A Billionaire for Christmas

She leans into me. “OK.” Then she tilts her head up and her eyes catch mine. “I love you.”

“God, I love you too.” I place my hand on her cheek as I lean down to kiss her lips. “The thought of jumping out of a plane kinda terrifies me. But not because I’m afraid I’ll get hurt or die.” I look up at Sven. “This is safe, right? Because if my wife gets hurt, I will not let that go.”

“Very safe, Mr. Boston. I promise you. We have completed over five hundred tandem jumps over the past ten years with a perfect safety record. We will be with you the entire time and you’ll each have a headset to hear the captain of the plane as he recites the marriage rites.”

I point at Emma. “I knew captains could marry people.”

“Follow me and we’ll get you situated in your jumpsuits and gear.”

Once we change out of our pirate clothes and put on our jumpsuits, the crew goes over the tandem harness we’ll be strapped into. It would be better if Emma and I could be together for the jump, but apparently there’s rules about that and you have to take some kind of training course if you want to jump alone.

But the crew have assured us that they will maneuver us close enough to briefly hold hands and if we get the timing right, we can do that in the moment we say ‘I do.’ Then we’ll drift apart, the chutes will be released, and we’ll be back on the ground in about twenty seconds.

And actually, if you add up the whole thing from start to finish, we should be done by one thirty and if Jessica can find our charter, we could be back in Key West to open presents at midnight.

Not a bad way to spend twenty-four hours of your life.

Or your wedding day, for that matter.Once we’re in the plane, Sven gives us our helmet headsets and does a mic check to make sure we can all hear each other. We can. Sounds pretty crisp and clear, if you ask me. And even though skydiving would’ve been my last choice off the crazy Vegas wedding menu, I’m pretty excited about it.

Emma and I buckle into our jump seats near the door of the plane and hold hands. “Are you nervous?” I ask.

She sucks in a deep breath and nods. “I am. But it’s the good kind of nervous. Not wedding-day jitters.”

“Ha. We’ve been through this twice now. One more and we’ll overtake Miles in the wedding department.”

“Speaking of Miles, there has to be a way to contact him.”

“Well, there’s the map.”

“The crazy poker game map?” She rolls her eyes.

“I’m telling you, Emma. He told me a whole story about how he grew up in the Mob.”

“A story. That’s all it was.”

“Why would he lie to me about that? It makes no sense. And Fingers? This whole day was his idea.”

“I don’t know, but we did a thorough background check on him before I hired him.”

“I’m sure you did a thorough background check on me at one point too, right?”

“Not the point.”

“Totally the point! Anyway. I kinda remember the map. After this we can go see if we can find him. He’ll know what to do.”

“Everyone ready?” Sven asks, pulling on our harnesses to make sure we’re secure.

I’m not really sure I’m ready for this, but here we are. And if this is our only shot at a wedding today, it is what it is.

“Ready.” Emma answers for both of us.

Sven goes over the procedure as the plane begins to taxi. We’re gonna go up to cruising altitude, which is just about fourteen thousand feet. Then, as the plane gets into position, Emma and I will be clipped to the harness of Sven and his buddy, Blain. The ceremony starts in the helmet headsets, we all jump out, link up on the way down, hold hands for a few seconds, say “I do,” drop hands, parachutes release, land on the ground—presto. We’re married.

Who knew getting married in Vegas could be so hard? Hopefully third time’s a charm.

I look over at Emma, take her hand, and smile. “This is it, babe. It’s really gonna happen this time. For real. Nothing can go wrong.”

“Jesse. We’re in a plane and in ten minutes we’re going to jump out of it. Everything can go wrong.”

“Yeah, but… I was only talking about the wedding.”

She laughs and shakes her head. Then the plane takes off and we’re slammed into the hard backs of our jump seats. My heart starts to beat fast, but not so much because we’re about to skydive. We really are going to get married this time. This is it. Our moment when we pledge our love to each other forever.

As the plane climbs up into the sky I think back on those first few moments when we met back in Mallory Square. I never forgot her. OK, maybe I forgot her a little bit since I didn’t immediately recognize her when she was kidnapping me that night of the bachelor auction, but this girl has been in the back of my mind for over a decade. I always knew there was something wrong with me. Something missing. I just couldn’t put my finger on what it was until Emma took me on a dream date.