21
Istared at myself in the mirror, wearing the tuxedo Amaya had picked out for me. I had seen myself in it before, of course, in the hurried fitting earlier in the week, but I felt as though I was looking at myself in it for the very first time. I stared at myself in the mirror for a long moment and pressed my lips together. Why the fuck was I even nervous? I had done this all before with Amaya. And yet, here I was on my wedding day, scared a little bit shitless.
There was a knock at the door, and I spun around at once. In my head, I was sure that somehow this was all going to go wrong, that Amaya was going to back out of it before I got her up the aisle, that the speed this had all happened was going to scare her off in the end. Instead, my lawyer entered, and I rolled my eyes.
“What is it?” I demanded. He stood there in the door wringing his hands with a panicked look on his face and wearing a slightly rumpled suit.
“I just wanted to let you know there’s still time to get a prenup if you want one,” he told me, for what had to be the tenth time that day. I marched up to him and grabbed him by the shoulders, looking firmly into his eyes and enunciating my words as clearly as I could.
“I don’t want a prenup,” I told him. “And I’m about to walk out to my wedding, so if you could give me a minute’s peace, I would appreciate it. All right?”
“All right,” he muttered, and he scuffed his foot on the ground. “I’m sorry. I just wanted to be sure. This was all so sudden, and—”
“And I know what I want. I don’t need you second-guessing that for me,” I told him firmly. He backed out of the room, and I made a mental note to get a new lawyer as soon as I could. I didn’t need someone who was going to be questioning my choices every chance he got.
I turned back to the mirror and adjusted my tie before another knock came at the door. This time, it was my father who walked in. He was wearing a pale blue suit and a heavy tan and had only just made it back in time for the wedding. But I was still glad to have him here and was impressed he hadn’t tried to wriggle out of this once and for all.
“Kristo.” He gave me a big hug. “I can’t believe you’re actually doing this.”
“Me neither,” I confessed. “I’m glad you’re here, Dad.”
“Me too,” he replied. “Sorry I was such an ass about it before. I was just worried, you know. Thought after all my marriages, I was going to be a curse on this one.”
“You couldn’t possibly,” I assured him, and I glanced at my watch. “Oh no. I have to be out there in five minutes. Come on, let’s find Cleo and get going.”
We headed upstairs to the room Cleo had taken over to get herself ready. I pushed the door open and found my sister in an embrace with Darla. The two of them were kissing, but they leaped apart as soon as I cleared my throat.
“Come on, you two.” I laughed. “I know you can’t keep your hands off each other, but we have jobs to do, okay?”
“Fine,” Cleo muttered, glancing down at the ground and going red. She had insisted on a suit of her own, and I had to admit, it had been the right choice. She looked good in a well-cut navy-blue suit with a cravat tucked into the shirt at the top.
“You’re ready to go?” I asked, and she nodded. Darla squeezed her hand and smiled at her.
“Good luck,” she told Cleo, and she nodded to me. “And to you too.”
“Hopefully, I won’t need it,” I replied, and I glanced at my watch again. “Come on, let’s get out there. I want to get this on the road.”
We made our way downstairs together and headed out into the garden where the ceremony was taking place. I had to admit, they had really pulled it together, considering this wedding had been thrown together over the course of one day. My nonna’s garden looked incredible, and almost the entire family was here aside from a few distant cousins who couldn’t make it at the short notice. Nonna turned around in her seat when she heard us coming out, and she clapped her hands together with glee when she saw us approaching. I couldn’t help smiling when I saw how happy she was. I started to relax. This was what I’d wanted all along, to remember getting married to the woman of my dreams. We were going to be bonded together once and for all, and I was never going to forget this day.
Cleo took her place beside me under the beautiful arch that had been erected especially for the day. It was white and made of delicately-intertwined metal with flowers and vines weaving in and out of the structure. I turned and glanced over the crowd, arranged on those white lawn chairs we had ordered in bulk. Daisies were lining the aisle in large vases, and the air was cool and crisp, the sun just warm enough. It couldn’t have been more perfect.
The harpist we had hired began to play, and my heart leaped up into my mouth. Holy shit, here it was. After all this planning, it was actually happening, the wedding I had been dreaming of all this time. Jolene came out of the house first in her chair. She had insisted on wheeling herself down the aisle, and she made her way slowly but surely, a huge grin on her face as she scattered the flowers ahead of her. Daisies, of course. I could smell them from here, the bright, fresh scent, and it reminded me of Amaya, the woman who was just about to become my lawfully wedded wife.
Darla, who had stepped in last-minute as a bridesmaid, followed her a minute later. She was wearing a dress in a delicate mint shade, and I could feel Cleo shift next to me when she emerged from the house.
“Easy, tiger,” I murmured to her, and she nudged me playfully and straightened up again. I had a smile on my face, and I was beginning to relax. Then, I saw my bride walking toward me down the aisle, and I could hardly keep the tension out of my body.
She looked incredible. No doubt about that. She’d told me she had only really looked at one dress, and I could see why. She looked unbelievable in it. It was cut to just below her knees, a flowing skirt that faded from cream to a pale blue color. The bodice hugged her body perfectly, and she was wearing the sweetest veil that covered her face as she made her way toward me. Even through the fabric, I could see the huge smile on her face, as though she couldn’t believe this was really happening. I knew exactly how she felt.
It seemed like it took her a lifetime to get down that aisle to me, but I would have waited forever if it meant she would finally reach me at the end of it. I couldn’t take my eyes off her, and it felt as though the entire world had come grinding to a halt around us as she approached, moving slowly but surely in my direction. To our future together. I could have sworn I saw the smallest hint of a bump under her dress, but that might have been just my imagination. Just wishful thinking, my brain filling in the gaps where I knew she was pregnant.
She finally joined me under the arch, and I reached over and slowly guided her veil back. I had to catch my breath when I looked into her eyes for the first time. She was incredible, even more than she normally was. Her eyes were outlined in a beautiful pale blue liner that matched the color of her dress, and there were a few flowers in the bouquet she was holding that were the same shade. So much thought had been put into every detail of this moment, of this second, and I appreciated every single one of them.
As I stood there, looking down at her, at the woman I loved so much, it made my very heart ache, I couldn’t help wondering if I had felt this way the first time I’d married her. I couldn’t remember a second of it, but it didn’t matter. I knew right then that I must have felt just this way. This calm, peaceful knowledge that she was the one I was destined to spend my entire life with. Even though I had only known her a few hours the first time I’d asked her to marry me, I must have known it then, the truth—that I was going to spend my life with her, we were going to raise a family together, and all of this was destined, written in the stars that night in the Vegas sky above us. I took her face in my hands and looked deeply into her eyes.
For a moment, I was so overwhelmed, I wanted to yell at the top of my lungs just to get the emotion out. How many times had I told myself I would never be in this place? Love didn’t last, and marriage didn’t work. I had convinced myself of it so fully that at the start, I’d believed even Amaya couldn’t change that. Now that she was here standing before me, gazing up at me with her face so full of love, it made my entire body ache for her, it was as though it should have been obvious all along. I wanted to lean down and kiss her for the last time before we were wed, but the officiant cleared her throat, and I glanced around. Amaya giggled as though she, like me, had forgotten there were actually other people here. It felt like the whole world had dropped away as I looked into her eyes.
“Are you ready to begin?” the woman asked, and I nodded.
“If you are.” I glanced at Amaya, and she nodded, the smile so wide on her face, it looked set to split it in two. I grinned back to Cleo. She was nearly tearing up. I would for sure tease her about that as soon as I got the chance later. But for now, I was ready to get married to the woman who I’d always been destined to be with. The woman I hadn’t even known I had been waiting for.
“Then we’ll get started.” The officiant nodded, and I took Amaya’s hands in mine and squeezed tightly. She squeezed back like she was never going to let me go.