"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.