God, how did she do that?  She was wet, she was tight, and he had no control.  He rolled her onto her back and pushed deep inside her. She moved her hands under his shirt and caressed his back.  Suddenly both of her legs were wrapped around him and she was thrusting her hips upward in frantic need.  He couldn’t wait any longer, and groaned as he went over.  He looked at the clock.  She’d gotten him off in less than 10 minutes and managed to have at least two orgasms of her own.  He leaned down and kissed her.  “I love you.”  He felt her muscles contract around him.

“And I love you.”  She smiled.  “I told you we had plenty of time.” She whispered near his ear.  “Now, let me get up so I can get dressed.”  She said tapping his shoulder.

He rolled onto his side and looked down at his clothes.  He was a wrinkled mess.  His clothes looked like he’d just had sex in them; probably because he had.  He got up, went to his closet and changed.

Chapter 29

the reception

It had been a tradition since they’d moved to Kansas; the Parkers went to Saturday evening Mass.  Usually, they had dinner and went to a movie after Mass; but tonight they came home and changed, before going to Papa’s for the wedding reception.

Lane and Ben were in the master bedroom.  Ben was changing into his tux, and Lane into her wedding dress.  Jess and Jamie were changing into the clothes they’d worn to the wedding too.  Pauli and Joey were changing into their suits.  Jake had joined them for Mass but had gone home to change before stopping to pick up Meg.  He’d meet the family at Papa’s.

The family entered the ballroom and were stunned.  First, there were the roses; hundreds of them, all ivory.  The head table, for the wedding party and family, was draped with blush and cream tulle and chiffon forming a canopy.  The guest tables had either cream table cloths with blush napkins or blush table cloths with cream napkins. There was a large dance floor, with a string quartet, at one end of the ballroom. There were ivory rose boutonnières for Ben, Jamie, Jake, Joey, Pauli, Tony and Papa.  There were ivory rose hand corsages for Lane, Jess, Mama Bellini and Meg. Everywhere Lane looked, she saw bouquets of ivory roses.  She leaned toward her husband.  “Tell me how many and what they mean.”

“A thousand…” He bent and kissed her as he handed her a rose from the table. “…and one. For a love that will last for all eternity.”

Jess leaned toward Joey.  “I don’t know how she stands it.  I hate the smell of roses.  He sends her two dozen every week.  Flowers just die.  What’s the purpose?”

Joey shrugged. “He loves her, I guess that’s purpose enough. And she seems to like them.  He wouldn’t send them if she didn’t.”

Joey filed that bit of information away.  He’d never known a woman who didn’t like getting flowers, but apparently that was just one more thing Jess Parker didn’t do.

“I guess.”  Jess said as she scanned the crowd.

She was amazed that Ben had pulled this together on such short notice.  All of Lane’s friends were there. There were even friends from Omaha. Joey excused himself and got up from the head table.  He’d been weird all afternoon.  He’d disappeared just after lunch and hadn’t come back until just before they left for church.  He left the ballroom through the door to the kitchen.  When Joey got up, Jamie moved from the seat next to Lane and went to the empty seat next to Meg at the end of the table.

Joey shook his head at Jess as she watched him come back in the room with Nana Evie. Ben had brought Nana Evie to surprise Mom.  God, she thought, that must be love, bringing your wife’s ex-mother-in-law to your wedding reception and seating her at the head table with the rest of the family.

Ben kept Lane distracted until Joey had seated Evie and walked back to his own seat.  Evie tapped her glass and Lane turned to look at her.  Evie stood and held her glass in the air.  “A toast to the happy couple.  May they always be surrounded by family and friends who share in their love.  La felicità sempre.  Happiness always”

Lane looked at the woman who had once been her mother-in-law, and who had remained her friend. Tears formed and spilled from her eyes.  Ben was holding her hand, and gave it a little squeeze before letting go.

Lane wrapped Evie in a hug, whispering, “When did you get here?”

Evie returned the hug and then patted her cheek.  “Your husband sent his brother and a private jet to get me this afternoon.  They’ve had me stashed at your house since this afternoon.”

Lane looked at Ben.  He was an amazing man.  “You did this for me?”

“She’s your friend.  You’ve said she’s been like a mother to you. I think you need her here.”

There were more toasts.  There were knives tapping champagne glasses and people shouting “baciare.”  Which Ben told Lane meant “kiss each other”, and he was happy to oblige each time someone said it.

Joey stood and clicked his glass to get everyone’s attention. “For those who don’t know me, I’m Joey Bellini.  As the best man, it falls to me to toast the couple.  I met Lane just hours before the wedding.”  He laughed.  “By now you all know they were in a bit of a hurry.  I have never seen my brother so happy, so a toast to the beautiful woman who has brought so much happiness into not just his life, but to all of us.  I believe Evie Parker may have said it best, La felicità sempre.”

He raised his glass and sipped his champagne.  Yes, she’d brought happiness to all of them.  Without Lane there would be no Jess, and suddenly, he was having trouble imagining a world without Jess Parker.

Jess stood and raised her glass.  “I’m Lane’s daughter, Jess.  My brothers and I met Ben three years ago.  He’s been the father figure we never had.  He’s shown us what it means to love a woman.  He’s made our mother happier than I’ve ever seen her. So, a toast to my mother and the man who loves her.  May they always be as much in love as they are at this moment.”

She sipped her sparkling grape juice.  Jess wouldn’t be 21 for another four months, and serving alcohol to minors could get Bellini’s liquor license revoked.

The dishes were being removed; and the simple string quartet, that had been playing softly during the meal, was trading places with a band that would play dance music. The band warmed up and began an intro to Exactly Like You.  Jess and Joey both stood up.

Jess looked at Joey. “What are you doing?”

“Ben asked me to sing Exactly Like You for Lane.”

Jess groaned.  “Mom asked me to sing it for Ben.”

Joey smiled and put his hand in the small of her back.  He leaned down.  “Looks like we’re doing a duet, Toots.  You take the lead.  I’ll sing the second time through.”

Jess looked at him. “You sing?”

“Like Frank Sinatra and Michael Buble, Toots, let’s go.”

They approached the band.  Jess took the microphone.  “Once again, my Mother and Ben are thinking alike.”  She looked at Joey.  “Without knowing it, they asked each of us to sing the same song, so we’re going to be doing a duet.  Mom, Ben for you.”

Jess began, “I know why I’ve waited…” she sang the song through the first four verses.

The band played the orchestral interlude and Joey started with the next verse, “I know why I’ve waited…”

They finished with Joey singing, “Exactly like you.” Followed by Jess echoing, “Exactly like you.”  Then together, “Exactly like you.”

There was applause.  Joey and Jess held hands and bowed together, each held a hand to the other and bowed separately and then together again.

Joey put his hand in the small of her back and walked Jess back to the table.  He held out her chair.  “If this acting gig doesn’t work out, I have a job in Vegas for you.”

Who knew she could sing like that and make the whole room believe she was in love with him while she did it.  He hadn’t seen anything in the profiles he’d read online that gave any indication that Jess sang at all let alone like she should quit her day job and do it for a living.