She heard voices as she walked down the stairs and stopped as she entered the den. She looked around her in shock. There were people everywhere and every available space was covered with items. No one noticed her at first and she looked around at all the items.
She heard Joseph before she saw him, “No, no, no, that just won’t do,” she heard him yell at someone, in his loud and overpowering voice.
“I’m sorry Mr. Anderson. I will get rid of these right away and get the next set,” she heard some man say and then saw a little guy with a panicked expression rush by her and out the door.
“I can’t believe he even thought that would be good enough for my youngest boy and his beautiful bride,” Joseph said to someone.
“Emily, there you are sleepy head,” Jessica said as she came running up. “I wanted to wake you up an hour ago but Mark threatened death to anyone who dared to disturb you,” she finished.
“What is going on?” Emily gasped.
“Plans for the wedding of course,” Jessica said, as if Emily had a screw loose.
“I don’t understand. Why are there so many people here?” she asked.
“You can’t have a great wedding in only three days without an army of people getting things done,” Jessica answered her.
“I just thought we would have a small backyard wedding,” Emily managed to get out, as she stared at all the chaos around her. Jessica actually laughed at her.
“Come on Emily, you’ve been around this family long enough to understand they never do anything half-way. There’s no way Joseph would allow his last child to have a small backyard wedding,” she said through more giggles.
“Don’t panic too much, Emily. I thought I would hyperventilate on my wedding day. I was so not expecting the huge event they’d planned. I thought it would be us and a judge but trust me, I’m grateful now I got my dream wedding. I look through the pictures with Jasmine and she talks about the beautiful princess in the pictures, which just so happens to be me. I actually did feel like a princess. Let us help you make your wedding day the best one in your life,” Amy said, as she joined the conversation.
“I guess then I’m in your capable hands,” Emily said and soon would regret those words. The girls dragged her throughout the house, which she soon found was just as chaotic as the den. She tried so many cake samples she got a stomach ache. She was also measured, plucked and waxed.
The only part of the day that wasn’t overwhelming was when she sat down with the wedding dress designer. He let her describe her dream wedding dress to him and wrote it all down. He said it would be worked on night and day to make sure it was perfect in every way. She didn’t think it could be done but secretly hoped.
By the time the day was finished, she was practically crawling up the staircase to reach her room. She was sore from all the beauty treatments and beyond exhausted. She climbed into her big bed and passed out instantly again.
The next couple of days were much of the same thing. She woke up to a houseful of people and ran from morning to night. She barely caught glimpses of Mark and didn’t even know if he was sleeping in the same bed. She couldn’t wait for the actual wedding to be over with.
“You’re not allowed to see Mark at all today. His brothers have whisked him off for a bachelor party, to an unknown location. The kids are all over at my house and will be tended to and we are off on the company jet to Las Vegas,” Amy said, as she came bursting into Emily’s room first thing in the morning.
“What?” Emily questioned her, trying to wipe the sleep from her eyes.
“It’s the day before your wedding, which means it’s time for your bachelorette party,” Jessica said, as the two girls jumped on her bed.
“I really hope you aren’t wearing one of your sexy lingerie pieces,” Amy added with a giggle.
“Me too,” Jessica said and then ripped the covers off of her. Luckily Emily had not been feeling sexy and was wearing her favorite old t-shirt and a pair of boxer shorts.
“Hurry up and get ready, we are leaving for the airport in one hour,” Amy said and then the two girls gave her some privacy.
Emily groggily got up and obeyed the two women. She was downstairs in thirty minutes and incredibly grateful for the fresh brewed coffee sitting on the counter. She poured herself a large mug and burned her tongue with her first drink.
“Are you excited?” Amy asked.
“We are staying at the Mirage,” Jessica added.
Emily thought about it for a few moments and found she was actually excited. “I have never been there before,” she said shyly.
“Oh I wish it were for more than one day. There’s so much to do. I went there a couple years ago, for the first time with Lucas and had such an amazing time he let us stay a few extra days. We saw so many shows and I hate to admit it but I got hooked on black jack and ended up playing till it got light out one night. It was so much fun. I’m excited to have some girls to go shopping with this time. I love Lucas to pieces but he can’t understand the joy of shopping,” she finished off excitedly.
“Well let’s quit talking about it and go,” Jessica said.
“Don’t we need to pack anything?” Emily asked.
“Not a chance. We’ll buy whatever we need there. We don’t want to take anything with us, cause then that’s less room for bringing our purchases back,” Amy said.
“Sounds good to me,” Emily admitted. The three women headed out the door to the awaiting limo and drank some sparkling cider on the way to the airport.