Opposites Attract
Chapter 14: Say Yes to the Dress
Disclaimer: These characters belong to Charlaine Harris. I'm just having fun playing with a different pair for a while.
A/N:
I have a rotten headache, so not much to say today. Thanks so much for reading. You guys are the cream in my coffee (that's a good thing).
As always, thanks to ARedheadThing and E_Hunter (E changed her name this just to keep us all on our toes. *snort*)for taking the time to edit and comment on my goofy ideas. Now those two, they are the rum in my coffee - and that is a GREAT thing.
Enjoy.
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Amelia was shocked to see Pam lounging by the pool at the Holiday Inn of Shreveport. The lounging part was spot-on, but the hotel chain was very un-Pam.
Tray chuckled, standing behind her. "Surprise!"
"Are you kidding me?" She turned and shook her head at him. "This whole thing was about our engagement, wasn't it? Did they all know?"
He threw his head back and laughed, then put his arms around her. "No, baby. Pam and Cal are the only ones who knew. Crystal and Selah come down here with the kids once or twice a year,
and it seemed like too good of an opportunity to pass up, you know getting everyone together the weekend after we got engaged."
"Hm.. I thought it was about seeing me in a bikini one more time this year."
"Well, that too."
"Heathen," she teased. "Come on, Sookie. Let me introduce you to Pam."
They walked across the pool deck and Amelia grinned down Pam. "I'm so glad you're here! What a surprise!"
The woman who was, for all intents and purposes, her only family stood and hugged Amelia and then seemed surprised when Sookie hugged her. She uncomfortably looked at Amelia over the blonde's shoulder for a second, but she smiled brightly when Sookie stepped back, saying, "I'm so glad to meet you. Amelia is lucky to have an aunt in New York City! I've always wanted to go there."
"Well, you ladies will have to come visit me," Pam said, and she meant it. The week with Amelia in the city had been too short, and she thought that they would have fun showing Sookie around the city. In fact, the thought of the blonde that stood before her in a pair of black patent leather Louboutins was down-right erotic.
"Ohmygod, yes! That would be so fun! Ya'll could be my tour guides!" Sookie practically squealed.
"That would be fun," Amelia agreed.
"That would be scary," Tray joked and both Sooke and Amelia smacked him on the arm. "On that note, I'm getting a beer." Their laughter followed him as he walked away.
"So..." Pam said to Amelia looking impatient. "Show me the ring."
"Oh!" Amelia laughed, holding out her left hand.
Pam smiled as she held Amelia's hand and examined the setting. "The stones are from his mother's jewelry?"
"They are," Amelia said, surprised. "He told you?"
"He did. I wasn't excited about coming down to stay the night at a Holiday Inn just for shits and giggles, but when he explained that we'd be celebrating an engagement..." She paused and grinned. "He hooked me with that, but then I pestered him for details. He did a great job. This design is very...you."
"It is, isn't it? I couldn't believe how much work went into it."
"He's a keeper," Sookie chimed in.
Amelia glanced over at Tray, he was in the pool playing keep-away with Buck and some of the younger boys. She smiled, thinking about how lucky she was to have found him. "Yeah. He really is."
Though the idea was completely foreign to her, Amelia had to admit that they had fun at the hotel. No one was driving anywhere so everyone drank and relaxed, and Pam mixed Mojitos and muddled mint like a pro for anyone who asked. They laughed and played cards, and they sat in the hot tub while Buck and two of the older cousins went to pick up take-out for dinner.
It turned out that Amelia didn't need to wait for Alcide to come up to Bon Temps to nudge him together with Sookie. He was in Shreveport to see his parents and stopped by the hotel to say hello. He drank a few beers and chatted quietly with Sookie, and he grinned like a school boy when she smiled at him.
Pam and Calvin should have been quite the odd couple, but they seemed to get along well. They shared a love of black and white movies and, oddly, Farah Fawcett. After chatting with them for a few minutes, Amelia and Tray left them with Cherise talking about Charlies Angel's and the Bionic Woman and made their way to the hot tub with Sookie and Alcide.
Sookie began asking questions about their wedding plans. Tray and Amelia laughed because they'd only been engaged a few days, but Sookie looked at them with all seriousness and said, "Ya'll know people are gonna keep asking. Ya'll have to have an idea of what you want."
Tray looked at Amelia and shrugged. "My last wedding was a nightmare. Whatever she wants to do will be better."
Sookie and Alcide laughed, remembering Tray's first wedding. "Well, it can't be any worse, Pup."
"I'm sure Amelia won't want fried chicken at the reception."
"Hey, now. Aunt Doris made that chicken!" he laughed.
Amelia had managed to keep a straight face and waited for them to finish laughing before she said anything. "There won't be anything fried. That I can guarantee."
And they all burst out in laughter again.
"Seriously, though. I'm up for whatever my bride here wants," Tray said, turning to give Amelia a kiss on the temple.
"Ooh, how fun! You can do whatever you want, Amelia!" Sookie gushed, then she saw her friends' face. "You don't look all that excited to plan this."
"I'm excited," Amelia said quickly. "It's just...so many things have changed lately for me. I don't think I want what I used to."
"Oh..." Sookie seemed to understand what she meant. "Well, I guess maybe now you want to get married closer to Bon Temps, right?"
"Um...I guess. I don't know," she said quietly, looking down at her drink.
"What are you thinking, baby?" Tray murmured quietly.
She bit her lip and shook her head, but he knew something was bothering her. He set their drinks on the tile behind them and pulled her around so she straddled his lap; she didn't really fight him.
Tucking some hair behind her ear, he put a finger under her chin, bringing her eyes up to his. "Pretend they're not here. What's going on?"
She sighed and put her arms around him. "I don't want a crazy society wedding in New Orleans anymore, and you've already had a wedding." She shrugged. "I don't know what I want."
"Forget about my first wedding. I was a kid. We couldn't even drink, well, not legally. We can do whatever you want. If you want a big New Orleans wedding we can do that. You're still a member at the country club; we can have the reception there-"
"No," she interrupted him, putting her fingers over his lips. "That's not me or us. Can we think about this later? I just want to enjoy being engaged for a little bit."
He grinned. "We can certainly enjoy being engaged. I would be enjoying it much more if we were alone in our room right now."
She giggled and leaned forward to kiss his jaw, then whispered in his ear, "Well, who am I to ruin your fun?"
He threw he head back with a loud laugh, then put his hands on her waist and stood them both up. "Sorry, kids," he said to Alcide and Sookie. "You're on your own."
"Jesus. Ya'll can't keep your hands off each other, can you?" Alcide laughed.
"We're newly engaged!" Amelia laughed.
"Yeah?" Sookie smiled. "What's your excuse for the last six months?"
They climbed out of the hot tub and wrapped themselves in towels, laughing at their friends comments. Tray put his arms around Amelia from behind and smiled down at Sookie and Alcide. "What can I say? I've got it bad."
"Nothing, Pup. There's nothing else to say," Alcide laughed. "Let me know when you find your balls."
They all laughed, and Tray shook his head as he turned and started lead Amelia away. He stopped and looked over his shoulder. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do, Alcide."
There was more laughter, and she couldn't hear the comment Alcide made back to his cousin, but she did hear the sound of Sookie's wet hand slapping him on the shoulder.
Several weeks went by and they didn't mention the wedding again. She did however ask him if he was serious about starting a family, and after seeing the absolute joy in his eyes when he said, "Why, are you pregnant?" she cancelled her appointment for a depo provera shot the following week.
When she finally approached him with her idea, he had looked at her in surprise and then grinned; because what guy is going to say no to a simple no frills wedding on a beach with just their closest relatives there? He thought for just a second that his cousins were going to be pissed, but then he realized that he didn't care. If his first reaction was that he wished that they could be there it might have been different, but it hadn't been. What they wanted wasn't nearly as important to him as what Amelia wanted. His cousins could be as pissed as they wanted; he'd still be coming home from the islands married to the woman he loved.
"If that's what you want, book the flights and let's go."
She laughed and kissed him. "While the sound of you not even hesitating to spend my father's money is hot as hell, don't you think we should check with Cal and see when he can get time off?"
"Right," he said, coming back to reality. "You call Pam, and I'll talk to Cal and Cherise."
Tray's cousins had been angry that they weren't included, that was no surprise. What had surprised Amelia had been that ten minutes after the cousins were pissed, they were planning a cook out reception for the weekend after their wedding/honeymoon trip.
Amelia found a dress she liked in Shreveport, but Pam refused to let her buy it without looking for a dress in New York that was "made from actual fabric and not some bizarre synthetic chemical film that shouldn't even be used to cover tables." She flew up for a weekend on her own, thinking the price tags on wedding gowns might give Sookie a heart attack. Pam took her to a bridal store where a man named Bobby tried his best to get them to spend more money than was certainly necessary for a small destination wedding. Amelia was a little afraid Pam was going to physically hurt him before he began bringing them dresses that actually matched the description they'd given him.
After several hours and a bottle of Cristal that Pam had told Bobby to fetch them, she saw it. Bobby was struggling to carry in another stack of heavy gowns and he'd placed the shorter ivory dress on the top to avoid dropping it. She tried not to let her face give away how much she liked it as he hung the dresses in her fitting room. She wanted to try it on right away, but she was hesitant, afraid that it wouldn't fit or wouldn't look right on her. Pam barged in with her glass of champagne and gave her a dirty look.
"Nice robe, but you're not getting married in it," she said, referring to the silk kimono the store provided for her to wear.
"Are you sure? I thought I could just wear this with a bikini under it."
Pam sipped her drink. "Not a chance. What's the hold up?"
Amelia sighed. "I think I found it."
"Really?" Pam asked in surprise. "Then try it on!"
"What if it's not the one?"
"Then we'll buy the tablecloth from Shreveport and ship it to France and have someone duplicate it with antique lace."
"Oh. Yeah," Amelia laughed. She hadn't thought of that.
She hung the robe up and slipped into the dress, turning so Pam could zip the back. It was strapless, with a straight neckline and was decorated with elegant handmade flowers covering the bodice as well as creating a lace pattern along the hem of the skirt. The dress was tea length, though about a foot longer in the back, and there was also a row of about forty tiny buttons that fastened over the zipper in the back. It looked like a wedding dress, while at the same time being cute and quirky, which, according to Pam, described Amelia in a nutshell.
Amelia grinned into the mirror, turning slightly to each side and watching the skirt twirl slightly. It wasn't the Scarlett O'Hara dress of her childhood dreams, but no one wore hoop dresses and wide brimmed hats with their wedding gowns anymore, not even in the deep South. She turned even more, glimpsing the buttons in the back. She had a sudden thought and giggled, then covered her mouth and tried to stop laughing, but Pam had heard her.
"Care to share with the class, Ms. Broadway?"
She blushed but finally gave in and told Pam she'd been thinking about Tray's big fingers trying to maneuver the tiny buttons.
Of course Pam couldn't let that slide and made a joke about what else Tray's big fingers were capable of. They cracked up laughing, and when Amelia regained her composure, she exhaled loudly, twirling the skirt again with her hands. Neither of them spoke for a minute, just smiling at the image in the mirror, and Amelia hoped that Pam saw what she did.
Bobby interrupted their musings and knocked on the door. "Are you decent? Did you find something you liked?"
"Just a minute," Amelia answered. She bit her lip and met Pam's eyes in the mirror. "What do you think?"
"I think it looks much better on you than on the hanger." Pam could hardly keep a straight face.
"I think I love it," Amelia whispered, her eyes shining.
"Don't let him hear you," Pam hissed. "It's perfect," she whispered with a wink. Then she opened the door and eyed the salesman. "Bobby! We might like this one. Get us more champagne and then find us some veils and jewelry that will match this so we can get the full effect."
He scuttled away, and Pam gave Amelia a wink.
"Like you're buying jewelry here," she snorted. "We'll have lunch and then go to Tiffany's."
And that's exactly what they did, only after a fight over who would pay for the gown, which Pam finally won when she pretended to give in and then sent Amelia back to the dressing room to look for her iPhone which she'd actually tucked in the bottom of her purse.
Amelia flew home with a new necklace from Tiffany's that would look perfect with the dress and a few pieces of lingerie from Agent Provocateur for the honeymoon.
When all was said and done in terms of planning, it was three months before they were able to coordinate a long weekend where someone wasn't scheduled to work overtime or Pam wasn't on tour somewhere marketing her latest book. That, and they'd had to do a little scrambling to get Cherise a passport, but in the end everything had come together, and they had tickets to Jamaica, reservations at an all-inclusive resort, and plans for an ocean side wedding.
Tray and Amelia flew to Jamaica with his relatives while Pam traveled on her own from New York. They checked in and went their separate ways, agreeing to meet for dinner. Amelia and Tray had a meeting with the wedding planner, Eric.
He was tall and blond, lean and good looking and had a slight accent, probably Scandinavian, Amelia thought. She immediately warmed to him and scooted closer, confirming the details they'd discussed via email. The phone on the desk rang and Eric held up a finger for them to wait, turning to grab the receiver and crossing his legs at the knee.
Tray glanced at his fiancé and laughed, shaking his head. Amelia had no idea what he was talking about and still didn't follow when he angled his head towards the wedding planner. He gave up trying to get her to understand and they waited quietly for Eric to get off the phone. When he finished the call they continued talking about the exact shade of blue that Amelia wanted used for the dots on the wedding cake, and Tray stopped listening until Eric stood and said he had everything under control and would see them in the morning.
As soon as they got into the hallway, Amelia turned to Tray. "What was that about in there?"
"What? Oh," he shook his head laughing. "Nothing really, I was just surprised that he was gay. I mean, I guess I shouldn't have been. He is a wedding planner. I don't care; he just looked so straight at first."
"What are you talking about?" She had no idea where he'd gotten the idea Eric was gay.
"Come on. The way he crossed his legs. The see-through shirt. He's totally gay in a body that straight women must love."
"Oh my god." She started cracking up. "He's so not gay. The shirt. The accent. He's European."
"Gay."
"European."
"Gay," he said again, and he then kissed her to win the argument by quieting her, sliding his hands down her sides to her hips and pulling her tight against him.
"European," she laughed pulling away from him. "But I really don't fucking care right now." She undid the button on his shorts and he grabbed her hand, raising an eyebrow at her. She sighed. "Room?"
"Room," Tray agreed, grabbing her hand before practically jogging back to their room.
Eventually, they managed to catch an hour or so of sun before they had to get ready to meet everyone at the restaurant. Dinner was delicious and the laid back island style combined with the sound of the waves lulled them all into a zen-like state of relaxation. Tray was amazed that Amelia was so calm. Even though he tried not to compare the two, he remembered Marnie being a wreck before their wedding. She'd yelled at everyone and threatened to call everything off at least five times in the days leading up to the wedding. Amelia was nothing like that. She was grinning and laughing with Pam and his family, teasing his uncle about his sunburn and sipping expensive tequila. He was happier with her than he had been in years, and as he watched her, he got lost in thoughts of their future.
Tray was brought back to reality when his uncle pushed back his chair. Glancing up, he watched Cal pat the Cuban cigars in his chest pocket and angle his head toward the beach. Tray stood and offered his hand to Amelia who gave him a quick hug and told him she'd be at the beach bar with Pam and Cherise. Then he wandered out onto the sand with his uncle and they sat down, puffing on the cigars that neither of them would have smoked at home.
"You ready for this?" Cal asked as they watched the waves coming in and out.
The corner of his mouth lifted in a smile. "Yeah. I am this time."
Cal chuckled. "Yeah. I couldn't really tell you not to do it before, but I knew it wasn't gonna end well."
"You could have at least tried," Tray laughed. "Shit. That was a disaster of wasted time."
"Nah," Cal said quietly, puffing a couple of rings of smoke into the air. "We all learned a lot from that bitch."
Tray snorted. "I guess we did."
"And now you've found the real thing."
He sighed and then grinned. "I have."
Cal chuckled and Tray glanced over, unsure of what he was laughing at. His uncle smiled as he shook his head. "Your dad would have fucking loved her. She doesn't take shit from anyone."
Tray smiled sadly. "Yeah, he would have." He was a little choked up thinking about his parents, but he knew that they really would have liked Amelia. She was an amazingly good fit into his family despite all of their differences.
They watched the waves for a few more minutes, smoking their cigars and feeling the sand between their toes. Eventually, Cal stood and brushed the sand from his shorts, then stubbed out his cigar on the bottom of his flip flop. He reached a hand down for Tray, and when he stood, Cal still held his hand. He faced his nephew, and they looked at each other with matching half smiles.
"Thank you, for letting us be a part of this." His voice was full of emotion, and it carried a much deeper meaning than the words alone.
Tray nodded. "I wouldn't have it any other way. Thank you, for..." he paused and swallowed hard.
"Don't," Cal stopped him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "You don't have anything to thank me for, son." He cleared his throat and straightened his shoulders. "Let's go find the ladies. I could use a drink."
Tray didn't agree that there was nothing to thank him for, in fact, he thought there were a number of reasons to thank the man who had taken him in and raised him when he lost everything, but he nodded, knowing that Cal had at least heard his thanks, even if he didn't want to talk about it.
They turned and walked up the beach, their strides falling into the same rhythm, and Tray felt like everything in his life had fallen into place. His past and present had aligned themselves perfectly and he couldn't wait join their families and truly begin his life with Amelia.
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A/N:
Thanks again for reading. I know I say it a lot, but I mean it every time. I am thankful for every single one of you out there reading, whether you drop me a note or not.
Oh, yeah. Um. Hope no one is pissed about Eric. It was too fun. I couldn't resist. Actually E twisted my arms with her giggles to do it. It was really fun to write. LOL
See you next week!
If you want to see what the dress look like:
http:/imageshack(dot)us/photo/my-images/851/dress1a(dot)jpg/
http:/imageshack(dot)us/photo/my-images/828/dress2t(dot)jpg/
Photos are from dreambridaldress(dot)com