tailgate, and for a minute I imagine her all in white, walking down the aisle toward me.
I take a breath and let it out, and it clouds in front of me in the chilly morning air.
“The day the show started you said that you wanted a real wedding, with the dress and the cake and the rings?”
She smiles. “Yes. But it’s okay. I wouldn’t have changed a thing.”
I reach into the pocket of my jeans. I sink to my knee in front of her. I open the velvet case. “But I would have.”
She gasps. “Luke . . . how did you . . . ?”
“You need a real engagement ring. A wedding. A dress. A honeymoon. You need all of it. And I’m going to give it to you, baby, the second this is all over and we get that money. I promise. From now on, all I’m going to do is live to make you happy. That’s all.”
“I am already so happy,” she breathes out. “The answer is already yes. Of course. Forever.”
She slips off the tailgate and pulls me up, easing into my arms, kissing me.
“Don’t you want to try on the ring?” I ask.
She looks at it again. “It never was about the ring. It’s pretty. You picked it out?”
“I had a little help,” I confess, taking it out of the box and sliding it onto her finger.
She wiggles it about a little, admiring it, then slips her hands around my neck and kisses me. “Thank you. It’s perfect. This makes it feel real. I can’t wait until I can wear it all the time.”
I kiss her goodbye. She gets into her car and waves at me through the windshield, the diamond glistening on her finger as she backs out of the driveway and disappears.
She’ll have to take that diamond off. For now, at least.
Six more weeks. Six more weeks. Six more weeks.
I feel better equipped to handle it now. To survive.
But I’ll still be on edge. I can’t wait until she can wear that diamond and never have to think about taking it off.
I can’t wait until the whole world knows she’s mine.
FINALE
Nell
Yes. I finally get to say it out loud. Luke and I won the first season of Million Dollar Marriage. I never would’ve believed it when we started. But we wound up making a good team.
—Nell’s Finale Interview, December 17
December 17
It’s finally time.
I’ve been sitting in a greenroom in the back of the studio with the other contestants for two hours, waiting for our chance to go on stage. Right now, the studio audience is being treated to the first hour of the two-hour finale, which is the final episode in Maui.
Luke is here, making his rounds and talking to just about everyone.
Only . . . not me.
Because though most of the contestants know it was Luke and I who won, no one—not the producers or even the contestants—knows what our answer will be. I was told when I arrived not to make our answer obvious.
He keeps looking at me, though. Giving me those intense eyes that shoot my temperature to the ceiling, his gaze possessive and heavy on me. And I’ve been my usual wallflower self, making friends with the crudités, full of nervous energy, but mostly, unable to take my eyes off him. He’s wearing a suit.
He. Is. Wearing. A. Suit.
And he looks like a million dollars.
My husband is damn hot. I’m drooling a little.
As I sit on the couch in the corner, someone tugs on my sleeve. I look up and see Shveta. “Congratulations,” she says, giving me a hug. “The buzz is that you won. Who would’ve thought?”
I smile. “Yes, thank you. Oh, gosh. I’m so nervous.”
“Me too. Though you have more of a reason to be. All the cameras are going to be on you and Luke.”
Yes, I suppose so. My stomach twists at the thought. But then I catch a look at Luke and—instant calm. His lips lift in a smile, and I swear I wish I could bottle the way he makes me feel. Sparks of excitement flicker down to my toes. In less than an hour, I can put on that ring that’s currently in my purse and never take it off again. I can kiss and hug and hold my husband and never have to hide it again.
I can be Mrs. Luke Cross. His wife. Forever.
At five to nine, they start to line us up to go out onto the stage. The butterflies in my