today. If I had been looking for a real relationship all along I could have met your mother ten years ago. I’ll concede that I dated a lot of pretty girls but the most beautiful one I ever went out with is the one I married. If you want to have a little fun I understand, but you’ll never enjoy life as much as you will being in a loving long term relationship.”
“”Now leave my playboy alone. He’s mine now. Let’s talk about something else,” said Karen.
“Thanks honey. That’s the way to defend your husband.”
“I got a good change of topic,” said Christine, as the main course was served. “Last night before dinner did I see you pay Joshua to ask us out on dates?”
“No way. You didn’t?” said Emily.
I groaned. I was getting a grilling and all Karen could do was chuckle at me.
“You’re right. I didn’t,” I said confidently.
“Liar, I saw you.”
“Yes I gave him money but you didn’t hear the conversation did you? He and Michael wanted to go out with the both of you. From an earlier conversation with Mr. Johnson I found out that he is not as well off as we are. So I gave Joshua some money to make sure that when he and his brother take the both of you out, you have a good time. And while you’re out the Johnson’s get a night alone and I get to spend my wedding night alone with your mom.”
“How much did you give him because I intend to spend every cent of it,” asked Christine.
She was going to haggle. She knew I was a push over but I was surprised she didn’t realize I had mended my ways. Plus I was a professional negotiator of million dollar contracts. This wasn’t going to fare well for the girls. I looked over at Karen and she shrugged.
“You know what, you’re right. I was wrong to give them any money. I’ll just call the boys and cancel the date. Maybe we could spend our wedding night on the couch watching a movie with you girls.”
“What are you doing?” Emily asked Christine, lightly smacking her shoulder. “Dad, I think what Christine meant to ask was that she wanted to know how much money Joshua and Michael have so we don’t have them over spend. I mean you’re the one that said that you were trying to help them, right? So how much money do they have?”
“Two hundred, but don’t punish them for a mistake I might have made, understood?”
They both agreed.
&nbs
p; “Since neither of you girls seems to be able to find appropriate subjects for conversation I thought I might offer one,” Karen said, lightly touching my knee. “It’s customary for the bride and groom to give special presents to the bridal party, which in this case would be the two of you.”
I pulled out the two small jewelry boxes from the inside of my suit and placed them in front of my bride. She took them and put one in front of each of the girls. They didn’t hesitate. Upon opening the boxes both girls let out soft gasps. Christine took her necklace out and held it up, examining it carefully.
“Those are fourteen karat white gold, cross over hearts with about half a carat of diamonds each on white gold necklaces. We engraved each of your names on the back so you wouldn’t get them confused,” Karen explained.
Both girls got up and came around the table to hugs us both and thank us. After they sat back down they helped each other put them on.
For desert we had a small layered wedding cake that was as perfect as wedding cakes could be. Karen fed me my first bite and I fed her hers. There was a clinking of the glasses by the girls and a toast by each of them. Shortly after that we made our way back to our suite.
I helped Karen out of her dress and she hung it up while I looked at her.
“I know, but let’s wait until the girls leave. Can you wait?”
“I think so,” I replied.
An hour later Karen and I decided to go frolic at the beach. The girls were already showered and had changed into casual wear. They both sat on the couch watching TV. They muted the TV when I approached.
“I don’t know if you girls will still be here when we get back so have a good time tonight. When you return, no matter what time it is, please call us from the lobby, let it ring once and then hang up. Lastly I’m giving you each fifty dollars. This is for emergencies only. Try not to get separated from each other or the boys, but if you do that’s what the emergency money is for.” I pulled two bills from my wallet and handed one to each of the girls.
Karen and I purposely stayed out until about five figuring the girls would be gone by then and we were right. We put on some nice clothes and headed down to dinner so we could have our first dance as a married couple. We had just ordered our food when the announcer cleared the floor and announced both our wedding and the Johnson’s 21st wedding anniversary. He brought both of us out and we danced to a slow song. We danced a second song but this time there were other couples on the floor too. We showed off our dancing skills a bit and then sat down to eat. Neither of us was very hungry and after eating less than half the plate we concluded our meal and headed back to the room.
Our one ring phone call came in at a little after one thirty in the morning. We were still awake and all that meant to us was that we would have to be a bit quieter for the night. We heard the door open and close followed by something falling. I got up, put on a robe and headed out to see what the commotion was. I saw it as soon as I stepped out. Emily was lying on the floor mumbling and Christine was sitting with her back against the wall.
“She’s runk,” said Christine, pointing at her sister.
“You’re both drunk. Do you need to throw up?”
“I think so.”
I looked back at our bedroom and saw Karen there in her robe.
“Honey, can you take Christine to our bathroom? She needs to get sick.”
Karen and I helped Christine stand up and they both headed to our bedroom. I picked up Emily and carried her to the girls’ bathroom.
I had to make Emily throw up for her own good and either I would have to stick my fingers down her throat or she would. To keep her clothes somewhat clean and to make the cleaning of her easier afterwards I had no choice but to remove her shirt. I tried to talk to her and convince her to make herself sick but she was having none of it. I then told her I was going to make her throw up and she agreed. I had hardly hit the back of her throat with my fingers when she began throwing up in the tub. I left her leaning over the tub getting sick while I washed my hands and got her a glass of water. I made her drink some but she threw that up also. I waited about five minutes until after she was done throwing up before I made her drink some more. She kept it down.
As I was refilling the glass Karen came in and told me she had put Christine to bed.
“I can’t believe they did this, Jake. I’m just astounded by their lack of judgment.”
“Karen, it’s my fault. I should have seen it coming. I let two teenage girls loose with two older boys. I’ll take responsibility for it.”
“No Jake, you won’t. You put your trust in Emily and Christine and they betrayed that trust. If they want to be treated like adults then they better darn well start behaving like adults.”
I let it go. It wasn’t worth arguing with my wife on our wedding night. It wasn’t as if we had done anything wrong anyway. Karen helped me get Emily clean before changing her into sleeping clothes and putting her to bed.
Karen and I finally ended up going to bed at three in the morning. I apologized to her for arguing and we went to sleep in each others’ arms.
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