Packed to the Rafters have Logie nominations! Eee! Who's pumped?
I apologise for that outburst. And the lack of updates. It took me a while to recover from the wedding chapter. I cried writing that. I'm a sap. I haven't been to a wedding since I was three. I don't really remember it, but it rained and the tent leaked and there was fruit salad and cake. But that's only what my older brother told me. I just remember the rain.
Anyway, PTTR have Logie nominations! I squealed so loud my older brother burst into the lounge room, screaming to know why I was choking on chocolate milkshake on the lounge.
And mooooooooooving on... I recomend you listen to 'Mary's Song (Oh My, My, My)' by Taylor Swift for this chapter. I felt the song suited best- and its one of my favourites. Actually, it IS my favourite. So, onto the wedding reception! Read and review!
Love Rhyleigh xoxox
PS: I know its long, but author's notes are meant for me to tell my life story, right? I don't let you down!
"Come on, Mrs Barton", Jake giggled like a child who had had too much sugar, as the car pulled up in front of Carbo's house.
"That's your mother, remember?" she giggled back.
Jake paused to let it sink in. "We're married, Rach! We have a kid together!"
Just like they had when they were little, they hugged excitedly. It was all very surreal feeling at that time.
Rachel, with Jake's help, climbed out of the car, making her way up the driveway that lead to Carbo's house.
"The Calamari Castle", Rachel chuckled quietly.
Jake reached for the door. "I never thought I'd be having my wedding reception here, that's for sure".
"Me either", Rachel agreed.
Jake reached for the doorhandle, to let his beautiful wife in. They were greeted with balloons and streamers, and the smell of food from the Shanghai Express.
"They're here!" Carbo cried excitedly.
The kitchen table had been shifted, courtesy of Ben and Carbo (Ben had complained that all he ever did for his sister was move furniture and that he would need a chiropractor if he ever wanted to walk again), and it was loaded with food from the Shanghai Express that Henry Wong had delivered moments before. The chairs from the Rafters' kitchen table was around the large table- how they managed to move them without Rachel and Jake seeing was beyond them.
Their whole family was in there, grinning like there was no tomorrow.
"Wow", Jake said.
"Sit down, eat!" Carbo enthused, pulling out the chairs at the head of the table for them. Jake helped Rachel onto her seat, taking their daughter from Grace's arms.
As Jake served sweet and sour pork and fried rice onto her plate, Rachel kissed the little girl on the head. "One day this'll be you, Belle".
"Not too soon", Jake interjected.
Julie just laughed.
"He's got the protective father thing down pat", Dave said approvingly.
They continued to eat and laugh, bringing up stories of the childhood Rachel and Jake shared. They blushed, they giggled and they remembered the memories of the past.
Once dinner was over, Libby announced that it was time for Camel to make his best man speech.
Nathan had the video camera focused on Camel.
"I can't wait to hear this", Jake murmured.
Rachel giggled. "Shh, he's trying to make a speech!"
"Well, firstly, I'd like to tell Rachel how amazing she looks today", Camel told Rachel genuinely. "I've never seen a more beautiful bride, and Jake is very lucky".
"As for Jake, well... we tried", Alex added, chuckling. It was typical Alex humour.
"The day Jake asked me to be his best man I knew I'd have a hard job, because I have so many embarrassing stories from our past", Camel said, chuckling, "And I knew I could only choose a few. For example, his haircut in our year seven school photo".
Julie, Dave, Grace, Alex, Ben, Libby, George and Nathan all laughed, remembering Jake's school photo from that year.
"I mean, mate, seriously? What possessed you to do that?" Camel giggled.
A ripple of laughter ran through the wedding guests, as Jake's cheeks turned pink. He glared at his friend with a look of pure anger on his face. Rachel just smiled and reached for Jake's hand, resting her head on his shoulder.
"But honestly, I've known both of them since pre-school and we've been mates ever since. Their parents have always said they'd grow up and get married, but they denied it. Denial gets you nowhere, Jake!"
Rachel had to laugh- Jake's best man seemed to enjoy teasing him more than actually making a speech.
"He's always at his happiest when he's with Rach, and I'd like to wish the two of them many, many years of happy marriage. To Jake and Rachel!"
"To Jake and Rachel!" everyone raised their glasses.
It was then time for the two of them to have their first dance as a married couple.
"Any idea what we'll be dancing to?" Jake whispered to his beautiful bride.
"You're gonna have to ask everyone else that one. This was up to them", she whispered back, taking his hand and leading him out to the dance floor. "No one tells me anything".
"We felt this song suited you best- at Libby's insistence", Grace told them, as Carbo pressed 'play' on the stereo. Everyone else had goofy grins on their faces, waiting eagerly to see their reactions.
Through the speakers came the first notes of 'Mary's Song', by Taylor Swift. Rachel nearly cried, as Jake gripped her tighter.
She said, I was seven and you were nine
I looked at you like the stars that shined
In the sky, the pretty lights
And our daddies used to joke about the two of us
Growing up and falling in love and our mamas smiled
And rolled their eyes and said oh my my my
Jake smiled, looking into his wife's amazingly blue eyes. The ages were a little off, but the song suited them perfectly.
Rachel felt tears prick the back of her eyes- Libby had played the song for her months and months ago, and she had fallen in love with it. Back then, she had no idea what the future held for either of them.
Take me back to the house in the backyard tree
Said you'd beat me up, you were bigger than me
You never did, you never did
Take me back when our world was one block wide
I dared you to kiss me and ran when you tried
Just two kids, you and I...
Oh my my my my
Rachel laughed, remembering the day she had dared Jake to kiss her. When Jake attempted to, she had ran- she didn't expect it. Jake had been furious, chasing her through the backyard. Rachel had squealed and ran from him- and they had both ended up giggling hysterically in a pile of gangly arms and legs.
Well, I was sixteen when suddenly
I wasn't that little girl you used to see
But your eyes still shined like pretty lights
And our daddies used to joke about the two of us
They never believed we'd really fall in love
And our mamas smiled and rolled their eyes
And said oh my my my...
They had been fifteen when they fell in love, Jake remembered. Australia Day. Neither of them acted upon it, but it was there. They both knew it.
Take me back to the creek beds we turned up
Two A.M. riding in your truck and all I need is you next to me
Take me back to the time we had our very first fight
The slamming of doors instead of kissing goodnight
You stayed outside till the morning light
Oh my my my my
Rachel smiled, remembering the time she had snuck out her bedroom window to go for a walk with him- they had been seventeen. Grace and Rachel's parents had absolutely flipped when they found out where they had been. But, according to both of them, it had been worth it. Even if they were both grounded for almost a month.
A few years had gone and come around
We were sitting at our favourite spot in town
And you looked at me, got down on one knee
The park in town was most definitely their favourite spot in town, Jake decided. They had spent a good chunk of their childhood there, and it was the very spot he had chose to propose.
Take me back to the time when we walked down the aisle
Our whole town came and our mamas cried
You said I do and I did too
Take me home where we met so many years before
We'll rock our babies on that very front porch
After all this time, you and I
Julie and Grace had most definitely cried when Rachel walked down the aisle- crying even harder when they both said 'I do'. Together, they had rocked Isabelle on the front veranda of the Rafters' house, loving every moment of it.
I'll be eighty-seven; you'll be eighty-nine
I'll still look at you like the stars that shine
In the sky, oh my my my...
Jake honestly hoped when they were eighty seven- or eighty nine- that they would be together. Rachel was his entire world and he would be nothing without her.
As the last notes of the song died out, Jake and Rachel made their way to the side of the room, to retrieve their daughter from Grace's arms.
"Carbo, mate, you're crying", Jake pointed out, holding Isabelle close.
He was fast to protest- using the same excuse he had at Ben and Melissa's wedding. "It's just raining on my face!"
"Inside?" Melissa wanted to know.
Carbo quickly wiped away his tears.
"You're such a softie!" Ben teased.
Carbo sniffled. "So what?"
He was teary at Nathan and Sammy's wedding. He cried at Ben and Mel's. At Rachel and Jake's, he had sobbed. It didn't surprise them.
After the cake, they went back to dancing. Carbo was in the middle of the floor, shaking his 'double jointed hips'. That was what he had told Rachel when he was thirteen, at the school disco, and Rachel never planned on letting him forget it.
"Rach", Jake mumbled, as he put his arms around his wife.
"I love you". Rachel stared up into his eyes, blue meeting brown.
"How is it you always know what I'm going to say?" he asked, kissing her forehead.
"A habit I picked up over the years".
"Of course". He kissed her again and she giggled like a lovesick teenager.
