Chapter Twenty-Six
Our last week in Las Vegas went quickly with the new director. I finished filming my scenes before the end of the week and decided to leave. I was exhausted from doing back to back movies and I wanted to go home.
The first evening back in Los Angeles, I sat at my backyard patio table after a swim in the crystal blue pool. The sun had dipped behind the trees but was still bright enough not to need lights. I looked out over the water and enjoyed the California breeze. It was a serene sight, but all I could think about was Billy.
“Wow,” Billy announced as he came through the backdoor of the house and on to the patio. “That is one sexy bikini. I like it.”
I looked down at my black and pink two-piece that had open slits at the hips and smiled.
“What are you doing here?” I asked as he leaned down and kissed me. “When did you get back?”
“Just now.” He sat next to me at the table, leaned back in the chair and put his foot up on the table leg. “I couldn’t stay in Vegas any longer without you.”
“Sorry, I had to get out of there.” I took a sip of the iced tea in front of me. “Too much time spent with the Micheletti brothers, you know what I mean?”
“Totally.” Billy smiled and took a swig out of my drinking glass.
“We missed Cal, Elena, and Antonio’s funerals. They happened quickly this past week while we were still in Vegas.”
“You wouldn’t have gone, would you?” Billy asked.
“We would have had to go if we were here, it would’ve looked bad,” I answered with a sly smile.
“Shut up, you wouldn’t have gone,” Billy laughed, he knew me only too well. “Have you thought of who you want for a new studio head?”
“No,” I answered, thoughtfully looking back over the pool. “We haven’t had much luck with the last two.”
“True, but we need a name sooner than later to give to the Board of Directors.”
“Who would you want?” I asked, still looking over the water.
Billy was silent and didn’t respond.
“Billy?” I turned to him.
“I don’t know,” he answered, staring at my bikini top. “I can’t think straight while you’re wearing that.”
“Really?” I teased. “I would take it off, but we have to come up with a plan for this studio head problem right now.” All I wanted to do was be with him but we really did need to hash out who to choose.
“No.” Billy stood up and began to take his clothes off. “I think we should go for a swim.”
A naked Billy jumped into the pool, “God, this water is nice.”
“Billy.” I moved to the side of the pool. “Come on, we need to figure this out.”
“I think better in the water.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me into the pool with a huge, inelegant splash.
I stood up and pushed water out of my face and slicked back my hair.
“That wasn’t nice,” I laughed, and pushed water at him.
“No, but it was fun.” He put his arm around my waist, pulled me into him, and pinned me against the side of the pool. “You know what else would be fun?”
He began kissing me, slowly at first, then deeper.
“Billy,” I moaned as he moved to my neck and used his tongue to outline my earlobe before pulling it into his mouth. “My bathing suit is still on.”
“Don’t worry about that,” he breathed into my ear, moving my hands away from where I was about to pull off my bottoms. “There’s ways around that.”
He slipped his hand between my legs and pulled my bikini bottom to the side, exposing me to the cool water. I wrapped my thighs around his waist and melted into him. We kissed passionately as he pressed me harder into the pool wall.
“Oh, my God,” Leah shrieked as she came through the patio door into the back-yard. Billy quickly pulled away from me and covered his man bits.
I adjusted my bathing suit bottom and turned around to face Leah.
“I really need to do something about the security around here,” I complained.
“I’m so glad you’re finally home.” She bent down to the pool and hugged me while I stood in the water.
It suddenly hit me that I hadn’t told her that Billy and I were together.
“Leah, I forgot to tell you something,” I began.
“Billy? Why are you naked?” Leah cut off my explanation. With the sky darkening and barely any lights on, she mustn’t have seen what Billy and I had been doing.
“Good to see you again, Leah,” Billy answered. “I’d hug you, but I need both hands right now.”
“Billy,” I chastised, rounding on him and smacking him on the shoulder. He shrugged in response.
“Tell me again, why are you naked?” she asked him, suspiciously.
“Uh, well,” he stumbled. “Elizabeth, did you want to explain?”
“We are together.” I simplified the situation.
“You two?” Leah stammered. “Together?”
“Yes,” I slowly answered, worried about what her reaction was going to be. She was my closest girlfriend and I wanted her approval.
“It’s about time you two realized you belonged together.” She burst out and pulled me into a hug again, even though I was still standing in the pool.
I was relieved she had accepted our relationship.
“I’d give you a hug too, Billy,” Leah said as she stood up beside the pool. “But, you know.”
“No problem.” Billy seemed bashful in front of her. “Actually, if you don’t mind, I’d like to get out and put a towel on.”
“Oh, of course,” Leah answered, and closed her eyes.
Billy pulled himself up and out of the pool, crossed the patio, and wrapped a towel that was hanging on the back of my chair around his waist.
I looked at Leah and she had one eye open watching Billy.
“Congratulations,” she whispered to me as I climbed out of the pool. “Very nice.”
I laughed at her truthful reaction.
Leah and I joined Billy as he sat at the patio table and took a drink of my iced tea.
“The real reason I came over was to talk about what to do with the wedding plans.” Leah became serious. “We need to get back the money you’ve already put down on everything and cancel stuff.”
“What money?” I interjected.
“The money you paid for the retainers of the wedding planner, florist, caterer, the venue—”
“Hold on a second,” I blurted out, interrupting her. “I paid for all of that? What did Cal pay for?”
“He said for you to pay for it and he would pay you back.” Leah explained.
Billy barked with laughter.
“Are you kidding me?” I practically shouted. “How much have I spent so far?”
“Well, there was sixty thousand for the venue…” Leah began listing items on her fingers. “Twenty thousand for the wedding planner, ten thousand for the caterer—”
“Stop.” I cut her off. “You’re pulling my leg on these prices, right?”
Leah didn’t respond.
“Please tell me you’re joking,” I pleaded.
“Sorry, Elizabeth, I thought you wouldn’t mind spending that kind of money on your wedding.”
A grunt was all I could muster for a response.
“The problem is,” Leah hesitated to continue, “is that when you cancel you only get half of your money back.”
“Half?” I shouted.
“I’m sorry,” Leah guiltily answered.
“When did you plan the wedding for?” Billy asked. “What date?”
“That was part of the problem,” Leah quickly explained. “Because they hadn’t set a date everything was contingent on what it could be. June weddings are more expensive so they charge the June rates until an actual day is set.”
“How cheap is January?” I sarcastically asked.
“It’s definitely cheaper than the summer months,” Leah answered back.
“Okay, well obviously, I’m going to have to take a hit on this one,” I said to Leah. “Go ahead and start cancelling.”
“Hang on.” Billy seemed thoughtful when he spoke. “What if we chose a date and got married?”
“Us?” I asked, astonished. “You must be joking, we just officially started dating.”
“Yes.” He leaned towards me and took my hand in his. “But we’ve been the best of friends forever, it’s not like we don’t know each other.”
“Yes, but—”
“But what?” Billy excitedly continued. “I am completely in love with you, I always have been, and I know you love me.”
Leah’s hands flew to her mouth in surprise.
“You’re serious?” I asked him. “You’re proposing to me, while you’re in a towel and not on one knee,” I teased.
Without missing a beat, Billy slipped off his chair on to one knee with my hand in both of his.
“Elizabeth, will you marry me? Even though I’m currently only wearing a towel.”
Our eyes met. He looked incredible, especially in his current attire. I thought inwardly about all the things I loved about him. I adored how sweet, strong, and protective he was. How he knew all my secrets but didn’t care or hold them against me.
“Yes,” I answered enthusiastically, without any hesitation. “I would love to marry you.”
I slipped off my chair to my knees and joined him on the patio. I put my hands on either side of his face as we kissed.
“I love you,” he said, leaning his forehead against mine.
“I love you back.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Billy and I were both still on our knees, leaning our foreheads on each other, when Leah ran around the table.
“I’m so happy I was here to see this,” she declared, throwing her arms around both of us. “Now we can continue the wedding plans.”
My knees began to hurt against the patio stones. I extracted myself from her grasp and sat back on the chair.
“I think this calls for some champagne,” Billy announced as he stood up and Leah went back around the table to her seat.
“I don’t have any champagne,” I answered. “I don’t drink, remember?”
“Right,” Billy remarked, devilishly smiling. “Except when you want to punch super models.”
I glared at him in response.
“I’ll go get us some celebratory iced tea then.” He said as he went into the house.
“I can honestly say, Elizabeth,” Leah began. “I never saw this coming. I only came here tonight to give you the bad news about the cancelation fees.”
“I’ll be honest with you,” I answered. “I didn’t see that coming either.” Not for a while anyway.
“Well then.” Leah quickly changed gears back into her wedding planning persona. “Where do you want to get married to Billy? We have the venue reserved but they are fully booked for two years.”
“I don’t know,” I thought out loud. “I’d love my parents to be there, but they still can’t step foot on U.S. soil.”
“Why not?” Leah quizzed.
Billy had joined us at the table, placing three drinks down. He gave me a panicked look.
“It’s not that they can’t,” Billy lied. “Her mother is terrified of flying, so they will not travel.”
Leah stared at Billy, then turned to me, ignoring his comment. “I thought the statute of limitations was up and they could come back any time now.”
“No, unfortunately, there is no statute of limitations on the crimes my father is charged with. He cannot come back to the United States or he will be arrested on the spot.”
“What are you doing?” Billy asked, almost in a panic.
“Billy,” I answered. “She knows.”
“She does?” he asked, taken aback.
“Yes,” Leah responded sarcastically. “She does.”
“How do you know?” he interrogated.
“When Elizabeth first came to Los Angeles, she lived on my couch for a few months until her father could safely send her money,” Leah began to explain.
“I didn’t know that.” Billy turned to me for ratification.
“It’s true,” I confirmed. “I was nineteen and my parents had left for the Maldives very quickly. The FBI had seized our house, and all bank accounts which left me with nowhere to go.”
“Why didn’t you stay with one of your brothers?” Billy asked.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” I answered. “None of them wanted their little sister slowing them down back then as they competed to take over my father’s businesses.”
“How have I not heard this story before?” Billy asked, sounding irritated.
“I don’t like talking about that time,” I answered. “It was terrifying to wake up one day to FBI agents and cops ripping through your home looking for your parents, searching through all your things. My parents had left in the middle of the night without telling me that they were going or what was about to happen.”
“Holy shit,” Billy blew up. “No wonder cops make you nervous.”
“That’s exactly why,” I agreed. “Anyway, I always wanted to be a movie star and I knew Leah had moved to Los Angeles after we had graduated high school. I contacted her, told her what had happened, and she sent me a plane ticket.”
“You went to high school together?” Billy asked.
“Yes, we met in boarding school in New England. We were roommates for four years,” I answered. “She knew who my family was and I knew I could trust her.”
“Elizabeth stayed with me for a few months,” Leah continued the story. “We changed her last name and I got her a couple of acting gigs. I had done a few television shows and I knew people, but then her stardom took off.”
“That’s when you came into my life,” I said to Billy. “When I did my first movie with you.”
“You guys were roommates in boarding school?” Billy smiled. “With uniforms?”
“Really?” I shot at him. “That’s all you got from that?”
“I pretty much started fantasizing about all the things you guys must have done and I heard nothing else you said, but I get the gist of it. You trust her.”
“Oh, my God.” I laughed and punched him in the arm.
“Okay.” Leah swung the subject back to the wedding plans. “Do you want to go to the islands and get married there with your parent’s present?”
“Leah, darling,” I calmly said. “We just got engaged. Can we enjoy that for a moment, please.”
“No,” Leah argued. “We need to choose a location and a date before you lose a lot more money.”
“How about,” Billy cut in, “a small ceremony with a few friends and family at my house in Palm Springs next weekend? Then we can go visit your parents afterwards.”
“Ohhh,” Leah thrummed. “That sounds beautiful.”
“It really does.” I gazed at Billy. “How did you come up with that idea so fast?”
Billy locked eyes with me and hesitated before he spoke. “I’ve envisioned that scene since the day I met you.”
“Aww,” Leah purred.
I leaned forward and kissed Billy.
“Plus,” he teased, after we unlocked our lips, “you’ve already paid for everything so I’ll contribute by offering my house.”
Leah giggled.
“That’s very nice of you,” I laughed. “Mr. Cheapskate.”
“Next weekend,” Leah remarked. “You’re sure that isn’t too soon?”
“No, why would it be?” Billy answered her. “We plan on getting married. Why wait? No one knows we are even together so the press will leave us alone. It’ll be private and peaceful.”
“Good point,” I agreed with him. “Can we get everything ready that fast?” I asked Leah.
“Money can get anything ready that fast. You may be spending more, but we can do it. We just need to get to work fast. We need a dress, bride’s maids, groomsmen, tuxedos. We already have the black, white, and red theme.” Leah continued to ramble on with the things we needed.
Billy and I gave each other a knowing look.
“Leah,” Billy interrupted her.
“What?” she asked, sounding irritated that he had stopped her mid-list.
“You have to change the red to purple,” Billy said, smiling at me.
“Exactly,” I agreed.
“You guys and your purple. Ugh.”
***
The following weekend, I looked out of the master bedroom windows at the flurry of activity happening in the backyard of Billy’s Palm Springs home.
There were easily a hundred people running around setting up chairs, flowers and an archway, where the wedding was to be held. On the other side of the pool near the tennis court, several tables were being arranged and set up for the catered dinner that would take place after the ceremony.
The sun was blazing in a beautiful, cloudless blue sky. On the surface, it seemed to be a fairy tale wedding, but Micheletti security was in full force. A subtle but necessary cost of being part of an influential crime family.
“Elizabeth.” Leah motioned for me across the room. “We need you to focus here.” She was in full wedding planning mode. We had a wedding planner, but since Leah had been like the sister I never had, she took full control of everything inside the house and had sent the wedding planner to deal with details outside.
I pulled myself away from the window and crossed the room to where Leah was working on a ribbon that went around the waist of my hanging wedding dress.
“What else needs to be done?” I asked as I joined her.
“Let’s see.” She began listing items off her fingers. “We’ve done hair, makeup, manicures and pedicures.” She stared at the ceiling for a moment, obviously thinking of more items to list. “We’ve got something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue.”
“We do?” I asked, I hadn’t been a part of that; she had taken care of all those details.
“Yes, Elizabeth, work with me here please.” She was wound pretty tight with nerves. I started to think she was more nervous than I was. In fact, as I thought about it, I wasn’t nervous at all. I just wanted to marry Billy and start our life together.
“We have,” Leah continued, “something old and borrowed is your late grandfather’s wedding ring Sonny lent to you, the one hanging on your necklace. Something new is the diamond bracelet that Benny gave you, and last but not least, something blue is the blue diamond earrings Tony gave you.”
“They gave me these things?” I smiled. “When?” I asked, touching each piece of jewelry. I had no idea.
“Yes.” Leah sounded exasperated with me. “They dropped them off when you were getting your hair and makeup done.”
“That was nice of them. You told me to put them on but didn’t say anything else or who they were from.” My brothers were a pain, but I loved them.
Leah rolled her eyes.
There was a knock on the bedroom door.
“So help me God if that is the wedding planner trying to interfere in here again.” Leah angrily stomped to the door and ripped it open. “What do you want?”
“Woah, Leah,” Benny said as he walked through the door. “You need to rein that in. You’re too stressed out over this.”
“I know.” Leah let her guard down momentarily. “I just want everything to be perfect.”
“It will be, don’t worry,” Benny gently told her.
“What’s up, Benny?” I asked from beside the hanging wedding dress.
“Oh shit,” Benny exclaimed as he stood next to me looking at the dress. “That’s what you’re wearing? It’s beautiful.”
“Thank you.” I gazed at my wedding dress. I was absolutely in love with it. When Leah and I had gone dress shopping I had seen it and immediately fell in love. It was an A-line white dress with spaghetti straps, a long flowing white silk skirt that touched the ground and a sweetheart neckline that showed some cleavage, but not too much. A purple ribbon around the waistline added a touch of color to the white.
“What’s up?” I again asked Benny.
“We want to know which one of us is going to walk you down the aisle,” Benny began. “Sonny thinks it should be him because he’s the oldest. I think it should be me because I’m your favorite.” Benny winked at me. “Tony feels it should be him because—well, I don’t know his reasoning actually. Tony really doesn’t say much, does he?”
I laughed. “Tony doesn’t say much because he usually can’t get a word in edgewise with you guys. Plus, Sonny treats him like the hired help.”
“True,” Benny agreed. “So, I’m your choice then?”
“What if I just walk down the aisle by myself? Then no one is hurt.”
“No,” Leah protested. “Since your father cannot be here, tradition states that one of your brothers do it.”
“Exactly.” Benny nodded his head. “And I believe it should be me.”
There was a knock on the door. “Elizabeth, it’s Sonny, I need to talk to you.”
Leah opened the door. As soon as Sonny walked in and saw Benny had arrived before him, they began arguing about who was going to walk me down the aisle.
“Enough,” I shouted over their voices. “This is my wedding day and I don’t want to listen to your bickering. I’m walking down the aisle alone.”
Both men began to protest.
“Time for you guys to go.” Leah pinched each of them by the ear, led them out of the room, and closed the door. “Oh, my God, my stress level cannot take them today. Are you really going to walk down the aisle alone?”
“Yes.” I made up my mind. My parents couldn’t be there and I didn’t want anyone to be upset.
An hour later, guests began to arrive. There were only a hundred and fifty people invited and they were told they were coming to a fundraiser for one of Billy’s charities. As I watched them arrive from the bedroom window, I could see the shock and surprise on their faces when they were informed about the wedding.
“Time to go.” The wedding planner popped her head into the bedroom at exactly two o’clock.
“Okay, don’t be nervous,” Leah said to me.
“I’m not.” I was eerily calm. My heart and soul knew this was meant to be.
The wedding planner, Leah, and I went into the living room where Leah would proceed out the patio doors and down the aisle first. I would then follow and meet a waiting Billy at the arch.
As I began my walk down the aisle, I smiled at the few guests in attendance, but then I focused straight ahead at the makeshift altar. There he was my partner in crime—literally. Billy was standing next to the minister, looking incredibly handsome in a black tuxedo with a purple vest underneath that matched the ribbon on my dress. Next to him were Sonny, Benny, and Tony all dressed in tuxedos with purple carnations on their lapels. My eyes locked with Billy and we remained that way until I joined him.
“You look incredible,” Billy said as he took my hand. “Just like a princess.”
“Very funny,” I sarcastically answered, and squeezed his hand. I still hated being called that.
“I love you,” Billy whispered in my ear as the minister began the ceremony.
“I love you back.”
The End
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Angela Scavone is the author of two novels, Love by the book and A Journey Home. As well as a contributing author to the Christmas anthology, ‘A Soulmate for Christmas’. She lives in Ontario, Canada sharing her home with her father and much-loved pups. Apart from her avid love of story telling, she likes to read, spend time with family and friends and concoct dairy free recipes from scratch. Sometimes she wins and sometimes she loses – tofu, banana and peanut butter pudding we are looking at you.
www.angelascavone.com