“Actually,” he’d corrected her with a sweet, tender kiss, “home will be wherever you happen to be at the moment.”
“Aw,” she’d gushed. “Aren’t you sweet? Maybe you should consider writing poetry sometime. But,” she had added more soberly, “you’re absolutely right, Blue Eyes. Home is definitely where the heart is, and since you’ve owned my heart from the moment I met you – well, you get the picture.”
Lauren smiled to herself now as she recalled how that rather gooey conversation had ended – the same way in which most of their conversations seemed to end these days – in bed. They had both been rather intent on making up for lost time over these past few weeks and had – in her exact words – done a bang-up job of breaking in their brand new mattress by, well, banging – a lot.
“Lauren, your uncle’s calling for us. He wants to take a few shots out on the deck before we head down to the beach.”
Lauren smiled up at her best friend who had just walked back inside the cabin. “Thanks, Angie. Guess we’d better go find Uncle Mal.”
She linked arms with her two attendants as they walked out of the cabin, shaking her head in disbelief. “Who would have thought that less than four months after Julia got married that I’d be walking down the aisle next?” she asked incredulously. “Or that Angie would be back with her mystery man.”
Angela laughed. “Well, you did catch Julia’s bridal bouquet, after all. And before you even consider doing so, do not plan on me catching your bouquet. You do realize that this is the first wedding Nick has consented to attend since he was a kid, don’t you? He certainly doesn’t intend for the next one to be his. Ever.”
Julia patted Angela on the shoulder. “He’ll change his mind one of these days, honey.”
Angela shook her head. “I doubt it. You don’t know him very well as yet. To call Nick set in his ways is putting it mildly. And it doesn’t matter to me. Honestly. I don’t need a wedding ring or piece of paper to know that we belong together. Or to prove how much he loves me.”
“If you’re trying to make me cry on my wedding day, it’s not working,” retorted Lauren. “At least not on me. But I think Julia’s about to ruin her eye makeup, so quit the sentimental stuff, Angie. Now, come on. You may not care about getting married, but oddly enough, I do. And it’s going to be perfect.”
Julia smiled at her twin fondly. “Well, of course it is. You’d never allow it to be anything but.”
Angela bent and gave her much shorter friend a kiss on the cheek. “I told you when you came to visit me in August that you deserved to be happy more than anyone else I know. And now it’s finally your turn, Lauren.”
***
It was with a sense of semi-detached disbelief that Ben looked out at the group of forty or so people milling around the section of beach that had been set up just a short time ago for his wedding. The wedding that still seemed unreal to him, as did the fact that it was really Lauren he would be marrying in just a few more minutes.
Lauren in particular had insisted on keeping the wedding small, just immediate family and their very closest friends and co-workers. She had also been the one who’d prodded him to invite his parents, even though he hadn’t been in touch with either of them for almost a year. Not surprisingly, his mother had mumbled some excuse about not being able to get away, the same way she had for both his high school and college graduations.
But he’d been pleasantly surprised when his father – Patrick – had actually accepted the invitation and even brought one of Ben’s half-brothers along. Unbeknownst to Ben, twenty year old Callan had been attending San Jose State University for the past couple of years, and had made the drive down to Big Sur with their father. The two of them had been welcomed with open arms by Lauren and her family to last night’s rehearsal dinner held at the McKinnons’ beach house in Carmel.
It had been both awkward and strange for Ben to see his father after so much time, as well as the half-brother he hadn’t seen since Callan was in middle school. But Lauren, with her outgoing, irrepressible personality, had somehow made it all okay, chatting with Patrick and Callan as though she’d known them for years, and making them feel like part of the family. It had touched Ben deeply to see how much she cared, and the effort she made to bring him and his family closer together.
Levi had made it out, too, and upon meeting Lauren in the flesh had whispered to Ben that he must have gone a little crazy six years ago to even think of leaving a babe like her behind. He’d been initially intrigued to learn that Lauren had an identical twin, and then just as quickly dismayed when he’d been told that Julia was a newlywed of barely four months. Knowing what a ladies man his old friend had always been, however, Ben was willing to take bets on the fact that Levi’s visit here would not be spent alone.
And of course the entire crew was here – Karl and Tamsyn, George and Nadine, Chris and Mindy. Even now Chris was busy video taping the guests as they arrived, and trying not to bug Lauren’s Uncle Malcolm – one of Chris’s professional idols – too much.
Speaking of idols, it was difficult not to notice all the stares being directed towards the very tall, very buff, dark haired man who’d arrived with the twins’ best friend Angela – a man who looked decidedly ill at ease in these surroundings.
“I can’t believe that Lauren’s best friend is actually living with Nick Manning,” murmured Karl, awestruck. “I was at a Tennessee Titans game once when the 49ers were in town. Manning put a hit on our quarterback that echoed through the whole stadium. The guy was a beast.”
“Still is,” acknowledged Nathan. He and Karl had been chosen as Ben’s groomsmen. “I made the huge mistake of working out with the guy a few weeks ago. I was ready to crawl to the car – or puke – while he was still going strong. Nick could probably suit up and play ball today if he wanted.”
Ben smirked. “I wish Lauren was here right now to see how this is going to unfold. Because I’ve got a feeling Nick is about to make the acquaintance of our boy George, and I can see the stars in his beady little eyes from here.”
The three men watched in amusement as George eagerly took a seat next to the brooding, hulking Nick and proffered his hand. Astonishingly, though, Nick not only returned the handshake but continued to converse with a starstruck George until the ceremony began.
Robert had arranged for a local string quartet to play the music for the ceremony, all four of the musicians longtime friends of the McKinnons. Ben had never been much of a classical music aficionado, and didn’t recognize most of the pre-ceremony pieces that were played. But once Nathan had escorted Natalie to her seat, the quartet struck up a tune that Ben not only knew but one that brought a huge grin to his face.
It was a Beach Boys song, entirely appropriate considering the setting they were marrying in. The song was one of the band’s lovelier, more poignant ballads – God Only Knows. The forty or so guests stood as first Angela and then Julia walked down the “aisle” – in this case a length of burlap fabric that had been stretched out along the sand. Both bridesmaids carried simple bouquets of wildflowers, and wore more of the same blooms in their hair. Angela was wearing a dark red cotton print maxi dress that made her look like a 1960’s flower child, especially given the long, straight fall of her raven hair. Julia’s dress was a froth of pale blue and lavender tiers, and the caramel curls that were identical to Lauren’s tumbled in lush abandon over her shoulders.
But it was Lauren to whom everyone’s eyes – especially his own – were drawn as she stepped onto the beach just as the music reached a crescendo. She was clutching Robert’s arm affectionately, her gorgeous face alight with happiness as she waved, winked, and beamed at each of their guests, blowing kisses to her Aunt Madelyn and her beau James, and then to Natalie. She looked so beautiful that she took his breath away, her simple cotton dress a hundred times more appealing to him than any designer gown of tulle and lace would have ever been. She, too, wore a wreath of flowers in her hair – white roses and yellow daisies to match the beribboned nosegay she carried – and she reminded Ben of some Greek goddess of the spring or the forest.