Planning on Forever

CHAPTER 1

"What do you think of teal as a wedding color?" Vanessa held out her sample square to Annabelle. Annabelle nibbled her bottom lip, then twirled it around as she turned the small patch of material left, then right, then upside down.

"Do we really have to have a color scheme?" she asked, still staring at the square.

Vanessa scoffed. "Of course! We can't just throw any colors together. We want this wedding to be classy."

"Why do we even need to have a wedding? We're already married." Vanessa ignored her brother's yell from the kitchen. Convincing him to have a second wedding had been the hardest job thus far. He had a point. Nick and Annabelle had already been married for over a year.

Vanessa had, for years, thought Nick was ridiculous. She'd told him enough times. It didn't matter if she yelled it at him, whispered it, sternly advised him or smacked it into him. It was never enough to change his mind. For years, all he'd believed was that love didn't exist. She'd always wondered why. She'd suspected it had a lot to do with Maddy but, with Nick, one could never be sure. Her brothers' brain had always worked a little differently to others. Vanessa saw it differently. Where Nick had scars deep in his heart, she'd had nothing but hope. For Vanessa, love wasn't an illusion. It wasn't something that faded but rather, it was something you worked to keep. Love, marriage and a family were Vanessa's deepest dreams. Nick's marriage to Annabelle, though it had begun with ill intentions, had soon become something Vanessa admired. Her cynical older brother had finally had his icy heart melted.

"You know why." She yelled back. Vanessa lifted her head quick enough to catch his eye. She hardened her gaze, daring him to argue with her again. She wanted to do this for them. Love, romance and weddings lived in Vanessa's veins. She lived for the the happy tears, gleeful screeches and long nights of partying, all to celebrate a union of people in love. Simply, she loved, love. Nick and Annabelle had been married in an impersonal ceremony in court with no family or friends around. They weren't even in love. Things had changed since then, thankfully and, Vanessa felt they deserved a fairy tale wedding they couldn't have the first time around. Annabelle had also agreed they could be her debut couple for her wedding planning business.

"What if we went neutral?" Vanessa tore her gaze back to Annabelle. Annabelle looked back at her, her autumn eyes wide with apprehension.

"How would you do neutral? Like beige?"

"Yeah."

Vanessa's jaw unhinged. "Beige isn't a romantic color."

"It's romantic to us." Answered Nick. He walked towards them with Sofia held in his arms, his index finger in her mouth as she nibbled hungrily on it with her swollen gums. Vanessa smiled fondly, feeling grateful to be passed that stage in childcare.

"How is beige romantic to you?"

Nick shrugged and sat on the sofa beside Annabelle. "It matches our room."

Vanessa turned back to Annabelle. "Please don't make me smack him."

Her sister-in-law giggled and then fell back into the cushion with a sigh. "I'm not sure I know what to do with all this, Nessa."

"That's why you have me." She pat her hand on Annabelle's and gave her a gentle smile. Vanessa knew Annabelle wasn't like most who had their wedding planned by age ten. It was probably what had Nick falling for her. She was unique and headstrong. Vanessa couldn't ignore that she was very out of depth with planning a front-page, newsworthy wedding.

"I'm all for having a second wedding Nessa but, does it have to be so..." Nick trailed off, his eyes glancing down to his daughter who drowned his finger in her gob.