Chapter forty-nine

August ended fairly quickly and September was right around the corner.
Sarah's sons had an easy time settling it at school and Sarah had the whole day with Richie to plan the last few things for the wedding.

After approval of them both Sarah made a trip to the post office to mail the invitations. It would only be a small wedding, their mothers, children and Richie's friends.

They planned to meet at Richie's house in the afternoon before going to the beach for the ceremony itself and returning to the house for a late dinner and celebrations.

Sarah actually looked forward to seeing everyone again.

The week before the wedding, Richie dropped her and Ava off at a store that sold wedding dresses and asked Ava to make sure Sarah didn't look at any prices of any of the beautiful dresses in the store.

Ava and Sarah spend almost the entire day in the store while Richie got a new tuxedo, he couldn't wear something he already owned, he needed something new for his wedding.

It was a complete girl's day, which Sarah remembered doing with her mother when she was young. Ava had an incredibly opinion about which dresses Sarah would like and in almost all of them she looked perfectly beautiful. With every dress Sarah tried on, Ava found one that was almost the same and would be perfect for her, being the maid of honour. She was still honoured with the role and kept asking Sarah if she was really sure. Sarah had to keep confirming, she had become to love Ava like she would her own daughter. She was sure Richie had done the same for her boys, it seemed that way at least.

 Only one more week and they would be married. It promised to be an exciting and nervous week. Sarah looked forward to it even though she was nervous but it also felt right to do. Being with Richie she always felt more comfortable and daring. As long as she had him, she could do anything in life and marriage was the next step to that, making it definite that she would never be without him again. She knew Richie had noticed the changes in her too because he didn't ask if everything was okay whenever they did anything. Not only in their regular life but their sexual life too.

Richie went to buy the rings alone, he wanted something simple, yet elegant enough.



Sunday was a calm day which Sarah spent at home with her three children, Richie was performing at a telethon, which they were now watching on tv, waiting until Richie would finally perform. She always wanted a daughter and with Ava she was pretty close to achieving that. Although Ava was a great girl, that she loved, she still wanted her own daughter, the same way Richie loved her sons but still wanted his own son. That would mean they had to get two children, a boy and a girl.



The rest of the week they arranged the last minute things.



Catering testing was on Tuesday, to which they brought Noah, Caleb and Ava along to test and decide what they'd eat. Since they were a fairly small group for a wedding, they had enough time to prepare it before Saturday evening.

They had received everyone's RSVP's and as they expected, everyone would be able to come, most arriving late Friday or early Saturday morning.



Wednesday after school Sarah was picking up hers and Ava's dress, as usual Richie picked the kids up from school and went on to the bridal shop where only Sarah and Ava went inside, did their final fitting and packed up the dresses in long bags so nobody could see them just yet.

In the car Ava did a little bragging of how beautiful her dress was to her soon to be stepbrothers. Telling them her new dress was much nicer than just a tuxedo.


Thursday evening Sarah was full of nerves, only two days away. That afternoon Richie and her had gone to the hotel that offered their private beach that they had paid for for the entire day and evening. With the staff they had gone over how they wanted the seating and the decorations. The hotel was used to beach weddings and had everything Sarah and Richie wanted.



Friday morning Sarah woke up even more nervous but so happy to have Richie next to her. He was still asleep but his sleeping, relaxed figure made her relax a little too. He was always capable of making her relax, he also made her more confident.

She didn't need confidence to do this, for this she was lead through love, it was clear what she wanted and for once she actually knew what she wanted. All she wanted was Richie's love and support for the rest of their lives, it was all she needed.

Richie woke to an empty bed but could already smell the distant fragrance of fresh coffee coming from the kitchen. He loved having a woman in his life again, someone to share with, someone he could support and love forever. Someone that could love him and his life too. Sarah hadn't had a very good view of his life yet but he was sure they could overcome anything.

After driving everyone to school, Richie insisted him and Sarah took a calm day, the last weeks had been stressful enough with arranging everything and today he wanted to relax with his very soon to be wife.

Around noon he finally thought of the perfect way to make Sarah forget her nerves and asked her to come with him, without telling her were they were going.

Sarah found out only half an hour later when Richie parked in front of a spa.

"We're getting massages again?" Sarah asked excited when the car stood still.
"It relaxed you last time and if you want you can get all the fancy stuff."
"Oooh they should have this facial stuff that should make your skin all pretty and glowing." Her excitement only grew.
"Then you get that." Richie agreed and got out of the car.



Sarah got exactly what she wanted and got the complete luxury package, getting the full treatment, which took much longer than just Richie's massage but he didn't mind waiting for her. When Sarah finally finished she looked so relax and beautiful, he thought it was worth all the waiting and money.

Their evening they spend together in bed watching tv, cuddling close, an evening to themselves while Sarah tried to ignore the still growing nerves inside her.