Wedding in a Blueberry field

“I now pronounce you man and wife.” The crowd cheered as the now married couple embraced one another and kissed. Monica was tipped back by her new husband, flashes from cameras went off from the crowd and photographers. When the two pulled back from one another the pastor spoke up again. “I want to introduce you all for the first time Mr. Christopher Bryne and Mrs. Monica Bryne.”

Soon the wedding party went back down the aisle and all the guests were left to themselves for the cocktail hour. “You know, I only brought enough of these for myself, I did not expect to be sharing.” Amanda said, handing Derrick a tissue. He waved off the offered tissue and wiped his with the heel of his hands.

“No need, I’m not crying, it's the pollen from the cheer.” Amand elbowed him lightly in the side and gave him a half serious stern look. “Okay, okay. It isn’t juuuust my allergies. It might have something to do with seeing someone I care about and mentored for years find someone she wants to spend the rest of her life with. Even if he does have an odd hobby.”

“You think photography is a weird hobby?” Derrick looked around the area where the ceremony just took place. It had taken place under a 120 year old oak tree that was surrounded by a blueberry vineyard and behind each row of chairs when you came in was a display of antique cameras. “I said odd, not weird, but I admit to the lack of difference in this context. Photography is fine, but doing so with old cameras that can only take one picture at a time… well so long as it makes him happy.” He amended the end of his statement seeing his date look at him sterning with a raised eyebrow.

“I think they make a cute couple, she looked so beautiful in her wedding dress and I just loved how she had that green string to look like a vine on her updo to the hair pin with three small blue berries. It fit with the location…” Amanda looked out across one of the blueberry fields when she paused for half a heart beat. “Just perfectly. Though I do wish you told me this was an outdoor wedding.”

“This place is nice, if I recall Monica met him when she went blueberry picking, so I bet they appreciated the symmetry of it all.” Derrick looked up to the sky the sun wasn’t beating down on them with the decent cloud cover. “I didn’t think to mention it, it is such a nice day and you look absolutely beautiful out here in this light, well any light.” He took in the image of her smiling, he was so happy to have her with him and felt the edges of his lips curl up to match her smile. She had her blonde hair pulled back and coiled behind her head. Her makeup was subtle, her lips were just slightly pinker than their natural shade, but the gloss made them remain glistening and inviting to the point he kept wanting to give in to their invitation. She wore a powder blue mermaid style dress with pearl buttons going from her left shoulder down to almost the bottom of her dress that ended a little pleated at the center of her calves. On her feet were a pair of white four inch sling back pointed toe heels and she accessorized her outfit with a pair of pearl earrings, a pearl necklace tight to her throat that she double wrapped and a single gold bracelet on her left wrist.

“Flattery will get a little wiggle room, but outside means my thin heels sink in the grass. If I had known ahead of time I could have worn shoes with a thicker heel.”Amanda pivoted and kicked back one of her feet to show him.

Derrick blew out a breath of air looking down at her heeled foot. “Worse part is I already had that little bit of knowledge tucked away and hadn’t thought about it. Maybe I can just carry you around in my arms till the reception hall opens. Least I could do really.”

Stretching his arms to the side Derrick tilted his body so that he could pick Amanda up from under her knees and support her back he felt her slap him on the shoulder lightly. “Derrick Connors, do not dare to do that!” He stepped back and held his hands up in mock surrender.

The cocktail hour turned into more of a cocktail hour and forty minutes before people were let into the large barn that was well lit with lights made to look like old lanterns. The wooden pillars that helped support the structure were wrapped one way with strips of white cloth and then wrapped the other with ivey. Putting down her drink, a moscow mule, Amanda smiled, picking up the tiny potted plant that had leaves in the shape of hearts. A small chalkboard, the kind that once were handed out to school children, sat at the center of the table where the plants were placed around, on it was written Let Love Grow. “Aww, that is a perfect little gift for all the guests.”

Picking up the small plant at his seat Derrick smiled and snapped a photo of it, sending the image off to Candace and Bailey along with the chalk sign. “This is a good idea. You know I was a big influence on her life.”

Placing the plant down Amanda squinted her eyes at him and stepped closer, her hand lightly touching the knot of his tie and lipping it a little lower before grasping the tight lightly. “Mr. Connors, you are not trying to say you get credit for the wedding planning are you?” He gave a little shrug, his smiling not fading. “If you like something, I want to take credit for it.” He leaned forward to give her a kiss, but Amanda pulled back, but didn’t let go of his tie.

“You want it enough to take credit for someone else’s work?” She asked, raising an eyebrow at him. “Have I told you today how beautiful you are? “

The mock stern look turned into a smile as a small blush came into her cheeks. “Flatterer.” Amanda stepped in closer and pulled on his tie as she gave him one long lingering kiss, followed by two short ones before they took their seats. Sitting down waiting for the reception to start Derrick showed Amanda his phone, so she could see the responses from the girls after showing them the images of the ferns.

Candace: THEY ARE LITTLE HEARTS!!!!

Candace: I want them, bring them home!

Bailey: That is like a great idea! U can take both of their plants and like plant them around your front door.

Candace: OMG that is a great idea! That way we can show everyone we are letting their love grow!

Candace: Moving in together is totally a big step, but that is what I was thinking too Bailey!

Derrick: Are you girls sitting next to one another right now as you talk to each other in this group chat?

Bailey:...

Candace: We are just trying to include you Daddy!

“The two of them really do seem to take every chance they can to push us together.” Amanda said, looking down at Derrick’s phone screen. She picked up on a little of it before, but now that she had watched the videos on Bailey’s channel all of her actions had become much clearer. “If it wasn’t so cute I would tell them they don’t have to push so hard.” Derrick took Amanda’s hand in his own, giving it a light squeeze.

“So about all the dancing here tonight.” Amanda shook her head. “You will dance every time I want to go out on the floor, you promised.” Derrick tilted his head away from her and squinted one of his eyes. “Even after all the flattery?”

“Why Derrick Connors, are you saying that not only do you not want to spend time with me, but you are going to go back on your word?” He put one hand over his heart like he had been attacked. “You wound me, I was just making sure you still wanted to dance tonight. After I joined you in the shower this morning I thought you would have realized I don’t want you out of my sight.” The blush on her face deepened as she thought back to the shower. Movies always made sex in the shower seem a lot better than it was with the cold tile cold air when they weren’t under the water. It was still… her eyes dilated a little thinking of how his manhood swelled at her touch when she asked him if he needed help getting to those hard to reach places. She didn’t reply to him, her blush growing to much so she looked away and hid her face behind her drink, but never let go of his hand.

The reception drew on, the bridal party was introduced, speeches were made and dinner was served. It wasn’t something fancy or even something expected. Each table was called in turn to go stand in line to get what they wanted from a breakfast bar. The DJ had handed the microphone to the bride before the first group was brought up. “Hey everyone, the white dress and how I look oddly like the person you all came to see get married might have tipped you off, but I’m Monica Bryne. I wanted to first thank you all for coming out and sharing this perfect day with Chris and I, but I wanted to tell you a small story about dinner tonight, and it is short I promise. Back when we first started dating Chris could not accept having breakfast for dinner, it was a line in the sand. Well here is the thing, sometimes Monica wants pancakes or even cornbread pancakes for dinner. From that moment forward our entire relationship was a lie so that I could manipulate him into accepting that it is not only perfectly okay to have breakfast for dinner, but it is a fantastic option. In the end the joke was on me and I fell in love with my prey. I hope all of you enjoy the taste of my victory in convincing Chris and continue to help us celebrate not only falling in love, but deciding to spend the rest of our days together.”

The guests clapped and cheered, a few clanked glasses so the groom came over and gave his new bride a kiss. While the DJ started letting know what table was able to go get their food. Derrick turned to his companion after the brides speech. “Thoughts on breakfast?” She considered the question and eyed her now empty glass. “Waffles are superior to pancakes in every way.”

Derrick blew out some air as he leaned back and raised his eyebrows. “That is a big declaration, what about these cornbread pancakes she talks about?” While he leaned back she leaned forward, tapping one of her nails on the table. “You can put brownie mix in a waffle iron and make a brownie waffle.” Derrick opened his mouth to retort, but then closed it again and scratched his bearded chin. “Before I try to argue this further, how many more points do you have to back up this claim?”

“Nine” She replied quickly with a flat even voice. Pressing his lips together Derrick nodded slowly. “I was always on the side of waffles in the great waffle pancake war, I was just testing you to see where your loyalties were, but I do have to confess though.” Derrick leaned in close to Amanda who was already doing the same and whispered to her like it was a secret. “My daughter is a traitor and I just don’t know what to do with her.” Amanda leaned back in her chair away from Derrick and laughed.

“I know exactly how to handle this.” She placed her purse in her lap and then pulled out her cell phone to text Bailey.

Amanda: Hey pumpkin, I wanted to let you know we are having a lot of fun here.

Amanda: They are serving breakfast for dinner.

Bailey: Like at a wedding!?

Amanda: Monida, the bride thinks pancakes are better than waffles.

Bailey: Does the groom know?

Amanda: He does, but I did learn Derrick knows better.

Bailey: Of course he does

Amanda: I want you to know I love you pumpkin, and it makes me so happy you like Derrick.

Bailey: I love U 2 Mommy

Amanda: Listen, I have a challenge for you, if you can convince Candi waffles are better than pancakes I will taking you out dress shopping and out for a steak dinner when I get home.

Bailey: REALLY!?

Amanda: This is important to both myself and Derrick. Do you think you can do it for the both of us?

Bailey: She will like totally learn the truth!

“I don’t know, Candace can be stubborn and dig in.” Amanda put away her phone and looked over at another table as they got called over to line up for dinner. “Have you met my sister yet? She might be one of the most stubborn people on the planet and I once got her to root against her favorite baseball team. Do not doubt the power of a little sister.”

Derrick tilted his head slightly inferring that baseball was important to her sister and wondered how exactly one goes about doing that. “How did you convince her to cheer on the team playing against her favorite team?” Amanda gave him a devilish grin and he could have sworn he saw the light glisten off her blue eyes. “Simply, I lied. I told her more and more stories about the teams coach cheating on his wife and how the starting pitcher had multiple DUIs.”

“Next question, why did you do it?”

“We were at a superbowl party and this was before Bailey.” Derrick held up his hand to stop the story.”

“This was before your daughter or before your ex-boyfriend Bailey?” Amanda pressed her lips together, she was so comfortable with him that she had slipped up. “I do kind of feel sorry for the guy having the same name as your daughter.”

“Oh, you found out his name.” Amanda swallowed, today was going so well and now she felt like she was a breath away form everything falling apart.

“It has come up in conversation, not a big deal and I can easily see you are not a fan of talking about your past relationships. So you know, I don’t feel threatened by the idea of you being with other people before me and I don’t feel like you judge me based on your past relationships. If you ever want to talk about things I am happy to listen, but I will never push.” She gave him a smile and took a deep breath before continuing her story.

“Thank you, well.” Shook took another second to collect herself. “ A past boyfriend who was big on football asked me who I thought was going to win and when I chose Meg told me that if I do not know anything about a team, that I should not be cheering for them. That made me feel embarrassed, so I got a little ****.”

“Wow, a woman scorned. What would you do if someone actually hurt you?” Amanda narrowed her eyes at him and looked into his green eyes. She held the gaze for a moment, even as she slowly stood up as she heard their table number be called. “I would not want to say, words like premeditated could then be thrown around.” She was acting serious, but Derrick slapped his leg and smiled up at her for a few heartbeats before he stood up and kissed her. “If I constantly think about kissing you, does that count as premeditated?”

Giving him a quick kiss back she cocked her head to the side slightly. “Do you think a line like that is going to work?” The two started to follow the rest of their table to get food. “I think I was still able to kiss you after I said it.” Giving him a side glance Amanda paused for a second. “Fair.”

The evening was passing quickly with the cake cutting, and many more drinks. Amanda kept Derrick on the dance floor much more than she was sure he would have liked, but never once did he complain. Though after a short water break he did request for an elederly gentleman to save him. “Save me!” The older man patted Derrick on the shoulder. “Son, I could do that and take your place, but think how bad you would feel if I made her fall in love with me.” The comment earned the elderly man a smack from his wife’s purse. “You have a hard enough time getting people to like you let alone love you, ya big grouch.” While they danced Amanda watched the older couple talking animatedly and then glanced into Derrick’s green eyes, taking the time to appreciate the playful banter he enjoyed engaging her in.

“Penny for your thoughts.” Derrick asked seeing the far away look in her blue long eyelash-covered eyes. “Hmmm? Oh, umm. A penny? Seems like a low cost.” His smile showed just a hint of his teeth. “I do enjoy negotiations, do you think we need a lawyer to help with the terms, or do you think we can handle this our selves?”

“I thinking two things. One that I do not know the last time I could say I was so relaxed and happy.” The night seemed wonderful, so much of her life seemed to be going so well. Unexpected in many ways, but going well. She was enjoying the company of Derrick more and more and she hadn’t drinken this much in one sitting in a long time. “Two, I will just send you a bill instead of negotiations.”

Derrick was ready to ask Amanda if he could pay in kisses, when the DJ stopped the music and asked all the single ladies to gather up on one side of the dance floor and for everyone else to vacate the area. It was time for the bouquet toss. “Good luck.” Derrick said, giving her a kiss on the cheek before heading back to the table. He watched as a small number of ladies gathered together, some excited and ready others only standing there because they had to. Amanda seemed to be somewhere in the middle for her participation, though chose to linger closer to the back of the pack.

When the flowers, a small amount of white flowers, with a few red ones mixed in that were bound in a white cloth, went soaring through the air Monica had thrown it way too high in her enthusiasm causing them to hit one of the rafters near the top of the barn and come tumbling down. Landing on Amanda’s right shoulder, she reflexively reached up to grab them before they fell and looked at what she held in her hands. Surprise was written on her face, she hadn’t even had her hands up ready to catch anything, but there in her hands was the bridal bouquet.

The bridal party opted out of doing the garter toss and everyone started back to their seats, but Derrick met Amanda part way. She held up the flowers in one hand and gave him a sheepish smile. He didn’t say a word, just wrapped his arms around her, one pressing into her middle back as he press into her. He could feel her breasts pressing into his chest as he turned his head and kissed her. Not a quick kiss, or an aggressive one, he simply held her close and kissed the woman he knew he had fallen in love with as tenderly as he could. The world around Amanda felt like it grew silent, the only people in this moment in time was her and Derrick. A shifter ran up her spine and couldn’t help it as she bent one of her legs back and dropped the bouquet of flowers. Them being completely forgotten, along with the rest of the world as she melted into the embrace.