Ellie and I remained at the table when Hanson began to put their plan into action. "I hope this works," Ellie said, looking around. The owner of the restaurant, along with security, was managing to keep the reporters away from us.
"Hey, you realize you're getting married next month?" I asked, picking up a breadstick.
"Oh my goodness!" Ellie gasped. "I have so much to do!"
"Hold up. None of us want you overwhelming yourself. It'll all be fine."
"Even though Jeremy accepted his invitation?" Ellie asked quietly. I leaned forward.
"Ellie, Isaac and I have spent many hours talking about this. There are things I need to say to him, and I'm sure there are things he needs to say to me. It's not gonna be a disaster. I promise."
We both looked up with we heard Hanson singing. All three were standing on the balcony of the restaurant, singing Weird a cappella. The press was going nuts, but I figured Zac had been right. Once they saw Hanson performing together, the rumors of breaking up would stop.
Zac doesn't need that added pressure, I added to myself.
"What a night," I whispered to Ellie when I walked her into the house. She'd been preoccupied all night. "What's wrong, Ellie?"
"We're getting married next month!"
"Yeah, so?"
"There's so much left to do!"
"I see. Ellie, listen, we're in this together. Tomorrow, I promise we'll sit down and look at our plans, but right now, I think we both need some sleep."
"You're right, Zac. Thank you for a wonderful evening."
I smiled and gave Ellie a long, passionate kiss. "Sweet dreams," I said, stroking her cheek lovingly. She disappeared inside her door.
"I want to bring my vase upstairs," Gabby told me when we went inside.
"How about a quick walk first?" I suggested.
"Okay." I tugged on her hand and led her out the back door, where we strolled through the moonlight together silently. Looking back over my life, I realized just what an impact Gabby had had on me. I knew the question weighing on both of our minds...or at least on mine...were we going to get married? There was no one in the world who I wanted more than Gabby.
Although we knew there would be tons of people at the wedding, we wanted to keep it fairly simple. Gabby would be Ellie's maid of honor while Isaac would be the best man. Jessica, Avery and Zoe were going to be bridesmaids, Taylor and Mackie ushers and Karine was going to be the flower girl.
The guys' tuxes were already at our house, so I was just going along for moral support. Picking out dresses would drive Ellie crazy since she never cared much about clothes. It was a good thing Celine would be along.
"Zac, we're leaving!" Ellie called. I rushed downstairs and hopped into the limo. We pulled up at the back of a store and filed in through the loading entrance to a private room. A lady met us there with a stash of pictures.
"Well!" she exclaimed. "Who's the happy bride-to-be?"
Ellie smiled. "That would be me," she laughed.
"Celine said you had some plans," the lady said. "Let's see."
Ellie pulled the watercolor out of her purse and pointed out the details on the dress. The lady scribbled notes and nodded seriously.
"That will be just gorgeous!" she exclaimed. "We should have it done in about three weeks. We'll have to have you come in a few times for fittings, of course."
"Okay...onto Gabby's dress," Ellie said. We all began flipping through pictures, not that I was much help.
"Hold it!" Celine burst out. "That's perfect!" She pointed to a picture of a long, open back sleeveless dress made from a wrinkley material.
Ellie smiled. "What do you think, Zac?"
My eyes widened. "No, don't ask me...."
We laughed. "I think it's perfect," Gabby confirmed.
"Does it come in any color?" Celine asked.
"Sure does." The lady nodded.
"Gabby, you could wear a violet one while the other bridesmaids wear more of a grey lavender," Celine suggested.
"Whatever you say, Celine," Ellie and Gabby agreed.
"Oh look!" Ellie pointed to a flower girl's dress. It was white with big lavender flowers on it. "Karine would look wonderful in that!"
Everyone agreed it was perfect.
"Onward!" Mia exclaimed. We headed to our next stop: invitations. We brought in another copy of my watercolor for the front, but we still hadn't composed the inside.
"Zac, you write it," Ellie pleaded.
"Me?" I questioned.
"You have a way with words. Come on."
I sat down at a table while the others discussed the format with the man taking our order. What to write? I scribbled away from a few minutes and came up with:
I showed my invitation to the others and we agreed that it was great. Then Celine broke some news to us.
"We're going to have to include instructions," she said, and suddenly I realized what she was talking about.
"Huh?" Ellie asked.
"Like at my wedding," Celine continued. "The public can't know where it's going on. Security will be tight. Every one of the guests will need to meet downtown and then be bused here. There will be people making sure no one else gets in. We'll need special passes and all that will issued when people present the invitation where they meet."
"Oh, Good Lord!" Ellie sighed. "I never knew getting married could be so confusing!"
I was beginning to think I agreed.
