Epilogue Two
Six months later
Ace
"This whole thing is dumb," I hear Shelby say from the inside of the bridal suite. I can't help but laugh. "He's right outside."
"It's bad luck to see the groom before the wedding." I hear her mom try to reason with her.
"Well, I played by the rules the last time and look at what happened at that wedding," she huffs. "Move out of the way."
"Wait!" Clarabella yells. "At least let's do a first look."
"You have three minutes to set it up," Shelby says to them, and then I hear her call me. "Ace." I can hear the sound of rushing around going on behind the door.
"Yeah, baby," I say, putting my hands in the pockets of my suit pants before I fuck everything up and just open the door.
"I need you to count to one hundred and eighty." I put my head down and silently chuckle. "And then burst through this door."
"If you break that door," Presley warns, showing up from the other side. "I'm charging you guys triple." She shakes her head. "She's being unreasonable." She points at the door.
"I am not!" Shelby yells from the other side of the door. "How many seconds?"
Presley looks at me and rolls her lips, waiting for me to answer. "One hundred fifty."
"One fifty!” she yells from her side of the door, and I see the photographer rushing through the hallway and out the back door.
"Can you step away from the door?" Clarabella shouts. "For the love of God, come set yourself up so I can open the door."
"Fine," she huffs. "But you better hurry."
"The minute she got in her dress, she was like, I'm ready now." Presley shakes her head.
"She was ready this morning when I snuck out of the room." I look over at Presley, who glares at me.
"You guys are the worst." She shakes her head, and I shrug. If it was up to Shelby, she wanted to elope and not tell anyone. I didn't care what we did as long as I slipped that band on her finger. We could have done this in the middle of a tropical storm wearing snowsuits. "Is it ready?" Presley knocks on the door, and I take in her dress, which is very different than the first time. Everything is different since the only thing we said mattered was that there was to be no white. No white flowers, no white decorations, no white napkins. The deep red color in her dress matches the color of my bow tie. My suit is a midnight blue, something that Shelby mentioned she loves me in.
"We're ready." I hear Clarabella, and then Presley looks at me.
"Are you ready?" she asks with a smirk on her face. "She looks—"
"She looks beautiful." I finish the sentence for her. "Just like she does every day."
"Okay, you can stop with all that romance shit. I already feel like I'm going to throw up." She puts a hand to her stomach, and I take a deep inhale when she opens the door.
I step in, not seeing anything but the decorations that they have in the room. Gone are all the white things, and in their place is a red couch and four huge peach and red rose bouquets fill the room. "Stand there." Presley points at the middle of the room. "And turn facing the door." I do as I'm told, and then I hear Clarabella tell Shelby she can come in now.
The photographer is in front of me, and my palms get suddenly wet as the nerves set in. Not because I'm scared but because I can't wait to touch her. I can hear the click of her heels as she walks in the room, and I brace myself when I feel her behind me. "Don't turn around just yet," she says in a soft voice, and her hand moves down my back. She slips her arm around my waist, and I look down to see the color of her dress finally. A soft peach lace with a red sash around her waist. I put my hand on hers as she leans her forehead on my back. "I love you," she says, and I can tell from her tone she is crying. "I'm scared," she says in a whisper.
"Can I turn around now?" My heart is beating so hard in my chest. I look up at Clarabella, who wipes the tears from her eyes, and she nods at me.
I turn around, my eyes going straight to hers, and all I can do is smile at her. "Hi," I greet softly as she smiles at me. I look down at her, and I know in my heart this is one memory that we don't need pictures for because I will remember it forever. Her dress molds to her body. It's lace all the way down to her feet. The light beige underneath makes the peach just stick out. I lean in and kiss the tops of her bare shoulders. "You're stunning," I say as she does a slow circle, and I see that her back is bare, the lace molding to the sides of her in a V all the way to the little zipper I know I'll be pulling down sooner than later. I grab her face in my hands and kiss her lips softly, the clicking of the camera filling the room.
"Now, do you feel better?" Clarabella asks, and Shelby just flips her the bird. "I hope you caught that on camera."
"It's going to be my new screen saver," Presley says. "Why don't we give them a minute?" Everyone walks out of the room, leaving just the two of us.
"You look so handsome," she declares, looking up at me, and I grab her hand, pulling her to the couch where I sit down. She walks into the middle of my legs and sits on one of them while she puts her arm around my shoulder.
"Why are you scared?" I ask, and she just shrugs her shoulders.
"It's probably PTSD," she says with a sad smile.
"Hey." I put my hand under her chin. "It's you and me."
"I don't want to walk down the aisle to you," she finally says.
"So we don't do it." It's a no-brainer to me.
"Will you walk with me?" She looks at me, and I just smile.
"I will walk anywhere with you," I confirm, and she kisses me one more time before standing.
"Good, let's get married," she tells me, and all I can do is smile so big that my cheeks hurt. We walk out of the room, and she looks at her sisters. My arm wraps around her waist.
"We're walking down the aisle together," she states with a tone that makes it final.
We get into place behind the two wooden doors, and I look over at her as she carries her bouquet in one hand. It's filled with burgundy flowers and peach roses, green leaves sticking out of it everywhere. She slips her arm around my elbow and smiles up at me. "You know that the minute I put this dress on, I knew it was the one." Tears form in her eyes. "I saw myself today dancing with you in this dress from the minute I put it on." I look over at her, and the love that I felt for her before was nothing like what I feel for her right at this moment.
"I love you." That's the only thing I can say. "It's like this pressure on my chest from feeling so much." I lean down and kiss her soft lips. "Now, can we get this over with and make you mine?"
The doors open, and the song starts to play. "Never let me go," she says from beside me, and all I can do is laugh at her.
"I'll hold you forever." I kiss her one more time before taking a step. "You are forever mine to hold."
Dearest Love,
Another wedding season is behind us. Our very own Shelby finally tied the knot. She looked stunning. She and Ace were always meant to be.
It looks like Cupid is aiming his bow at Clarabella so much so that her boyfriend surprises us all by proposing at her thirtieth birthday party in front of a hundred people.
Looks like she is the next one to walk down the aisle, or is she? It seems a soft knock on the door is holding an eight-pound little secret, which I’m sure the groom doesn't want us to find out about.
XOXO
NM
Mine To Cherish
Clarabella
Did I want to get married today?
It's hard to say when he proposed in front of over a hundred people.
Everything happened so fast, and I thought it was just nerves.
It was not.
The knock on the door showed me that what I was feeling was more than just cold feet.
I was a runaway bride.
Luke
The whole town was busy attending her wedding.
She was the one I let get away when I told her our night together was a mistake and then left town.
So I planned to spend the weekend getting drunk.
When she ran out of the church looking for a hideout, I opened the car door for her.
My cabin has one bed, and my longing looks don't mix well.
Somehow, I have to keep my heart intact and her reputation together.
Maybe she was just mine to cherish.