Page 17 of Unplanned Love

She nods her head.

“So, with me moving to LA, we can look for a bigger home. I love your place, but I want a place that we can call ours. You can rent your place out. But, I don't want us to do it half-assed. I want to know that this is forever.” I get out of the bed, kneel on one knee, and take out a small box from my jacket, which is laid on the chair. “Will you marry me, Lily? I love you more than anything and want to start our life in LA, together. Married.”

She goes to open her mouth, but I hold my finger over her lips. I smile at her. “I haven't finished yet.”

She laughs.

“How about we get married in Las Vegas. Today?” I look at her. “You can talk now.” I laugh nervously.

She opens her mouth and closes it a few times before she speaks. “Wow. That means in a period of twenty-four hours, I've gone from being in a relationship with an amazing man, being cheated on, meeting a man who wanted to take me somewhere private, being interrupted by my man, and then heard how what happened didn't happen as I thought it had. And now you want to marry me?”

She starts laughing, and I don't know if that is a good thing or not.

“Lily, are you okay? I'm getting cold down here.” I'm still on one knee.

She looks at me and puts her hand to her mouth. “You're serious, aren't you?”

“Yes, I am. I love you, Lily, and I don't want to spend another day without you being my wife.”

“You know I'm a wedding planner, right? That's what I do for a living. I've always dreamed of a big white wedding. And getting married in Las Vegas was not something I ever wanted to do.”

Fuck!

“But...”

I take a breath, waiting for her to continue.

“But, I've been to so many weddings and taken parts of my dreams and made them someone else’s.” She gets out of the bed and kneels on the floor in front of me. “Ask me again.”

I smile. “Lily, I love you and want to be with you forever. Will you marry me and make me the happiest man on this earth? The man that you will spend your life with. The man you can depend on no matter what situation you get into. The man who is looking forward to spending every day with you.”

“Yes, yes, yes.”

I slide the ring on her finger and kiss her, this time it's not light and gentle, it's hard and fast. I lift her up and swing her around. “Can we do it now? I don't want to waste another minute without being your husband.” I kiss her again.

“I don't have anything to wear.”

“No problem, there is a shop next door where we can get some clothes. Let's do this.”***

Six hours later, we're on the plane to LA. We're married. We've had sex multiple times as a married couple, and we've invited everyone to Lily's house tonight for dinner where we are going to tell them we got married in a drive-through chapel in Las Vegas, and Elvis was the man who married us. Corny, right? But it feels so right.

After landing, we go to Lily's place and get ready for dinner. We've ordered food in because there's not much time before everyone arrives. Jess and Rory are the first to arrive, followed by Alison with her date, Philip. We sit at the table, and Rory asks, “So, are you going to tell us what this is all about? I can see you found her in Vegas, and I'm assuming everything is good with you both.”

“Everything is fantastic. Yes, I found her. We talked.”

“Well, he did. He told me not to interrupt.” Everyone laughs.

“I explained what happened, and then we made up. But, hold up your glasses, I want to do a toast.”

Everyone holds their glass up, and I wink at Lily. “Here's to best friends and my gorgeous wife.” It takes a couple of seconds for that to sink in before everyone in the room is talking.

“What do you mean, wife? Did you get engaged? Show us the ring,” Alison says, grabbing Lily's hand. But what she sees is an engagement ring and a wedding ring.

Jess takes her hand too. “Oh my God, did you two really get married in Vegas? This is hilarious. I'm so happy for both of you.”

Rory shakes my hand, and then Philip does too. “Congratulations.”

“When you plan weddings for a living, you see so many plans go awry or problems, that it was the right thing for us to do. We are buying a property by the beach and can't wait to start our married life together with our friends.” She smiles up at me, and I know that I made the right decision. I love her so much.