Karen

Second Chances – Chapter 52 February 8, 2010

Several hours of being brushed, teased, sprayed, pinned, brushed, blended and sprayed again Beth was glad to get out of the chair to get dressed. Before putting on the gown, standing in her undergarments, she sprayed on her favorite perfume. Normally, she didn’t wear perfume when she worked, but this was special. Costumers came in to help her put on the dress.

First they had to tighten up the strings on her corset. It was the first real one she had ever worn and was surprised how tight it was even though she had worn it during the fittings, but it did the trick to cinch her waist to the smallest diameter possible and pushing her breasts up so that they were about to burst out the top. Finally, the dressers carefully lifted the massive gown over her head and down over her petticoats. Zippering up the gown, Beth moved so that she could see herself in the mirror. It was the first time she had seen everything on, the hair, the makeup and the gown and it was spectacular. As one of the dressers buttoned up the tiny buttons that ran up her back, Billy began to fasten the headpiece to her head.

When the professionals were satisfied with their work, all Beth could do was look at herself in the mirror. The off the shoulder gown clung to her like a second skin and she felt like she was a princess in such an amazing and expensive gown.

Billy stepping back said, “Here, the final touch,” and he lifted the veil over her face. “Now that’s perfection.” All Beth could do was try to take a deep breath despite the corset.

“Okay Beth, all I want is for you to go until we call ‘cut’. We’re going to run with it,” Harry told her as she stood with her arm wrapped around Sean’s, who was dressed in his formal black uniform. Beth thought every woman who saw him in it, would just swoon over him. The tailored uniform chiseled his body to extreme levels.

“Sure Harry. When ever you’re ready,” she replied. Harry ran off to the other side of the door, where the wedding guests were to make sure everything was perfect. She could hear the quartet warming up and the murmur from the extras and her fellow cast mates.

“Beth, you look incredible,” Sean finally said to her.

“Thank you. This thing is so heavy.”

“I bet. You nervous?”

“No more than I usually am on camera. You should have seen me before my wedding. I was practically vibrating with excited energy, but here I have to look cool and collected.”

“I saw Rob in wardrobe. He looked like a nervous wreck. He reminded me of my brother at his wedding.”

“Really, I wonder why?” Beth said to herself, out loud as she was handed her tight bouquet of white roses.

They could hear Harry checking the cameras and got the sound rolling and then Harry yelled out, “Okay everyone, we’re doing this in one shot, once shot. Keep going until we call ‘cut’. Cue music!” The music began to play, “Roll tape, and action!”

Beth saw the big wooden door open and the three bridesmaids exited. The door closed and Sean and Beth moved up to the door. Her dress was fluffed and Sean said his line, “Are you ready kid?”

Beth looked straight out, held her head high and took a deep breath. “I’ve been ready for this moment all my life,” she told her escort. With that, the massive door opened and the two began walking down the long white isle lined with smiling ‘guests’. Two-thirds up the isle, she saw Rob standing there, devouring her with his eyes. Right then, the cameras and the extras, everyone melted away. All that existed in her world at that moment was herself and the man dressed in an amazing black military style mess dress uniform in front of her. Beth couldn’t even feel her escort’s arm draped around hers.

Sean walked Beth up the two stairs to Rob and shook his hands and then placed Beth’s hand in ‘the captain’s’ where he helped her up the three remaining stairs to where an older ‘officer’ stood to marry them. The two stars couldn’t keep their eyes off each other.

Beth didn’t remember saying a word, but before she knew it, Rob had stepped towards her and lifted the veil that had been over her face for the whole ‘ceremony’. Gently, Rob took Beth’s face into his hands and kissed her as the crowd before them erupted with applause and cheers.

‘Oh, god! How could I do this to her? She’s so young and so beautiful. I can’t take that away form another woman, not again and not to her. But, oh, she feels so good in my arms, next to me, anywhere,’ flashed through Rob’s head as they walked towards the house with Beth on his arm.

“Cut!” Harry yelled. He ran over to the two. “Guys, that was great. All I need from you two tonight is some stills and you can call it a night.”

Beth and Rob nodded as Harry walked away to get the hair and make up over for touch ups. They walked inside the house for a moment. Overtaken by the moment, Beth still holding onto Rob’s arm pushed him against the wall and kissed him passionately. Rob, a bit surprised by her spontaneity, brought one hand up to her beautiful face and stoked her jaw bone while the other hand held on the small of her back, holding her close to him.

When she finally stepped back a bit, Rob was still holding onto her.

“I’m sorry, I guess I got a little carried away with everything,” she told him as he continued to stroke her jaw.

“No need to apologize. You have got to be the most beautiful woman in the world,” Rob told her as he looked into her eyes.

“So you like it?” she asked referring to the gown. “I was nervous that you wouldn’t like it.”

“How could I not love it?”

Beth smiled. “So what did you want to talk to me about earlier? It sounded important.”

Rob froze. ‘I can’t tell her how I’m feeling. It wouldn’t be fair for her,’ he thought to himself. “Oh, I just wanted to see you, that’s all.”

“Okay,” she said unconvinced. “By the way, you look amazing. This uniform suits you, but you always look good,” she said. “It looks like Harry wants us for those pictures.” Beth began to walk away from him. “You coming?” she asked.

“In a moment,” he replied. Beth picked up her train of her gown and walked over to the makeup people, where they stood ready to fuss over her. ‘Oh, god. She is an angel. She deserves so much more than I could ever give her. It would kill me if I hurt her like I did Jane. Do I have the strength to give her the world? All that she deserves, her and those lovely children of hers? How could a woman so young be so capable of so much; mother, writer, actress, dancer, singer, friend and woman. So much beauty and grace, inner poise. It would be heaven to wake up every morning next to her and fall asleep with every night, spend the rest of my days with, but am I worthy of that kind of simple of pleasure after I destroyed one woman already? Even knowing my past, she still wants to be with me. Could she ever look at me the way she looked at her husband? What am I going to do?’ He watched her for another moment, admiring the woman he held only a few moments before. All he wanted was to swoop her into his arms and make love to her over and over again; trying only to give her the pleasure she deserved and shield her from the world full of pain and misery.

The photo shoot of the two of them was painful for Rob. Beth seemed so happy as she draped herself over him and let him spin her around and dance with her while the cameras snapped up their photos. He finally saw something in her face that seemed so familiar, her smile. She smiled the same way she did in her wedding photos with Joe, but this time she was smiling at him.

Chapter 53 (Check back Wends)