Adonis in Athens - Page 69

“That’s good,” he murmured. “Because I was also thinking we should have a wedding.”

She paused, cocking her head. “You’re kidding, right?”

“No.” He grinned. “I don’t think it’s right that neither of us remember getting married, and honestly, my mother won’t rest until she meets your family. How about we plan a small ceremony here in Vegas and then go on a honeymoon. Would you like that?”

“Yes! Oh my gosh, yes!” She jumped into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist and hugging him tightly.

“I love you, baby. All I want is to make you happy.”

“You have. You are. I am!” She giggled at how flustered she was.

17

With Raegan settled at Paige’s parents’ house, Nora back in Phoenix and a wedding three weeks away, Paige gave her notice at work. They were sad to see her go but Paige was moving on and had a million things to do to get ready to leave the country. Although she’d given two weeks’ notice, her boss told her not to come back and gave her two weeks’ pay anyway—he said he felt bad about all the vacation she hadn’t been able to take, as well as the incident with Tom. She was a little sad about leaving so abruptly, but it was exciting too.

Now that they had some free time, she and Apollo spent a few days exploring the Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam and Antelope Canyon. They’d decided they would spend their honeymoon driving from San Diego to San Francisco, taking the scenic route along the coast and stopping for a couple of days in different places along the way. From there, they would go back to Las Vegas and say goodbye to Paige’s family and friends before permanently leaving for Greece.

They’d done a lot, throwing out everything in the refrigerator, packing for the trip to Greece, packing for the honeymoon and even packing for the future. Since she wasn’t bringing anything large, they’d decided to split up her things so that they could be sent home with Apollo’s family. Everyone was coming for the wedding except Giorgios, so they would all have a little room for her clothes, shoes and other necessary items. She’d already arranged for a local charity to come pick up all the things Raegan didn’t want, and she, Apollo, her mother and Nicky packed up the rest of Raegan’s things. Raegan didn’t know what she was going to do but the Carters had told her she could stay until she was on her feet again. Paige would always worry about her, but she knew it was time for Raegan to figure out what she was going to do with her life; she couldn’t be the one to rescue her anymore.

“I’m getting kind of tired of never being alone with you,” Apollo was saying, forcing her back to the present as they put the last of Raegan’s things in her parents’ garage.

“I’m sorry?” Her eyes crinkled as she laughed.

“You’re not sorry!” he laughed too. “But we pick up my family in about an hour and then I won’t be alone with you again until after the wedding.”

She laughed. “Adds a little romance and excitement, no?”

“Do you know how horny I am?”

She just grinned. “No hornier than I am!”

They left for the airport an hour later and the days leading up to the wedding were both chaotic and exciting. Even Raegan, who’d been moping about her dire situation, had perked up, and when Mick returned after going to see his family in California for a few days, he took over carting her around so she could participate in all the events.

“This isn’t what I pictured for a wedding dress,” Paige sighed, staring in the mirror. She’d bought three dresses that would do the trick, but they were all basically glorified cocktail dresses and none of them made her feel bride-like.

“I think we have a solution,” Melina said, peeking in. She slipped into Nicky’s room, where Paige had been trying on the dresses, and pulled Thespina in behind her. The older woman had a package in her hands and she handed it to Paige.

“For you. Is not—” She said something in Greek and turned to Melina in frustration.

Melina smiled. “Modern.”

“Is not…mod-ern…but we fix.”

“We took it to a seamstress to clean it, along with one of your regular dresses so that it could be altered, and added a few contemporary touches.” Melina handed it to Paige, who was gaping.

“Is this…your wedding dress?” Paige gasped out.

“Yes, yes, you try!”

“Oh my gosh…” Raegan breathed as Paige pulled out the lacy bundle of material.

“Wow.” Paige’s eyes were round with wonder as she stared at Thespina.

“It was a little small—Yaya was tiny when she got married—but the seamstress was able to take out all the seams, design a simple off-white silk sheath to wear underneath and then make the original dress a sort of overlay. You should put it on.”

“Yes.” Paige nodded as tears puddled in her eyes. “Where’s Mom?” she asked Nicky.

“I’ll get her!” Nicky bounced off the bed and out of the room as Paige pulled on the sheath and then the soft, lacy cover that retained its original design but no longer contained a modest turtleneck-type top and had been cut at the bottom so that it fell to mid-calf.