The One

Chapter 9

When I got to Rotary Gardens, I walked around for a little bit with Klaudia before we found our dad. We followed him to the North Point Garden and stood in the sun talking.

"You look nice, dad," I said.

"Thank you, Maranda. You and Klaudia look nice as well," he said.

We stood there for a moment smiling at each other. Then, a lady with a camera approaches us.

"Hey Don, how's it going?" she asked.

"It's going pretty good," my dad said.

The lady with the camera looks at Klaudia and I.

"Hi ladies, my name is Abbye," she said.

"Hi, I'm Maranda and this is Klaudia," I said.

"I can introduce myself, Maranda," Klaudia said with a snotty attitude.

Abbye laughs and looks at my dad.

"Alright, since we have nothing but time, I'm going to take a few pictures of you Don," she said. "After I do that, I'll take pictures of you with your daughters and then the girls by themselves."

We all look at each other before moving. Klaudia and I take pictures with our dad so we could get out of the way. Then, it was my dad's turn for pictures. My dad didn't smile much, so Klaudia and I did so many silly things to get him to smile. The crazy part is that it actually worked! Klaudia and I couldn't help but to laugh at ourselves for how ridiculous we had been acting, and Abbye caught some great shots of us laughing. 

"Are you ladies ready to take some pictures?" Abbye asked.

"We were born ready," I stated.

As we walked around Rotary Gardens, we stopped at a lot of places that I hadn't noticed before and took really nice pictures. Klaudia and I took many pictures together, but we also took a few individual pictures. We did a whole tour around Rotary Gardens in about half an hour and got all the pictures we needed.

We made our way back to the North Point Garden and stood next to my dad. Our family had started showing up and my dad was talking to the pastor and his wife. I then remembered that Brad was going to be here in a little bit and I suddenly became nervous. I looked around frantically for him as Melissa's dad walked up to us. Just then, I see Brad walk from around a bush. I look at my dad and he starts laughing!

"You look more nervous than I do," my dad said. 

 I started laughing with my dad as it made me feel a little bit better. Everyone got comfortable as Klaudia and I took a little path behind some bushes to where Melissa was standing. Her mom was helping her with her dress as it seemed to be only a little bit big on her. Abbye was capturing some shots of the mother-daughter moment that they were having.

Klaudia and I stood behind the bushes where we could barely see everybody as we waited for Melissa. Melissa's dad gives her brother, TJ, a signal and he starts the music. Klaudia and I stand there as we try to listen for the music, but we don't hear anything. After about 30 seconds, we finally hear the beginning of "I Don't Dance" by Lee Brice. Klaudia and I slowly walk out from behind the bushes as everyone watches us. I go down the steps slowly as I don't want to trip from being in heels. Melissa's dad helps me down a bit by taking my hand. Klaudia and I walked straight as we approached everybody. As we made our way parallel to our families, we took a 45 degree turn and faced everybody. Once the chorus started, we walked towards our family. We were just about to reach the platform when the music stopped.

"TJ!" I yelled.

When nobody saw it coming, Klaudia and I did another 45 degree turn and put our heads down. The music started and I became nervous as Brad was standing directly in front of me. Just then, the beat dropped and our heads were up. We did this weird dance thing as the chorus played.

"Tip-toeing in my Jordans

I done came down

Tip-toeing in my Jordans

Just copped a Porsche" 

We had to do it quick since some inappropriate words were being used afterwards. Klaudia and I walked over to our spots laughing at each other. I stood there and waited for Melissa to come out. As I looked in that direction, Brad was looking at me as he was shaking his head and laughing. Melissa then came out walking to a song by Carrie Underwood. It was a bittersweet moment for Melissa's dad as this was the second time he was giving his daughter away to a man. After a handshake was given between my dad and Melissa's dad, my dad and Melissa were holding hands as they listened to the pastor. After a paragraph or two, Melissa's brother would play a different love song.

I honestly was having the time of my life! However, every time I would look at Brad, he'd look back at the ground with a giant smirk on his face. We'd exchange a glance every once in awhile. When it was time for our "family sand ceremony", I could tell Brad was staring at me, even though I had my back facing him. After we did the ceremony, Klaudia and I went back to where we were just standing. We stood there as we listened to my dad and Melissa say their vows to each other.

"You may now kiss the bride," the pastor said.

Klaudia and I turned around quickly and grabbed some party poppers and let confetti fly in the air. Music was playing again as everyone clapped and cheered. My dad and Melissa walked down the aisle and gave each other a long hug. Klaudia and I ran up hugging them as well with big smiles on our faces. Melissa's and my dad's family walked past, giving hugs to the new wedded couple, and to Klaudia and I. Then, three last people came up for hugs. Brad, Andrew, and Carrie came up and gave hugs to all us. Brad of course didn't hug my dad, but gave me a special hug that seemed like it was lasting for forever.

"Hello, Maranda, I'm Carrie, Brad's mom," Carrie said to me.

"Oh, it's a pleasure to meet you! You have such a wonderful son. Thank you for sharing him with me," I said with a big smile.

"Let me tell you, he's a special one, so don't break his heart," Carrie said, jokingly.

I look at Brad and give him a great smile.

"And Brad, she's a lot better than what I expected. I'm proud of you," Carrie said as she tried to kiss his cheek.

"Mom, stop. You're embarrassing me," Grant said, sounding annoyed.

"That's my job," Carrie said, as she gave me a wink.

I looked at Brad and laughed. I looked at Melissa and she gave me a thumbs up. We decided as a family that we were going to go take pictures now and that Andrew, Carrie, and Brad could walk around with us as well.

We walked around together for a little bit before they decided that they were going to go to the place where the wedding reception was. We took quite a few pictures together, and a smile kept appearing on my face seeing how happy my dad was again. It was all too soon that we all piled into my dad's Chevy Trailblazer and were on our way to the reception.

Once we got to Fuji, which is a Japanese sushi and steak house, we went into a back room that was reserved for everyone at the wedding. We walked through some mini curtain things and saw our cupcake boxes sitting on the counter. Quickly but carefully, we put all the cupcakes onto the cupcake tiers. Man, those cupcakes looked so good! However, we had other things to do still.

We walked back out to where the family was, which was by a bar. My aunt was super nice and got my sister and I kiddy cocktails. We sat at the bar with her and our cousins Steven and Zach. Steven had to be older than 21 because he was getting drink after drink. Klaudia and I were screwing around with Zach since he's younger than us and super ticklish. Shortly after that, everybody was called into our reserved dining area to figure out our seats. Of course, I wanted Brad to sit by me. On one side of me, I had Brad, and on the other, I had my aunt, Debbie. However, for Brad, he had my half drunk cousin trying to sit next to him, but then my dad took over. I didn't know it, but this was about to be the best night of my life!