Save the Date (Modern Arrangements) Page 18

  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  Lilli returned before New Year’s Eve, mainly because Viola had planned a charity event for the family foundation she ran. ‘Isobel’s Heart’ foundation was started by my grandmother before she died. Grandma Olivia had taken over but soon my mother and Viola were handling things. Now, it was just Viola.

  Viola had taken Lilli with her to visit some of the local places that the foundation supports; mostly orphanages for children, including mentally and physically disabled children. There was also the abused women and children’s center that Viola had brought into the foundation years ago.

  The New Year’s event was held to raise money for each charity. There was going to be a ‘date’ auction, where men would bid on single women to spend the evening with; a silent auction for items that were donated, and then there was the ticket prices where a portion would go to the foundation.

  When Lilli met me downstairs in the apartment for the New Year’s event I had to say that I was thankful that she was no longer considered ‘single’ and therefore would not be a part of the ‘date’ auction. I may have sunk the entire Iverson fortune to keep her away from another man, especially with the way she was dressed. In that floor length midnight blue dress with a low v-neck that hugged her body until it reached her mid thigh, there would have been a serious battle for her. She was stunning, once again.

  The event went as perfectly as Viola had planned it and she had raised a great deal of money. What surprised me was the extent of knowledge Lilli had about the foundation and the event. Viola saw my perplexed expression when Lilli was pulled away by an organizer to discuss something about the silent auction.

  "Didn’t she tell you?" Viola tilted her head slightly as she furrowed her brow.

  "Tell me what?"

  "Lilli has been working with me on the event. She is quite quick that one." Viola smiled in Lilli’s direction, "Ever since she visited the homes with me she has been eagerly volunteering to help with things. She has been a lifesaver in some areas." Viola was still smiling.

  "Really? No, she hadn’t mentioned anything besides spending some time with you." I rubbed the back of my head realizing that I really didn’t know much about her day at all.

  "Hmm…" Viola eyed me.

  "What?" I blurted at the tone she had.

  "I just figured that you would know what your future wife does during her day," she eyed me skeptically.

  "She doesn’t have to report back to me about her every second." I took a drink of my champagne.

  Viola laughed.

  "Oh, Aidan, that is not what I meant." She continued to giggle. "I mean that you are coming off, right now, as knowing nothing about her. That’s not good, especially if you are going to be together for four years…or longer, perhaps." She smiled slyly.

  "Longer, perhaps?" I smiled at her and shook my head. "Don’t get any ideas just yet Aunt Viola. We aren’t even married yet."

  She smiled wide again.

  "Sometimes a woman can see things that a man cannot." She said with a wink as she walked towards Lilli.

  The next week went by quickly and Lilli was swamped with Viola, going through all of the final wedding details. I could tell that she had just about had enough. I would watch her eyes light up when Viola would call but then her face would fall and contort into disgust when she would realize she was calling about the wedding plans. I found it humorous, her, not so much.

  Saturday arrived and James was being all ‘hush hush’ about the plans for the evening. I had made him swear that there wouldn’t be any hookers, mainly because I found them disgusting, but also because I didn’t know if I could control myself with all the pent up sexual frustration I harbored.

  When I got up Saturday morning Viola was already clearing out the apartment and rearranging for the brunch. Phoebe was also flitting around helping Vi. I grabbed some coffee and Phoebe shooed me back upstairs to get dressed and ‘get the hell out’, as she put it.

  Once dressed, I worked on my laptop for awhile before James called me. Around ten James informed me to be ready in thirty minutes still keeping our plans a secret. At ten-twenty I headed downstairs.

  "What are you still doing here?" Phoebe scolded. "The ladies will be arriving in half an hour." Her hands were on her hips.

  "I’m on my way out now," I rolled my eyes. "Viola," she turned around with a large smile. I held a small box out to her. "This is for Lilli."

  She smiled. "Is this the—?"

  "Yeah." I kissed her cheek.

  "Good boy," she said proudly. "You’re leaving now?" I nodded. "Okay, Lilli is in the kitchen."

  I walked into the kitchen and saw Lilli standing at the counter. She was wearing a blue and white striped dress that flared out from her waist, a large dark blue belt and her sleeves covered to just above her elbows.

  "Um…I’m going to head out now."

  She turned around quickly.

  "Oh," she laughed lightly, "You scared me." She smiled. "Okay, have fun. Be careful with the naked ladies…you don’t know what they might have!" She teased and laughed.

  "Ha ha," I rolled my eyes. "I distinctly made James swear that there would be no hookers."

  "Hmmm…well then…" she turned toward a bag that was on the counter and turned back to me with a huge wad of cash, "Here you go."

  "What the hell is this?" I exclaimed, wide-eyed, as I took the wad and looked at it closer.

  "It’s a bunch of ones," she giggled. "Have a lap dance on me!" She laughed harder as she patted my back and started to walk around me. I grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

  "You are insane." I laughed. She looked at me confused. "What guy has a fiancée buy them a lap dance?"

  "More than you know," she winked. "Have a good time," she smiled.

  I kissed her cheek. There was that electric pulse at the touch of her skin.

  "Bye," I looked at her, her eyes seeming to glaze over.

  Oh, she felt it too. She has to.

  James picked me up in a limo and I shook my head as I got in.

  "What?" he asked.

  "Nothing," I laughed. He smiled large.

  "We are doing this in style brother! Next stop Oscar."

  We picked up Oscar, Liam, Dixon, Marcus and a few other friends. James broke out the beers in the limousine as we headed to our first destination: the strip club. Dixon’s face was lit up and he fist pounded James. Oscar shook his head and laughed while Liam seemed nervous.

  "You okay, old man?" James teased.

  "I’m fine, boy. It’s just been a long time since I’ve stepped into a strip club." Everyone laughed.

  At the strip club everyone let loose, including, much to my surprise, Liam. Following his fourth drink he was on his second lap dance.

  "This is the groom!" Dixon shouted and pointed to me. I covered my face as I saw three half-dressed girls head my direction.

  Oh God!

  One stood behind me and ran her hands down my chest, her breasts rubbing against my back. The next stood in front of me holding onto my shirt and pulling me close to her as she ground into me seductively. The third danced slowly and seductively with the second girl, giving the girl-on-girl effect. I knew I was going to burst at any moment. I had to close my eyes and take repeated deep breaths to calm down.

  "What’s the matter Aid-man, you feeling a little frustrated?" Dixon boasted from under his lap dancer.

  "Shut up, Dixon." Though I didn’t really want him to shut up, his teasing was distracting me pretty well. "I’m going to kill you for this."

  "Oh, no, little man!" He laughed loudly. "Thank your future wife! That one is on her!" he howled and I snapped my eyes open to look at him.

  "W-What?" I choked.

  I could hear James and Liam in hysterics.

  "Lilli was very specific on what to have set up for you." Dixon burst into a fit of laughter again.

  "You told her we were coming here but you didn’t tell me?" I shot my eyes over to James.

  "It was your surprise,
not hers." He shrugged and went back to watching Liam hand money over to a dancer.

  "Why the hell are you not throwing dollars or getting this treatment?" I motioned to the full action that I was receiving, now knowing it was courtesy of my fiancée.

  He shook his head.

  "I’ll just watch," he smiled. "Elora wouldn’t appreciate it if I came home tonight smelling like another woman." He smirked. "Besides watching Liam is priceless!"

  "Oh, hush it, boy!" Liam joked.

  "I’m so telling Aunt Viola about this," James teased.

  "Please," Liam rolled his eyes. "Go ahead, it might get her all hot and bothered." Liam smiled at us slyly.

  "W-what?" I yelled. "Liam!"

  "What?" he shrugged. "Your Aunt likes when other women flirt with me…it’s sort of like foreplay. Like at the New Year’s event when—"

  "Stop!" James and I yelled at the same time.

  "Oh no, please continue!" Dixon shouted out with a large smile.

  "I am not going to listen to this about my sweet and innocent aunt," I teasingly scowled at Liam.

  "Innocent?" He snorted and started laughing.

  "Okay, seriously, stop!" James begged as he buried his face in his empty hand.

  Liam just smirked at us as he ordered another drink.

  Four hours later, we headed to a local sports bar for a late lunch and some beers. Most of us were a little buzzed and opted for water or coffee at this point. We sat around watching sports on the large screen TV’s. After we finished eating we headed up to a private room James had secured at a local casino type place.

  We sat around for five hours playing blackjack, poker and a few other card games. It was roughly eight-thirty in the evening when I received a picture message from Maggie.

  I almost shot beer out of my nose from the message. Everyone looked up at me.

  "Who would be opposed to crashing a bachelorette party?" I smirked and every single one of their eyes lit up like it was Christmas.

  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  At eleven in the morning people started to arrive for brunch. Viola had had a cater come and set up early, along with table set up and decorating. I had been up since six this morning so I could help and of course Phoebe was adamant about helping me get dressed.

  Once Aidan had left, his Aunt Anne arrived with Elora and her mother. Then came a slew of people I barely remembered from Elora and James’ wedding. I plastered on my smile and greeted everyone as they entered.

  Mimosas were served along with hor d’oevres for about an hour before we all sat down and to a light lunch of soup, salad and finger sandwiches. As dessert, cookies and small cakes were set out and served with tea. The brunch had gone smoothly, except for Aidan’s Aunt Anne. She was something else, very blunt and even downright rude.

  She had called Celia a bargirl and was so happy for me that Aidan had gotten me out of ‘that lifestyle’. She went on to interrogate me about my future plans and if we had started trying to get pregnant yet. She was not my favorite person. Elora shot me an apologetic look from across the table. She obviously understood my pain right now. I smiled and winked at her, causing her to giggle and earning her a disappointed look from Aunt Anne and her own mother.

  I hadn’t realized that I would have to open all of the presents while everyone was there. It took me two hours to open the gifts, show them and thank people. I was exhausted when Viola handed me one more, small package.

  "This one is from Aidan," Viola smiled as she stood next to Maggie. Maggie had been sitting with me and helping me with all the gifts.

  "Aidan?" I questioned. She nodded. I opened the gift and found a necklace with a large pendent on it. It was very pretty, but I wasn’t sure what it was.

  "It’s the Iverson family crest, dear," I looked over to Viola who was smiling. "It is tradition for you and Aidan to both wear the crest during the wedding."

  "Oh," I said quietly.

  "He had it specially made for you." I looked back to her quickly. I knew that this was definitely a specially made piece and that they didn’t just run to Wal-Mart for it, so I could only imagine how much it cost.

  I wonder if this is one of the pieces of jewelry that gets returned at the end of the four years?

  "It’s beautiful." I smiled politely.

  Once everything was done and the conversations began to die down, people finally started to leave. I was telling Elora goodbye when Phoebe approached.

  "Where do you think you are going?" Phoebe huffed.

  "Umm…" Elora didn’t get to finish.

  "Send your mother and the in-law on their way. You are staying." Phoebe winked and headed over to a few others.

  I collapsed onto the couch and put my feet up.

  "Who knew that it would be this tiring?" I said out loud, not really expecting a response from anyone. All I got were giggles.

  "The night isn’t over yet, ladies!" Phoebe smirked.

  "What?" I looked up to see Phoebe smiling profusely.

  "Oh, I’ve got plans," she smiled then turned to Maggie. "Baby girl, you know I love you, but you will have to leave the party at one point."

  Maggie pouted.

  "Why?"

  "Because part of the night is not teenager approved," Phoebe kissed her cheek and smiled.

  "Oh my," Viola gasped. "Maybe I should…"

  "Oh, hell, no!" I yelled at her. "You are staying,"

  Phoebe shooed us upstairs where she conveniently had extra clothes set out. I was kind of happy because it was a pair of skinny jeans and a simple sleeveless blouse. It was much more comfortable.

  The first thing I noticed as I descended the stairs was the music, my eyes then settled on a bar that wasn’t there before.

  "Phoebe, what the hell is this?" I smiled.

  Phoebe turned.

  "This is where we get to design our own cocktails."

  "Nice," I appraised with a smile.

  Everyone gathered around creating their own personal cocktail while the others named the creations. Celia created what we named the Flaming Bitch. Phoebe created what we named the Evil Lawn Gnome. Maggie created what Viola named the Virgin for Life. Elora created what we named the Silent but Deadly. Viola created what I named the Hell Cat. I created a drink that they named Reformed Bargirl. Clearly, mine was in honor of Aunt Anne. Phoebe was brilliant and we spent the rest of the evening drinking our personalized drinks.

  Next, an Intimacy Consultant named Anita arrived. When Anita walked in she looked very studious. However, when she started to set up I would have never guessed that she did this for a living. First came all types of lingerie: see through, lacy, racy, edible and even costumes.

  "Okay," Phoebe cleared her throat. "The idea here is to purchase things for our dear Lilli to wear or use on her honeymoon." Phoebe giggled and I scowled at her.

  "Don’t waste your money," I spit out quickly, earning a laugh from Maggie and Viola.

  "Oh honey, if Aidan is anything like his uncle then you will definitely want to get yourself some."

  "Mom," Maggie yelled and covered her ears.

  We all burst into laughter.

  "I’m just saying," Viola shrugged. "Your father is quite—"

  "Seriously? Seriously, mom? No…ew, ew, ew!" Maggie screamed as she left the room. "God, please let my car get here soon!" The laughter just got worse.

  All of the drinking started to catch up with us. Celia had a red lace bra on overtop of her black halter top, modeling it. I pulled a dark blue nightie on over my clothes and posed provocatively when I saw the flash.

  "Maggie!" I yelled and chased her around the room, everyone laughing.

  "Oh, I am totally saving that one as the background on my phone!" she laughed as she dodged my attempts to catch her. Finally, I was laughing so hard I couldn’t run any longer. "My car is here!" Maggie beamed, ran to kiss Viola and then she headed home.

  Maggie was only gone for ten minutes when Anita pulled a trunk out and started unloading things. There were lubricants, vibrators,
handcuffs. You name it, Anita had it in her trunk.

  Viola grabbed a pair of padded handcuffs and slipped them on.

  "Find something you like?" Anita questioned.

  "Maybe," Viola grinned.

  I started laughing.

  "You could always buy them for Aidan," Phoebe suggested to Viola.

  "Huh?" Viola looked confused.

  "Well, handcuffing Lilli to the bed might be the only way he’ll get her to stay in his!" Phoebe started roaring with laughter as I tossed a butt plug at her.

  Viola giggled.

  "Oh no, I think that this would go nicely with my naughty officer outfit." Viola said it so straight faced and seriously that for a moment, I couldn’t even react.

  "Holy shit, Vi," Celia exclaimed. "You’re a closet freak!" she laughed.

  "Please honey, I invented freak," she winked. "I’ll take these and give one to the bride too." We all laughed harder.

  "Really, Viola, I won’t need those." I stated between giggles.

  "You will if Aidan is like his uncle," she smiled slyly as she sipped on her drink.

  We had convinced Anita to stay with us after she was done with the ‘consultation’. We helped her clean up her things and then we all sat around drinking, laughing and dancing. A knock erupted at the door and Phoebe rushed to answer.

  Three police officers came in, it didn’t take a genius to realize what they really were. I rolled my eyes. Phoebe tried to look innocent as I scowled at her before she turned the music to something different and the ‘officers’ were pulling me off the couch and into a single chair. They danced around me and grabbed my hands to run down their chests as they danced. I caught Phoebe with a camera a few times and stuck my tongue out at her.

  Finally having had enough, I sent one officer to Viola, one to Elora and the other to Phoebe. Phoebe was giggling as I took pictures, Viola was a little too excited and I definitely got pictures of that. Elora was just red faced and embarrassed. My stomach hurt so badly from all of the laughter.

  The strippers finally said their goodbyes and gave me their best wishes on my marriage.

  "Whew! I need a drink and a cold shower." Viola panted.

  "Hell, I just need one of those vibrators at this point." Elora blurted out. I almost fell off my seat laughing.