Chapter Fifty

"Get up get up get uuuuup!" came Jenny's voice cheerfully. I rolled over and groaned.

"It's early," I moaned.

"It's like ten! You're not supposed to be able to sleep, it's your wedding day!" she exclaimed. As she spoke, she tore away my comforter and I sat bolt upright.

It was my wedding day. I'd forgotten. True to her word, Lauren and Jenny had spent the night with me in our room. We'd talked until past midnight, but Lauren wasn't asleep on the floor or anywhere.

"Where's Lala?" I asked, swinging my feet over to dangle over the edge of the bed. I rubbed the sheet comfortingly. It was the last time I'd ever sleep in it. Jenny bounced a few times on the creaking wooden floorboards.

"She and Daddy went to get everything ready. Mom's downstairs pretending not to cry," she informed me, taking my hand and pulling me to my feet.

I stood unsteadily and glanced sideways into the mirror. My hair had survived surprisingly well during my sleep, and was curling nicely. I shook it and admired it for a moment-it was down to my elbows, so nice and blond. My green eyes were obviously exhausted and my face was pale. Which was okay. Pale generally worked for me.

She took my hand again and led me down the two flights of stairs to the kitchen. Mom stood up quickly and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. She rushed over and hugged me.

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Nauseous," I answered.

"Well, I suppose that's natural. Do you want breakfast?" she asked. I shook my head but she ignored me and began to bustle around the kitchen.

After I'd eaten enough pancakes to satisfy them I wanted to escape back to my room, but they wouldn't stand for it. My French manicure from the previous day was deemed acceptable. They made me shower and Jenny blow dried it before she and Mom began to put it up.

Jenny spent a long time with my hair. Mom buzzed around, offering suggestions that Jenny for the most part ignored. Mom was quite busy, preparing for the wedding guests that would be there in the evening.

The finished product of my hair was worth the wait. She'd woven into an elaborate bun at the back of my head and left a perfect curl hanging to my chin. I looked completely sleek and elegant. She began working on my face-brushing on blue eyeshadow that was subtle and contrasted with my eyes, pinkish lip gloss and mascara.

Jenny followed me to our room once my hair and makeup was finished. Catching her breath, she gently took my dress out of my closet and brought it dramatically to me. As I touched the silk, fingered the embroidered flowers, the door knocked and Jenny answered it.

Mom entered, her smile tearful. In her arms she carried a bundle of silk with beads glinting in the sun coming through the window. She carried it to me and released it, letting it fall against her.

It was her wedding dress. The one I'd seen thousands of times in pictures. Daddy carried a picture of her in it in his wallet. It was older, but not remotely yellowed or faded. It was as beautiful as it always had been.

"You don't have to if you don't want to…" she said awkwardly. I reached for her and regardless of the priceless dress in her hands, we hugged.

The two of them helped me into the dress and zipped me up. At the time of her marriage Mom had apparently been less slim and a bit taller than me, but it still worked. It showed the perfect amount of cleavage and the beading on it was subtle enough to be beautiful but not too showy as to be tacky. And best of all, I felt her with me in it, imagined her happiness when she was getting married and how much happiness her marriage had led to. It seemed like a good luck charm against my skin.

Mom handed me my bouquet of roses. Jenny quickly changed into her dress, allowed me to tie back her long brown hair and got her own bouquet. The three of us drove in Mom's car to the river court.

Daddy, Lauren, Haley, Nathan, Deb, Brooke, Mouth, Kylie, Tess, Karen, Keith and even John along with two of my cheerleader friends, Dana and Sara were assembled at the river court.

I stared out at them, standing in the grass beside the basketball court and the sparking river. This was everyone that I loved, everyone that I cared about.

Daddy walked quickly to the car to help me out in the long dress, and I took his arm as he began to lead me down the makeshift aisle as music began to play.

I looked out on the crowd again before we could reach them, and a memory flashed in my head. A memory of a packed church and a Sawyer at the end of the aisle. I pictured myself-I was wearing Mom's dress in the dream I'd had, there was no doubt about it. I reached up to feel my hair-that was wrong. Despite Jenny's gasp, I reached up and quickly undid it, letting my blonde hair fall against my bare shoulders. Dreams had to count for something.

The sight of Sawyer refreshed me. The wedding had made me unhappy for days, but anything with him at the end had to be okay. He'd never failed to protect me, from the monsters under the bed and eventually broken hearts. He was reliable and loving and I really did love him. I smiled at him, and his blue eyes twinkle as he smiled back.

My gaze stayed on him as I walked down the short aisle, but I felt other's gaze upon me. They wished me well, all of them. I wished them well, too. Suddenly, inexplicably, I was happy. My hair brushed against my face and tickled me, and I giggled.

Daddy kissed my cheek as we reached Sawyer. The first he'd seen me in his wife's dress he had double taken, and he did it again at the end of the aisle.

"You'll always be my little girl, you know?" he whispered. I smiled at him. Maybe he did know what was best for me, he just didn't know how to act upon it.

I took the hand that Sawyer offered and joined him. He was wearing a black Armani tux and looked as handsome as he always did. I smiled at him and he smiled back in obvious relief.

"I love you," he mouthed to me. I mouthed it back to him as we were married.

Sawyer kissed me and suddenly the world changed forever and the deal was sealed.

"And I now proclaim Mr. And Mrs. Sawyer Scott," said the reverend proudly. Sawyer squeezed the hand he held, and held up my hand so my diamond twinkled in the light. Callie Scott. Huh.

The two of us drove away in Sawyer's white SUV (so similar to a white horse) back to the house where we sat through speeches from my parents (which made me cry) from Nathan's (which made all of us laugh) Haley's (which was actually a song) Jenny's (that made Sawyer cry as well) and finally Karen's (which made me feel that I'd actually made the right choice, or had had it made for me.)

Two more hours later we were finally allowed to leave. We drove off again in his car, a suitcase of mine in the back seat.

It took us twenty minutes to arrive at the beach. He stopped in front of the Scott beach house-the most beautiful one. Before I could get out, he got out and came around to open the door for me.

I stood back to admire my new home. It was three floors, like my old house, but three big, beautiful floors. A porch wrapped around the whole house. Though I couldn't see them, stairs led to the beach. The door facing the road was painted white in contrast with the blue house.

I turned to him as we reached the porch steps and he mutely opened his arms. I went into him, put his arms around my neck and he easily slung my legs over onto his other arm while I clung to him.

"I love you," I said suddenly. He was in the middle of opening the door single handedly, and looked down at me in surprise.

"I'll never stop," he promised.

He set me down in the entry way, and I admired it for a moment before turning to him. He looked slightly awkward, as though making the first move would make him a bit of a pervert. Even though he was my husband. That would be something to get used to.

I kissed him and opened my lips. His tongue slipped into my mouth and I felt the familiar feel of having him kiss me. His hands slid down to grip my ass, and after another moment his hands curved around my thighs and I allowed him again to lift me into the air.

I kissed his ear softly while he carried me upstairs. His hand roamed through my loose hair, tugging it gently.

He dropped me on the wide bed and climbed atop me. He ripped of the shirt I'd changed into and I began unbuttoning the buttons of his silk dress shirt and undoing his expensive tie. Being the lover that he was, he made me come before he entered me while we slowly and desirably made love.

A half hour later we lay exhausted in each other's arms.

"Unsinful sex is nice," I admitted.

"You're nice," he said, kissing my nose gently.

"I don't do oral," I said suddenly, breaking the tender moment. He pulled away, surprised.

"Okay. What?"

"Or anal. Or S and M. I don't even know what it stands for. And in twenty years I'm not going to turn into Bree Van De Kamp with perfectly pressed slacks and a cardigan. And you're not going to be annoyingly possessive, and I'm going to try harder to roll with the punches and when I get all big you still have to make me believe I'm beautiful," I said sternly.

"You still will be."

"So you agree?" I asked.

"Of course. You should have made a prenup," he joked. I rolled back onto him, and surprised him with another kiss.

"Don't tempt me."