3. The Grace I've Known Ch. 16-18

They put the phone on speaker to call their parents. They called hers first and they were happy and excited but it was Nicholas' dad who was the funniest. He was so excited.

"Where is it going to be?" He asked excitedly. "Are you coming to Denver or are we going to Boston? Or... Oh my god, are you going to have a destination wedding?"

Grace couldn't help but laugh at his enthusiasm. "No," she replied. "I think we'll do it in Denver." She was looking at Nicholas as she spoke and he smiled and nodded.

She had always imagined getting married in her parents' back yard. Nicholas' parents had been married in his dad's parents' backyard, it was the first wedding she had been to, and it was so beautiful and romantic. Her parents didn't have a big tree with red flowers like Babushka and Dedushka did, but she still thought it would be special.

"Okay, good," Tyler said. "You have to come home soon so we can start planning. What sort of music do you want?"

Grace was taken aback, she had hardly thought past the location, she had no idea what sort of music she wanted.

"Um, I don't know..."

"What is your color theme going to be? Do you want to have assigned seating or will it be cocktail style? Are you going to wear your hair up or down?"

Nicholas was already laughing and Grace joined him.

"Ah, you two are no fun," Tyler complained. "Here, talk to Luka, mom and I are going over to Sam and Emma's place."

"Hello?" Lucas' voice came over the line.

"Hi Luka," Grace said.

"Gracie? What's going on? Why is dad in a tizzy?"

"We got engaged," she replied.

"You got engaged? To who?" He teased.

"To me dumb-ass," Nicholas interjected.

Lucas laughed. "Well congratulations. Hey, does this mean that we'll be related to the Watsons?"

"Yeah, that's the way it works," Nicholas said.

"Sweet. Maybe that means we can dump Maddy on them some nights, I swear that kid is going to be the death of me, she never shuts up."

"Oh, she's that bad huh?" Grace asked.

"Yeah but apparently she's not as bad as Nicholas was. Dad said that he was a 'spirited' child, but I think that's just a code word for 'little shit.'"

Grace laughed.

"Hey, at least I grew out of it," Nicholas emphasized the 'I' to tease his brother.

Lucas chuckled. He was only sixteen but already he chuckled like a man. "Hey, I'm going over to the Watsons', I think I'm missing out on the action. I think dad is going to have this whole wedding planned for you by the end of the night and I want to give my input. I want to make sure my preference for puffy pink bridesmaids dresses is known."

They called around to the rest of their family, Matthew who had just finished a day of racing at USC, Zach and Beth, and then Adrian. Nicholas' dad called them back a few times to ask questions and they could hear his mom and her parents in the background laughing. It sounded like they were all getting thoroughly sloshed.

Nicholas took her out to her favorite Thai restaurant for dinner and they talked about the wedding. He thought they should wait until the summer after they graduated, and she agreed. It would give them just over a year to organize it, which seemed about right. They didn't want anything too big or fancy but they also didn't want to rush and feel stressed out about organizing it.

When they got home Nicholas made love to her slowly. He kissed and stroked her in all of the places that drove her mad with desire and murmured tender words to her.

"You are my number one priority Gracie," he told her. "I am going to make sure you are the happiest wife on the face of the earth."

"Mm," she sighed. "Just so long as we are always together Kolya."

"Of course," he assured her. "We will always be together Grace. I will always look after you."

That's all she really cared about. Having a wedding to plan was exciting and wearing his ring was special and romantic but all she really wanted was to spend her life with Nicholas. So long as she knew that was her future she was happy.