chapter twenty-five
chapter list
chapter twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-Six
“Yes, Kevin. I’d love to marry you.” He hugged me. Soon, we were both crying. I don’t really remember when, but our crying turned to making love.
When I woke up, the sun was already shining. My watch said it was 8 am. Kevin was still sleeping. I looked down at my hand. In all of the excitement, I hadn’t really looked at my ring.
I was shocked to see what it actually looked like. Kevin had obviously been paying attention to me when we were shopping together one time in Germany. We had seen this ring before when we were at a small store. He must have been planning on asking me for a while. I almost cried just thinking about that.
I knew he would be a good husband. He takes care of me, Hailey loves him, and he loves her.
“Good morning.” I turned to see him slowly waking up. He had a sleepy grin on his face.
“How long have you had this?” I held up my hand to show my ring.
“I bought it the same day we looked at it. I knew then that I wanted to ask you.”
I smiled. It was hard to remember when I had been so happy. “What do you think Nick will say about this? Do you think he’ll let me take Hailey?”
“I know he will. He’ll be happy for us.”
“You talked to him about it already, didn’t you?”
He laughed. “Yep.”
“That little liar. He told me he didn’t know where you were taking me.”
“He didn’t know where. He just knew why. By the way, I don’t think you have room to call him little, Shorty.”
“Hey!” He grabbed me and started tickling me.
“You better watch it. I haven’t used the bathroom yet.” He let go of me quickly and moved over. I laughed at him.
“Come on. Let’s go. We have to tell everyone. I need to call my family.”
~<3~<3~<3~
It hadn’t even been a week since he had asked me to marry him and we were already having problems planning the wedding. We both have large families, and in this business there are a lot of people that Kevin works with who we would also have to invite.
“If we have it in Kentucky, we have to fly your family down. If we have it in Indiana, we have to fly my family up. If we have it in Florida, we have to fly everyone down, but they can have fun at Disney and stuff. Any way that we do it, we spend a fortune.”
I thought about it for a second and smiled. He looked a little nervous. “Uh, oh. From the look on your face, I assume you have your own idea.”
“Let’s do it now. No one knows about it yet. Just you, me, and Nick. We could get the guys and Hailey. We could fly somewhere and do it.”
“Now?”
“Right now.”
“Really? You don’t mind not having a big wedding with all of your family?”
“I always thought I would, but this is crazy. I want to marry you now. Instead of flying people all over the place, we can just call our closest family after the honeymoon and tell them we’re married.”
“You know our families will be pissed.”
“They’ll be more than pissed, but they’re not the ones getting married. We can have a small ceremony sometime if they want one.”
“True, very true. Let’s do it. Where do you want to go? Someplace small, big, city, country, cute and sweet, exotic and fun?” It was cute to see how excited he was getting.
“Well, what do you want?” Kevin got an embarrassed smile at my question. “What is it?”
“Actually, I’ve always thought about Vegas, some cheesy chapel with the Elvis impersonators. You’re old enough to gamble now too.”
“Ok, Vegas it is, but no Elvis at our wedding.” Kevin smiled. “Should we tell Nick, Brian, Howie, and AJ or should we just go and do it?”
“They’d kill us if we didn’t.”
“You’re right. Let’s go tell them. We have two weeks to get married, have a honeymoon, and move Hailey and I into your house.”
~<3~<3~<3~
“Married? In two days?” Brian was the one talking, but AJ and Howie had the same shocked expression.
“Yeah, Bri. You’ve asked ten times now. YES, married in two days.” Kevin was getting frustrated.
“You know, Kev. You’re mom’s gonna kill you for not inviting her.”
“She’ll get over it. So, can we count on the four of you to come with us?” Brian looked at Nick, Howie, and AJ.
“Name the time and place. We’ll be there, or at least I wouldn’t miss it.” They looked to AJ, Howie, and Nick. The three of them nodded too.
“Saturday. Las Vegas.”
~<3~<3~<3~
“Ok, Kevin. We’re in Las Vegas. Tomorrow’s the big day. This is your last chance to get out of this.” I looked nervously at Kevin.
“I wouldn’t change my mind for the world.”
“Thank God. Well, goodnight hon. We can’t see each other until the wedding tomorrow, so I love you. Goodbye.”
“I love you too.” He kissed me goodnight and watched me leave the room.
I walked to the room I was sharing with Brian. AJ, Nick, Howie, and Brian had an intricate plan to keep Kevin and I apart until the wedding although neither of us were fighting it. Nick was sharing a room with Kevin. AJ, Howie, and Hailey were sharing a room, which was between Kevin’s and mine. Hailey insisted on sleeping with Uncle Howie and Uncle AJ.
~<3~<3~<3~
“Nikki! If you don’t stop fidgeting and go to sleep, I’m going to drug you.” Brian glared at me from across the room.
“Brian, I’m getting married tomorrow. Married! Do you know how big this is? Marriage is a huge thing. It’s one of those things you start thinking about when you’re little, but you never actually think about actually doing it. Old people get married. Am I really old enough to get married? I’m 21 years old. I love Kevin to death. Hailey loves him. Why am I doing this? I know I want to marry him. Damn…”
Brian sat up in his bed and looked at me. “What is it?”
“I’m rambling like a fool.”
Brian laughed and walked over to sit on my bed. “I’ve always told you that.” I hit him with my pillow. “I’m just playing. I would probably be doing this same thing. It’s only natural. It is a big thing. Everyone gets cold feet. You’ll feel a lot better when you walk down that aisle and see Kevin waiting for you. Of course, you’ll also see my beautiful face and wonder why you’re marrying my cousin.” He batted his eyes and smiled widely.
I rolled my eyes. “You’re pathetic.”
“That’s why you love me. Goodnight, sweetheart.” He kissed me on the forehead and went back to his bed.
I laid down and fell into a dreamless sleep.
chapter twenty-five
chapter list
chapter twenty-seven
