Chapter Fourteen
By Friday afternoon, Laura was confident that she had everything under control. She’d run through all the details. She had the dress hanging in her closet, along with Piper’s. The two of them would get ready here in the morning. Emma had already taken the cake over to Angel for safekeeping. Angel had all the catering covered. Her mom, Aunt Chris, and Missy had taken all the ribbons over to the lodge at Four Mile, and the florist would be delivering the flowers straight to the chapel in the morning. She nodded to herself and looked around the kitchen. It was all good. The only thing left to do was get ready and go and enjoy herself tonight. She hoped Smoke had a good time planned. She felt a little guilty not sharing this with him. She’d told him all about Lawrence and Clay, and she knew he’d enjoy meeting them. But no, this was her night. He, no doubt, had something just as good lined up.
Her cellphone rang, and she picked it up, automatically wondering what she’d forgotten. She smiled when she saw Smoke’s name on the display.
“Hey.”
“Hey, lady. I know you’re busy. I just wanted to hear your voice, since I won’t get to see you tonight.”
She smiled. “Next time I see you will be at the altar now. You’d better be there. No getting last-minute cold feet.”
He laughed. “That’s what I wanted to tell you, or at least to ask you.”
“Ask me what?”
“If you’re ready, if you’re sure. If you’re at all freaked out now the day is nearly here.”
“No. I’m not. Not in the least. If anything, I’m impatient. You’re not telling me you’re freaking out, are you?”
“Nope. Same as you. I want nothing more than to get to two o’clock tomorrow afternoon and finally make you my wife.”
“Good. You had me worried for a minute there.”
“No. This is one commitment I’m not afraid of. I want to get started on being your husband. I’ll no doubt screw it up here and there, but I’ll get better with practice. The sooner we get started, the better.”
“Aww. I love you, Smoke.”
“I love you more.”
She laughed. “I’m not getting into a competition with you over that. I’ve got to get ready, and I’m sure you do, too.”
“That’s okay. We can spend the rest of our lives in competition trying to prove who loves the other more.”
“I like the sound of that.”
“Yeah, me too. Well, I’d better go. The guys are waiting for me.”
“Have a great time. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Don’t be late.”
“I won’t. I love you.”
“Love you more, lady. You be good tonight.”
She laughed. “I will. You too.”
“You’ve got no worries.”
“I know. Now go.”
He laughed. “Okay. See ya.”
She smiled to herself once she’d hung up. She loved that man with all her heart. A knock at the door made her jump. Piper was here already? She went to let her in.
“Hey. Are you nearly ready?”
Laura looked down at herself then up at Piper. “Does it look like it?”
“No, it doesn’t. Are you planning to change when we get there?”
“I wasn’t. I’d better get moving, huh?”
“Yeah. I thought you wanted to get to the airport before everyone else. At this rate, we’ll be the last.”
~ ~ ~
Smoke hung up and smiled at Ben. “Is everyone ready?”
“Yeah. They’re all waiting to go. It’s a good thing you’ve got the two planes.”
“I know. I didn’t realize there would be this many of us.”
Ben grinned. “You’re a popular guy. Everyone wants to be there for you.”
“More like no one wants to miss out on a night in Vegas.”
“Well, there is that, too. You don’t seem too thrilled about it.”
Smoke shrugged. “It’ll be great. We’ll have fun, but part of me wishes we’d stuck to a quiet night at Giuseppe’s.”
“You’ll be fine once we get there. You’ll enjoy yourself.”
Smoke nodded. He wasn’t so sure about that. At one time, he’d have been all about a night out in Vegas, but that time had gone. That was before he’d met Laura. Now he was all about making her his wife. He was looking forward to tomorrow more than tonight.
Pete came striding over to join them. “What’s the hold up?”
“There isn’t one. I was just talking to Laura.”
Pete shook his head. “Well, now you need to put her out of your mind till tomorrow. Let’s get this show on the road, or in the air.”
“Okay.” Smoke went to find Jason. They’d already decided who was going in which plane; it was just a case of getting everyone organized and out onto the ramp, into the planes, and on their way.
~ ~ ~
Dan smiled at Michael as they took their seats. “Last time we were in Vegas, we were on our stag night.”
Michael chuckled. “Yeah. I think I might hold the record for longest time between stag night and wedding.”
“I’ve been wondering about that. Now that little Billy is here, are you two going to name a new date?”
“Soon. We’ve been talking about it, but I don’t want to rush her.”
Jack smiled over at them. “I’d hardly call it rushing now, Michael.”
Michael shrugged. “I know; we’ll get there. Anyway. Who else is meeting us when we get there?”
“I know Smoke’s dad and Cameron are,” said Dan. He could tell Michael would rather change the subject and wanted to help him along. He looked at Jack. “Anyone else?”
Jack shrugged. “I don’t think so. We’re all here. The pilots and the oldies are in with Jason. I think that’s everyone.”
“I think Chance is going to meet us there, too,” said Pete.
“Oh, I thought he was …” Dan bit his lip. He knew where the girls were going. He’d heard Missy talking to Chance about it all.
Jack grinned at him. “Do you know something we don’t?”
Dan shook his head vigorously. Missy would not be happy with him if he gave anything away. “Please don’t ask me.”
Pete laughed. “I bet we could get it out of you if we wanted to.”
Dan smiled. “I bet you could. That’s why I said, please don’t ask.”
Michael laughed. “Yeah, leave him alone guys. Missy will have his guts for garters if he lets anything slip.”
Pete patted Dan’s shoulder. “Okay. I wouldn’t wish that on you. You’re safe.”
Dan breathed a sigh of relief. “Thanks, guys.”
~ ~ ~
Missy looked around at everyone. They’d all gathered at her house before they went to the airport, wanting to let the guys get out of the way first.
Kenzie grinned at her. “This club isn’t going to know what’s hit it.”
Missy laughed. “I can’t wait.”
“Me neither,” said Laura’s mom, Marianne. Missy liked her a lot.
“You just can’t wait to see Clay McAdam,” said Chris.
Marianne’s cheeks tinged with pink, just like Laura’s did whenever she was embarrassed.
“I don’t know what you’re teasing her for,” said Missy with a laugh. “You can’t wait to see Seymour Davenport.”
It was Chris’s turn to look embarrassed. “I don’t know what you mean.”
Missy laughed. “Yes, you do!” She turned to Emma. “Can you believe that our mother-in-law is denying that she has a crush on Seymour?”
Emma sat down beside Chris and patted her arm. “Don’t embarrass her, Miss. You don’t know what it’s like to have a secret crush.”
“Neither do you!” said Holly. “You have a great big, in-your-face, no-one-could-miss-it-if-they-tried, crush on Chance.”
Emma shrugged. “Chance is wonderful, and besides, he’s happily married to the lovely Hope now.”
“And you’re happily married to my son,” said Chris with a laugh.
“I am.”
“Is Hope meeting us at the airport or at the club?” asked Renée.
“She’s going straight to the club,” said April. “I talked to her earlier.”
Missy smiled. She was pleased that April and Hope had become friends.
Laura came in from the patio. “Smoke’s mom and his sister, Chelsea, are meeting us at the airport. It didn’t make sense for them to come up here first.” Her phone rang, and she pulled it out of her purse and went back into the kitchen. She came back out a few minutes later. “That was Rochelle. The coast is clear. The guys just took off.”
“Let’s get going, then,” said Missy, and they all started filing out.
~ ~ ~
Smoke grinned when he saw his dad and Cameron waiting for them in the lobby of the general aviation building.
His dad waved when he spotted him. “Cole!”
Smoke went to him and was stunned when his dad wrapped him in a hug. “Thanks for inviting me along, son.”
“Thanks for coming. It means more than you know.”
“I think I do know, son. I feel the same way.”
Cam grinned at him over their dad’s shoulder as they hugged. He nodded, and Smoke felt as though the past was finally behind them.
His dad straightened up. “So, are you going to introduce me?”
“Sure. You know these three.” He turned to Jack, Pete and Nate.
“I do. It’s good to see you again.”
“You, too,” said Pete.
“And especially in these circumstances,” added Jack.
Smoke chuckled. He could always rely on Jack to speak the unspoken.
“I never thought I’d see the day.” His dad grasped his shoulder. “Let alone get to be a part of it.”
Cam smiled at Smoke. “Come on, neither of you deal well with sentimentality. Let’s get going, and we can introduce you to everyone else on the way.”
Smoke stared out of the window of the minibus they’d hired as they made the short drive to The Strip. His dad had wanted to rent a fleet of limos, but there were so many of them, it wouldn’t have made sense.
“What’s the plan?” asked Pete’s dad, Graham.
Smoke shrugged. “I’m just doing as I’m told. I plan to sit in a quiet corner and drink a few beers and wait till it’s time to go home again.”
His dad laughed. “But we’re not going back to the lake until tomorrow, are we? You can’t have a few beers, even quiet ones and then fly the plane.”
“I know. I know.” He made a face at Pete. “But if I’d had my own way, I’d be tucked up in my own bed tonight, instead of staying here.”
Pete grinned at him. “You’ll be fine.”
“Yeah,” said Jack. “Relax, Smokey. Enjoy yourself. You can bet my little, bitty cousin is having herself a great time.”
Smoke smiled through pursed lips. “Yeah, I have no doubt she will. Just don’t anyone tell her what a lame duck I’m being, okay?” He looked at Chance who’d been waiting by the minibus when they reached it. “You know exactly where she is, don’t you?”
Chance lifted a shoulder. “You know I do.”
“And you wouldn’t rather be there?”
Chance smirked. “You know the answer to that one, too, but I ain’t saying it.”
Smoke grinned. He liked Chance a lot. “Maybe I’ll ply you with drinks till you break and tell me.”
Dan laughed. He seemed to like that idea. “I don’t think we’d manage to get him to tell us that way, but maybe we could persuade him.”
Chance narrowed his eyes at Dan. “Don’t even try. Missy would kill us both.”
“Do you know where they are?” Jack asked Dan.
Dan shook his head, but Smoke could tell that he did.
Nate laughed. “Never mind all this talk about what the girls are doing. We sound like a bunch of sad sacks. We should be looking forward to our own fun.”
“Here, here,” said Smoke’s dad, making him and Cameron laugh.
“Let’s forget about them and get on with it,” said Gabe. “The objective is to give Smoke a good send-off as he goes into married life.”
Smoke smiled to himself. He hadn’t thought of his stag night as having an objective before, but that was the way Gabe rolled.
Jack winked at him, no doubt thinking the same thing.
The bus pulled up in front of the Bellagio and they all piled out. Smoke enjoyed it here. It should be a good night. He stood by the door of the bus as everyone climbed down.
Gramps, Joe and Frank came last. Gramps winked at him. “Thanks for bringing us, we had a fine old time last time we were here.”
Smoke grinned. “Thanks for coming. I’m glad you wanted to.”
Joe laughed. “You know we’re not going to be up for too much drinking and dancing. Not like you young ‘uns. We’ll come along, but you know where you’ll find us after the first hour, right?”
“I reckon, I won’t go too far wrong if I come and check the slot machines?”
Frank nodded. “I reckon you won’t.”
They all followed Dan to the concierge desk where he greeted his friend George. It tickled Smoke that quiet Dan was the one with the best contacts here and had helped make most of the arrangements.
George smiled at him. “Welcome, Mr. Hamilton. It’s good to see you again. Everything’s arranged. Your rooms are all ready if you want to head up, or your table is reserved and waiting if you’d rather go straight to Hyde.”
Smoke looked around.
“We’d better go dump our bags first,” said Pete. “We can meet back down here in fifteen.”
“Yes sir,” Smoke grinned at him. Pete just couldn’t stop himself from taking charge.
~ ~ ~
Laura looked at Piper when they landed at Santa Monica. “Are you sure you don’t want me to come back with you?”
“No! You go ahead with your mom and the girls. It sounds like your country friends will be waiting for you. If you come back with me you might not get to see them before they go on stage. I’m used to flying by myself. I’ll be back with the others before you know it, and besides. Your new mother and sister-in-law will be here to meet you.”
“I suppose. I wish Smoke had let us have another pilot.”
Piper laughed. “There’s no one else who could do it, and besides, you’re the one who insisted he and Jason should take the other two planes. You can’t bitch about it now, you didn’t want any of the guys knowing where we were.”
“I know. It’s just now that we’re here I wish he was here, too. I wish one of the guys had flown the rest of the girls here, and that maybe he’d tell Smoke where we are and he’d come and join us.”
Piper laughed. “You’re terrible. You’re the one who made such a big deal about keeping it all secret and about having a better party than him.”
Laura gave her a sheepish grin. “What can I say? My competitive streak got the better of me, but now we’re here, I just wish he was, too.”
Piper shook her head. “Too late. You need to herd all the girls to the cars and go and enjoy yourself. I’ll be back as soon as I can with the rest of them.”
“Okay. You’d better let us out of here then, and I’ll go find Madeleine and Chelsea and get the party started.”
Piper went through into the cabin and grinned at the girls back there. “Have fun ladies. I’m going back to the lake to get the others, I’ll see you in a little while.” She let the steps down and the girls filed down them.
Laura went last. “Thanks, Piper, you’re the best.”
“Just doing my job, ma’am,” she said with a smile. “I’ll be back before you know it.”
Once they were inside the general aviation building, Laura took her mom by the arm. “There’s Smoke’s mom, and his sister. Will you come say hi to them with me?”
Her mom nodded, but she looked nervous.
“I thought you liked her?” asked Laura.
“I do. She’s nice, but she’s not like us, is she? I always think she’s going to be judging me—and finding me lacking.”
“Aww, don’t Mom. There’s nothing lacking in you. You’re amazing.”
Tears pricked her mom’s eyes. “Thanks, sweetie, but you know what I mean. They’re not like us, are they?”
Laura nodded firmly, remembering her conversation with Carson back in Nashville and how she’d finally understood that she and Hope were no different. “They’re just like us, Mom. Granted they come from a different place, they had a different beginning in life than we did, but just look at us now. We’re flying around in a private jet, just like they are. We’re here in LA because we want a night out, and we’re meeting our friends, a couple of country music superstars.”
Two little pink stains appeared on her mom’s cheeks at that.
Laura laughed. “And don’t worry, I may have forgotten to get Clay’s autograph for you last week, but I’m going to do even better than that tonight. I’m going to introduce you.”
Her mom giggled like a school girl. “I still can’t believe it.”
“Well, it’ll be happening soon enough. But come say hi to Madeleine with me, and remember, she’s just like you. She’s not one to judge at all, and I’ll bet she’s nervous about being here with a bunch of women she doesn’t know.”
“Oh!”
Laura knew she’d said the right thing. Her mom immediately forgot about her own nervousness. Laura knew she’d want to make Madeleine feel at home with everyone. She was such a kind soul; her own fears didn’t matter a bit if she thought someone else might need her help.
“Hi Madeleine, Chelsea. I’m so glad you’re here. Thanks for coming. Chelsea, you haven’t met my mom yet.”
Chelsea smiled and held out her hand. She looked nervous herself. “It’s lovely to meet you, Mrs. Benson.”
Laura’s mom looked at her outstretched hand and then smiled and stepped in for a hug. “Please, call me Marianne? We’re going to be family after tomorrow.”
Chelsea relaxed and hugged her back. “Thanks, Marianne.”
Madeleine smiled at Laura. “Don’t worry, darling. We didn’t give anything away. The boys headed off for their night out without getting a thing out of us about where we’re going.”
Laura’s mom laughed. “We all managed to keep the secret, but I think Laura’s wishing someone had let it slip.”
Chelsea raised an eyebrow at her and Laura shrugged. “I haven’t seen him all week. I kind of wish we’d get one more night together before we’re married.”
Madeleine laughed. “If it’s any consolation, I heard Cameron on the phone with him, and it sounded like he was trying to gee him up, reassuring him that they’d have a good time and he needed to make the effort to go.”
Laura smiled. Maybe Smoke had been playing along with the competition, just like she had. Maybe he wished they were together tonight, too.
Chelsea smiled and linked her arm through Laura’s mom’s. “Well, it’s too late now. We’re here, they’re not, and we’re going to have a great time, right, Marianne?”
“We are. I think we should get going. I’m excited to see a certain country singer in action.”
Laura smiled to herself as she followed them. It’d be a good night. She and Smoke would have all of next week to do whatever they wanted. She blew out a big sigh when she realized that they’d still have to figure out what they did want. They’d talked about the honeymoon, but they still hadn’t decided anything!
“Is everything all right?” asked Madeleine.
“Yes, I just remembered a detail I haven’t taken care of.”
“Anything I can help with?”
“No, it’s fine thanks.”
Madeleine met her gaze. “Are you sure? You look quite stricken.”
Laura laughed. “I just feel foolish. With everything else that’s going on, Cole and I have been looking forward to next week, and I just realized that we haven’t actually arranged anything.”
Madeleine chuckled. “Well, you have your pick of the company properties, and he can get you wherever you want to go. I wouldn’t worry too much.”
Missy came hurrying over to them. “The bus is outside. Are we ready?”
“Yes, let’s go.”