1
Tuesday, December 10
14 days until the wedding
Gwen
Caleb Lawson has about a million ways of kissing. Sometimes hard and fast. Sometimes sweet and slow. This is his teasing way, where he presses his mouth to mine in a series of firm kisses, then retreats. My lips chase his, and he returns to me this time with a gentle kiss, soft as butterfly wings. I sigh, content in his arms.
The world melts away.
There’s only us.
Minutes, hours, an eternity passes where all I see is him. All I feel are his strong arms around me, holding tight. Finally, he pulls away. He tucks a strand of hair behind my ear with a soft, “I love you, Gwen.”
How I adore that sound—the way he says my name.
GweN.
Round G, flat N.
I’ll never grow tired of hearing him say it. Never tire of holding this priceless man in my arms, of sharing my life with him. Thank goodness I won’t ever have to give it up because in two weeks’ time we’re getting married. I’ll be his wife, and he’ll be my husband, united forever.
“Love you, too.” I nuzzle into his neck, inhaling his spicy cinnamon scent, and sigh mournfully. “I wish I didn’t have to go.”
“Me too.” He cups the back of my head, threading his fingers into my hair.
“It’s the worst timing with the wedding so soon.” I pull away and throw my arm over my face, but not before I spy the mistletoe that hangs from the ceiling in his living room. It spins and swings, dangling on a long string right over our heads. Caleb put it there earlier today as a surprise for me. He knows I love the holidays. He said it was to “get us in a Christmas mood.”
I slide my arm down and peek at him over the top of it. “I still can’t believe we convinced our families to let us have the wedding on Christmas Eve.”
Caleb laughs, sending the couch cushions shaking. “It didn’t take much convincing. Once our moms proposed it as a way to have family reunions and to spend Christmas together, everyone got on boardrealquick.”
I drop my arm and sigh. “That makes me leaving even worse. I want everything to be perfect for our families who are flying in. I should be here to help.”
Caleb turns to face me. “I know you don’t want to, but you have to go. I mean, it’s huge. The American Cancer Society asks you,aresident, to come to its conference and give a talk about your colon cancer research. You can tell everyone how they’re supposed to start screening at age 45.”
That makes me grin. “Look at you, smarty pants,” I tease. “You’re getting an honorary medical degree just from hanging out with me.”
Caleb smiles back. “I do listen to you,Dr. Wright.” He tickles my ribs when he says my name, sending me into a fit of giggles. “Besides, you’ll only be gone for a little over a week, and it’s in L.A., so you can visit your mom and Teddy before the conference starts. It’s perfect. When you get back, we’ll still have a couple of days to finish any last-minute details before the wedding.”
He’s right. It’s winter break, so my mother is off from her job teaching in Japan. She’s spending the next couple of weeks here in the States. First, she’ll stay in California, checking on her house there and on my younger brother, Teddy. After she’s done in California, Mom will fly here to New York to meet up with my newly minted stepdad, Seth, who is also Caleb’s uncle. Once she arrives, she can assist Caleb’s mom, Marjorie, who’s been making wedding arrangements.
With me working over 90 hours a week in the hospital and Caleb juggling acting on Broadway and managing his restaurants, we’re too busy to plan the wedding on our own.
“My family will beat me back here. Mom, Brandon, and Teddy will all fly into New York before I’m done with the conference.” I lean my cheek against the back of the couch.
Caleb chuckles. “Do you think we’ll survive it? Both our mothers working together?”
I laugh with him. “We may end up with 500 people at the wedding and a dancing elephant, but I think we’ll live.”
“My mom would for sure be the one to order the elephant,” he agrees.
“Yes, she would.”
We’ve kept Marjorie on track so far, but we’ve had to shoot down some crazy ideas of hers, like releasing 100 doves over us as we say our vows. Caleb had shaken his head at that one. “Bird poop, Mom. No way do I want our guests ducking and covering.”
Then there was the giant ice sculpture that she almost ordered. “Don’t worry, kids,” she’d told us, “we’ll keep the room temperature at 55 degrees, so it won’t melt too fast.” Even though it’s a winter wedding, I’ve chosen a sleeveless dress. A fact that I reminded her of, stating, “I’d rather not be covered in goosebumps all night.”
