He winked at me and smiled. “You know I wouldn’t offer to walk you down the aisle unless I was sure the guy was good enough for you. Come on, I think we both need this.”
I stepped out onto the porch just as the wedding march began and started down the aisle. I could hear the whispers of confusion, but prayed that everyone went along with our ruse. My hands were clammy and my legs were shaking, but one look at Robert standing under that tree and I knew everything would be fine. Real or not, I was walking toward the only man I would ever love.
Robert
“She looks amazing,” Will said beside me. “Too bad none of this is real.”
“Why the hell is Carter walking her down the aisle,” I said angrily.
“Man, you need to relax your face. You look like you’re about to murder her. That’s not very convincing that you love her.”
I focused on Anna so that I didn’t express my clear hatred for Corduroy. She did look amazing. If only this was real. I would marry her in an instant if I thought she would go for it.
“Look at the size of her tits,” Will muttered. “Damn, I don’t remember them being that big.”
I jabbed him in the side and focused on my bride. No, that wasn’t right. I focused on Anna. We weren’t really getting married. None of this was real. I caught sight of Rebecca in the crowd and prayed she was buying all this. She had stopped me when I was walking out of the house. She seemed skeptical at first, but then congratulated me and took her seat. She was smiling now, so I hoped that meant that she bought all of this.
When Anna got to the end, Carter stood stoically beside her. “Robert.”
“Carter,” I said warily, wondering if he was about to start a fight. Instead, he held out his hand for me to shake.
“I can’t think of a better man for Anna.”
I took his hand and shook it. “Thank you.”
“Make sure you earn her love every day,” he said seriously.
“I will.”
He leaned in and kissed Anna on the cheek. “You look beautiful. Congratulations.”
It was in that moment that I understood that Carter really did have feelings for her, very deep feelings. And I was the luckiest man alive because she was choosing me. Fake wedding or not, she was walking toward me. And then I was immediately disappointed as we turned to the minister and he winked at me. I would give my right arm for this to be my wedding day.
The minister walked us through the entire ceremony. Neither of us had any idea what was coming because we had missed the rehearsal. So when the minister smiled and said that we had asked to recite our own vows, I was a little taken off guard.
I laughed lightly and looked at Anna in panic, the same look she gave me. “Wow, talk about being caught off guard.”
Will leaned forward and whispered in my ear. “You shouldn’t be caught off guard, seeing as this is your wedding.”
I chuckled nervously and wiped the sweat from my forehead. I wasn’t used to not being prepared for something. I always had everything worked out to a T. Now, I had to come up with something on the spot.
I cleared my throat and looked down at our interlocked hands. “Anna, when I asked you to marry me, I never thought you would say yes. I mean, let’s face it, with our history, there was every chance you would throw a donut at me. This has all moved so fast and it’s been amazing. The sex is great-“
The minister gasped and I winced, but the crowd laughed at my faux pas. I cleared my throat again, feeling my face turn bright red, and tried to focus on continuing. Even if this wasn’t real, I wanted Anna to know how I really felt.
“You’re my best friend, and you always have been. Even all those years apart, I wished you were the one by my side to share in my great news and my failures. There will never be another woman like you, and I’m so damn lucky that I got you to marry me. I know that what we have is forever. I promise to continue to earn the love you’ve given me, and never forget what brought us together to begin with. I’m yours for the rest of my life.”