Chapter 7: Wedding Bells
It has been just days since my birthday and I am still in a daze. I look down at the ring on my finger and I have to pinch myself just to make sure I did not dream it all. I've spent the last two days with both my grandmothers, my sister and Liz looking over dresses. If I see another frilly white dress I'm gonna scream. This is what I get for trying to plan a wedding in less then a month. Tom and I wanted to have this all done before he had to go back to The States in July. I still have no idea why he was going back, he said it was a hush, hush thing so I stopped asking. I was in our office scrolling through website after website and it was making me cross eyed.
"Any luck?" I spun my chair around to glare at Tom since he wasn't allowed to see the dress before the wedding. I began to giggle seeing him stand there with his hand over his eyes.
"Nope, can't I just wear jeans or something?" He chuckled and blindly reached to pull me out of my chair.
"We can always wait love. A month is a very short amount of time to plan even a wedding as small as we want to have........"
"I don't want to wait. I want to marry you next month." His grin was infectious. "I'm just not use to all this. I hate being the center of attention." I minimized the window on my laptop and pulled his hand away from eyes. It's safe I shut down the window."
"I thought all girls dream of their weddings."
"Not me, I never thought......I have resigned myself to the fact I would never get married. I was too afraid I would end up like my mom."
"And now?" I sighed and leaned my head against his chest.
"Now......I want to be your wife, but I am totally lost in all this planning stuff. I just want something small, family, friends and no freaking tabloids." Tom laughed again and kissed my forehead.
"I can promise all but one of those things Leigh. I have no control over the press, but I can promise to try to keep this as low key as possible." I started to giggle and then it turned into a laughing fit. Tom gave me a confused, but amused look. "What's so funny?" I gasped and held my sides.
"You......you said.......Loki........" His face scrunched thinking back in what he had just said.
"Oh for goodness sake Leigh....." He joined me in my laughter. "I think you have been staring at that screen too long today. You need to get some fresh air." I wiped the tears from my eyes and nodded.
"You're probably right. Any ideas?"
"A picnic out in the garden?"
"Sounds lovely. I'll make the sandwiches if you get some fruit." He and I trotted down the stairs and began making our picnic lunch. I caught Tom moving out of the corner of my eye as he cut up apples, cheese and gathering other things we would need. Once our basket was packed he held out his elbow for me to hook my arm with his.
"My lady." I still blush when he treats me like a lady of court, when I am just a girl from Manhattan. He grabbed the blanket we use for our picnics before we headed out the back door. I had to remember to thank his mom for all her help with our little haven. I had spent the week before my birthday working on it with her in between me working on my thesis. It helped me decompress from the stress the paper had caused. I had always wanted a garden and did not mind getting my hands dirty to make it as beautiful as it is right now. I couldn't wait til later this summer to see it all in full bloom. Right now most of my plants and flowers were just starting to bud and the large willow tree was really starting to fill in casting one corner of the yard in a nice dose of shade. It was under said tree that Tom placed the blanket for us to eat. I was glad out fence was tall so it was harder for someone to look over it at us.
