Chapter 18
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Tori
N o one gave us any grief over disappearing for a while. My makeup was a mess and my eyes were red, and Ava’s weren’t much better, but Marco had apparently come to our rescue again. He’d told everyone pre-wedding jitters got to everyone, and sometimes emotions ran amok.
When we came back inside, hand in hand and smiling even with muddy tear streaks on our faces, everything continued like normal.
Gail had asked us both if everything was okay, and she’d taken us at our word when we’d said yes.
Then we’d all gone through the motions of rehearsing the ceremony, and we’d both choked up all over again.
Yeah, it was just the rehearsal, but it was the first time we were running through it for real.
Even if tomorrow wasn’t going to be our legal wedding, it was going to be a whole lot more real than we’d planned.
All the dread was gone. All the regret. All the worry that I was making a massive mistake.
I was marrying Ava. For real. In less than twenty-four hours, we’d say “I do” and mean it . I couldn’t wait.
I didn’t have to wait long, either. The rehearsal and rehearsal dinner flew by. I was so exhausted, I slept harder than I’d expected, and then it was time for hair and makeup with my mom. She and I went to the salon, then to the venue to get dressed, and before I knew it…
“Just a little farther.” Marco carefully guided me backward down the flagstone path. “It’s kind of uneven right here.”
I looked down, and with his help, made it over the slightly uneven ground. It was a challenge in these heels and this dress, but I trusted him not to steer me wrong.
“And… stop.”
I did, and he smiled at me. “You ready?”
I couldn’t help beaming as I nodded. He handed me my bouquet, winked, and stepped away.
Behind me, Gail asked, “You ready, kiddo?”
Ava’s voice was thick with emotion and taut with excitement. “I’m so ready!”
I had to swallow my own emotions. Deep breath. Behind me, Ava was doing the same.
“All right, ladies, stay just like that.” Mariah snapped a few shots.
Her second shooter did the same, and I stood there, smiling as my heart pounded beneath my dress.
I was dying to see Ava, but I waited as patiently as I could.
Everything from the rehearsal to this moment had been a blur of activity, but now time seemed to stand still.
I was seconds away from seeing the woman I loved in her wedding dress, and I was sure those seconds would kill me.
Finally, Mariah said, “Okay. On the count of three, you’re both going to turn around. Tori, you’ll turn to your left. Ava, to your right. So you’ll both face me before you face each other. Got it?”
“Got it,” we both said.
I took another deep breath.
“One…”
My heart pounded even harder.
“Two…”
Oh God, here we go, here we go…
“Three.”
I turned. Ava turned. And I…
Just… stared.
I barely even registered the dress at first. All I could think was, how had I ever doubted for a single second that I belonged with anyone but this amazing woman?
Ava’s smile was huge, and the way her brown eyes welled up made my throat tight. The cameras were snapping all around us, and I was grateful because I wanted this moment frozen forever. I didn’t imagine I could ever forget it, but I still wanted the images to immortalize it.
“You look amazing,” she murmured, letting her gaze drift up and down. My whole body tingled; I hoped it never stopped being novel, seeing the desire in her eyes as she looked at me. Or feeling this incredible desire when I looked at her.
And the fact that she was wearing a wedding dress blew my mind. She was gorgeous, of course. The dress was white and simple—nothing shimmery or poofy or over-the-top. It was just so… her. Exactly what I would’ve expected her to wear when she got married.
I’d just never imagined she’d be wearing it to marry me .
Our eyes locked, and we both stared for a moment. I wondered if she was as stunned as I was, taking in the reality that we’d made it to this. That we’d come stumbling into it and realized it was exactly where we needed to be.
She stepped closer, cupped my neck in her free hand, and pressed the softest, sweetest kiss to my lips. I wrapped my arm around her, struggling not to break into a smile against her lips as cameras clicked and people “aww’ed” all around us.
When Ava drew back, her eyes were the most beautiful things I’d ever seen. So full of love and fixed right on me.
“I love you,” I whispered.
“I love you, too,” she said. “Even if we were slow learners about it.”
That had us both laughing, and I was glad to still hear cameras clicking. I wanted these photos plastered all over our house, on the refrigerator, as my laptop background and phone lockscreen.
I could’ve stayed in this moment forever, but we were on a bit of a schedule, and there was another super important item on that agenda: the ceremony.
“Okay.” I squeezed Ava’s hand. “You ready to do this?”
“Absolutely.” She kissed me once more. “Let’s go get married!”
Our wedding ceremony was so much more than I’d thought it would be, and not just because this had only become a real wedding last night.
I was marrying Ava . The soulmate who’d been right in front of me all this time. Could this be any more perfect?
Obviously, yes—we wouldn’t have the dark cloud of Gail’s illness in the background. But she was happy today, and so were we, and I just hoped the music and joy of the occasion could drown out that incessantly ticking clock.
It seemed to, because everyone was all smiles as Ava and I walked down the aisle together. Gail was crying. My mom was crying. Ava and I were both sniffling and wiping our eyes. Even Marco was a little choked up when we stopped in front of him.
As we neared the front of the aisle, I stole a quick look at Gail.
She looked absolutely radiant in her dark green mother-of-the-bride dress.
Every time her gaze landed on Ava, I knew without a doubt we’d done the right thing.
Even if this had played out the way we’d planned in the beginning—even if the wedding had remained as fake as it was supposed to be—I no longer worried about any bad karma.
She’d dreamed of watched her daughter be a bride, and she was so over the moon about it, it was a wonder she didn’t burst.
We made it to the altar, stopped and put our bouquets aside so we could join hands.
Then Marco cleared his throat and started the ceremony. “We are gathered here today to witness the union of these lovely women.” He paused to swipe at his eyes. “And to give thanks to whoever invented waterproof makeup.”
That got everyone laughing, which helped us get a handle on some of the tears.
I barely heard him reciting the words we’d all agreed on.
I barely remembered to take my cues to say my own lines.
I was just too focused on the woman standing in front of me.
On her soft smile. On how beautiful she looked in that white dress.
On how much love was in her eyes, directed right at me.
How is this real? How?
It didn’t matter how—it was real, and by some miracle, the stars had aligned, and now Ava’s eyes were welling a little more with every line Marco spoke:
“…to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?”
Her voice shook, but she managed to say, loud and clear, “I do.”
I could barely breathe. She meant it. This was real.
“Victoria.” Marco turned to me. “Do you take Ava to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?”
I had never in my life been more sure of anything than I was in my answer: “I do.”
The way Ava’s chin quivered right then almost broke me. Her teary smile had me sniffling, which got us both laughing.
“We’re not done yet,” Marco said. “You two good to finish?”
“We’re good,” I said, wiping my eyes.
“Yeah, we’re good.” Ava laughed and brushed away some tears of her own.
“I should hope so,” Marco said, to the general amusement of our guests. “Especially since we’re almost to the good part.” He pulled a small box from inside his jacket, and when he opened the lid, the diamonds sparkled in the soft overhead light.
I had to fight hard against the lump in my throat. Every step made this feel more and more real. Now we were putting on wedding rings? Oh my God.
Yeah, we were. With unsteady hands, Ava and I slid her great-grandmothers’ rings onto each other’s fingers.
We were both sniffling messes as we recited that part of the ceremony—I wasn’t even sure I managed to articulate any of it, but I was pretty sure everyone got the message.
As long as Ava did, that was fine by me.
Marco folded the ceremony pages and put them in his pocket. “By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you— finally! —wife and wife.” He gestured at us. “Ladies—kiss your wife.”
We both laughed, and we did as we were told. As applause rose, echoing off the banquet hall’s walls and ceiling, I kissed the woman I’d loved longer than I’d realized.
I knew it wouldn’t be as simple as getting married and jumping into being wives.
It would take time. Our relationship was and probably always had been in some gray area between best friends and romantic soulmates, and making that shift into the latter would be an adjustment. We wouldn’t settle into it overnight.
I was confident we could do it, though. We were always infinitely patient with each other. We’d had enough fights to know neither of us fought dirty and that we could come back from even those intense arguments that scared me into thinking I was going to lose her forever.
We’d be fine.