Page 38 of The Surprise Wedding
The other guests were chatting quietly, obviously happy to be part of such an important occasion. Tamara didn’t know any of them, of course, but she recognized Zach, wearing an expensive suit that looked handmade, and Yuriko, wearing a couture dress that was a work of art. Even though Tamara had never met either of them, she felt as though she knew them, thanks to Nate’s descriptions. Zach was a worldwide success in his field, but he still looked a little nervous at the sight of his bride-to-be. Tamara couldn’t blame him, because the combination of the dress, the flawless makeup, and the setting all conspired to make her look out-of-this-world incredible.
From her vantage point, Tamara could see everyone and everything. Liz was up at the front, looking elegant as she prepared to oversee the ceremony. Meg and Kate were off to the side, ushering people to their seats. Near the back of the area were long tables set with food, and Jenn was behind them, obviously waiting in case anyone wanted anything before the wedding. Daniel was standing in front of a spot near the koi pond, which had been lit with the express purpose of becoming the setting for wedding photographs and portraits. Amy’s painted wedding portrait hung on the wall, and it looked so lifelike it was as if the couple could have reached out and waved at all their guests.
And there was Nate, standing behind a table with several laptops in front of him. Tamara’s heart beat double time as she watched him work. He looked so handsome and so serious. It melted her a little. There would be many other computers backing all this up, but Tamara knew Nate well enough to know that he’d insist on manning the tech feed himself. He would want to feel the atmosphere and perfectly capture the pure essence of the wedding in the video. She knew he wouldn’t budge, waiting for the moment when it all went live.
Tamara walked over to him. She could practically feel how pleased he was that everything was working. He moved deftly, making small adjustments to the cameras and the program that would carry the feed.
After her phone call with her mom, there was so much Tamara wanted to say to him, so many emotions she wanted to try to put into words. But the last thing she wanted to do was distract Nate just as he was about to have his big moment. Nate deserved to shine, but she still needed to do something to make it clear exactly how she felt about him.
The ceremony was minutes away. Tamara stepped next to Nate, folding her hand into his. At the contact, he turned toward her, and a giant smile spread over his features. Just then, Tamara realized she didn’t need to say anything. Nate already knew what was inside her heart. She smiled back.
She wanted to do more than smile, though, so she did, distraction or not. She kissed Nate, soft and sweet, lingering with her lips on his, wanting to make it clear that this was about more than just needing him in that moment. It was about love. Nate kissed her back just as delicately, matching her perfectly, and Tamara wished it could last forever. Even when they did pull apart, she kept her hand in his. She didn’t care who else was watching. No, that wasn’t exactly right—she wanted them to watch. She wanted her friends to see, and to understand, exactly how much love there was between her and Nate.
When she finally went to take her seat for the ceremony, she looked around, checking her friends one by one. Liz, Meg, Kate, Jenn, and Daniel all seemed to be pretty busy with their respective jobs, but there was one thing they all had in common.
They were smiling.
As Nate got back to work, the kiss was enough to send his head reeling, especially since it had been in front of so many of their friends. Nate glimpsed them now, looking over at him with varying degrees of surprise. But it seemed like a happy surprise—not shock—and that mattered more than Nate had realized. This was his family, as much as his real one, and maybe there was a lesson there too. This family all seemed to have the knack of finding the right person in the end, whatever it took.
He forced himself to pay attention to the wedding, although banishing thoughts of Tamara completely was impossible. He needed to concentrate, but not as much as he might have feared. The code he’d written for the linkup was robust enough to cope, and if he had to juggle things a little to handle the massive upsurge of traffic once people worked out what was going on, that was no big deal. Zach had been as good as his word, turning over server after server to the task. Nate imagined it was probably messing up someone’s online gaming somewhere.
Mostly, Nate’s job was editing the camera feeds together on the fly, making sure that the world got the best possible view of the proceedings. That was a little tricky, since Nate wanted to train every camera in the place on Tamara and show the world that the most gorgeous, amazing woman was sitting a few feet away.
But of course, they were here to celebrate the beautiful love between Zach and Yuriko, and Nate wanted to do his best to capture it. The others had done such an amazing job of putting this wedding together. It was full of thoughtful details—the small kanji characters, all saying love, that Meg had worked into the edges of the tablecloths, how Jenn had managed to create a combination of savory pastries and sashimi that blended East and West perfectly, and the way Liz had written the ceremony to fit the couple like a glove…
Nate aimed the cameras at the bride and groom, both looking perfect in their positions at the front. It helped that Yuriko was beautiful, and her dress was stunning, and Zach looked like the leading man in a movie. And sure, he had money and success and was used to standing up in front of full boardrooms and persuading executives to go his way. But it was more than that—much more. What made him look perfect was the fact he was so obviously in love. Zach positively shone with it, and Nate began to wonder if he himself looked the same way. Then he glanced around at his friends, and he didn’t have to wonder anymore. The way they were looking back at him told him they knew exactly how in love he was. He suspected they’d known for a while now.
As the couple said their vows, Nate made sure that the feed came from the camera closest to them, with the microphone as clear as he could get it. A quick check of his screen told him that the signal was going out clearly, with the views already up into the millions.
“Zach,” Liz asked, “do you take Yuriko to be your wife? Do you promise to love her, to put her before all others, and to cherish her always?”
“I do,” Zach replied.
“Yuriko, do you take Zach to be your husband? Do you promise to love him, to put him before all others, and to cherish him always?”
“I do,” Yuriko said.
They exchanged rings, and Liz pronounced them husband and wife, telling Zach he could kiss his bride. They kissed with the kind of passion that conveyed just how much they’d been waiting for that moment. As the guests cheered and clapped, Nate did a slow fade of the feed to end it and then making a copy of the wedding video available on the Web.
Nate dared to breathe a sigh of relief. The wedding had gone off without a hitch. The streaming was as seamless as he could have hoped. He’d done it. The elation that flooded through him only added to what he was already feeling about Tamara. As the wedding ceremony gave way to the party that followed, Nate set out to find Tamara.
Almost immediately, the happy couple was in front of him.
“We both want to thank you,” Zach said.
“We want to thank all of you,” Yuriko added, “but you particularly, Nate. I never thought that my wedding would be broadcast to the whole world. Did many people watch?”
“Millions,” Nate assured her. “I have the exact figures on my laptop if you want to see.”
Zach looked as though he might actually go to check, but Yuriko pulled him in the direction of the dance floor. “‘Millions’ is a big enough number for me. Come on, Zach. You and I have our first dance. Thank you again, Nate. This wedding couldn’t have happened without you and everyone at Married in Malibu.”
Of course, the moment Nate was identified as being partly responsible for livestreaming the wedding meant he had to make his way through a procession of relatives and friends of the couple, all wanting to say how wonderful it was or ask questions about the coding he used.
By the time Nate found Tamara, the first dance was almost over. That was okay. He pulled her onto the dance floor, giving her a kiss that took their breath away.
“I love you,” Nate said. He meant it just as much as the very first time he’d said it. It didn’t even matter if Tamara replied, so long as she was here, in his arms, waiting and wanting to hear it.
“I love you too,” Tamara said, gazing into his eyes. The words sounded like they came to her naturally now, and Nate could hear the certainty in them.
