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The hostess greeted us and showed us
to our table. As we walked towards the dance floor, we had to take
a few steps down to get to the main floor. Against the far wall
directly across from the entrance was a stage with red curtains and
gold tassels holding the sides of the curtains open. It was
something that you would see in an old theater. There was a swing
band playing, and people were dancing on the dance floor right in
front of the stage. Along the dance floor were small round tables.
Further back against the walls were round circular booths. The
hostess showed us to one of the booths in the far right-hand
corner. We had a perfect view of the stage and the musicians. The
music was at the perfect volume, so we could actually talk and not
have to shout over the music.

Once we were seated, the hostess said
our waitress, Lisa, would be right over to take our drink order
shortly. Lisa arrived at our table and Nicole ordered everyone a
round of apple martinis to start the night off. I was feeling antsy
and was wishing I hadn’t let Nicole talk me into this silly
bachelorette party. After our drinks arrived, I quickly became the
center of attention and everyone began firing questions at me. What
did my dress look like? Was I nervous? When were we moving to
Hawaii? My head began to spin from all the questions. I gulped down
my martini and flagged Lisa down for another.

Just as she brought my second drink
the hostess who had seated us made her way to the stage. “Good
evening, everyone. I personally would like to welcome you to
Swingers. I have a couple of announcements to make this evening. We
have a few special occasions being celebrated,” she said smiling
casting her eyes in our direction.

I immediately began to
blush and panic rushed through my body.
Oh, Christ,
what the hell did Nicole
do? She better not make me get up on the stage and there better not
be a stripper behind that curtain.
I took
my martini and sucked it down. I was definitely going to need
another one if there was a stripper back there.

“We have a Bachelorette Party here this
evening,” the hostess announced extending her arm over to our
table. The girls went wild hooting and hollering. “Wow! These
ladies are wild,” she laughed into the microphone. “And for our
Bachelorette Party, we have a very special performance. We also
have a few birthdays here this evening. We have Tania, Catherine,
and Yvonne all here celebrating their birthdays with us. And we
have one couple here celebrating their anniversary, Sue and Murray.
Everyone please give them a round of applause and we thank you for
celebrating with us here at Swingers.”

The hostess turned back to our table.
“We have a very special performance here tonight for our
bride-to-be, Leila.” The lights went down and a single spotlight
was on the stage. I was up and out of my seat in a flash. There was
no way in hell I was going to let some stripper grind on me. I was
annoyed at Nicole for bringing me and hiring a stripper. How could
she do this to me? I told her under no circumstances was she to get
a stripper. I ran up the stairs frantically looking for the nearest
exit. As I came to the door and pushed it open I heard the strum of
a guitar. The first few chords of a song, I knew very well. I
stopped dead in my tracks, and my head flung around.

Sitting on a stool,
strumming his guitar was Garrett. He was
singing
my
song.
I quickly glanced in Nicole’s
direction and by the expression on her face, I knew she was behind
this.

I couldn’t move. I was frozen. I
jumped as I felt a hand come around my waist. It was my mom. “Come
on, Sweetie. Come sit back down.” Still in complete shock, my eyes
didn’t leave Garrett. I felt a stupid grin growing across my face.
I was totally and completely in love with this man.

By the time I was back in my seat,
tears of happiness were rolling down my cheeks. As I looked around
at my table, everyone else was crying too. Actually, there wasn’t a
dry eye in the place. Garrett was still strumming his guitar and
singing, but now he was off his stool and he was making his way
over to me.

He knelt down in front of
me leaning his guitar again the booth. He took my hands.
“
Darlin’ won't you ease my worried
mind,”
he whispered.

He put my hands on his face. “What are
you doing here? You weren’t supposed to be back until tomorrow,” I
cried happily.

“
Nicole and I have been
planning this for a little while,” he said glancing in her
direction. “She knew you weren’t comfortable having this crazy
Bachelorette Party, so she came up with this idea.”

I shot Nicole a look from across the
table. She raised her martini glass in the air. “To you,” she said
with a huge Cheshire grin on her face.

“I love you, Babe,” he said, kissing
my hand. “I can't wait to marry you.”

Chapter 22

As the big day arrived, I stood in
front of the mirror putting the final touches of my make-up on.
Nicole stood behind me. “You look beautiful.” I had my dress on and
my hair was pulled up on the sides and flowing down in the
back.

My mom wasn’t thrilled about the idea
at first. She did confide in me that after I had told her
everything that had happened, she reached out to Garrett and
apologized for her behavior on Thanksgiving. She made Garrett
promise he wouldn’t tell me, she wanted to be the one. I was so
grateful and relieved to hear her say this. The last thing I wanted
to deal with was a husband and mother who hated each other. I had
seen that television show about in-laws and spouses hating one
another, and it made me sick to my stomach thinking about it. My
mother and I were all we had. If we couldn’t share holidays
together, it would have been very difficult for both of
us.

I heard a knock at the door and my mom
poked her head in. “Come on, it’s time to go. You don’t want to be
late for your own wedding.” She was beaming like it was her wedding
day.

I turned towards Nicole and rolled my
eyes. “She’s acting like she is the one getting married,” I
laughed.

“
Is it wrong of me to be
excited to walk my only child down the aisle?” My mom
gushed.

It was a warm June day. We planned an
early evening ceremony. The humidity can get pretty bad in the
summer. Once we arrived at Wales Park, we followed the line of cars
parked near the ceremony site. We were last to arrive.

My mom turned to me. “You ready,
Sweetie?”

I looked at her, nodded and smiled.
“More than ready.”

As I stepped out of the car, I felt
the warm summer night air hit my face, and the sun was slowly
making its way down from the middle of the sky. The birds were
chirping from the trees and the soft sound of an acoustic guitar
playing in the background. Everything was perfect.

Our friends and family were seated in
white folding chairs that created a small aisle for me to walk
down. Garrett was waiting at the end of the aisle for me. He was
wearing his military dress blues. A gorgeous navy blue jacket with
beautiful gold buttons down the front, white pants, his military
hat and white gloves on his hands. My heart stopped when I saw
him.

My mother took my hand and we walked
down the aisle. Once we reached Garrett he gave my mother a kiss on
the cheek and whispered, “Don’t worry Mrs. C, I'll take care of
her.”

“
I know you will, Garrett,
I see how you look at my daughter. I am proud to be able to call
you my son-in-law,” my mother said softly trying to hold back her
tears. She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek then kissed me
on the cheek. “Baby, I know you are going to have your happily ever
after.”

He gently took both of my hands,
looked into my eyes and mouthed the words “I love you."

We both turned towards the Justice of
the Peace.

“
We are gathered here
today for the marriage of Leila Rose Corbett and Garrett Alexander
Levine. The couple has chosen to write their own vows,” he said
looking at us.

I could feel myself getting nervous
and my hands began to shake. I took out a folded up piece of paper
and opened it.

“
Today I marry my best
friend and the love of my life. My world stopped when we were
apart. I felt like I had nothing to live for.” I had to stop to
catch my breath. “Now you are back and . . .” I felt myself
beginning to tear up. “Now you are back and I’m alive again. I
promise to stand by your side in good times and in bad. I promise
to communicate with you and not shut you out,” I said with a small
smile. “I will care for you and love you always and forever. You
are my heart and my life.”

I could see tears welling in his eyes
as I blinked mine away.

The Justice of Peace turned to
Garrett.

“I didn’t write anything down,” he
whispered to me.

“
Leila, I have loved since
. . . Well, I can’t remember when I haven’t loved you,” he said
with a small laugh. “You are my world. I want to be there when you
go to bed at night and in the morning when you wake up. I want to
have babies with you and watch our babies have babies.”

I couldn’t help but laugh, everything
he was saying was so sincere and my heart was racing at his
words.

“
Leila, it’s you. It’s
always been you.”

Garrett turned back to the Justice of
Peace and nodded his head at him.

“
Can someone please hand
me the rings.”

Nicole came up with both rings and
handed them to him.

“
Garrett, take Leila’s
left hand and repeat after me.”

“
I Garrett. Take Leila
Rose Corbett to be my wife.”

I could feel Garrett’s hand shake a
little as he carefully slipped on the plain gold wedding band onto
my finger.

“
Leila, take Garrett’s
left hand and repeat after me.”

“
I Leila. Take Garrett
Alexander Levine to be my husband.”

A sudden calm fell over me as I took
his hand and carefully placed the ring on his finger. Everything
that I had worried about disappeared. . . He was now my
husband.

“
By the power vested in me
by the Commonwealth. I now pronounce you husband and wife. Garrett,
you may now kiss your bride.”

“
It’s about fucking time,”
he whispered to me as he pulled me toward him.

Garrett and I stayed behind for our
wedding pictures to be taken by Katie. When she found out I was
moving she had to go out and hire another photographer. I was so
honored that she cleared her schedule to photograph my wedding. It
meant so much to me.

After pictures, we headed to Danny’s
for our reception. Danny had outdone himself. The bar looked
beautiful. He removed all the mirrors from the walls and took down
the Corona beer banner that had hung over the bar. He had placed
hurricane lamps with candles inside them on all the tables to make
it look romantic. I was speechless.

As the DJ announced we
were going to dance our first dance as husband and wife, Garrett
took my hand and walked me out onto the dance floor. The DJ
played
“Gotten”
it was a song not many people had heard before but it was
totally us. Garrett pulled me close and began to sing to me,
“
You just get me like
I've never been gotten before.”

*~*~*

About a month after the wedding came
the day I was dreading. The day I had to say my tearful goodbyes to
my mother and Nicole. Even though I was looking forward to spending
the rest of my life with Garrett, I couldn’t help but feel like I
was leaving a little piece of my heart behind with them. It has
always been just my mother and me. I had never left my hometown let
alone moved to another state. I couldn’t help but worry about her.
I was all she had and thinking about her being alone brought tears
to my eyes.

“
You ready to go, Babe?” I
jumped at his words and quickly wiped the tears from my
eyes.

“
Yes, just give me another
minute,” I sniffed back my tears.

“
What’s the matter? Why
are you crying?”

“
I can’t believe we are
leaving tomorrow,” I said. “I am so excited to go, but I am going
to miss my mom and Nicole.”

“
Aww Babe,” he said
rubbing my back. “They can come and visit whenever they want and
you can Skype with them every day.” He smiled at me trying to cheer
me up.

“
I know. . . It’s just I
have never been without either of them for longer than a
week.”

“
Come on, we gotta go or
we are going to be late for dinner,” he said.

Chapter 23

I swear the flight to Oahu was the
longest day of my life. I had never stepped foot on a plane let
alone fly for over ten hours. Once we arrived and were all settled
in our new place, Garrett had arranged almost a week off from work
to show me around the island. He took me to Waikiki where we spent
the day at the beach. We hiked Diamond Head, and even swam with the
dolphins. He was right, Oahu was beautiful. I felt like I had died
and gone to heaven.