163Riley couldn't sleep that night. She sent Mackenzie to bed early, offering to stay up and take care of Sadie. It didn't take much work on Riley's part to get her weary fiance to agree to the early night. Mackenzie had packed up almost the entire living room and dining room, while taking care of Sadie, and running on three hours of sleep and a full pot of coffee. She had tried not to let Riley see how tired she was, but their apartment was small, and the soldier was all but glued to her side all night. So Riley made her go to bed around ten, and she was asleep within minutes of her head hitting the pillow. It was just as well that Riley stayed up, anyway, because she wasn't tired, and she was too excited, and she had a lot of planning to do. After getting Sadie to sleep around eleven, she got out her computer and looked through the file of pictures that Mackenzie had saved as wedding inspirations, and then spent hours trying to plan the small ceremony. It made it a little easier when she remembered that she didn't have to worry about food.
She was both excited and terrified to tell her fiance about her plan. There was a nagging thought in the back of her mind that Mackenzie wouldn't be happy with a surprise wedding. She didn't think that that would be the case, since the redhead had already voiced to her that the party wasn't what she wanted, but rather had mostly just been looking forward to changing her last name. But Riley still couldn't help but thing that it was a possibility, and it was.
Riley was just shutting down the computer, after searching online, making notes of people to call in her phone, and deleting individual websites off of the browser history, when Mackenzie came out of the bedroom, shuffling down the hall. She dropped down onto the couch beside Riley and curled up into her body. Riley turned a little, to get a better position, and let the half-asleep woman practically fall into her lap. With her arms wrapped around her, it was the first time that the soldier actually noticed how exhausted her fiance had started to look since she'd gotten back from Afghanistan.
She stopped from opening her mouth to say something to Mackenzie, who seemed to be perfectly content to just lay in Riley's arms, but closed her mouth and actually began to realize the physical toll that their relationship had taken on Mackenzie. She was barely twenty, but the ever-present, dark bags beneath her eyes made her look at least five years older. She had lost weight, and she was more tired than she used to be. For the first time ever, it occurred to Riley that she was the source of the change in her fiance. Their two-year relationship had changed Mackenzie from the fresh-faced teenager that she had been when they first met, to the exhausted, worn-out, stay-at-home mother that was collapsed in her arms. But Mackenzie wasn't unhappy, was she? No. She had agreed to marry Riley, to raise Sadie; she would have told Riley if she were upset or hurting in some way.
"You forgot my ice cream," Mackenzie whispered, so quietly into the silent room, that Riley almost thought that it had been a part of her thoughts.
"Hm? Did you say something?" Riley asked her.
"You forgot to get my ice cream," the redhead repeated.
"Oh," Riley had to wrack her brain to try and remember any recent talk of ice cream, but she couldn't, so she settled on, "Sorry, babe. I'll get it tomorrow."
"It's okay, you don't have to. I can get it."
"Okay." Riley was hit, then, with the realization that she had spent all evening planning something that she assumed Mackenzie would want, instead of doing the one thing that she had actually asked for. It hit her like a knife, or a ton of bricks. Perhaps it was the lateness of the hour - the clock read three in the morning - but Riley's mind was suddenly filled with all of her short-comings. "Why are you up?" she asked.
"I woke up and you weren't there. I missed you."
And just liked that, with ten words uttered from a groggy redhead, Riley's fears were quelled. She was concerned, though, about her fiance's weight loss and exhaustion, and made a promise to herself that she would help out more, instead of putting everything onto Mackenzie. Her fiance was her rock, solid and steady, and was there every time that Riley had a problem... and her rock was looking more and more worn down, especially since Sadie was born. How Riley had somehow not noticed the change, or just overlooked it until then, was beyond her.
Riley tightened her arms around Mackenzie's small body, "I was just about to come join you."
"I'm pretty happy here," Mackenzie told her, and kissed her cheek; she lifted herself into Riley's lap, "What were you doing that kept you up so late?"
"Just couldn't sleep,"
"Sure that's it?" the younger girl asked, "You seemed pretty distracted all night,"
Riley thought about telling her about her plans, but she wondered if it would be too soon. She didn't have a priest lined up or anything, and she had yet to tell Sam. They couldn't get married without either one, though Sam was a lot easier to tie down than a priest, or even a Justice of the Peace, and she didn't want to tell Mackenzie before she actually had someone to perform the ceremony. "Not distracted... just thoughtful."
"What are you thinking about?"
"You," Riley told her. It was the truth, without having to tell her about everything.
"What about me?"
"You ask too many questions," Riley kissed her forehead.
"Okay... should I be worried that you bought strychnine or something?"
The soldier laughed, "Babe, I could never poison you. I'd never be able to find anyone else so willing to put up with me."
"Aw, come on. Sadie's cute enough for you to hook some unsuspecting woman."
"Yeah, maybe. But I'd miss you too much if I poisoned you,"
"Uh-huh," Mackenzie searched her face, "So maybe you're not planning to poison me, but you are planning something,"
"Maybe I am." Riley smiled, "But that's for me to know, and for you to find out."
Mackenzie made a 'humph' kind of noise, and wrinkled her nose, "This is payback for not showing you my dress, isn't it?"
That thought hadn't occurred to Riley, but she decided that it was a good excuse not to tell Mackenzie about what she was planning. "Oh, absolutely, babe."
"Uh-huh, fine," she rolled her eyes and stood up, "Come on, let's go to bed," she held out her hand and Riley took her hand; she pulled her fiance up, and headed down the hall with her fiance following closely behind her. "Just for the record, I was thinking about showing you tomorrow when I got it back from the tailor tomorrow."
"You still don't get to know what I'm planning."
Mackenzie sighed and moved around to her side of the bed, "Fine. Be that way."
"I will, thank you for your permission."
Mackenzie rolled her eyes and slid into bed; she scooted herself over, so that she was against Riley's side, and settled into a comfortable position, before reaching over and turning the light off. "Goodnight," she pressed a kiss into Riley's mouth, "I love you."
"And I love you." It didn't take either one more than a few minutes to fall asleep.
Riley's next few days were busy; she made calls about different aspects of the wedding in virtually every spare minute that she had. Sam was completely on board with the idea, and promised that she wouldn't tell Mackenzie. She also offered to help Vince with the decorating, for which Riley was thankful. Sam and Mackenzie had grown up together, so close that they were practically the same person; they had a lot of the same tastes, and she knew exactly what Mackenzie wanted.
Her search for a priest was unfruitful. Some weren't willing to preform a ceremony for two women, and the ones that were, were all too busy on that day. The last man that she talked to suggested a female Justice of the Peace that he was friends with, who might be availible on such short notice. When Riley dialed the number in her phone, her hands were trembling. Not because she was nervous, but because she was worried about not being able to find anyone to officiate
"Cheryl George," was the greeting.
Riley waited for a few seconds to see if anything else was going to come after that, but nothing did. "Hi, my name is Riley de Luca. I got your number from Reverend Davis?"
"Oh! Yes, of course. He let me know that you might be calling," the woman said, "You're trying to find someone to officiate your wedding, correct?"
"That's right, and I know that it's late notice. Very late, actually,"
"That's alright," Cheryl said, "Do you mind if I ask why you're asking so late?"
"Not at all. I'm in the military, and I'm being transferred to Washington, about a week before our wedding would have taken place. My fiance's family all live here, and it would be a while before we'll be able to make it back."
"Ohh.. I see. That's very sweet. When is the wedding set for?"
"A week and one day."
"Oh my. That certainly isn't much time. I will check my schedule, and give you a call back to let you know if I can do it or not. Is that alright?"
"That's fine," Riley told her, "Any time is great,"
"Good," she said, "I'll let you know when I know."
"Sounds great, thank you."
They each hung up the phone, and Riley returned her phone to the side leg pocket of her fatigues, and went to rejoin her unit. She felt a little better about having a possibility, but she was putting all of her eggs in one basket. She was hoping for the best possible outcome, because the alternative was just about enough to make her stomach turn. There were no words to describe how much she wanted to make things work out for her fiance. She wanted the wedding to work out for herself, too. She was kind of being selfish that way.
Hoping that the JP would call back that night occupied most of her thoughts as she drove home, and the entire evening. She kept checking her phone in case she might have accidentally switched it off or turned the volume down on silent, or if she just missed it during the time that she left the living room to use the restroom or get Sadie. She didn't, and the suspense was killing her. She didn't hear back until almost a full day later; close to the time that she had originally talked to Cheryl, the woman called back. It was a short conversation that ended with Riley wanting to jump up and down with joy. They had an officiant. It was final. Their wedding was going to happen. If she had been walking home, it would have felt like she was walking on air. She turned on the music, and uncharacteristically didn't care what the song was.
It didn't matter, because Riley was going to marry the woman of her dreams. They were going to stand up in front of their family and friends, and join their lives together. The knowledge that in just one short week, she would be married to the most beautiful woman that she had ever known filled Riley with elation, and a kind of evangelical zeal that made her want to climb to the very top of every rooftop and scream that she was the luckiest woman in the world. And she was, and she knew it; she spent every day thanking whatever force there was out in the universe - God, Buddha, or Allah - that she had found Mackenzie.
As she walked through the door of their apartment, she was assaulted with unmistakable smell of bacon. The smell, which always made the soldier salivate, was a thousand times more appetizing. Because Riley was happier than she had been in a while, and everything just seemed better. She walked into the kitchen and immediately pulled Mackenzie into her arms.
"Whoa!" Mackenzie yelped, "Hello to you too."
The soldier leaned down and kissed Mackenzie soundly, and didn't pull away until she felt like she had fully conveyed the depths of her feelings for the redhead, "Hi."
Mackenzie laughed and accepted the second, much smaller kiss that Riley gave her, "You're in a good mood."
"I am, Red," she reached around her and turned the burner off, and moved the pan from the heat. "I have something that I want to discuss with you."
"Okay..."
"I want to get married," Riley told her, "And not in a year. I want to get married before we leave for Washington."
The redhead blinked at her fiance, and stared at her like she had suddenly sprouted a second head. "That's two weeks from now, Riley. There's not possibly way that I could plan an-"
"What if I told you that it was already done? That in one week from tonight, you and I could be happily married?"
Mackenzie blinked again a few more times, "...are you telling me that it is already done?"
Riley was almost bursting with excitement, though the reaction she was getting from her fiance was less than explosive. Her smile faltered a little, "Yes," she said, and some of excitement had left her voice.
Mackenzie stepped back, out of Riley's arms; all she could do was stare at Riley. Her hand went over her mouth, her eyes went wide. She was rendered completely speechless by the woman standing before her. She had not been expecting what had come out of her mouth; the thought had never crossed her mind at all, not at all during the past few days when Riley had suddenly gotten secretive, and was suddenly taking private calls from the redhead's father - the idea that Riley might be planning a wedding never entered her mind.
She stood there, in the middle of the kitchen, with her hand over her mouth, until the half-cooked bacon had stopped sizzling in the hot grease, and just stared at Riley. Silence. Riley was beginning to think that she had made a great miscalculation in what she thought was a grand romantic gesture. Her posture dropped, and the smile all but slid off of her face. The evangelical zeal she had been feeling on her drive home began to fade away. Until Mackenzie moved.
The redhead's eyes filled up with tears, and she moved her hand up to wipe away the one or two that had escaped from her left eye. Then she broke the silence that seemed to last for years. "You're throwing us a wedding?" she asked.
"I am," Riley said; she had meant for her voice to sound confident, like it had when she'd first got home, but she was having trouble reading Mackenzie's face, and so it came out much smaller than intended. She faltered in her resolve. "If you want me to."
"There is nothing that I want more, Riley de Luca, than to be married to you."
A/N: Hey guys. I think that this has been the longest amount of times between updates. And that is for multiple reasons, including but not limited to an injury and a book that, frankly, was more gripping than this story.
I just spent the majority of the last two days reading Portia de Rossi's Unbearable Lightness. I am sobered. I cried while I read it, which is very uncharacteristic of me.
~Emma