Chapter 32

Valerie’s pov.

Three days before the wedding, my nerves were running high, but I was still looking forward to it. My life had changed so quickly in just a few months, but I had no regrets. Just hope that Oliver was the right person for me. He felt like a perfect fit, someone I could grow a family with and grow old together.

Today was my bachelorette party, and I had Sheila, Nicole, and Madi gathered with me. Our first stop was for lunch, accompanied by bottomless mimosas.

"It's so good to see you again," Madi said to Nicole, catching me off guard.

"You two know each other?" I asked, a bit puzzled that they had met before without my knowledge.

"No?" Nicole replied, her tone slightly uncertain.

"Yes, I saw her coming out of Cass's office last Friday," Madi explained, and Nicole's memory kicked in.

"Oh right! I remember you now," Nicole said with a tinge of worry in her voice, glancing at me and my sister-in-law.

Before I could dig deeper into that, Sheila smoothly introduced herself to Madi, trying to steer the conversation elsewhere. We were all bridesmaids, but this was the first time these two were in the same room due to busy schedules.

"Okay, girls, let's get to it," I said, clapping my hands and taking a seat at our table.

"After this delicious food, we definitely need to go lingerie shopping," Sheila chimed in with a wicked smile.

"I also need to pick up clothes for the honeymoon, Sheila," I chuckled, though I appreciated her enthusiasm.

"Baby, you only need lingerie for the honeymoon. You’ll be busy banging and being banged," Sheila teased, earning giggles from the lady behind us, and I felt my cheeks flush.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure to slip in some nice dresses for you, you know, not banging and being banged," Madi added playfully, going along with Sheila's joke.

"And some slippers and sandals for walks and such... you know, when you're not busy banging and being banged," Nicole grinned mischievously, and the girls burst into laughter while I playfully glared at them.

"Can you guys stop that?" I groaned, trying to hide my blush.

"We're just making sure you have the best time of your life," Nicole winked.

Amidst bottomless mimosas at lunch, we managed to keep ourselves from getting too tipsy. We saved the getting drunk part for later, and for now, we headed into countless shops, buying more than I could keep track of. These girls somehow convinced me to use the card Oliver gave me instead of my own and Oliver would surely love that.

After shopping our next stop was home. We’d have more wine, order pizza, and make desserts ourselves.

Once inside, I showed everyone to their guest rooms so they could freshen up. After a long shower, we reconvened in the living room, all dressed in matching silk lounging sets that I gifted them. Sheila wasted no time and brought out the various fruit wines we planned to taste. I got up and fetched some wine glasses for all of us.

“Okay, can we finally order our food now?” Nicole groaned dramatically, earning a chuckle from the rest of us.

“Yes, but be patient, it might take a while to arrive considering how far the house is from town,” I replied, taking out my phone to place the order. Once done, I passed the phone to Nicole to pick her wine of choice, and the others followed suit.

“As long as we get our food, I'm happy,” Nicole sighed contentedly, selecting her wine.

Sheila admired the living room, complimenting Oliver's efforts in decorating it, and I couldn't help but smile, momentarily forgetting the lie we had told the public.

“Apparently, this isn't everything. Once we're on our honeymoon, he said he has a surprise planned for me,” I shared, slightly puzzled about how he could make this place even better.

“Didn't he just build you your dream office?” Madi chimed in.

“Can we see it?” Nicole asked, batting her lashes playfully.

“Sure, let's go,” I eagerly agreed, taking them on a quick tour of the place, and they marveled at the office, my walk-in closet, and the pool. We decided to lounge inside, sipping wine while waiting for the pizza.

“Okay, I got cake mix, cookie mix, and some stuff for pie,” I announced, pulling out the boxes of mix. “What do you girls want to make?”

“Sugar cookies and chocolate chip cookies,” Madi responded promptly.

“We can also make some cupcakes and decorate them!” Sheila suggested.

“Are we doing this while tipsy?” I groaned, wondering if my kitchen was about to turn into a mess.

“We're not tipsy yet. Come on, let's get to it,” Nicole said, playfully patting my behind as she walked past me.

And just like that, my kitchen transformed into a sweet shop. We worked at a quick pace, feeling like we had orders to complete, but in reality, some of us just wanted to eat the treats while others were excited about the decorating part.

While the cupcakes and cookies cooled down, Madi and Sheila prepared some cream cheese frosting, while Nicole and I unpacked every type of edible sparkle and glitter I had bought for decoration.

"Let's do a bride edition Q&A," Madi suggested.

"Yes!" Sheila cheered and asked, "What was your reaction when you first saw the dress?"

"I was amazed. I didn't expect it to be so stunning; it was exactly what I dreamed about," I admitted, recalling the weirdly emotional moment. It felt different with my mother there.

"How did you react when Oliver proposed? It was in front of your family, right?" Nicole inquired.

"Yep… I was surprised. It was so soon but felt just right," I lied, feeling a pang of guilt for keeping the truth from my friends. To distract myself, I focused on pouring more chocolate sprinkles onto the platter.

"Awww, that's sweet," Madi pouted as if she didn't know the full story. She turned off the hand mixer and dipped a spoon in the icing before handing it to Sheila.

"What's the most embarrassing thing you've done?" Sheila wondered, tasting the icing on the spoon.

"High school graduation… I was too focused on the crowd, I missed a step and almost fell. Harvey broke my fall, but many people saw the misstep…" I cringed, reliving the memory.

"I'd so laugh," Sheila laughed loudly, indeed.

"Enough about me, what about you girls?" I switched the subject and turned to Madi. "Madi, you know."

"It's uh, Jas and I were having a hard time. We kinda got married and engaged on a whim," she admitted, taking a sip of her wine.

"What?" I almost spit out mine, shocked by her revelation. I knew they were childhood friends so I naturally thought they had been dating for a while.

"This stays between us, okay?" Madi looked at all of us, and we nodded eagerly, eager to hear more. "We were just college students who made a trip to Vegas together. After one night together, we ended up at the chapel and got married," she explained, and I smirked, finding it surprisingly different from what I would've thought.

"But – the big wedding? The photos?" I frowned, trying to piece it all together.

"Yeah, we called our parents, and they berated us. They planned this wedding that was more socially acceptable. I was sure my dad would kill Jas, but he didn't," Madi clarified, scratching the back of her head.

"Wait, so it all just happened, and you went with it?" Nicole asked, puzzled.

"We have so much spotlight on us, the last thing we wanted was for people to know we made a drunk mistake and got married – It wasn't a mistake, it was just rushed. I don't regret it at all, but I do wish we would've dated like normal couples do," Madi explained.

"It's a pretty normal thing for the Sinclairs to get married ASAP then," Sheila joked, and we all laughed.

"Oh god, I'd give everything to see Jasper as a careless college student," I chuckled, looking forward to teasing him.

"The embarrassing story is actually when we were still getting to know each other after marriage. I wanted to do something nice and make him lasagna," Madi continued.

"Awww," Sheila pouted.

"Don't 'aww.' I almost burned the kitchen while bragging I could cook, and he ended up laughing at me the whole night – after making sure I was okay, of course," Madi added, and we all burst into laughter.

"Oh god," I cried, laughing uncontrollably, "I still can't believe it."

"Nicole, your turn," Madi switched the attention.

We continued to chat as we decorated our desserts. The food arrived just as we finished, and we all settled on the couch, watching movies and enjoying our food, wine, and dessert until it was time to head to bed. I couldn't have asked for a better night with these girls.

***

Lying in bed later, I stared up at the ceiling and contemplated everything that led me to this moment. I still couldn't believe how lucky I had gotten in all of this. Just two more nights of sleep, and it would be the day of my first, and hopefully last, wedding.

My phone chimed, and I reached over to see a message from Oliver, followed by a call from him.

"How was the bachelorette party going? Any oiled-up strippers?" he asked teasingly, and I was just happy to hear his voice.

"No, sadly they canceled." I faked a pout, and he just laughed on the line.

"Just one more night after this," Oliver spoke with excitement, and all I could focus on was his happiness, pure and contagious.

"Tomorrow's rehearsal… Are you ready?" I sighed, recalling rehearsals were a thing, which I didn't quite understand. Why would I want to do a test run of my wedding? I thought it was just a one-time thing. But of course, our mothers almost killed us when we suggested skipping the rehearsal, so now that was out of the question.

"Born ready, wife," he chuckled. I didn’t bother correcting him, because soon this would be our reality.

"Get some sleep, husband. We have our families to deal with tomorrow," I shook my head. More than anything, he was now eager to claim me as his.

"I'd rather have you here with me right now, but fine," Oliver replied, and I could picture him rolling his eyes playfully.

"You can't have it all. I love you, night night," I teased and ended the call.

"Good night, wife," Oliver spoke lastly, and his words brought a warm smile to my face as I put the phone down, finally able to fall asleep.