The next few months flew by. Holly and Gail had pretty much all the plans for the wedding completed. Gail had spent, what felt like decades, with Traci and Chloe picking out her wedding outfit. Gail wasn't into the frills or the puffs. She just couldn't see herself wearing any of the typical dresses. It was everyone's shock when Chloe held up the ideal outfit that Gail absolutely adored.
"It's perfect" Gail said with a deep sigh of relief as she stepped from the change room.
Chloe and Traci smiled as they watched Gail approach the mirror and twirl to see all sides. It was everything she was looking for and she knew Holly would love it as well.
"You look gorgeous" Chloe said, placing her hand over her mouth to hold back a sob that was threatening to escape.
"No tears, Pierce, or you will be uninvited" Gail said, pointing a stern finger in Chloe's direction.
"I'm sorry, I can't help it. Holly is going to flip when she sees you. You are just so beautiful."
Gail looked at herself again in the mirror. She would have had a snarky comment to give back to Chloe, but in all honestly, she was struggling herself to keep her emotions at bay. Gail would never have thought that she would be marrying Holly one day. She never thought she would be so in love with someone before. She was literally a walking cliché when she was around Holly. Her heart went a pitter patter. She felt like she was living in the clouds. She could barely stop smiling.
"Then we are all set" Traci said as she clapped her hands together and looked at the two ladies, drawing Gail out of her thoughts. "I say it's time we grabbed some lunch."
"Lunch? Gosh, had I known lunch would be included in our outing, I would have picked a dress a long time ago" Gail said turning to head back to the change room.
"I know. That's why I never said anything" Traci laughed.
Meanwhile, Holly was busy sorting out the last minute honeymoon details. She had insisted on planning the honeymoon, which Gail was both happy and annoyed about. Gail was relieved that she didn't have to take on that responsibility but at the same time, very frustrated that Holly wouldn't share any of the details with her. Holly was just cleaning up some brochures and her computer when Gail walked into the house.
"Is that…?" Gail began, a sly smile forming across her face.
"If you aren't going to finish that sentence with 'my beautiful fiancée' then I suggest you think twice about the words that are about to come out of your mouth, unless you like sleeping alone" Holly scolded as she gathered the last few items before scurrying up the stairs.
"Gee, I don't know what's so bad about me knowing" Gail grumbled under her breath.
"What was that?" Holly shouted as she came back down the stairs.
"Oh, nothing. I was just wondering if it's snowing" Gail said unconvincingly.
"You just came in from outside. Wouldn't you know better than me?" Holly laughed as she walked up and wrapped her arms around Gail.
"Yeah, you're right" Gail said somewhat dejectedly.
This caused Holly to laugh. "You are just so damn cute" she said before leaning in and placing her lips gently against Gail's. "Come on, let's go cook dinner and you can tell me all about your day with Chloe and Traci."
As time went on, Gail's prodding didn't ease. She was becoming almost desperate to know where they were going for their honeymoon. Not that she cared, she just really wanted to know. And Holly was doing an amazing job turning her down or ignoring her altogether that it just added to her desperation.
"No, babe. I'm not going to tell you" Holly said as she carried a load of laundry to the washer, Gail trailing close behind.
"But what if you just give me some clues?" Gail pleaded.
"Sure, I'll give you one clue" Holly said, turning to look at Gail.
"Okay, hit me. I'm ready. Don't forget that I'm studying to become a detective, so don't feel so bad if I get it right away" Gail stated.
Holly could only roll her eyes. "Sure, whatever you say. Okay, so for your first and only clue…We won't be staying in Toronto."
Gail stood there, her mouth falling open and blinking her eyes repeatedly before throwing up her arms. "Oh come on!" she said in a huff. "You're not serious."
"Yes ma'am. I'm dead set serious. We will be leaving the city" Holly smiled as she threw the laundry into the washing machine. She chuckled to herself as she watched Gail storm out of the room from the corner of her eye. She couldn't help but laugh out loud when she heard Gail stomping up the stairs.
Once she finished getting the laundry started, Holly ventured upstairs to see Gail sulking on the couch. "Oh, come on now. Don't be such a baby" Holly laughed, walking over and sitting down beside Gail.
"I don't understand why you just won't tell me" Gail said as she turned to look at Holly with her big blue puppy dog eyes.
Holly took a moment to steel herself before answering. Those puppy dog eyes were definitely one of her greatest weaknesses. "Because...I want this to be a surprise for you. I want to whisk you away after we are married and spoil you. I know that you are excited about our wedding, but I also know that you are kind of dreading all the socializing that will come with it, so for our honeymoon, I wanted to take you away to somewhere special where we can just enjoy being newlyweds. And I don't want you to know because I don't want you to help because I really want to do this for my future wife" Holly smiled.
Gail looked down at her fingers as she took in what Holly was trying to say.
"How about this…" Holly smiled "What if I tell you one thing that we will be doing on our honeymoon?"
With that, Gail's head shot up and she turned to look at Holly, a massive smile across her face. "I think that will help a little."
"Okay, well, how about I do one better. What if I show you?" and with that, Holly took Gail's hand and encouraged her to stand up from the couch. Then she began walking backwards as she bit gently on her bottom lip.
"You can show me" Gail stuttered as she swallowed hard, knowing full well what that look on her fiancée's face meant.
Holly smiled as she began to slowly shedding clothing. With each small step, another button was undone. She slowly began dropping garments along the way. "It will be way better if I can show you upstairs" she said, letting her pants hit the ground before turning and leaving the living room.
Gail just stood there, mouth wide open as she looked at the trail of clothes her fiancée left behind.
"Are you coming Peck?" Holly called from upstairs and then laughed out loud when she could hear Gail fumbling her way up the stairs.
Soon, before anyone knew it, the big day was right around the corner. Gail was very much excited to having a relaxing night at home with her fiancée before facing the crowds the next day. However, it was early evening and Gail found herself suddenly being forced from her home.
"I really don't think this is right. I swear I could have you arrested for assaulting an officer" she said in a huff as Steve, Chris and Dov carried her out the front door.
"We have strict instructions from Susan, Chloe and Traci to remove you from the premises" Dov said, breathing slightly heavy. "Damn it, stop struggling" he cursed.
"You guys can't do this!" she exclaimed, her feet not even touching the floor.
"Our ladies say otherwise" Chris said as a matter of fact, totally ignoring Gail's flailing arms.
"Come on guys. Why can't I just stay here?" Gail said with one final plea as they shoved her into the back of the car.
"Because, this is tradition. You are not allowed to see your bride before the big day" Steve said with a smile as he shut the door.
Holly, meanwhile, was standing at the front door with Traci, Chloe, and Susan. She had tears rolling down her cheeks from laughing so hard. The look on Gail's face when the six of them barged into the house and laid down the rules was enough to have Holly bending over with laughter. Holly thought she was going to pee her pants as she watched the men grab Gail and carry her towards the door. Sure, she might have protested, if she wasn't laughing so hard at Gail. The last look from Gail as they shoved her into the car was priceless.
"You know she is going to hate all of you" Holly laughed as the car drove away.
"She might hate us tonight, but all will be forgotten tomorrow morning when she sees you walk down the aisle" Susan smiled, patting her sister on the back before heading back inside.
"Plus, I hear the guys have an action packed evening planned for her" Chloe giggled, walking back into the house.
"Yeah, it's going to be a riot, I hear" Traci agreed as she followed Chloe in.
Holly stood there for a moment, watching as the car disappeared around the corner, secretly wishing that she wouldn't have to spend the night away from Gail. She knew it was tradition, but everything about their relationship was untraditional. She just always slept better when she was with Gail and she never put much thought into the fact that she wouldn't be sleeping with her that night. Instead, Gail would be off with the guys doing who knows what…hang on…wait…what did Chloe say?
"Hang on guys, what exactly is Gail doing tonight?" Holly said, quickly following the rest into the house.
In the meantime, Gail wasn't taken to any sleazy strip club. She wasn't even taken to any old bar. She was taken to The Penny.
"Gee guys, I really thought we were going to go to a strip club" Gail laughed as she followed her brother into The Penny.
"Who says we didn't order you a stripper for later?" Chris chuckled.
This comment only received a glare from Gail.
"No, nothing too risqué. We are under strict rules to not only get you out of the house, but also make sure you were still presentable tomorrow, so pick your beer and drink it slowly because that is the only one you are going to get tonight."
"Gee are you serious? My big night out and all I get is one beer and oh look, I get to drink it with my mother and father" Gail said flatly as she looked over to her parents waving to her from a table.
"Not just your parents, but Holly's parents too" Dov laughed as he nudged Gail with his shoulder.
"Gosh, can this night get any worse?" Gail huffed as she put on a fake smile and greeted the group.
It turns out that the evening wasn't so terrible at all. Gail actually enjoyed sitting around with her friends. Her parents weren't so bad in the end either. They even bought everyone a round of drinks, even though Gail's was only a coke.
Halfway through evening, Elaine and Brenda excused themselves from the table, explaining that they had a little hen party that was waiting for them back at Gail's house. Gail enthusiastically offered to drive them over, which only got her a kiss on each cheek from the two ladies.
"I really don't like this idea of not being allowed to see Holly. It actually really really sucks" Gail sulked attempting to get some sympathy from the mothers before her.
"Well, we are just going to head to the bathroom before we leave. Thanks for the lovely evening everyone" Brenda said to the group totally ignoring Gail's whine.
"Gail, dear, will you please tell our driver we will just be a few more minutes" Elaine instructed her daughter before looping her arm through Brenda's and disappearing towards the bathroom.
"Well, doesn't tonight just suck. First, I'm stuck with you lot. Second, I'm not allowed to drink to make any of this evening any better, and third, I'm stuck with all of you."
"You already said that, loser" Steve laughed.
Gail merely stuck her tongue out at him before heading outside. She spotted a dark coloured mini-van sitting out front which she recognized as Susan's and she quickly walked over to it. She leant against the side door before tapping on the passenger's side window with the back of her hand.
"Hey gorgeous" came a familiar voice.
Gail whipped around to see Holly sitting there in the passenger's seat, a big smile plastered across her face.
"What are you doing here?!" Gail exclaimed as she quickly jumped up and leaned in the front window to kiss Holly.
Holly couldn't help but laugh into the kiss. "Let's just say Susan let me tag along to pick up our mothers" she explained as she placed another kiss on Gail's lips.
"And let's also just say that I am no longer considered the worse sister in the world" Susan clarified.
"What?" Gail laughed, leaning back out of the car.
"Let's just also say that our doctor here was not the happiest camper about tonight's arrangements" Susan chuckled.
Gail looked over at Holly who was blushing slightly. "What? It wasn't my plan to have you kidnapped. I was kind of looking forward to waking up with you tomorrow morning."
Gail couldn't help but lean back in and place her lips against Holly's once more. "I love you so much."
"I love you too" Holly said, reaching up and placing a hand gently on Gail's cheek.
A cough from behind them caused Gail to jump and bump her head on the car door. "Oh baby" Holly chuckled as she rubbed the back of Gail's head trying best to hold back some of her laughter.
"I'm sorry. I tried to keep her in the bathroom longer" Brenda said, walking up towards the van.
"Come on Brenda, it was going to get a little questionable if we stayed in the bathroom. I didn't even need to use the bathroom in the first place" Elaine said with all seriousness as she came up behind them.
"Take me with you" Gail pleaded looking towards the two older women.
"Sorry, honey. Tradition is tradition. You are lucky you even got to see each other now" Brenda said as she slid into the van.
"That's right. You should be grateful" Elaine said, leaning in and giving her daughter a quick peck on the cheek. "We will see you tomorrow" she said as a matter of fact before sliding into the van after Brenda and closing the door.
Gail leaned in one last time to give Holly another kiss as Susan began to slowly wind up the window. She then stood there pouting as the van drove away.
"Do we really need to leave her like that?" Holly said, turning to look at her sister.
"Hey, you're lucky I even agreed to bring you along. I could have picked up mom on my own."
"That's right, and we didn't need to conveniently visit the restroom before we left. For Pete's sake, your house is literally two minutes away" Brenda added.
"Don't worry. She's a Peck. She can pout and whine, but she will survive" Elaine added in her two sense.
Holly merely folded her arms and leaned back in her chair with a huff which received an unsympathetic laugh from the other ladies in the car.
As the evening drew to a close, Holly found herself dragging herself to bed, not really wanting to go knowing that she would be spending the night there alone. She felt deflated as she slid into bed wearing one of Gail's old t-shirts. She was about to switch off her bedside light when her phone began to vibrate. She picked it up eagerly, already knowing who it was going to be. "I hate sleeping without you" Holly said without even looking at the caller ID.
"I know what you mean, babe. At least they didn't take away our phone privileges. I hate traditions" Gail said with a sigh.
"Me too. I know it is tradition to be apart, but I really wanted to wake up with you tomorrow morning" Holly admitted.
"Yeah? I always thought you would want all the typical traditional things that came along with getting married."
"Since when do I strike you as traditional? I just want to be with you. That's why we are having a wedding in the first place" Holly smiled into the phone.
"Oh gosh, I'm so glad you said that" said Gail as she tumbled out of the closet. "I'm not sure I could have spent all night in there if you had said something different" she said, straightening out her clothes.
Holly just sat there in bed, staring dumbfounded at the blonde before her. She suddenly let out a squeal before leaping out of bed and wrapping her arms tightly around Gail's neck. "What are you doing here?" she exclaimed.
"Well, I gave them the slip, you see. They couldn't catch me, you see" Gail said in her best mobster voice.
"You are such an idiot" Holly laughed as she squeezed her tighter.
"Your idiot" Gail replied as she wrapped her arms around Holly's waist.
"But seriously, how did you get here? Why are you in the closet?" Holly asked, leaning back so that she was able to look at Gail.
"Let's just say, when you are the only person not drinking in a group of guys who are drinking, it's not that hard to slip away" Gail said with a wink. "Plus, I paid them all fifty bucks to look the other way."
"Best money ever spent" Holly smiled as she pulled Gail into a searing kiss.
Meanwhile downstairs, Susan and Traci were cleaning up the last little bit of the dishes. They had volunteered to clean up in order to let Holly get her beauty rest before they headed upstairs themselves to get some shut eye.
"Do you think they know that we know?" Traci asked as she put the leftovers into the fridge.
"Oh, I doubt it. Did you see how Gail snuck into the house? For being so small, she isn't really that quiet or coordinated" Susan laughed.
"Tell me about it. And how about Holly's squeal? If I didn't already know that Gail was up there, I would have thought something was seriously wrong" Traci chuckled.
"At least we know that they will get a good night's rest" Susan smiled.
"Amen to that sister" Traci added.