A/N: Can you guys believe there's only one more chapter left? Wahh. Well, maybe two. I need to hit you guys with an epilogue as well. (Obviously.)
Chapter 29: The Rest of Your Life
Suki's Bridal Shop, Saturday, 11:03AM
"I'm coming out! You guys ready?"
"Yeah, show us." Lana sat on a cushioned chair with her legs crossed and a large coffee from Hector's Diner in her hands. Lena sat beside her, her ankles crossed her and hands resting gently in her lap.
Letty pushed aside the heavy show curtain and she stepped out of the extravagant dressing room. Lana's eyes lit up and she smiled broadly.
"Well?"
Lana was the first to reply, "I think you look like an angel."
Letty playfully rolled her eyes while stepping up onto a circular platform and looking in the mirror. "You've said that about the last three dresses."
"How does this one make you feel?" Lena wondered.
"It makes me feel..." Letty tilted her head to the side and turned halfway to get a good look at the back. "...gorgeous, different."
"Then that's the one." Lana smiled.
With a vibrant smile on her face, Letty gave the dress one last twirl before spinning to look at her. She nodded. "I think this is the one, too."
Clapping her hands once, Lana stood from the chair. "Hallelujah. I thought I was bad to shop with."
"Nana, how long did it take Mama to find her wedding dress?"
"Hm. I believe it took her three hours."
"Yeah, it's practically taken you three weeks." Lana smiled. Letty stuck her tongue out at her mother.
"Well, forgive me for not being a puffy cloud, too much taffeta-wearing bridezilla." She joked.
"Excuse you, I did not wearing taffeta."
"I did. What's wrong with taffeta?"
Lana and Letty looked at each other and burst out laughing. "Nothing, Nana. Nothing at all."
Lena pouted her lips and turned away from her daughter and granddaughter. "Obviously it was a different time and a different country."
Ortiz Ranch, 7:30PM
Past the thick forest of trees behind her grandparents' ranch, in the wide open, lush green grass, Letty and her closest friends and family stood, Dom right beside her and Léa in his arms. The sun was setting, beautifully, leaving everyone dipped in its honied light. With her bare feet kissing the warm grass, she greeted everyone warmly.
"Okay, guys, thanks for coming out for this wedding rehearsal." She started. "Dom and I know that it's kind of a quick engagement, but we appreciate you guys being here for it all."
"Yeah, and we couldn't be more happy to have you guys in our wedding." Dom shifted Léa in his arm. "Honestly, I didn't think this one would ever marry me." He nodded his head at his bride, sharing a laugh with their family and friends.
"Anyway," Letty interjected, elbowing Dom, "let's get this over with so we can go grub. I'm starving."
In the next few minutes, with Lana in charge, they went through the ceremony verbally. Then, the bridesmaids and groomsmen were partnered up, Léa was given a handful of picked flowers from Lena's garden, and the bride and groom were separated.
"Now, Father Reyes will pray over the guests and ceremony, then the music is going to begin. Once that happens, Mia and Brian will walk down the aisle first." Lana instructed from the spot where the arch would stand tall the next afternoon. As she said so, the lovely couple flowed down the makeshift aisle.
"And then Gisele and Roman." Lana gestured for the two friends to come towards her.
"Don't get any ideas, baby girl. I ain't the marrying type."
Gisele rolled her eyes. Naturally, she would get stuck with the cocky groomsman. "Please, the day I fall for you, is the day I'll put a .22 to my head and pull the trigger."
"You don't mean that." Roman joked, feigning hurt as they separated at the end of the aisle. Roman went to stand beside Brian and Dominic, while Gisele went to stand by Mia.
"And finally Riley and Tej. Come on down." And they did, leaving each other for their posts, opposite one another.
Clapping her hands together once more, Lana smiled. "Okay, very lovely. Gisele and Roman, try to slow down a bit during your walk."
"I'm allergic to dogs. I can't be around them for longer than thirty seconds." Gisele replied.
"Oohhh!" The wedding party egged on the Israeli. Dom looked impressed; finally a woman who didn't fall for Roman's charms.
"Okay, okay. Settle down, children," laughed Lana.
Nothing changed, she mused. "Finally, the wedding march will play." She hummed a quick version of it, much to the amusement of the children who grew up around her. "Where's the midget? She's up next."
Léa started down the aisle dropped the picked flowers. Looking up from her task, she saw-. "Daddy!" And she started to sprint towards him. The wedding party laughed, all except Mia who put one hand on her huge belly and the other on her heart, about to cry at the cuteness.
"That'll do for now," chuckled Lana.
And finally, my darling Letty will start to walk down."
"Mom!" Letty exasperated. She was still embarrassed by her mother's terms of endearment, no matter that she secretly loved them.
"Fine, my bad-ass daughter." Lana crossed her arms. "Better?"
"Much." She reached the "altar" and stood to the right of Dominic, the pair facing each other.
While Lana ran through the remainder of the ceremony, verbally, Dom and Letty got caught in their own world.
"Are you sure you want to marry me? I'm a little crazy and temperamental." Letty told him.
"And I'm a tad bit controlling and sometimes I fuck up. Are you sure you want to marry me?" He responded.
"We're the perfect couple."
"Clearly." He pushed a wavy strand of hair out of her face. "Ride or die, remember?"
Letty nodded. "Ride or die."
"God, I can't wait to see you in that dress." Dom smiled. "Hell, I can't wait to see you in a dress, period."
The brunette lightly punched his arm. "Shut up."
"And we're already working towards therapy for domestic violence."
"We are not. Shush." Standing on her tiptoes, she pressed a kiss to her future husband's lips.
"Stop tissin' already!" Léa cried.
"Alright, come on, lovebirds! There's barbecue waiting for us at Three Kings!" Brian shouted from a distance.
It was then that they noticed their wedding party was already heading back towards the forest of trees.
"Mama! Bar-bee-cue!" Léa yelled, waving her hand, frantically from her "Unca Ro"s arms.
Dom and Letty laughed as they started, in unison, to run towards their family.
Up Next: The wedding.
