Chapter 59: Pre-Wedding Jitters (Ana's POV)

"Oh my God, Christian! Another car? Another PERFECT car? Holy shit! This is... exactly what I would have picked out for our family car!"

I loved the look of pride on his face as he responded, "I ordered it the same time I ordered your Spyder, but it took longer because it's custom designed. It's bullet and bomb proof, and it has a few other safety features that aren't standard. Do you like the cream leather seats? They have both a heating and a cooling feature."

"Sure, I love them," I replied. "They're so soft and cushy. Leather is easy to clean, too, which I'm sure we'll need to do often with three carseats. But... I can't believe you gave me another car. I thought I did a good job of outdoing you at Christmas with Charlie Tango, but this... This is hard to outdo." Actually, I'd probably already outdone him, as much as I loved this car. I'd bought him an Italian villa on Lake Como. But I was waiting until the night before our wedding to give it to him. That was two days away.

Christian smirked at me. "Now that I know you're trying to outdo me, I'll have to up my game."

I just smirked back at him. Good luck with that, tiger.

Thankfully, the rest of January and first half of February had been relatively quiet and uneventful, mainly because Christian had worked constantly, and I'd almost never left our home. Amazingly, we'd been able to keep my pregnancy a secret from the general public, probably because I'd stayed out of the public eye. It wasn't because I wasn't showing, because my baby bump had grown by leaps and bounds. It's like it appeared one day in late December, and it had been growing steadily ever sense. But nobody had a chance to see it. I'd decided after being scared out of my wits that day at the Mile High Club that I wouldn't go anywhere for the next few weeks unless I absolutely had to. I needed time to recover from the fright, compounded with the nightmares that I still suffered from the Hyde attack. On the few occasions I left home, Christian and I had been very careful, and I'd worn a bulky sweater. Since the weather was cold now, nothing looked unusual about my appearance. It didn't matter though, because nobody except family had been able to get more than a glimpse of me. Our family all already knew our secret, and they were keeping it.

Christian and I still had two CPOs each, who went with us everywhere. I was thrilled that Luke had returned at the beginning of February, fully recovered and MARRIED! Yes, he and Becca, his physical therapist turned girlfriend, had eloped to Las Vegas in mid-January! Luke was happy, and I was really happy to see it. Sam was still my other CPO, and I didn't want to change that. She'd almost resigned after she woke up from the incident at the Mile High Club, but what happened there that day hadn't been her fault. Horowitz had snuck up on her, and none of us had even heard a thing. Sam was more diligent than ever now, and she'd always been diligent, so I didn't think it was likely that anything like the Horowitz attack would ever happen to me again, at least not like that.

Dre was still with Christian as his second CPO, and Taylor was still his first, at Christian's insistence. When Taylor suggested regretfully that he would probably have to have an office job and hire another CPO for Christian since heading our personal security was a growing job with twins on the way, Christian easily talked him out of it. We both knew Taylor would hate a desk job, and he could oversee the others while also guarding Christian, at least for now. Nick was now over the security of our house, and I felt safe with him in charge of it. He had proven that he wouldn't hesitate to use his firearm to protect us, as he had been the one to kill Joseph Horowitz, saving Raina's life… and probably mine. Moreover, it turned out that Nick was particularly good at IT, which was an added skillset useful for overseeing our complicated home security system.

In fact, all of our security were great at their jobs, and they made me feel more relaxed than I normally would have felt considering all that I'd experienced in the past few months. We now also had two CPOs for Christina, Ryan as well as a new female named Stephanie Winter who preferred to be called Steph. She'd come highly recommended, having served in the past with the Secret Services. We'd also already hired two new CPOs for the twins who would start work sometime in the summer, shortly after their birth. We'd gone with one male and one female, like with Christina. Eric Steiner and Cindy Pearson had also come very highly recommended. Both had very recently been honorably discharged from the Marines. Both had stellar records. The ironic thing was that both of them were also twins, not of each other, but they both had twins out there. I looked forward to getting to know them after they started working for us.

It was very good that I didn't feel any anxiety over all our very capable personal security staff because I was feeling plenty of anxiety over other areas of my life, namely Ismintis-Grey, and our upcoming wedding. My anxiety over Ismintis-Grey stemmed from my delayed return to work, other than the few Skype meetings I joined each week. I didn't have any doubt that Christian was doing a great job, as were our executive team, which we had rebuilt together with a blend of our old employees. Ros was the best COO that I had ever worked with, and I grew to appreciate her attention to detail more each day. It was a blessing in disguise that the person I'd wanted to hire as my COO before we'd merged had turned me down. We had decided together to go with my CFO, Ramona Sotomayor, as the CFO of Ismintis-Grey, and I was more than a little anxious about her because she had hired the assholes who'd been trying to embezzle from me that Christian had fired. But Christian and Ros had both met with Ramona repeatedly and felt satisfied that she'd been innocent of any wrongdoing. Besides, Jasper Carrington, Christian's old CFO, was a jerk. I knew he didn't get along with Ros, and after a couple of Skype meetings during which he'd talked down to me like I wasn't intelligent enough to understand the accounts he was reporting on, I'd had enough. Christian had fired Carrington himself after the second time it happened, and I was relieved. Now, if everything with Ramona Sotomayor worked out OK, we would be fine. I had never had any issues with her in the past. We got along well. I was just being paranoid. Christian continually reminded me that he trusted her, and everything was going to be OK with her. He'd make sure of it.

After Christian's public shaming from that damn leaked video, followed so quickly afterwards by my live-streamed horror, and then our fast-tracked merger, I had worried that we would lose business, but that did not appear to be the case. With the changes we'd implemented as part of our merger, our employees were happy, which made them more productive. Things were going well. They were going much better, in fact, than we'd expected they would be by now, after the fallout from those videos. But they were going well mostly without me, and I had no plans to return to the office anytime soon. Due to the severity of the Hyde attack, and being pregnant with twins so soon after the surgery that had been necessary to save my life, I knew I needed to take it easy. I fully expected my doctors to recommend that I be on bedrest once I reached my third trimester. And I didn't want to do anything in the meantime to endanger the lives of my babies. I would have to continue to work remotely for now. It was OK, really, because I knew how well everything was going. But would they need me when I was ready to return? Christian assured me they would, but I felt uncertain and insecure. I knew it was irrational to feel this way, but Deepa reminded me that it was OK to feel what I was feeling. This too would pass. I knew it would be OK, but I still worried.

As with Ismintis-Grey, I also didn't have good reasons to be anxious about our wedding. Never mind that it was three times the size we'd originally planned for it to be. When it came time to make the guest list, it had been impossible to turn people away because of who we are. We ended up not with the original 100 that we'd thought we wanted but with around 300. But our wedding planner, Lavette, had it all worked out. It wasn't like we needed to worry about the costs, and we didn't. I was going to have exactly what I wanted for every little part of it. Lavette hadn't overlooked anything.

I didn't have any regrets about the size of our wedding or that it was happening at home in Seattle, in spite of being hounded by the paparazzi, as I knew we would be. In fact, Christian hadn't had a day's peace from them since the day we'd met, but I'd escaped them recently by rarely leaving home. However, we would take advantage of them for this momentous event while also doubling our already large security staff to keep them at a distance, where they belonged. I wanted the world to see Christian and me becoming husband and wife. Little by little, the gossip about him related to those damn BDSM videos would die down, as would the gossip surrounding my live-streamed horror, which I had no doubts was still very much talked about. It had already been months since both of those events, and I knew it would still be more months before people moved on to something else. But after the photos from our wedding were published, everyone would know we were expecting another baby, and they already knew I'd adopted Christina. We were a family, and our wedding was making it official. And I'd realized over the past couple of months that nothing in this world mattered to me more than my family. Not even Ismintis, now Ismintis-Grey.

As my anxiety grew leading up to the week of our wedding, the three people closest to me, Christian, Christina, and Kate, all helped me relax in different ways, as did all of the staff we had hired to take care of us in one way or another. Our extended family also played a role, from Grace, who was always eager to keep Christina whenever we needed, to Ray, who was becoming downright friendly with Christian, so much so that they discussed going on a fishing trip sometime soon, to Mia, who frequently brought me tasty fresh-baked treats from Cafe Violette, their newly opened cafe. I was pleased to hear how well business was going for Mia and Leo, and even more pleased when I tasted their wedding cake samples. Christian and I agreed that we'd made the right decision in going with Mia and Leo to do our wedding cake. They didn't intend at least for now to make wedding cakes as part of their business, but they'd offered to do ours, and we'd accepted. I was worried, leading up to it, that it would be too much for Mia to do our cake and also be a bridesmaid. She was helping with Christina, too. Would she be able to juggle all these responsibilities?

I was a nervous wreck the week of our wedding, but Christian, Christina, and Kate all helped distract and de-stress me, as did all the people close to us. The various methods all of these wonderful people employed in my life to make me feel more calm and relaxed couldn't have been more different from one another, but combined, they all made a tremendous difference to me. Nothing could have removed all my anxiety, but they all helped a lot.

With Christian, I knew I could constantly depend on him to keep me informed on everything Ismintis-Grey, especially the important meetings that I missed. He did his best to make sure I was part of the decision-making process for all the big things. And at home, he was as loving and caring as always, paying attention to every little detail concerning my health and well-being. He knew how anxious I was feeling, so he not only constantly reassured me, but he also took my mind off everything by being my Dominant. And he was so good at it. There was no question that he was a natural Dominant. And after spending a few evenings learning from Ken and Raina, Christian was ready to experiment with kimbaku techniques we'd learned.

Therefore, each night the week leading up to our wedding, my Dominant kept me satisfied while also finding ways to ensure that our babies were kept safe. I found that I liked kimbaku just as much as I'd expected to, and Christian worked through the doubts he'd still been having about whether or not he was truly a Dominant. We communicated openly about every little thing, which was new for both of us, and we grew deeper in love everyday. I had always respected Christian, except for that brief time when I'd thought he was stealing my business, which had been a misunderstanding. But my respect for him grew daily as I watched him balance running our empire to fathering Christina to meeting my needs while still dealing with his own emotional issues related to getting to know his birth family. And through all of this, he even found time for helicopter flying lessons, although he did limit these lessons to once per week, early on Saturday mornings, because that was all the free time he could find. He truly was a remarkable man. And I was happy that he realized that, yes, he was a Dominant. I was also happy that he knew when I needed his dominance and when I needed him to listen to me as his equal. We didn't switch again after that first time, but I wasn't against doing it again sometime, when Christian needed his Goddess to make a reappearance. Thankfully, for the time being, he knew I needed my Master instead.

In the daytime while Christian was at work, when I wasn't in a Skype meeting with him and our team, Christina lit up my life with her smile, her sweet giggle, and her words, which were growing more each day. She now spoke in mostly complete sentences, and she understood that she was going to be a big sister. She helped me decide on the design for the twins' nursery. Although we wouldn't know for certain for another month about the gender of our twins, I was already certain they were boys. I was torn between jungle animals and transportation as the theme of our nursery. Should we have elephants, tigers, zebras, and giraffes? Or should we have airplanes, trains, race cars and boats? Christina decided we needed both, but only Disney characters would do. So we ended up with a mural design that incorporated Dumbo the flying elephant along with characters from the Jungle Book and the Lion King using different forms of transportation. My favorite image in the mural was probably Mowgli the man cub riding a motorcycle through a jungle surrounded by water buffalo, but Christina preferred flying Dumbo, who looked enough like an airplane alone. Christian preferred the image of Uncle Scar in the sinking sailboat, which I found a bit disturbing. I was still trying to convince Christian to ask the artist not to have the sailboat sinking. It hadn't been painted yet, but the artist we'd hired had finished several sketches, and we all loved the overall ideas. It was just the details we still needed to settle. We still had a few months to get it painted, and work on it wouldn't start until we'd returned from our honeymoon.

Gail was now officially Christina's full-time nanny, and she would also be the nanny for the twins when they came along. For now, Gail was also able to do most of the cleaning, but we would probably need to hire someone after the twins were born. It would depend on how effectively we were able to have the CPOs for Christina and the twins also do childcare. Ryan and Steph were already pretty good with Christina. Neither of them ever hesitated to change her diaper if Gail and I were both busy, and they kept her entertained even when we were present. That was while we were home; if we were out, their attention would be more on guarding her. Overall, I was very satisfied with their work. Also, to my joy, Veronica had agreed to work for us full-time, and she would even move into one of our staff apartments when they were built. She was our cook, but she also had time to help Gail with cleaning. Veronica assured us that she preferred to work privately for us instead of continuing in the nursing job she'd had before. I was relieved that we had a full-time nurse in our home now, even if she wasn't working in that capacity now that I was healed enough not to need a nurse. We didn't know when my need for a nurse might change, considering my pregnancy and all. I'd grown very fond of Veronica, so I was glad she was with us for the long haul.

Then, there was Kate, who truly was the best friend I'd ever had, as close to me as a sister. She knew how much stress I was under leading up to our wedding, and she knew that we couldn't have the typical "girls night out" bachelorette party since I couldn't drink and didn't want to be seen in public. So, she arranged with a friend who owned a spa for us to have multiple spa days, including facials and even a Balinese cream bath. She rented out the entire spa each time, so it was just us and Mia. I still wasn't up for a massage… my body had still not completely healed from the brutality I'd suffered at the hands of Jack Hyde. But I didn't have a chance to wallow in those memories because the people in my life kept me focused on everything positive. On one of our spa days, we were joined by Grace and Raina, and we'd laughed so hard that day anyone who'd overheard us would have sworn we were all drunk off our asses, but none of us had had anything alcoholic. It was Kate and Mia's sense of humor that had kept us rolling.

I blinked my eyes, so it seemed, and my wedding day was upon me. I wasn't sure where the time had gone, but it had flown by. This was a good thing, in my opinion, because my baby bump was growing larger by the day, and I wanted to get married while I was still able to walk down the aisle without waddling.

Other than my wedding dress, which I'd had to change when I found out I was expecting, almost everything else had been planned since November. Nevertheless, the week of our wedding, Lavette had worked around the clock getting everything ready. I didn't need to do anything, but I kept in close contact with Lavette, who FaceTimed with me several times a day, so I knew every little thing that was going on and was able to make sure it was all being done exactly as I wanted. The restaurant and nightclub of the Mile High Club had both been completely cleaned out and redone. The dark walls of the nightclub were covered with white drapes, which completely changed the atmosphere. Even the lighting was changed to a more tasteful design for a formal event. The restaurant needed less work, but all the tables had to be moved out and replaced with rows of chairs, which took time and manpower. Then, Lavette and the florists could work their magic. I was amazed at the transformation, and I loved the way both the restaurant and the nightclub looked. Christian complained that it looked like somebody had vomited yellow daisies everywhere, but I thought the bouquets of Gerber daisies everywhere were lovely. Along with the pale gray tablecloths and white linens, the flowers popped, and they made me happy.

Christian had attempted to convince me to change the venue of our wedding from the Mile High Club after Horowitz was killed there, but I didn't think we had time to find another venue that would work as well, and I didn't think we needed to. It wasn't like Escala, where neither Christian nor I would be able to return in the near future, if ever. But that had been our private residences, which had been very deliberately invaded by a monster. The Mile High Club was a public restaurant, and the incident with Joseph Horowitz could have happened anywhere. It wasn't like Horowitz had targeted our personal sanctuaries, as Hyde had. No, Horowitz had simply taken advantage of an opportunity he'd found when Christian and I had happened to have been meeting with Ken and Raina that day. Hyde's attack had been premeditated and carefully calculated, but Horowitz only knew Raina was there because he'd been stalking her. It hadn't had anything to do with me or Christian.

When I insisted on keeping our wedding venue, Christian insisted on gutting and redoing the restrooms in the restaurant, completely removing any memory of the horrific event that happened there. He had closed the restaurant after Horowitz had been killed there, and he wouldn't reopen it until after our wedding. He also had been busy upgrading the security system in the entire building where the Mile High Club was located. Christian owned the building, which had been the original headquarters of GEH, before they'd outgrown it and Grey House had been built. Since then, Christian had rented out all of the office space. In addition to his mother's charity, Coping Together, Ken and Raina were in the process of getting their headquarters for Nozomi House ready. We hadn't been able to look at it as planned on the day Joseph Horowitz attacked Raina, but they'd gone ahead with the lease, signing it with Christian a couple of weeks ago. They were thrilled with the upgrades that Christian was making with security just in time for them to open their office there. Knowing Christian, it was no surprise that the security system had been state of the art before; now, it was even better. I doubted there was a restaurant, night club, or office building anywhere on the West Coast with better security. There were even metal detectors at all the exits, and armed security on duty around the clock. I thought it was overkill, but I didn't tell Christian. I knew it was his way of regaining control.

Christian needed control of all things related to security, but our wedding was almost completely up to me. Anything I wanted, he agreed with. He made a few suggestions here and there that I agreed with, as well as a few suggestions that I nixed, like the ice sculpture that I thought was cheesy, or the overpriced DJ that he wanted to fly in from New York City. I did concede to let Christian plan a few musical surprises for our reception, but I liked the idea of using local talent. Seattle had plenty of local talent, so we didn't need a famous New York DJ.

The night before our wedding, we had a fancy rehearsal dinner, hosted by Grace and Carrick at their home. Thankfully, Derrick and Kelly had managed to fly in that afternoon. I had decided during their Christmas visit that I wanted both of them to be a part of our wedding. I'd made Kelly a bridesmaid, which was perfect because Christian wanted Isaac to also be a groomsman. When Leo humbly requested not to be one of Christian's groomsmen so that he could focus instead of making sure the wedding cakes were set up perfectly before our reception, Derrick was happy to take his place. He would walk with Mia instead of Leo, which everyone was happy with, including Leo.

After the rehearsal dinner, Christian's siblings tried their best to make him spend the night at their parents' house. It had been their plan, but it didn't work out like they'd expected. Christian was determined that we would not be separated on our pre-wedding night, and I agreed with him. I had a surprise waiting for him at home, and I didn't want their silliness to ruin it. Neither of us was traditional or superstitious, and it was important to both of us to spend the night together, so we did. And we didn't let their objections or teasing bother us at all. There were plenty of objections and teasing, but they merely provided comedic relief.

"But you can't see the bride before the wedding," Mia argued. "It's bad luck!"

"That's right," Kelly agreed. "My parents spent the night together before their wedding, and look how that turned out."

"That whole 'not seeing the bride before the wedding' is bullshit, and you both know it," Christian replied with finger quotes and a smirk. "Shouldn't you be somewhere baking our wedding cake, Meems?"

Mia rolled her eyes. "If I'd waited until the night before your wedding to bake your wedding cake, it wouldn't be done on time. It's already decorated and ready to be delivered tomorrow. Leo's going to set it up himself, with a couple of our new staff. It's a real beauty. I'm so proud of it. I've taken pictures to add to our portfolio, if you don't mind. Leo's not finished with your croquembouche yet, but he says it's better to construct it the day of the wedding. It's a good thing he's not a groomsman, with all he's going to be doing tomorrow getting ready for the reception."

"I don't mind," Leo quickly jumped in. "I'm doing what I love for the family of the woman I love."

Mia and Leo smiled sweetly at each other, prompting Elliot and Christian to pretend to gag.

"What the hell's a 'crockem bush'?" Isaac asked humorously, with very bad pronunciation, making the rest of us laugh.

I answered through my giggles, "A croquembouche is a French wedding dessert. Leo wanted to make it as a gift to us, and he's making it gluten-free. We have three desserts, counting it, the big white cake that Mia made, and the groom's cake, which is chocolate, and in the shape of an Ismintis-Grey airplane. We ordered it from a bakery that Lavette recommended. The two cakes both have gluten, but Leo's masterpiece won't."

"Not a masterpiece," Leo corrected. "But made with love for both of you. A wedding's not a wedding without two things. Besides the bride and groom, of course. A croquembouche and champagne. Oh, and good entertainment."

"That's more than two things, but we'll have it all. We'll certainly have plenty of champagne," Christian said. "And really good entertainment."

"Are you finally going to tell us?" Mia asked Christian excitedly. "You can whisper it in my ear. I promise I won't tell Ana."

Elliot cracked up. "When have you ever kept a secret, Meems?"

Mia gave Christian a secretive smile, like maybe she knew something she wasn't telling. I wasn't so sure she didn't already know the big secret. I knew Christian had something up his sleeve for entertainment, but I wanted to enjoy the surprise, so I didn't push for information.

Instead of responding to Elliot, Mia asked Christian, "Are you having a champagne fountain?"

"Nope," Christian answered. He smirked at me without further comment. Yeah, it was another one of his ideas that I'd nixed.

"Too cheesy," I said. "We'll have free-flowing champagne, though. Kristal, of course. Served on trays by a wait staff. It's not only more tasteful but also more hygienic."

"Well, I'm having a champagne fountain at my wedding," Mia announced. "And a chocolate fountain as well. I love chocolate fountains."

"Yeah, but… on your wedding day?" Kate asked amusedly. "Aren't you afraid of spilling chocolate on your white dress?"

Mia replied, "Oh, I'll probably be too nervous to eat anything myself. I just want our guests to enjoy everything I love."

Kate gave me a knowing look, which I gave right back to her. Silently, we agreed that our own wedding guests didn't need to enjoy everything that we loved. Certainly, there were things in our personal lives that our guests didn't know about, and we weren't going to share. The thought made me giggle, again. I'd been doing a lot of that tonight.

"God I wish I could bottle that sound," Christian commented for the millionth time. He loved the sound of my giggle more than anything… except maybe Christina's giggle. We were tied for first place, I think.

Speaking of our precious Christina, there was one concession that Christian and I were willing to make. Christina could spend our pre-wedding night at Grey Manor, and Grace and Mia could get her ready for our wedding. Mia would bring her to the Mile High Club with her tomorrow, where I would already be ready and waiting for the photo shoot that we were going to have before our wedding. Christina was already going to be spending the following week with Grace and Carrick, who would be keeping her, along with Gail, while we were on our honeymoon in Hawaii. Yes, we were keeping things simple, going back to our home in Hawaii for a week. Neither of us wanted to be away from Ismintis-Grey or Christina longer than that.

Then, ignoring more objections from Christian's siblings, we left to spend the evening alone at our home. As soon as we arrived, I gave Christian his wedding gift. I had gift wrapped an oil on canvas painting of our actual villa that I'd purchased for Christian about a month ago. Hidden in the underside of the canvas were the blueprints, sales contract, and front door key.

Christian's eyes popped when he realized that he was looking at more than just a decoration for the wall of his home office. "You bought me a villa? Holy fuck, Ana! You bought me an Italian villa. We should be going there for our honeymoon. We can change..."

"No," I interrupted. "Let's go to Hawaii as planned. We can go to Italy after the babies are born and spend more time."

He smirked. "As you wish, Goddess."

I just smirked back at him. Smart ass.

"I have something for you, too," Christian told me once he'd hung his new painting on the hook in his home office, just where I'd already prepared for him to hang it. It looked perfect there, and I could see he really liked it.

"Christian, you already got me a car," I reminded him. "A really amazing family car."

He snorted. "You seriously didn't think that was your wedding present, did you? Babe, that's our family car. Yes, you'll be using it most of the time, but it's for our family."

"The villa on Lake Como is for our family, too," I pointed out.

"And your actual wedding gift will also be somewhere we'll want to spend with our family," he revealed. "Or we can go there, just the two of us, for a special weekend. Or, you can go there by yourself if you need some time alone sometime."

"You bought me a house, too?" I squeaked.

"Not just a house," he revealed. "But yes, there's a private house on the property that our family can enjoy. Come with me. I have something I want to show you."

I followed him downstairs, to our wine cellar.

"Christian, I can't drink wine," I reminded him. Surely he hadn't forgotten that I was pregnant.

"I know," he responded with a playful smile as he took three bottles of wine and carried them out to the game room, where the light was better. As we walked, he explained. "We're not going to drink this yet. We're going to save it to drink later. But look at the labels."

I looked at the label of the first bottle. It was a beautiful but simple font on a silver colored label with the words "Grey Estate." The second bottle looked much more whimsical than the first. The label was bright yellow and read, "Daisy Blossom Vineyards." The third bottle looked more similar to the first, but with a dark gray elegant label which read "Ismintis-Grey Vineyards." All three labels had the same logo, which was comprised of a cluster of grapes and a wine glass.

I looked back at Christian confusedly. "Did you buy me a winery?"

He nodded with an enormous smile. "I did. In Napa Valley, to be precise. The question now is... which do you prefer, of these three? Do you want to keep it simple, and just name it 'Grey Estate'? That was my first choice. Or... knowing how you love daisies, and how you've decorated for our wedding, I thought you might like the second choice. It also works if we want to keep in on the down low that we own it. Or we can make it a subsidiary of our company with the third choice."

"Holy shit, you bought me a vineyard in Napa Valley. Christian! My God, this is... Now, I really wish I could taste it."

He admitted, "When I started the purchase, I didn't know you were pregnant. It's really good, and it's just going to get better. Take my word for it for now."

I nodded, "Yeah, I will. Well, when can we visit it?"

"I was thinking in the next few weeks, after we get back from Hawaii. I really want you to relax in a familiar place for our honeymoon. Once we're back, and everything is going OK, then we can take Christina down and spend a weekend. Maybe longer, if we have time."

Christian spent the next half hour or so showing me photographs of the entire estate. And it was huge. I liked the idea of keeping "Estate" in the name, since there was so much to the place. It had an old antebellum house where there was a tasting room open to the public as well as a fancy restaurant. Christian suggested renaming the restaurant, "Anastasia's," and I couldn't respond, other than just to cry. I was so touched by this amazing gift.

When I dried my tears, I told him, "I like the name 'Grey Estate' And I like the design of the first label, including the logo. But let's be sure to keep it this nice shade of silver, not a gaudy metallic. And... I like that name for the restaurant. That's... really nice. Thank you."

He smiled. "I'll email the manager and let them know."

I was really glad that we'd been bound and determined to spend the night before our wedding together. The key word there, after our very emotional gift exchange, for me anyway, was "bound." Yes, Christian got more creative than ever with kimbaku, and brought me to the brink a few times without permitting me to come. He said we had to wait for our wedding night, which he promised to be spectacular. I didn't feel like I'd been punished, surprisingly. I felt horny but relaxed, and very ready to marry the love of my life.

"There was no way I was giving up tonight with you," Christian had told me just before ordering me to strip. We were alone in our bedroom shortly after taking the elevator upstairs from the bottom floor, where we'd returned the wine bottles to the cellar. Derrick and Kelly were spending the night at Grey Manor instead of us, so we had the house to ourselves.

When I was naked, Christian took a box, gave it to me, and told me to open it. Inside was the most exquisite diamond choker necklace that I'd ever laid eyes on. It had several layers of sparkling diamonds, and was probably worth several million dollars. There was a very intricate daisy design in the bottom layer of diamonds, not colorful this time like the necklace I'd worn at our New Year's Eve gala, but very much my style. As Christian took it and fastened it around my neck, he told me, "I bought this for our wedding, and I want you to wear it tomorrow, but I want you to wear it now first. Do you know what it signifies?" he asked as he touched it gently.

I didn't have to think about it. I knew what he wanted to hear, and I wanted to say it, with everything that was within me. "It signifies that I'm yours, Master."

"From now on, this is your collar. When we decide to play, you'll wear it. We don't need the old one that we used to use in the playroom, or the one we replaced it with. We're figuring out how to do this now, and this collar represents so much more than a Dom-sub relationship. When I put this on you, it means I'm just as much yours as you are mine. I already am, whether you're wearing it or not. And I will always have your best interests… and your pleasure… in mind, both when we're playing, and all the time. I love you, Anastasia."

"I love you, too, Master," I said.

"That's another thing, Ana," he responded. "I want you to feel free to call me 'Christian,' even if you're wearing this collar. I want to change that rule. It doesn't suit us anymore. I want to hear my name on your lips, even when we play."

That surprised me. I knew how important it had been to him that I stay in a submissive mindset, and not calling him by his name was part of that. I didn't say any of this, though. I simply replied, "As you wish, Master."

"Say my name, princess," he commanded in his Dom voice.

I knew what he wanted to hear, with his name, and I wanted to tell him again. "I love you, Christian."

"Yes, perfect," he replied. "You are perfect. Now get on the bed so I can worship you like the goddess you are. But don't expect to come tonight. I'm not punishing you. I just want you to control yourself so we can make up for it after our wedding. Believe me, it's going to be worth the wait."

I wasn't happy at his words, but I was determined to show him that I could hold out, simply because he wanted me to. And he didn't come either. We both had a lot to look forward to on our wedding night. I was determined to rock his world, too.

The next morning, we got to the Mile High Club super early, mainly because we had to be creative at avoiding the paparazzi. More than one of those fuckers was being creative themselves, trying to pass themselves off as wait staff or even security. Our own security was good enough to catch them all, thankfully, along with any cameras or smart phones that people were trying to sneak in. All our guests had clear instructions that no recording devices of any kind were permitted. If they didn't like it, they could just stay home.

I was really pleased with how my dress turned out looking on me. My baby bump looked enormous, but that was just fine, as we'd chosen this day to announce my pregnancy to the world. We knew there would be speculation about Hyde, all things considered, so we were going to put out a statement with our wedding photos stating tactfully that we were certain that Christian was the father. I also loved how my hair looked with the crown of yellow daisies woven in. Just beautiful. Franco was becoming one of my favorite people. Yes, I still had blemishes and scars that my wedding dress didn't cover, but Franco took care of them. He was a magician that way.

Unfortunately, Franco didn't have as much success with Christina. She just wouldn't sit still long enough to do her hair like mine. We tried just placing the flower crown on her head, but she wouldn't keep it on. Oh, well, it didn't really matter. I'd thought her dress matched my old one better, the one I'd chosen before I'd found out I was pregnant, but when I saw them once we both had them on, I realized that she matched my new dress even better. The fabric was almost identical, even if the design was a little different. Both of them had lace appliqués in a similar design. Both were high waisted, but mine had a bit of a mermaid design, which showed off my baby bump perfectly. I'd decided I didn't want to try to hide it. I wanted the world to see it. Some of our pictures from that morning's photo shoot would be published for the world to see. Christian and I had already decided on them together, and they'd go out with our publicity statement after our wedding.

I agreed with Christian, though, that we weren't going to publish any pictures of Christina yet, not even the adorable one where she was kissing my stomach while Christian kissed my cheek. I couldn't wait to see that one printed, but the world wouldn't see it. We still wanted to shield Christina from the paparazzi for as long as we could. Our wedding guests would see her today, though. She looked adorable, and she was excited about her job as flower girl. I knew she would do well. She was so cute that she couldn't mess it up, whether she got the part about dropping the rose petals down the aisle right or not.

"Are you sure about this, baby girl?" Ray asked me just before time to walk me down the aisle the next day. "You know it's not too late to change your mind."

I smiled at him. "I'm sure, Dad. I'm not going to change my mind."

I was feeling some serious butterflies, though, especially after Christian had received a call that he refused to tell me anything about. He didn't look happy, and then he disappeared with Mia. It freaked me out more than a little. Was he getting cold feet? What had that call been about?

I watched as my bridesmaids all walked out, and then it was Christina's turn to walk down the aisle. I knew Mia and Grace would both be there to help her. I looked forward to watching the video, and I wondered if she would drop the yellow rose petals like we'd taught her during our rehearsal. Either way, I knew she'd be adorable.

Then, it was my turn.

When I heard the music that we'd chosen for my entry, Ode to Joy, I took Ray's arm and walked through the door. There, at the end of the aisle, stood my groom, flanked by all his groomsmen. And when I saw the look of adoration on Christian's face, I knew that everything was going to be OK.