Jacquie ’Alessandro - Holiday Inn Bed

He grinned. “You’ve been reading my letter to Santa again.” Then his expression sobered. “Jess, what I was trying to say about the wedding is that it’s caused nothing but problems, ones that seem to multiply no matter what we do. So let’s not do it.” He cupped her cheek in his hand. “I want to marry you, so I can spend the rest of my life with you. A fancy wedding doesn’t make a damn bit of difference to me. Saying vows to you does.” Clasping her hands in his, he dropped to one knee in front of her. “Jess, will you marry me? I mean marry me-not have a fancy wedding with me?”

Another batch of tears rushed into her eyes. A half laugh, half cry rushed from her. “Yes. God, yes. Please, yes.” He stood and caught her up in his arms and spun her around until they were both laughing and breathless. And then he kissed her, a deep, passionate kiss that tasted of love and happiness. After he lifted his head, she said, “This is exactly what I wanted to talk to you about. I shared a very long and exhausting conversation with my mother, but it did us both a world of good. We cleared the air about a lot of things and after a lot of arguing, tears and finally some laughter, we came to an understanding.”

“What’s that?”

“First, that I love you and am going to marry you. If she doesn’t accept that, our mother-daughter relationship will be irreparably damaged. And second, that this is our wedding. Yours and mine. And that we’re going to plan something very small and intimate. That we might even decide to elope. Or jet off to Vegas. But we’re going to do what we want, when we want. I told her if she’d like to throw a party for us sometime afterward, that would be fine, but that I really thought she should save her money and take a nice singles cruise. Maybe she’d meet a nice man and could someday plan her own extravagant wedding.”

“And she accepted that?”

“It wasn’t an easy sell and she’s definitely disappointed since she’s been dreaming of my wedding for years. But in the end she finally realized that she needed to accept our decisions even though they might not be the ones she’d make. I made it extremely clear that there was to be no more interfering or manipulating. I don’t think she understood how bad she’d gotten, but I made her see the light and she apologized, as well as promised she’d try her best to do better. She really is a good mom. I honestly think she’s just lonely.”

“So let me get this straight-you’d already decided that you didn’t want a big fancy wedding before I gave you my whole sales pitch?”

She grinned at his grumpy tone. “Yup.” She looped her arms around his neck. “Great minds and all that.”

“Great. So how would you feel about getting married here? Today? Now?”

She blinked. “Now?”

“Well, not right this minute, but in about-” he lifted his left arm and consulted his watch over her shoulder “-two hours?”

She was about to laugh, but something in his eyes stilled her. “You’re serious.”

“Extremely. When I realized I couldn’t take the fancy wedding thing any longer, I decided to take matters into my own hands. Those four hours you were with your mom? I spent them making arrangements.”

A wave of cautious joy spread through her. “But we’re snowed in. How could you possibly make arrangements?”

“You forget my very formidable wedding planner sister is here. Between me, her and Helen and Roland Krause, things are rolling right along. Apparently Timberline Lodge is a popular wedding ceremony spot.”

“But who would perform the ceremony?”

“Helen Krause. She’s an ordained minister.”

“But we’d need our marriage license.”

“It’s in my wallet-where I’ve kept it, safe and sound, since we got it two weeks ago.”

Warmth spread through her. “So it looks like all systems are go.”

“Yes. Well, except for one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“The bride-to-be hasn’t yet accepted my proposal. Will you marry me today?” He gently kissed her lips.

The floodgates opened and happiness spilled through her. “Are you trying to get me to say yes?”

“Absolutely. Is it working?”

She smiled into his beautiful eyes. “Absolutely.”

* * *

At four o’clock that afternoon, Jessica looked up at the soaring Christmas tree in the lobby of the lodge. The surrounding area had been transformed into a beautiful, romantic chapel-like setting with swags of pine and holly and dozens of flickering white candles. The hint of vanilla and pine scented the air, and gentle violin music played in the background.

A warm nuzzle to the back of her neck had her sucking in a quick breath. A pleasurable tingle shimmied down her spine and with a smile she turned.

“Watch it there, mister,” she said with a mock frown. “My husband won’t take kindly to you kissing my neck.”

He handed her a glass of champagne then touched the rim of his glass to hers. “Your husband is the luckiest guy on earth.”

“His wife’s pretty lucky herself. Do you realize we’ve been married for almost two hours?”

“Happy anniversary.”

She laughed then heaved a contented sigh. “The ceremony was beautiful, wasn’t it?” Roland Krause had walked her down the short length of white carpet to Eric, who wore a dark suit, white dress shirt and red silk tie and greeted her with a dazzling smile. With Marc serving as best man and Kelley as maid of honor, and with her mother looking on, snapping dozens of pictures from the disposable cameras she’d purchased at the gift shop, Helen Krause performed the simple, lovely ceremony that joined her and Eric for life.

“Beautiful,” he agreed, drawing her close with his free arm. “As is my bride.” His warm gaze skimmed over her simple winter-white dress. She’d brought it along-as Eric had his suit-in case they went out somewhere nice to dinner during their weekend away, never dreaming it would serve as her wedding dress.

“You look pretty beautiful yourself,” she said. “Especially right here…” She kissed his lips, a gesture she’d meant to be quick and light, but he hauled her tighter against him and gave her a kiss that made her head spin.

“Wow,” she said after he lifted his head. “Whoever said the romance fizzles out after you get married obviously knew diddly-squat. And speaking of romance…” She gently nudged his ribs and nodded toward the lounge area where Kelley and Marc sat at a table in the corner, heads close together, talking and laughing. “Can you believe how happy they look? I’ve never seen Marc look at any woman like that.”

Eric nodded. “Good. That’s how Kelley deserves to be looked at.”

“I’m glad she took our decision to get married today in stride. Marc, too.”

“I basically had the same talk with them that you had with your mom. I know she was disappointed not to have a fancy wedding to plan, but in the end she just wants us to be happy.”

She smiled. “Mission accomplished.”

“Agreed. My only regret is that we didn’t do this four months ago.”

“Actually, looking back, I think those four months were good for us. My mom finally understands I’m no longer a child and you and I are stronger together for surviving The Family Feud.”

“Can’t argue with that. Of course, we might have a front-row seat to Family Feud, Round Two, courtesy of Kelley and Marc.” He shot a meaningful glance toward the corner of the lounge area.

Jessica nodded. “I think you’re right. I spoke to Marc earlier about Kelley. He told me he felt like he’d been struck by lightning the first time he saw her.”

“He’s a goner.” Eric touched his lips to hers in a slow, soft kiss. “I know exactly how he feels.”

“Good to know.” She chuckled. “Can you imagine Kelley and my mom clashing over that wedding? Fun times ahead there.”

“Right. If by ‘fun’ you mean ‘migraine-inducing.’ But hey-that’s their problem. They’ll have to figure it out just like we did.”

“Amen to that. Although, by the time any actual wedding planning rolls around, Mom might have other things to occupy her time. Have you noticed the way Steve the bartender has been looking at her? And the way she’s been looking back?”

“Oh, yeah. There’s definitely a mutual admiration happening.”

Jessica smiled into his eyes and saw all the love and passion she’d ever dreamed of looking right back at her. “Looks like we have a candidate for our ‘get Mom a man’ campaign.”

“Sure does. Between her and Steve and Kelley and Marc, I’d say our work here is done. And that being the case, how about we say our goodbyes and get our honeymoon started?” He leaned down and nuzzled the sensitive skin behind her ear.

With a pleasure-filled sigh, Jessica tilted her neck to afford him better access. His teeth lightly grazed her earlobe, eliciting a barrage of tingles. “Are you trying to get me to say yes?”

“Absolutely. Is it working?”

She gave a happy laugh. “Absolutely.”

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