Save the Date

55

Shannon began rattling a long list of things that needed to be taken care of. The guests were starting to arrive at the church and Richard's dad had decided that the reception would go forward, "There's a lot of shrimp that we can't give away," She said with a heavy sigh. I had agreed to take her dress to her mother's and the rest of the details were divided up equally between the four of us. Lastly, she added, "Luca is welcome to stay and take pictures of the guests. I feel so bad though he's been so great through this whole thing. You know Rach you should really hold on to h –." "Okay, thanks Shan I think we got it all," my heart hammered as I cut her off. I tried to catch a glimpse of Luca to see if he'd heard her but his back was turned away from me, "You just rest and we'll all make a plan to see you next week, okay?" I knew I was being a bit blunt but I needed to cut this conversation short. 'Okay, thanks for everything, you guys." She said goodbye and then put down the phone. We quickly began to dismantle the bridal suite and Luca helped us carry out the heavy things like the dress rail and her and Richard's suitcases which were then piled into various cars. The uneaten snacks were given to my security detail before the motorbike brigade came. We decided to wear our bridesmaids' dresses because they were just so beautiful and it felt like a shame not to wear them. When Viola opened her dress bag there was a baby onesie in the same red colour as the bottom half of our dresses and there was a beautiful maternity dress in the same gold fabric as the top half of the dresses. Shannon really had thought of everything and for once Viola was speechless. Once we were ready, we made our way to the parking lot. My motorbike brigade was already there waiting for us, "Hey Alexi, do you need a ride?" Viola offered just a McKenzie and I got into my car, she was obviously feeling very generous. Alexi was suspiciously quiet before saying, "No thanks, I have a different idea." I watched in amusement as she ran straight for one of the police officers who had just started the bike and without even asking she hiked up her skirt and jumped onto the back of it. The police officer was just putting his helmet on and I saw the look of shock on his face. I expected him to chase her off but he pulled off with her in convoy as we began to move. Luca went with his assistant in a van which I had never seen and they made up the rear. Our first stop was the church to let people know that the wedding would not be taking place but that they were welcome to make their way to the reception hall. As expected there were a few gasps and whispers. Nobody moved, which I think was from the shock but eventually, a couple of people got up to leave and we followed once the church had cleared. Alexi opted to drive with us after the police officer had politely told her that it was technically illegal for him to give her a lift. "I don't get it," she said monotonously, "Why would he have an extra helmet if he isn't allowed to give lifts?"

Meanwhile, Patrick was scandalised at the news of the "breakup". He cornered me at the church asking questions, "What the heck happened? I don't get to be a bridesmaid and this, this is what happens! Frikkin' gender discrimination!" he carried on raving about the situation, though it was more about the fact that the wedding hadn't taken place rather than discrimination of any kind. He just would not listen to me when I tried to tell him that as far as I knew they weren't broken up just re-evaluating their relationship. Meanwhile, Luca had employed Darren as his model and was snapping away while Darren changed poses from time to time. He hadn't looked at me once since we left the suit and I was basically avoiding him as much as possible. Before Patrick had harangued me on what a bad maid of honour I had made Luca had been taking pictures of Alexi and McKenzie and Viola standing together in their dresses but I pretended that I didn't hear them calling me and busied myself with clearing up the church. I didn't need to be reminded that this was the end of my whirlwind romance, my heart was sore enough.

Eventually, we had corralled the last of the guests out of the church and guided by my police escort we all made it safely to the country club. I had almost forgotten about the crisis that was my life.