by Anthology
I squeezed Chloe’s hand, knowing we had it covered, but Chris beat me to an explanation.
"Actually, in Colorado, as long as you have your marriage license, anyone can marry you."
"I insist on having the honor," Kirk said with his hand raised straight in the air like we were in grade school.
"Okay," Chloe agreed, laughing. She dropped my hand and leaned forward to give Kirk a hug.
"Girl, we are going to get you looking fabulous for your big day. No matter that we’re stuck in an airport in the middle of a snowstorm." Kirk appeared confident that the words he spoke were truth.
Until he mentioned the weather, I hadn’t thought to look outside. I was a little preoccupied with marrying the love of my life to worry about it. I spared a glance at the windows and saw that the snow was still coming down at a rapid pace. Unlike yesterday, at least the sun had managed to make an appearance, filtering in through the storm in places.
"This is going to be so much fun!" Ellie said.
"We have to figure out what you’re going to wear and decorate a little. What about a wedding cake?" Frankie said, eyes wide.
Kirk clapped his hands together loudly. "Girls, we need to start scrounging around this airport to see what we can find."
"Wait! I know what you can wear!" Ellie said. "We just went to one of those white parties and I have the dress packed in my luggage. We look about the same size. You’re welcome to wear it, if you like."
"That would be wonderful if I could try it on," Chloe responded. I hadn’t given any thought as to what she’d wear. All that shit was semantics as far as I was concerned. She could show up in her yoga pants and one of the tacky tourist T-shirts from the gift shop for all I cared.
There was so much excitement in Chloe’s face. I loved that she was as thrilled as I was about becoming husband and wife.
"Wait. You two shouldn’t be seeing each other on your wedding day. It’s bad luck," Kirk said, sounding exasperated.
"I think we had our fair share of bad luck before we got engaged," I said and wrapped my arm around my girl. I pulled her to my side, kissing the top of her head.
"True story." Chloe stood up on her tippy-toes to kiss me.
"Well, that may be the case, but I don’t think it’s proper that you see the bride again until it’s time for the ceremony," Kirk said. "Max, you go hang out with Mason and Calder. Chris, I could use your help since you know the lay of the land around here."
"Sure thing. Put me to work," Chris said.
"All right, boys. Make yourself scarce." Kirk shooed us away like we were a bunch of annoyances he didn’t have time for. "Leave me with my queens and we’ll make a kingdom of this place yet." He put his hands on his hips and surveyed the airport. I didn’t have to see inside his head to know that he was busy making plans.
I turned to my bride-to-be. "Well, I guess this is where we part. You sure you’re ready to become Mrs. Richfield?"
Chloe placed her delicate hand on my cheek. "I’ve never been more ready for anything in my life."
"Good answer." I leaned down and—to hell with everyone watching—kissed my soon-to-be wife with everything I had.
When we pulled away from each other, Chloe’s face was flushed and her lids had that droopy quality I loved because it meant she wanted me as much as I wanted her.
"I’ll see you at midnight." I reached for her hand and squeezed it.
"Wouldn’t miss it for anything."
With that, Kirk and the girls dragged her away, all talking a mile a minute about their ideas for the wedding.
Mason approached and patted me on the shoulder. "Well, you either did us a favor by giving us the day to ourselves, or Calder and I will be paying the price for months to come listening to non-stop wedding talk. I’d put my money on the latter."
I laughed. He was probably right, but I couldn’t find it in me to care.
Chapter Five
Chloe
While Max and the guys headed in the other direction, Kirk led the ladies, Chris, and myself over to the small gift shop. He was a man on a mission and had clearly taken his role as pseudo wedding coordinator to heart, which only endeared him to me further.
"We’ve got a lot of work to do in a short amount of time," he said after we’d all huddled around him. "I think the best way to accomplish everything is to assign everyone a job and to get cracking."
His tone brooked no argument and we all nodded our agreement. He pointed at Ellie and me. "First thing we need to do is see if that dress fits. You two go try it on and report back." He swung his hand in the other direction to point at Frankie. "You can’t have a wedding without some kind of catering. You hunt down what sort of food we have available. Check the restaurant, too. The power is on, so if they have enough ingredients, maybe we can fire up the equipment and make something."
"What do you need me to do?" Chris asked eagerly.
"See if you can track down any booze. Lord knows there’s nothing worse than a dry wedding." Kirk rolled his eyes as if there were no greater insult to the institution of marriage than sobriety.
Chris nodded. "I think the restaurant might use wine for some of their dishes. It’s probably locked up, but I’m sure I can find a key for it somewhere."
"Perfect." Kirk clapped his hands together. When everyone stood there for a moment without moving, Kirk put his hands up in front of him in a shooing motion. "Go, people, go! We have work to do."
We all shimmied out of there, and I followed Ellie to her luggage so she could grab the dress.
"He sure means business, doesn’t he?" she said with a laugh.
"He does. To be honest, I don’t need all this fanfare, but he seems so into it, I don’t have the heart to tell him."
Ellie leaned down to unzip her suitcase and pushed some items to the side, trying to find the dress in question. It was one of those garment bags that allowed you to hang up your outfits. She looked up to me with a wistful smile. "I think it’s so romantic what you’re doing."
"Thanks." I smiled. "When Max asked me last night, at first I thought he was crazy. We’re supposed to be married in the spring at his family home here in Aspen, and we’ve already done so much prep for everything."
Still rummaging through her suitcase, she asked, "Are you still going to go through with that wedding?"
"Yeah. We aren’t going to tell anyone about what we’re doing here today. Do you think that’ll be an issue for anyone…keeping it a secret?" I sucked my bottom lip in, anticipating her answer.
She shook her head. "Nah, Mason has a huge disdain for the press, and I’m sure Calder and Frankie are probably the same." She pushed her hand all the way to the back and pulled out what I assumed was the dress as it was covered in its own black garment bag. "Ah-ha! Got it!"
Ellie stood and unzipped the bag so I was able to see most of the dress. "If it’s not your style and you don’t like it, just say so. You won’t hurt my feelings."
"It’s beautiful. I’d love to wear this."
Ellie smiled widely. "Yay! Let’s go try it on and see if it fits then. I’ll grab the shoes. What size are you?" She bent down and unzipped a different suitcase.
"Seven and a half."
"I’m an eight, so these might work." She pulled out a pair of silver strappy heels adorned with crystals.
"Those are gorgeous." I reached for the shoes to inspect them closer. "Are you sure you don’t mind?"
"Are you kidding me? I’d be honored!"
I felt giddy and anticipation thrummed in my stomach.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go try these on."
The two of us were brimming with excitement as we headed toward the bathroom.
"Do you know Calder and Frankie well?" I asked.
She shook her head. "This is the first time we’ve met them. I mean, I know who they are obviously. Who in the world doesn’t? But we’d never met them before."
I nodded. I wasn’t sure why, but for some reason I’d assumed they already kn
ew each other. I suppose it was because they were all famous and lived in Los Angeles. "I don’t think Max and I have anything to worry about as far as Kirk saying something."
Ellie pushed the door to the bathroom open. "I agree. And Chris seems like a really nice man, so I’m sure if you explained why you don’t want anyone finding out, he’d keep it to himself."
"Okay, let’s cross our fingers that this all fits," I said, reaching for the dress.
"Eeek. I can’t wait to see it on you." She held the stall door open for me while I hung the dress on the hook. "If you need any help zipping it up, just holler."
I nodded, closed the door and locked it. I pulled my yoga pants and T-shirt off as fast as possible, eager to see the pretty gown on my body. When I stepped into the dress and pulled it up over my shoulders, I knew right away that I’d be disappointed if it didn’t fit me.
It was a V-neck that showed the perfect amount of cleavage to be alluring and still remain classy. It tucked in at the waist and seemed to drape perfectly over my hips, falling to the ground, mermaid-style. The entire dress had a lace overlay with beading that was a work of art, in and of itself. In short, it was breathtaking. I only hoped that Max would think I was breathtaking in it.
"I can’t believe it fits so perfectly," I said as I exited the stall.
Ellie gasped when she saw me and brought her hands up to cover her mouth. "It looks stunning on you." She moved around to the back of me. "Here, let me zip it all the way up for you." She tugged on the zipper and brought it up to the middle of my back where the fabric ended.
I spun to face her. "You like?" I asked, hands out to my side.
"Like? I’m just happy I saw you wearing it after I did, otherwise I never would have put it on. It looks so much better on you."
"Oh, shush," I said, though inside I was secretly delighted that she thought so. Not because I was competitive, but because it was my wedding day, and no woman wanted to feel like another girl would look prettier in her dress. "Can I try the shoes on?"
"Of course." She bent down to reach for the shoes and passed them over to me. "Here, let me help."
I pulled the dress up a bit so I was able to see my feet, and Ellie helped me into them. They were a little big, but they’d work.
"This is all going to be so perfect. I can’t wait until tonight."
"Me either," I said, turning to catch my reflection in the mirror. I wasn’t the bundle of nerves I’d always expected to be on my wedding day. No, I couldn’t wait to become Max’s wife. Midnight couldn’t get here fast enough.
Chapter Six
Chloe
Night had finally rolled around and I couldn’t have been happier. And not just because it meant I was only a few hours away from getting married. Kirk had kept me sequestered at the far end of the airport for most of the day, insisting that I didn’t see what everyone was working on for the ceremony until right before I was going to get ready.
When nine o’clock hit, I was permitted to check out what they’d cooked up. It was only Kirk and me. I had no idea where everyone else was or what they were doing.
When I approached the area they’d kept me away from, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
A small section of the airport had been transformed. They’d made a makeshift wedding aisle at one of the gates by decorating two rows of chairs that faced each other. In a true Aspen winter theme, they’d cut white paper into snowflakes and hung them all around, some of them even taped to the large glass windows looking out onto the tarmac. There were red rose petals strewn along the aisle—
"Wait, where did you get the rose petals?" I asked.
"One of the desks in the back office had a vase of roses on it. Dying, mind you, but not quite dead. We work with what we’re given." Kirk shrugged. My eyes widened. They stole them off someone’s desk?
"Chris assured me she’s on vacation this week, so they’d have been completely dead by the time she returned."
I guess I felt slightly better about it.
I looked away from Kirk to continue taking in my surroundings. They’d scavenged some of the holiday decorations from the rest of the airport and had peppered them throughout the area, even dragging one of the artificial trees to stand front and center at the end of the aisle so it would serve as a backdrop for the ceremony.
"Are these…?" I picked up one of the many wreaths that hung along the backs of the chairs. It looked like it was made from paper white roses, but I was sure it was—
"Coffee filters? Yep."
"How did you manage this?" I laughed.
"I’m a bit of a Pinterest whore." He shrugged. "What can I say?"
The standing desk the airport attendant would normally work from at the gate was covered with a couple of bottles of wine, some glasses, and a few plates of hors d’oeuvres.
"Apparently, Chris is quite the home chef. He whipped up a few things in the restaurant kitchen," Kirk said, nodding to the bite-size food.
I brought my hands up to cover my mouth. Tears pricked at the corner of my eyes. "I can’t believe you all went to this much trouble."
"So, did we do good?" Kirk asked in a hopeful voice.
I fought to keep the tears at bay. I was so touched by the efforts these virtual strangers put in to make this day special for Max and me.
"You did amazing," I whispered, overcome with emotion.
"Oh honey, don’t get misty on me," Kirk said, fanning his face with his hands and blinking rapidly.
I laughed and pulled him in for a hug. He squeezed me tight and then pushed me away by the upper arms. "Okay, we need to start getting you ready. The girls fished out some styling products from their bags and they’re waiting in the bathroom to start your hair."
"You really thought of everything." I smiled. "I can’t thank you enough."
"You can thank me by being ready on time. We’ve got a schedule to keep if we’re going do this thing at midnight."
I nodded, full of joy and anticipation. "All right. Let’s get me hitched!"
A couple of hours later, Ellie and Frankie were finished with my hair, having curled it and pinned the sides back in place for a soft look. I’d done my make-up, put the dress and shoes on, and now waited anxiously for the ceremony to begin.
I’d been left alone in the bathroom so everyone else could get ready. In truth, I was glad to have a moment alone to really let what was about to happen sink in. I wanted to be in the moment, to really feel all the emotions rather than let it go by in a blur.
Before leaving, Kirk had passed me a bouquet of ‘roses’ that he’d made from yet even more coffee filters. He wasn’t kidding about the Pinterest thing.
Since I had no father to speak of—and even if I did, he wouldn’t have been here to guide me down the aisle—Kirk said he’d come get me when it was time.
I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply, pressing my hands into my stomach in an attempt to squash the queasiness. Whether it was from nerves or anticipation, I couldn’t be sure.
A knock on the door startled me, and with one last look in the mirror, I made my way to the door. Kirk stood there with his elbow extended and a large smile on his face. "You look perfect."
"I don’t know about that, but it’ll have to do." I hooked my arm through his and we strode toward the far end of the airport. With every click of my heels on the floor below, the vice around my lungs seemed to squeeze even tighter. It wasn’t until we were close enough to see Max that every muscle in my body relaxed. The sight of him brought comfort to my soul. I knew it didn’t matter where we were wed, what I wore, or who was on the guest list, all that mattered was that we were committing ourselves to each other for a lifetime.
Max stood at the end of the aisle, a smile and a look of joy on his face, wearing a dark blue suit with a white shirt and matching blue tie. I recognized it as what he’d packed for the evening we were supposed to be having in California. Tonight was going to end up being so much better than anything I could have planned.
&nb
sp; His dark, wavy hair was perfectly styled as always, and his large frame called for me to embrace him. I was in awe that this man was going to be my husband. How did I get so lucky?
We stood at the end of the aisle gazing at one another for a moment before the sound of "Here Comes the Bride" cut into my thoughts. I blinked, surprised to have any music for the ceremony.
Kirk patted my hand and leaned into me. "I downloaded the wedding march on my phone," he whispered from one corner of his mouth. "We can’t have you walk down the aisle to silence. That would just be…awkward." He drew out the last word for dramatic effect.
"You really did think of everything."
"I try," he said and paused, his expression growing serious. "Ready to do this?"
"I couldn’t be more ready."
Chapter Seven
Max
I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. Chloe sailed down the aisle as if she were on a cloud, and my gaze continued to feast upon her beauty. Nothing about what she wore or how she carried herself would make you think that we’d haphazardly thrown this wedding together.
Chloe was the epitome of perfection…the way the dress hugged her trim waist, soft blonde curls pulled back to reveal those obsidian eyes of hers, just the right amount of make-up on her glowing face. She took my breath away.
And she was going to be my wife. My wife. I could scarcely believe it.
I smiled at her—a big, jaw-stretching smile that I hoped conveyed the amount of joy I felt inside.
All our witnesses were lined up in the aisle, and both Ellie and Frankie already had tears in their eyes as she passed by them.
By the time Chloe reached me, it felt as if an eternity had gone by before I was finally able to touch her. She left Kirk’s arm and passed her bouquet to Ellie, then Kirk moved to stand in front of the Christmas tree. She reached up and placed her small hand on my cheek. "You look so handsome," she said, rubbing my five o’clock shadow.