Chapter Two: The Perfect Wedding, Well Almost

Daddy led me down the aisle slowly and I smiled cutely at the guests that I caught eye contact with. In my right hand, I held a large bouquet of pink, yellow, and white roses, while I held onto Daddy with my left hand. I felt as if I were in a dream as I floated up the aisle. I could hear the murmurings soften into a silence as I made my way up the aisle. I knew that some of my school girl friends were writhing with jealousy at the elaborate beauty of my wedding dress.

"She makes such a beautiful bride," whispered someone and my smile widened even more.

The walk itself seemed as if it were taking forever and that, by itself, was making me more nervous. I began to wish that this were over already and the smile began to slip off my lips as I caught sight of Randolph waiting anxiously for me. His giddiness and the way he fidgeted like a little boy made cold chills run down my back. This was the man I was going to marry. The thought of me, Laura Sue, the girl who could have any pick of the litter, marrying this little boy made me feel sick to my stomach.

'I'll just pretend it's Bronson instead of Randolph,' I thought to myself as we moved closer and closer to the minister, 'That's it!'

Before I knew it, Daddy was handing me over to him and I could see him staring at me intently. My eyes went to the floor and I began to tremble. Could I really pull off this pretending thing? Randolph took my hands in his and that caused me to look up and see the adoration in his eyes. It caught me by surprise and I almost jerked away, but I caught hold of my feelings and smiled delicate and shyly at him. I don't know how I did it, but I managed to lock my gaze with his. It wouldn't do any good to give the town room to gossip over my marriage already. The minister began the ceremony, but I wasn't listening to him. I was searching the crowd subtlety for Bronson. Surely, he would come and see my wedding if he cared anything for me. At one glance, I found the familiar pair of sad brown eyes that belonged to my beloved Bronson Alcott. Seeing him sitting way in the back row caused me to become so sick to my stomach. What was I doing? He should be up here, holding onto my hands, and saying his vows to me, not Randolph.

I felt the wedding band sliding onto my ring finger and she gazed at Randolph who had his eyes fixed intently on the golden band. He was saying his vows solemnly and serious and not even paying attention to her. Randolph was enchanted by the wedding band itself, and that made me a little furious at being ignored. Even though I knew it was an heirloom from his mother, I was still jealous. He should be paying attention to me! So, I tugged a little on him and he looked back up at me with a startled expression on his face. I tried my best to pretend that Bronson was beside of me as I slid the ring on Randolph's finger and repeated after the minister. The minister announced us as husband and wife and Randolph pressed his lips hard against mine. I closed my eyes tightly and envisioned Bronson's lips on mine.

I had fooled myself so much that I believed I was kissing Bronson, but a look of shock filled my face as I opened my eyes to see Randolph. Making sure to quickly recover my shock, I plastered on a fake look of pure happiness that would convince anyone and took his hand in mine as we turned to walk down the aisle. I smiled at old family friends and then waved at some people, but my gaze locked with Bronson's as I came closer and closer to him. When Randolph and I were right beside his seat, Bronson looked away and I, though hurt, pretended it was nothing and looked up adoringly at my husband for my reputation's sake. I don't know why it surprised me so much, but Randolph was looking towards his mother who stood in the back of the garden with clear displeasure spread across her rigid face. She looked at me and I could see the pure hatred in her eyes. I stared back for a moment trying to show her that she didn't scare me, but looked away after only a little bit.

I could already see that smug smile she was surely wearing right now, so I tugged on Randolph's sleeve gently and he looked down at me. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him passionately in front of everyone. After he got over his shock, Randolph slid his arms around my waist and kissed me back. When I pulled back for air, I noticed how flustered and pink he was and all of the people cheering and clapping behind us. I looked over at Lillian, who seemed so angry and flustered, and smiled sweetly at her. I made sure she knew what I had meant. I had her son and there was nothing she could do about it.

I lead Randolph through the garden and into the hotel with Daddy and Mother right behind us. The maids were rushing about dusting things; the caterers were hovering by the kitchen door. Busboys stood in a straight line with menus in hands waiting to serve the guests once they arrived. Daddy patted Randolph's back and smiled widely at him.

"Son, you be good to my little girl. I want you to give her the best of everything and treat her like a queen," he instructed Randolph, and I couldn't help but smile as Randolph nodded and reassured him he would.

Mother pulled me away as Randolph and Daddy began to indulge in "men talk". I noticed that she still had that distant, worried look in her eyes as she stared at me. It seemed forever before she sat down on the silk settee and motioned for me to sit beside her. I did so and then looked at her again. She was so beautiful and there were only a few slight qualities that I hadn't inherited from my mother. Her blonde hair was swept up in an elegant updo and her tiny hands were folded in her neatly in her lap as she looked at me her blue eyes filled with worry and concern for her only daughter.

"Darling," she began as she raised one hand to my cheek and stroked it, "This is what you want, right, because I only want you to be happy. You know that, don't you? I'll be here when you need me."

I smiled cheerfully at her, but couldn't hold her eyes with mine for a minute as I said, "Yes, Mother, this is what I want."

Before mother could say anything else, Mrs. Cutler stormed into the room. She looked at me disapprovingly as if I had done something horribly wrong before she came over to Mother and me and began scolding me.

"Laura Sue!" she practically spat my name out as if it were foul tasting, "You should already be dressed in your other outfit. The guests are coming to the doors and because of you everyone will have to wait outside! Get up those stairs and put on that other dress you brought!"

My mouth dropped open and I wanted to say something nasty to her, but stopped because of mother and the others who were there. I would just have to keep everything back. I looked at Mother but she turned from me and cowered at Mrs. Cutler. I watched as she rushed across the floor and latched to my father's arm. At that moment, I knew that I was completely and utterly helpless and victimized whenever Lillian confronted me. Without a word, I went up the stairs taking my sweet time because I knew it would infuriate her.

Thirty minutes later, I emerged in my soft pink flowered dress. The V neck plunged low enough to show off my cleavage just a little, but not too revealing. The candy striped pink and white flip flops I had on went with it perfectly giving me a sort of comfortable look. Lillian was scowling and Mr. Cutler, who was standing beside her, was looking me up and down for the longest time. I felt naked when he looked at me, so I rushed to Randolph's side. The first thing I noticed was that my parents had mysteriously disappeared. I looked around the hotel for a few seconds thinking that maybe they were somewhere else.

"Your parents left fifteen minutes ago," Lillian said with a satisfied smirk on her face, "they apologized, though. Your mother said something about not feeling to well and needing to go home."

My mother's last words echoed in my mind, but I pushed them away quickly. I should have known not to believe any of the things she said. I needed her now, but she had gone home probably because of some imaginary headache. Randolph squeezed my hand and I decided I wouldn't let Mother and Daddy get to me.

"All right, everyone, line up so we can greet the guests," Lillian ordered firmly as we all formed a straight line by the door.

Mrs. Cutler stood first with Mr. Cutler beside her, while Randolph stood beside his father and I stood beside him.

No sooner than the door had been open, guests began to file in. Each member of the family was to shake and greet every single guest. It seemed to take forever and my face was beginning to hurt from smiling so much. When all of the guests had been properly greeted and my hands and feet ached terribly, my mother-in-law led us to the dining room. There were several little round tables set up all throughout the dining room decorated with a lavender tablecloth and each of them with extravagant rose centerpieces in the middle. The china was beautiful with little floral decorations around the rims, and the usual napkins with Cutler Cove Hotel written on them were replaced by napkins that had my and Randolph's name written on the under a couple kissing. At the front of the room sat a rectangular table with six chairs sitting neatly in a row behind it. In the middle sat the huge wedding cake. There were seven layers each smaller than the first. At the top sat a bride leaning forward and kissing the groom. A rectangular sign set just a little to the side of the table that read: Reserved for the Bride and Groom's family. Mr. Cutler took the seat furthest on the right, while Mrs. Cutler took the seat beside Randolph. On the left of Randolph, I sat with two empty seats beside me. I was so sure that everyone was talking about my parents missing, so I was in a rather pouty mood by now. As the reception began and the busboys began passing out wine and taking orders, I glanced around the room in hopes to find that Bronson had came to the reception also. I hadn't seen him walk in, so I was hoping that he had come in a little late. I should have known that he wouldn't come, but yet I still had let my hopes get high even though I knew they would be crushed. Mr. Cutler stood up to give a toast to Randolph and me and, with his witty charm and funny little jokes, it was easy to put away my worries about Bronson and let myself be happy for a little bit.

The reception ended two hours later and the guests began to file out. I watched as Randolph stumbled around saying goodbye to his college friends. It was obvious he was drunk, and this in itself amazed me. I had thought that Randolph was the perfect good little boy his mother wanted, but his proved me wrong. Mrs. Cutler scowled in disgust at her son and she and Mr. Cutler retired to their rooms as the servants began to clean everything up. Randolph stumbled over to me and wrapped his arm around my waist.

"Come on, darling," Randolph pleaded in a slurred voice, "I want to show you our suite."

I could smell the alcohol on his breath and felt like I was going vomit any minute. I should have pushed him away and let him stay there, but I started to lead him up to the stairs. He became more dead weight than I could handle and I knew I couldn't carry him up the stairs, so I sat him on the settee and he smiled stupidly up at me before pulling me down beside me and kissing me clumsily. I pulled away and rushed up to our suite. I shut the doors behind me and then shut the doors to our bedroom and leaned against them. I couldn't shake Bronson's sad brown eyes out of my mind.

After maybe fifteen minutes, I decided to get ready for bed and walked to my wardrobe. I opened a drawer and pulled out a see through lace teddy and slid into it. Then, I got into my side of the bed and waited for at least two hours before I drifted into sleep.