*Author's Note*

Thanks for reading, faving, following, and reviewing.

All 11 of Novella's sorority sister are in the first scene. No face claims, just imagine a bunch of blondes, brunettes, and black-haired women between 27-28. Also, I usually do 4 scenes in a chapter, but this one has 5. It's a long chapter, hope ya'll don't mind.

Cocktails & A Wedding

Novella POV:

I had a good time at the beach with Cap. Our dinner at the steakhouse was nice too. It felt normal to be going out to eat at a nice restaurant with my boyfriend. Being free to be with him, not having to sneak around and lie, was very refreshing. Shortly after dinner I received a text from Charlotte, the bride, inviting me and all of our sorority sisters out to drinks to talk and catch up before her wedding tomorrow. I was unsure about going, but Cap assured me that he'd be fine watching tv in our room while I went out see my friends at the restaurant/tiki bar across the street next to the CVS.

So here I am sitting at a large table on an outside bar deck with 11 of my closest friends. For once I'm not the single one, something that took my friends by surprise. "I still can't believe you RSVP'd to my wedding with your boyfriend's details." Charlotte told me, sipping on her fruity mixed drink.

"I can't believe you got a boyfriend. A real serious one." Meg told me with an astonished look on her round face.

"Why's it so hard to believe?" I asked before taking a sip of my Jack 'n' Coke.

"Cause your motto for so long's been I can do bad 'nough on my own." Abby told me with the slight tilt of her head, her voice changing a bit to imitate me on the quote I've said for so many years now.

"Yea, well, things changed I guess when I met Cap."

"Cap? I thought his name's Will, or at least that's what's on the guest list." Bless Charlotte's heart, she paid attention to her guest list. Of course, it never occurred to her that I'm calling him a nickname and not his given one. The Florida heat must've fried her brain.

"His name is Will, but he goes by Cap most of the time." I informed my friends.

"Why?" Hayley asked, a pencil black brow raised up curiously.

"He was in a logging accident when he was a teen. His left eye's capped over so…" I trailed off as I traced my finger around the rim of my glass.

"So, he got his nickname from his blind-eye." Meredith concluded as she grabbed her martini glass off the table.

"Yep."

"So, what does he look like?" Rachel asked after taking a sip of her pink cosmo.

"Tall and blonde." I simply answered before sipping on my drink.

Molly narrowed her brown eyes at me before snipping, "Really? That's all you're going to tell us, girl?"

"You'll meet him tomorrow." I reminded Molly, my cornflower blues slightly cutting into her brown eyes.

"How long have you been with him?" Grace asked, flipping some of her platinum blonde hair off her shoulder.

"Um like maybe 5-6 months, but we did have a month off while movin' back to the Tug River Valley and getting settled into our jobs."

"He's from the Appalachians too?" Becky asked, her thick chestnut brows narrowed a bit.

I just nodded. "Yea, West Virginia."

"And you just happened to meet him in Baltimore?" Susannah asked, a skeptical look on her face. A face that already had too much work done for 28 by the way. But guess that's how it goes when your husband's the accounting/financial overseer of a large casino/resort in Vegas. Gotta keep nippin' and tuckin'.

"Mhm, we ran into each other at a courthouse. He's a lawyer too."

"Have ya'll meet the families yet?" Vicky asked, sipping on her Long Island iced tea.

"Kinda. I met his family, but he's only met my brother." I decided to keep out the details about my late mama and step-daddy Fred.

"Why?" The bride-to-be asked, her eyebrow slightly uplifted.

"He's a Hatfield." I admitted in a sigh.

"Oh shit!" All of my friends exclaimed at the same time, looks of utter shock on their faces. They all knew of the feud between the Hatfields and the McCoys, or at least what I shared about it in college. They knew that Hatfields hated McCoys and vise versa. My ex-boyfriend's a McCoy, my uncle's best friend's a McCoy, I grew up with the McCoys, and now my current boyfriend's a Hatfield. Not something that makes for an easy trail mix.

"Yea, and that's not the worse of it. Tolbert along with Pharmer and Bud are going on trial for murdering Cap's uncle Ellison. Cap's the ADA while I'm on the defensive team with my Uncle Perry and Moses."

All of my friends were speechless. They either looked at me with dropped jaws or took large chugs of their drinks. The first one to speak up was Susannah with her blaring squawk of, "Let your uncle represent them on his own. Tolbert's your ex, helping him's bad for your relationship with Cap.

"Yea." Becky nodded in agreement with Susannah.

Grace pointed a slim baby-pink manicured finger at me, waggling it, as she firmly said, "Don't forget how broken-hearted Tolbert left you. That jerk doesn't deserve your help."

"Tolbert told me why he broke up with me a decade ago. It happens to be an honorable reason and I can't hold it against him anymore."

"Why, what'd he tell you?" Charlotte told me while the rest of the girls just looked at me with upturned brows and quirked facial expressions, sipping away on their drinks.

"That he left me to give me my best chance. He didn't want to hold me back from college and law school, so he stepped away and tried to live his life without me. He also never stopped loving me either."

"Oh, girl, that's some Notebook type love stuff there." Abby said, a bit too dreamily for my liking, before sipping on her drink.

"Yea, that confession changes everything." Molly piped up after taking a sip of her cocktail.

"Nova, are you in a love triangle?" Susannah asked, her brows skirting up and making her bad facial plastic surgery accented too much.

"No, I'm not in a love triangle. I might have some old feelings for Tolbert and will always love him in some way, but I'm not acting out on it. I won't step out on Will." I honestly told my sorority sisters. I'd never be able to cheat on Cap; my heart won't let me. It's why I shoved Tolbert off me in 2.5 seconds when he was kissing on me.

"Do you love Cap?" Charlotte asked while everyone looked at me with curiosity painted on their faces.

"Yea, we both told each other I love you for the first time earlier today on the drive down here."

"You brought him here so it must be serious, right?" Meredith told me as she brought her glass up to her red painted lips.

"Yea, it's serious." I confirmed, feeling like I was in a fish bowl being watched. "How bout we talk bout something else?" I suggested before downing the rest of my drink.

"Sure." Hayley smiled before going on to say, "This is my second straight weekend of traveling. I had my 10-year high school reunion last week."

"Oh, yea, mine was last month." Abby chirped up while at the same time Vicky said, "Mine's next month."

One by one all of the girls began to talk about their reunions that had passed or were still upcoming. I remained silent, avoiding the subject altogether.

"Did you have yours yet?" Charlotte asked me right after finishing her small story about how much fun her reunion in Cincinnati was.

I shook my head as I told everyone, "No, it's at the end of the month and I don't plan on going either."

"Why not?" Everyone asked in unison, all eyes on me.

And then for the second time of the night my messed-up relationship and emotional problems were brought up.

I was exhausted whenever I trudged down the third-floor hallway, heading towards my room. I had a nice time getting drinks with my friends, but it was also a bit overwhelming. I felt like I was on display, like a circus freak or something. I know the girls mean well, but some of their questions and remarks can be a bit much.

I let out a sigh whenever I stopped at my room, 308. Quickly I swiped my keycard and walked inside. "How was your night out with the girls?" I heard Cap's tired deep rollin' timbre ask me as I placed my bag on the dresser by the tv while slipping out of my flip-flops.

"Okay, they seemed to wanna talk more 'bout me and my life then their own tho." I sighed, pulling off my royal blue top and shimming out of my jeans.

"So ya told them bout us, our jobs, and your batshit crazy ex I take it?" Cap asked with a knowing glint in his good eye.

"Yep." I popped out as I pulled his discarded shirt from the day on. "They also started gushing bout high school reunions and then bombarded me with questions bout mine." I told him as I walked over to the bed and got into it.

"Ain't yours in a few weeks? Least that's what the signs lining the Tug Fork Bridge says." My boyfriend remarked, looking between me and the tv program he was watching.

"Yea, it's at the end of the month. Most likely when we'll be starting jury selection." I confirmed, nodding me head, as I snuggled up to Cap's side.

"Hmm…are we goin' or not?" Cap asked, slinging an arm over me. Before I could answer him he blurted out, "I mean I didn't go to mine last year in Virginia and I never felt like I missed out or anythin'."

"I dunno." I shrugged before looking at him and asking, "Why didn't you go to yours?"

"Babe, I wasn't the most popular guy at Tazewell High. I was the weird scrawny tall kid with one eyeball that read too much, went huntin' too much, an' didn't like people much."

"So, you didn't have a lot of friends then?"

"Nope, not really. All of my friends were back in West Virginia."

"Cause your friends are your family except for Skunk Hair and a few other guys that work for the logging business."

"Mhm…" Vibrated deeply out of the back of Cap's throat as his hand lazily traced up and down my side. "You know I'll take ya if ya wanna go to your reunion."

I let out a long sigh before lengithy telling Cap with hesitation laced words, "I know, but Nancy McCoy-Phillips and her husband Bad Frank'll be there along with his personal deputy Ransom Bray and his wife Mary Bray, who happens to be Sally Elle's Pre-K teacher. Actually, most of the people there'll be pro McCoy and will expect me to bring Tolbert…Us going together'll open up Pandora's box of drama."

"We agreed that after this weekend we're gonna tell the McCoys bout us." Yea, I was still mulling over that. I didn't really want to tell them yet, but he did. "I don't give a shit bout the people at that reunion and what they think bout us bein' together. You wanna go then we'll go, but don't think for a minute you're bringin' Tolbert or goin' alone."

I raised a brow, lookin' at Cap with an offish look. "Why can't I go alone?"

He quickly spat out, "Cause people'll think your single when you're not."

"Fine, if I decide to go I'll have you bring me." I told Cap even though I had no intention of going to the reunion that was going to be at the Pikeville Hotel.

Changing the subject Cap asked me, "What time's this wedding tomorrow?"

"Noon." Was my one word reply as I watched the Pollo Tropical chicken meal special commercial end on tv.

"We can sleep in til 10, that'll give us plenty of time to get ready."

"You really think we'll sleep in that late?"

"Yea." Cap yawned as he watched the 20/20 episode on ABC wind up.

He was exhausted from driving all day, but still stayed up to wait on me while I went out. Cap was a great guy. A lot of guys would've just went to sleep, but not mine. "We can turn off the lights and tv, go to sleep." I suggested softly.

Cap just nodded his head before turning the tv off with the remote. Once he placed the remote back on the table next to him he set the alarm and then turned off the light. I sat up in the bed, waiting for him to get settled. Once he was comfortable he spread his arm out and said, "Come 'ere, baby."

"Can't sleep without me, can you?" I playfully asked him as I quickly laid down next to him, curling into his side and resting my head on his chest.

"Nope." Cap popped out as he wrapped his arm around me. He used his free hand to tilt my chin up. Bending his head slightly he smirked tiredly at me before his lips tenderly pecked mine. "Night, Nova." He told me, a slight softness in his deep wavin' tone, after ending the goodnight kiss.

"Night, Will." I simply told him before resting my head back on his chest and closing my eyes.

I was more tired then I thought cause shortly after closing my eyes I fell into a deep sleep.

After waking up, a little past 10 o'clock in the morning due to being tired from yesterday's ride, we took a shower, which ended up in a quickie, and got coffee and scones at the Starbucks across the street. After that we bummed around watching tv til it was time to get ready.

I was standing in front of our bed, scratching my chin, as I studied the three dresses laid out. I was trying to figure out what one to wear while Cap was pulling on his black slacks. Sliding his arms into his pin-stripped dress shirt he chuckled, "What's this, Project Runway up in here? Just put one on so we're not late."

"We're not gonna be late. I'm just having a hard time figuring out which one'll look best. I want to look nice, ya know."

"Wear the middle one." Cap remarked, putting on his black vest and buttoning it.

The middle dress was magenta and strapless with a black sash around it. The other dresses were a bit sexier since they were both low cut, one being black and the other being red. It was obvious to me that Cap just randomly selected a dress to blurt out and didn't actually get a good look at the three selections. He was such a typical man.

I grabbed the middle dress and put it on while asking Cap, "Can you get my jewelry out of my bag?"

"Yea." He simply nodded before going over to my bag and taking out the Kay's box that was in there. "Babe, this the open heart set I gave ya for your birthday?" He asked as he walked over to me.

"It is." I simply said while taking the box from him after slipping on my shoes.

While I put on my jewelry Cap grabbed the wedding card, which had a Macy's gift card tucked inside, for my friend out of his bag. "Ready to go?" He asked as his mismatched eyes roamed over me.

"Yea, let's go." I nodded after I put on my jewelry.

Silently we left our room and headed down to the wedding. We knew from the information on the ticket that it was being held outside in the back. It wasn't hard to find the wedding spot either since it was where all the dressed-up people were headed. WE just filed behind the people and followed them. Right at the entrance of our destination was a small table with a teal book and a pen sticking out of a starfish shell. A large sign above the area read Guest Book Sign-In.

"Jesus, we gotta sign in like we're back in school role call?" Cap scoffed, rolling his mismatched eyes and shaking his head in disbelief.

I shot him a sideways glance while remarking, "Yea, Cap, haven't you ever been to a nice wedding before?"

"No, Johnse always takes his wives to the courthouse and gets married by Uncle Wall. Most of my cousins that are married had backyard weddings or got married by Uncle Wall."

"Well, nice weddings have guest books." At least all of the weddings I went to had them. Every single one of those weddings were big and nice too.

"Ours ain't." Cap muttered under his breath, or at least I think I heard him mutter it.

"What?" I squeaked out, looking at him with wide eyes.

"Nothin', babe, nothin' at all." He shook his head as we waited our turn to sign the guest book.

After reaching the teal book Cap grabbed the pen out of the starfish holder and wrote down in his bold neat script our names, Will 'Cap' Hatfield & Nova Landon. He also wrote down his address under the names before putting pen back. Silently he grabbed my hand and led me over to where ushers where at directing people to the area on the deck the wedding was being held.

An usher pointed us towards a deck that was near the cabana bar. Thank god it wasn't by the pool, that wouldn't be good. Signs with teal ribbon and orange starfish were infront of each side of seating rows. They read in fancy script Groom's Side, Bride's Side. The chairs where white with teal bows on the back, starfish shells fastened in the middle of the bows.

Cap hated the décor, I could tell by the nit-picky sneer on his usually stone-cold face. "Place looks like a plane airdropped teal silk bunting all over it."

"It's a beach themed wedding, Cap."

"Mhm…" Cap sighed out deeply from the back of his throat as we walked over to the chairs on the bride's side.

Silently we took our seats, near the middle since the seats up front were already taken and waited for everything to begin.

A white wood arch decorated with teal and white sheer material and starfish shells stood at the end of the deck with the beach and ocean as a backdrop. Greg was standing under the arch with his groomsmen lined up behind him. Greg and all of his groomsmen were in white tuxes, only difference was that the groom's shirt was teal while his vest and tie was white while his men had white shirts with teal vests and ties. The white boutonnieres were pinned on the lapels with teal ribbon and tiny orange starfish. The officiant, who was too in a teal shirt, stood with a bible in his hand to the side of the arch. I also noticed that a table with glass jars and colored sand was set up near the arch.

Leaning close to me my boyfriend whisper-hissed, "I thought ya said this started at noon. It's nearly one and we're still waitin' on this shit-show to start."

"Cap, be nice. Don't call the wedding a shit-show."

"Why not? From what it looks like so far that's how it's goin'."

"Be nice, I'm sure it'll start soon." I tightly said, hoping that nobody could hear us or should I say him complaining.

"Better be, I'm sweatin' my balls off out here." Cap deeply mumbled under his rolling breath. Yea, only my boyfriend would say that, right.

Suddenly soft instrumental music began to play, signaling the late start of the wedding. I shot Cap a warning glare, letting him know not to make a snippy remark, before we slightly turned around in our seats to watch the wedding party walk up the aisle on the white and teal runner. The flower girl and ring bearer were kids of one of our sorority sisters. I think they were Abby's kids, but I wasn't too sure. The bridesmaids walked down the aisle in teal knee-length dresses before the maid of honor appeared. Abby was the maid of honor walking down the aisle in a teal maxi-dress. She and Charlotte were best friends and both lived here in Florida so I'm not shocked that she's the maid of honor.

Everyone rose as soon as the loud wedding march began to play. Charlotte was in a lacey white mermaid dress and looked like a beautiful bride. Her father, Charlie, was in a navy tux with a teal vest and tie as he slowly walked his daughter down the aisle. Seeing this part in weddings always made me teary eyed, mostly cause I knew I'd never have my dad walk me down the aisle.

Actually, over the last decade I never thought I'd meet somebody to marry either.

The music stopped and Charlie handed Charlotte over to Greg. The officiant cleared his throat before saying, "Dearly beloved, we're here today to witness the love and matrimony of Charlotte Bryant and Greg Cannes."

The wedding had finally started, late too.

After the ceremony was over everyone was ushered into a ballroom. A seating chart was blown up on a large teal board with numbers and names on it. We were grouped in table 7 with Grace, her husband Fred, and their three children, one of which was a baby less then a year old. I knew why we were grouped with them, Fred was a high-end lawyer in Colorado Springs. Charlotte wanted to make sure that I had somebody to talk work related stuff with and also girly stuff with.

"Well, when Grace told me you had a serious boyfriend I nearly fainted. Couldn't believe that the man-eater herself's settled down now." Fred remarked mockingly with a smile that could rival that of the Cheshire Cat's.

"I'm not a man-eater." I tightly told my friend's obnoxious husband, who had slicked back dark hair and looked like Clark Kent, as I cut my steak. When I first met him, I wanted to strangle him. Fred's the type of man that thinks a woman should only be a nurse, teacher, or secretary. Oh, or in the performing arts. Dickbag.

Grace, feeling the need to save her husband from getting chewed out by me, just smiled at my boyfriend before telling him, "Cap, Nova mentioned last night that you're a lawyer. My husband Fred's a lawyer too."

"Ah…that so?" Great, just great, Cap's already had enough and is annoyed. I can tell by the undertone to his deep rolling timbre. Our seating arrangements are gonna be interesting.

"I'm one of the partners at Jones, Jones, & Jeffry in Colorado Springs. It's just one of the biggest firms in the state of Colorado." The bastard should be a partner considering it's his family's firm. Just been in his lineage for the past hundred years.

"Ah…" Cap trailed off before takin' a sip of his drink and telling Fred, "Well I'm the ADA for Pike County, Kentucky." Before Fred could get a word in my boyfriend continued with, "Before that, when we lived in Baltimore, I worked as an assistant to the ADA there."

"Oh." Fred nodded his head, grabbing his glass off the table. Clearly the haughty lawyer didn't like being outshined by Cap, a man from Central Appalachia. "Nova, you work as a lawyer in Kentucky too now?"

I ate a piece of my medium-rare steak before nodding and answering with, "Yea, I work in Pikeville at my uncle's firm."

"Ah, so you went from a large well-known firm down to the family business." Since Fred was from a long line of well-to-do lawyers he thought his shit didn't stink. Of course, he views me working for my Uncle Perry as a joke.

"I advise you to keep any barbed remarks to yourself unless ya wanna be eatin' your teeth instead of your overcooked steaked." Cap lowly and coldly threatened my friend's husband, mocking his well-done steak too, as he narrowed his mismatched eyes at him while gritting his teeth.

Grace looked a bit startled as her emerald eyes darted between her husband and my boyfriend. Her young children were just eating their chicken, not paying any attention to the scene playing out before their little eyes. Fred just swallowed a lump in his throated before nodding his head and going back to cutting his overly brown steak.

"You know that we just moved in together a few days ago." I blurted out, trying to smooth over the bumps in the atmosphere, without fully thinking 'bout what I was saying.

A large and proud cocky grin stretched across Cap's ruggedly handsome face as he sliced his medium-rare steak. "We're real serious. Got a nice remodeled farmhouse not that far up the mountains from my folks."

Uh-oh, spaghetti-o's. Guess there's no going back now, I'm stuck living with what I said in a moment of duress.

Grace smiled politely as she cut her chicken breast while remarking, "Nova mentioned you're from West Virginia. Does that mean she moved to West Virginia?"

"Yep, but we work 'cross the Tug in Kentucky."

"Why, aren't there any jobs available in West Virginia?" Fred asked before taking a bite out of his steak that looked like it could double as shoe leather.

Before Cap could open his mouth, I answered Fred with, "Central Appalachia's a pretty poor area. People that live in the Tug River Valley work on both sides of the river despite what side they live on. You go where the good job is cause they're hard to come by."

"Yes, I forgot that you were raised in the back hills of Kentucky." Fred said haughtily, a barely there sneer on his face, as he tilted his clean shaven baby smooth jaw up in a bit of a mocking gesture.

"She was raised in Pikeville, the largest city in Pike County where every damn store needed for living is at. She ain't no hillbilly hick." Cap coolly told Fred, his deep rollin' tone eerily flat and cutting. Looking at Grace he asked her, "Since you went to Louisville for college are you from Kentucky or Ohio?"

"I'm from Louisville, it's why I went to school there." Was the answer Grace gave Cap in between eating her chicken.

Cap just nodded before remarking with a bit of sarcasm in his deep rolling voice, "Ah, so you've heard 'bout mountain life, but never experienced it. Well how'd ya meet Fred here since he's just the best thing since sliced bread in Colorado?"

"Cap…" I hissed under my breath, feeling embarrassed that he was doing that thing where he stared at everyone coldly and cut them down with double-edged remarks.

Grace smiled wide, her pearly whites a stark contrast against the hot pink lipstick she wore, as she explained to Cap, "I went to University of Colorado in Colorado Springs for Nurse Practitioner school. We meet in a coffee shop before one of my classes."

And the rest of dinner was full of slightly tense talk about our lives. I was actually happy when the plates were taken away and the announcement for the bride and groom's first dance was made.

AN:

The next chapter should be wrapping up the wedding weekend. Also, Nancy and Bad Frank are gonna order something done that'll have a big impact of Novella and in a way Cap.