Give up Forever to Touch You

With Abi stood on the chair in front of her, Andie zipped up the cherry red flower girls dress her daughter was wearing, making sure the skirt sat right.

“What do you think?” Rhian asked from behind her.

Picking Abi up, she turned a smile appearing on her lips as her eyes scanned over her best friend, “You look stunning Hun, Jimmy will be speechless.”

“Really?” she asked smoothing down the pleats of her dress.

“Yes really. You look beautiful sweetie.” she replied just as there was a knock at the door.

Opening the door, Andie stepped back with a smile to allow Hillary into the room. “Oh sweetie, you look radiant, positively breathtaking. And you two look beautiful too.”

“Were you in on this too?” Rhian asked with her hands on her hips.

“Only since yesterday, he didn’t want me spending the morning cooking for it to go to waste because of us being here.” She explained. “He didn’t want me to know any sooner just in case you got your secret keeping skills from me.”

The three of them laughed, “She has a point there Rhi.” Andie said.

“Yeah whatever.” She replied poking out her tongue. “Mom, you’re gonna give me away right?”

“Of course sweetie, it’s a shame your father couldn’t be her though.” She replied.

“Maybe he shouldn’t have run off with that whore then.” She replied bluntly.

“Rhian.” Her mother replied, her voice stern.

“What? she was.” Rhian defended.

“Oh I know, but mind your language in front of Abi.” She said with a wink. “Now are you ready to go?”

Taking a deep breath Rhian nodded, “Yeah I am.” She said, picking up the bouquet of red and white carnations that had been waiting for her in the room.

Walking down the aisle in front of Rhian and Hillary, Andie held onto Abi’s small hand, a smile on her face. The chairs on either side of them filled with their friends and Jimmy’s family. As they reached the front, she glanced at Jimmy who was visibly nervous despite the smile he wore. She smiled over at him before moving her gaze to Brian, her smile growing as he smiled back at her. Her eyes fell back to Jimmy, watching as he turned to face Rhian, a proud, love-filled look on his face, his blue eyes glistening.

As the ceremony started, Andie lifted Abi into her arms, her eyes falling on Brian’s again. She mouthed “I love you” and he did the same back with a small wink as Abi began to wriggle in her arms.

“…Speak now or forever hold your peace.”

“Dada, dada.” After a quick gasp, the congregation laughed at Abi’s interruption before the officiate continued with a smile, Andie placing Abi on the ground and watching her walk unsteadily over to Brian who picked her up and held her for the rest of the ceremony, covering her eyes with his hand as Jimmy and Rhian shared their first kiss as a married couple.

****

As Jimmy stood, with the champagne glass in his hand the room went quiet, everyone’s eyes landing on him and his new wife. “Okay, I’m going to start by thanking you all for coming here today, it means the world to me that the people I love the most are willing to remove themselves from their traditional family Christmas’ to be here to share this day with Rhian and myself. I would also like to thank Brian and Andie who helped me arrange most of this at such short notice and most importantly helped get Rhian here.”

“By kidnapping me.” Rhian muttered playfully as laughter filtered through the room.

“Just be glad we didn’t use the Valium he gave us for an emergency.” Brian replied gaining another laugh.

“I told them by any means possible babe.” Jimmy said with a smile. “I would also like to thank Brian for hiring Andie as his nanny which gave me the chance to meet the woman I’m head over heals in love with. Thanks dude.”

“No worries man, it was the best decision I ever made.” Brian replied lifting Andie’s hand to his lips, gently brushing the back of her hand.

“Hillary, I also thank you, for bringing such an amazing, beautiful woman into this world. And lastly, I would like to thank Rhian. I can’t even begin to put into words what this wonderful woman has done to me.” Jimmy continued.

“And we don’t need to know, remember there are children present.” Matt hollered across the room earning another laugh.

“What I mean, Matthew, is that I’ve never been this happy. Rhian Wi- Sullivan, you brighten up my day, you make my heart skip a beat, you make my world a better place and I love you more than I ever thought possible.” He concluded, taking hold of her hand and lifting her out of her seat and kissing her lips. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” she replied with a smile.

Engaging the alarm system on the car, Michelle took hold of her daughter’s hand and made her way over to the hotel entrance, her son walking beside her. Making an enquiry at the front desk she made her way to the large hall, hearing the music clearer as they got nearer. She entered the large room, glancing around the darkened room in search for Brian. unsurprisingly given the song that was playing, she found him on the dance floor, his arms wrapped tightly around Andie’s waist, his brown eyes fixated on her, as if she was the only thing in the room.

Just a year ago, he had been her husband, although it had been a long while before that since he had danced with her like that, looked at her in that way. If she was to be honest, she didn’t blame him, not totally. It had hurt a lot when she had found out about Brian and Andie, but then she had quickly come to terms with it and had admitted to herself that she had probably pushed him into her arms. If she hadn’t have been so involved with work she would have spent more time at home, more time being the wife and mother she was supposed to be and then maybe Brian wouldn’t have strayed.

But then again, she wasn’t totally innocent in that department either, and if she had spent less time at the office, she may never have met Nick. His case may have been given to someone else when he had walked into the office just over three years ago.

Shaking the thought from her head, she realised the song hand changed and Brian and his future wife were making their way over to one of the tables, Andie’s hand securely within his.

“Come on I see daddy.” She said to Connor and Ella, taking a deep breath before walking over to the couple.

“Daddy!” Connor yelled running over to him.

“Hey buddy, merry Christmas.” He replied lifting his son up into his arms, turning to face Michelle and Ella. “Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas.” Michelle replied with a smile as Ella squirmed out of her arms to get to her father. “Good day?”

“Yeah, it’s been fantastic.” Brian replied with a smile “How was yours?”

“Oh you know typical Christmas stuff. So I guess it won’t be too long before your wedding now.” she replied.

Brian glanced at Andie, who now had Connor on her lap. “Yeah, we’ve decided to move it forward as well if we can, to the end of January.”

Michelle nodded, her smile seeming genuine, “That’s great, and you two really are perfect together.”

A little taken aback, Brian nodded, “Thanks.”

“I mean it.” she replied sensing his uncertainty. “We’ve both moved on Bri, its okay. You obviously love each other a great deal.”

“Yeah we are.” Brian said with a smile and a glance at Andie who was smiling back at him.

“Okay, so I’ve gotta go, but I’ll see you Thursday when you drop the kids back off right?” she replied.

“Um, yeah of course.” Brian replied as Michelle leaned down to kiss both Connor and Ella.

“That was a little strange.” Andie muttered with a smile as they watch Michelle walk away.

“Just a bit, but hey, it was a good strange right.” he replied.

“I guess so.” She replied.

“You ready to head home? Have our family Christmas now?” Brian asked.

“Yeah that sounds like a plan.” She replied as his lips met hers in a soft kiss.