Beautiful Beginning(27)

anyone at that resort that she’d be asleep in the sand within the hour.

“Jesus Christ, is everyone on something because I want some of whatever it

is,” Will grumbled, reaching for George’s arm and looping it through his.

“And don’t try to lead,” he told George, before offering his other arm

to Mina.

“Now that that’s settled,” Kristin said with a sigh. “Let’s get

everyone lined up.” The wedding party fell into place and stood quietly,

paying attention. For once. “Okay, good. Chloe, you’re back here. Father

of the bride?”

Frederick took his spot next to Chloe and we moved through the ceremony.

Thank God all I had to do was walk my mother to her seat because really,

this all seemed very complicated and Chloe’s breasts looked amazing in

that

dress.

When my bride-to-be finally reached me at the altar, I took her hands and

we both turned toward the officiant, the increasingly senile older gent

with thinning gray hair, and dull blue eyes he had to narrow in order to

focus on the text.

Chloe was unusually quiet, nodding in all the appropriate places but not

offering anything more. A part of me was beginning to worry that this

amounted to more than just a case of pre-wedding nerves. I’d just made the

decision to take her aside as soon as we’d finished when the Honorable

James Marsters said, “And then I will pronounce you man and wife, and then

Bennett . . .”

I watched Chloe’s head snap up, her brows drawn together as if she had to

have misheard.

“What did you just say?” she asked, waiting intently, and for a moment I

thought, Yes, there’s the fire, there’s the woman Max was talking about

this morning.

And then I realized what the judge had actually said that got her riled up.

Oh no.

“Which part, young lady?” he asked, finger moving back over the worn

words in his book, attempting to track down a phrase he could have skipped

or mispronounced, something to have caused such a quick response.

“Did you say man and wife?” she clarified. “Man. And wife. As in, he

remains a man but I will now only be referred to as something that belongs

to him—no longer able to have my own identity and existing solely as

someone’s wife?”

I heard Max’s voice rise above the din of confused murmurs. “Does anyone

smell rain?”

James reached forward and patted Chloe’s arm above where I held her hands,

wearing a fatherly smile. “I understand, sweetheart . . .” he said,

turning his eyes to me for help. “Isn’t this the version of the ceremony

you requested, Bennett?”

Her head whipped to me, eyes blazing. “What?”

“Chloe,” I said, and tightened my grip on her hands. “I understand what

you’re saying and we’ll make the adjustment. They asked me if I had any

ceremony preferences and I only—”

She took a step back, shaking her head as if she couldn’t believe what she

was hearing. “You?!” she shouted in the world’s most enormous

overreaction, and I was actually a little impressed by how much anger and

contempt she was able to form into a single word. “You gave him that?

Those are the vows you chose?”

“I didn’t choose those lines specifically,” I said, horrified, albeit

admittedly a little turned on by the furious rise and fall of her chest. “

But that section was in the—”

“I don’t need you to explain anything to me. He’s reading from some

ancient text that promotes the bullshit idea of patriarchal ownership. A

version you picked out. I’ve been to church, Bennett. ‘Wives, submit

yourselves to your own husbands?’ Fuck. That. I didn’t put myself through

college, and grad school, and an internship all while putting up with your

condescending ass just so I could lose my identity and be known only as the

little wife. And another thing,” she said, taking a much-needed breath and

turning toward Kristin, who, could only stand there, frozen, lips parted in

concern as if she were worried moving could trigger more Chloe rage. “What

the f*ck kind of mom-and-pop cleaners drops off thousands of dollars’

worth of dresses and tuxedos looking like they just came out of some frat

boy’s duffel bag?”

Excitement, lust, and the thrill of anger blurred the edges of my vision.

“What the f*ck do you mean by my condescending ass? Maybe if you’d put as

much effort into your personality as you did into behaving like a raging

bitch all the time, I would have been a little more pleasant to be around!

”

“Ha! And by pleasant, do you mean bringing you your coffee and stupid

little chocolate Danishes and pretending not to notice the way you were

staring at my tits?”

“Maybe I wouldn’t have stared at your tits if they weren’t in my face