“I know, she told me. Why the rush?”
“I gotta tell you it doesn’t seemed rushed on this end.”
“You better be good to her, Karl Shaw Thorne or I’ll kick your ass and I don’t give a flying fuck if you are my boss,” she says patting me on the cheek a bit harder than necessary.
“I’d sooner die, Tracy. Be assured of that.”
“I don’t think it will come to that,” she says laughing.
Finally, we take our leave. I take her out for a long lunch. There we discuss what kind of wedding she’d like.
“I really want a big one, with a white dress, a church, the whole nine yards,” she says practically gushing.
“Really?” I ask because that sounds nothing like her.
“No. Not at all. I just want to be your wife. I understand if we need to do it for business reasons, but honestly the courthouse is fine with me,” she says.
“Fuck business reasons. At the end of the day as long as I am your husband, I don’t care if there is anyone else there or not.”
“So, what should we do?”
“Ohio is the closest state without a waiting period, we could go there Monday.”
“You want to get married on Monday in Ohio?”
“Or wait until Wednesday here,”
“I think Wednesday would be fine. I want my grandparents there for sure. I don’t know if my parents would be able to get back here in time. What about your parents?”
“I am sure they’d come. Florida isn’t as far as Egypt.”
“What if they don’t like me?”
“I already know my mother likes you,” I tell her.
“You told your mom about me?”
“Yeah. Of course, I say shrugging. I also told my best friends, but Henry has had his hands full. He’s met his forever about three months ago and according to the text I got from Kobe this morning, he met his one three days ago.”
“Wow. That’s amazing. You guys all finding your loves so close together.”
“That’s not exactly true for us, baby. It’s been 377 days since I first laid on you. I found my heart that day.
“Aren’t you just the sweetest?”
“I try.”
“Ok so we’re getting married in five whole days. What could go wrong?” she says giggling.
“Even if everything goes wrong as long as we get married it won’t matter,” I tell her.
“Well, that’s one way of looking at it.”
“It’s the only way to look at it.”
“I am so happy right now,” she says laughing.
“As am I,” I say standing and helping her to her feet. I kiss her and we leave the restaurant.
“Come. Let’s go home. Your things should be arriving soon,” I tell her.
“Home,” she says grinning.
In five short days, she’ll finally be my wife. I feel like I have waited forever for this, but as I’ve said before and I am sure I will say again, she was worth the wait.
Nina
Five days? What the fuck was I thinking agreeing to that? I have been running around like a headless chicken. My grandmother and future mother in law, Jessica, have been helping but even with the event planners doing most of the work, I am still feeling overwhelmed. Jessica has been so nice and accommodating. Karl Senior, on the other hand, hasn’t warmed up to me yet. My dress was the first thing I got. It’s ecru, my absolute favorite color, and it has long sleeves, but it’s knee length. It’s so freaking cute, and I’ll definitely be able to wear it again. The first thing I noticed in the house was that he had the walls painted ecru for me. I mean, who does that? I know it’s just white, but I can tell the difference and I think that it’s sweet that he did that for me.
But the day is finally here, and all the nerves and anxiousness suddenly slip away when I see Karl standing at the end of the makeshift aisle. His parents’ house, which is freaking huge, is where we decided to have this outdoor wedding in November… in Upstate New York… I am freezing, but a little frost bite won’t hurt right? My parents were able to make her. They arrived last night, and my dad is walking me down the aisle to my future. When I get to him, he kisses me like no one else is in the room. I feel like my face is on fire, but twenty minutes and some very unconventional vows later, I am his wife.
After the reception, we leave for our three-week honeymoon in Greece. I’m so freaking excited, but that doesn’t stop me from falling asleep on the plane within minutes of takeoff. The cool first-class pods are spacious and futuristic. I feel like everything has been go, go, go since the minute I turned eighteen. In Greece, we get to hit the reset button and slow it down. After three weeks of crazy sex, beaches and amazing food, I almost don’t want to go home, but I know we have to. I have to figure out what I want to do now, and Karl needs to get back to work.