‘Tell me what would please you?’ he urged, purring his own wicked pleasure in the double-edged question. ‘How do you envisage our wedding day…and night?’
‘Private…beautiful…’
The lilt in her voice started off her siren song again. The need—the desire—to have sex with this woman was totally obsessive. ‘You want private, you’d better shut the French doors in front of you, Tess,’ he said gruffly, dropping one hand down to unclip the waistband of her jeans. ‘As for beautiful, you’ll make our wedding beautiful regardless of where we are and what ceremony you choose.’
‘There’s a place up in far north Queensland…’
‘Fine! Book it!’ Stud undone, zipper undone, heat uncontainable. ‘Shut the doors, Tess!’
One month later Nick was looking at another set of closed doors, waiting for his bride to appear. He’d respected Tess’s wish for a completely private wedding—not a whisper to the media about where or when—but she’d certainly stunned him with her choice of place.
He’d felt it wrong that she’d shunned the traditional fairy-tale wedding which should have been detailed with every last scrap of high society trimmings. In a way, it seemed she was cheated out of it by family that had taken a lot from both of them and should be made to go through a few days’ pain for Tess’s sake, acknowledging her right to be a princess bride.
Yet the moment he’d seen this chapel, Nick had understood that Tess did not feel short-changed by the wedding she had arranged. This was the ultimate in romantic fantasy and to Nick’s mind, uniquely suited to her.
It was a beautiful little chapel, built in the grounds of a Great Barrier Reef Resort located near Cairns in far north Queensland. Three sides of it were virtually walls of glass; the end wall looking directly out on a white sand beach and a clear turquoise sea, the side walls giving a view of green lawns, palm trees and tropical gardens. Only the wall housing the arched entrance doors was solid, blocking out the sight of other buildings, ensuring that those inside the chapel had this glorious, pristine piece of the world to themselves.
There was no strip of red carpet bisecting the four rows of white pews. Unbelievably the aisle was the glass surface of an underground aquarium, artistically lit to highlight the fantastic shapes and colours of living coral with a horde of tiny tropical fish darting in and out of it. The effect was amazing, giving one the feeling of walking on the sea.
A professional wedding celebrant—a guy in his early fifties with a benevolent, fatherly look about him—stood with Nick, awaiting the bride. To their left were two women in sparkling aqua green dresses—one a pianist seated at a white baby grand piano, the other a singer standing beside her. To the right was a white table, holding a magnificent arrangement of flowers to one side and the official papers to be signed with individual gold pens on the other.
A bell was rung from somewhere outside, obviously the signal to start proceedings. Nick had been burning with impatience for this moment, wanting the waiting over. It had been a long month, carrying the acute sense of having to prove himself worthy of Tess’s consideration as a husband for her, as well as a father for Zack. He wanted the chapel doors to open now, wanted the ceremony over and done with, the marriage certificate signed, sealed and delivered.
The pianist began playing the opening chords to Schubert’s Ave Maria and as the chapel doors were finally opened, the singer gave full vibrant voice to the traditional hymn, heralding in the bride.
Ave, indeed, Nick thought, feeling completely blown away at the sight of Tess, magnificently gowned in white lace beaded with shimmering threads of tiny crystals. A frothy veil attached to a sparkling tiara adorned her glorious hair which shone with the golden-red fire of the sun, making her look like a goddess of the sea as she walked slowly down the amazing aisle towards him.
A goddess…bringing the gift of life to him…not carrying a bouquet of flowers, but the child they had created together, the living symbol of their union and the pivotal hope for a different life for him and with him…Zack!
And Nick realised in that moment how absolutely right this wedding was—just the three of them, an intimate entwinement of lives that were about to be legally joined. The only other people here were professionals performing a service run by a highly professional wedding company—outsiders who came cleanly into this hour that belonged solely to Tess and him and Zack, then went cleanly out of it, having contributed what was needed and wanted.
It was strange how deeply moved he was by this personal and private choice. His heart seemed to turn over as Tess reached him and offered Zack to him to hold while the marriage ceremony took place. Her lovely blue eyes seemed to be transmitting an intensely vulnerable hope that this bonding would prove good and true.
The words, ‘Trust me,’ spilled straight from Nick’s mind and off his tongue as he took their son in his arms. It won a wobbly smile from Tess, a sheen of emotional tears making huge blue pools of her eyes. Nick wasn’t sure this meant she accepted his word or only wished she could believe in it.
Zack had no doubts, giving a happy, confident gurgle at the exchange of parental control. He’d learnt to trust his father over the past month and Nick privately swore he’d never knowingly let his son down on anything important to him. Trust between adults was a far more complex equation and he hoped Tess accepted that he took today’s formal commitment to each other very seriously.
It wasn’t a paper marriage to him.
He might have thought of it like that before he’d known about Zack, but this baby in his arms made a world of difference, and Tess, having given birth to his son, took a far more special place in his life, as well. Because of this, instead of throwing up a cynical shield to the words being spoken by the marriage celebrant, Nick found himself listening to them, appreciating the truths behind them.
‘This union then is most serious, because it will bind you together for life in a relationship so close and intimate, it will profoundly influence your whole future. That future with its hopes and disappointments, its successes and its failures, its pleasures and its pains, its joys and its sorrows, is hidden from your eyes. You know these elements are mingled in every life and are to be expected in your own…’
Except once married couples hit the bad side of the scales these days, most people didn’t go the distance. It took real commitment to stick in there and work things through. The determination to do it welled up in Nick. No way was his child going to be a victim of divorce!