Chapter 24
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Light shone brightly through the stained glass window of the tiny chapel as Mackenzie stared into the blue pools of Eli’s eyes that she could get drowned in for the rest of her life. He was standing across the small aisle from her wearing a black suit, crisp white shirt, and aqua tie that matched his eyes. His jaw was peppered with just enough five-o-clock shadow to make him look a little bad boy, and she didn’t think she’d ever been more in love with him.
She thought again about how funny time was. The past week had flown by in a blur. Eli had taken time off and stayed in Vegas with her. He’d been her and Theo’s assistant as they followed Gabe around. Last night at the fight, he’d even run their backup camera so they could have multiple shots.
They’d spent their downtime in bed and very little of that time had been sleeping. They’d made love, ate, watched TV, and talked. They’d mostly caught up on the past, filling one another in on things that they’d missed. They had a lot of time to make up for, but she knew that they were up for the challenge.
She still couldn’t believe that Eli had carried around the burden of the secret he’d had for so long. She asked why he hadn’t told her when she first arrived in Hope Falls and he’d explained that the reason was her father’s health. He said that he remembered how much it hurt her not to have her mom in her life and he just couldn’t be the one to destroy her relationship with her father. It just made her love him even more.
As they faced each other, gazing into each other’s eyes, Eli’s lips curved up in a smile as she stared up at him and her stomach did flips because it wasn’t just a grin, it was a promise. A promise of all the things he was going to do to her when they got back upstairs. They had one more night in Vegas and he’d promised to make it memorable. Her birthday was the next day and he said since she didn’t want to celebrate the next day, they would celebrate that day instead.
But first, they had something they needed to take care of.
“I now pronounce you husband and wife,” the minister said. “You may kiss the bride.”
Eli and Mackenzie lifted their hand and clapped as Lucky pulled Deanna into his arms. There were whistles from Lucky’s brothers. This morning she and Eli received urgent texts saying Deanna and Lucky were getting married. In Vegas. They’d invited his dad, brothers and their wives, who were in Vegas to support the fight.
“Are you gonna come up for air?” one of Lucky’s brothers shouted.
“We have another couple waiting.” The officiant shooed them all out of the room.
As they all filed out, Shelby, whom she’d spent a lot of time with this weekend, stepped beside her. She threaded her arm in Kenzie’s and leaned over and whispered, “Holy moly girl, I’m surprised that you two didn’t spontaneously combust from all the heat you were generating. I’m glad to see that the plan worked.”
“Plan?” Kenzie whispered back conspiratorially.
“I thought Deanna told…” Shelby pulled back and looked at Mackenzie before her expression went blank. “Never mind.”
“You thought Deanna told me what?”
“Nothing.” She smiled brightly.
“What plan?” Now that Kenzie’s curiosity was piqued she had to know.
Eli, was walking beside them and must’ve heard the conversation now that they were speaking at a normal volume. “I think she’s talking about the plan to have you stay in the cottages. Deanna had Shelby tell you that they only had one room so you’d have to stay with me.”
“Oh, that’s right.” Shelby pointed first to Eli and then to Kenzie as she explained, “Deanna said she told you, not you. Well, I’m glad it worked out. You guys are too cute,” she said sincerely before joining her husband who immediately pulled her into his arms.
Still confused, Kenzie turned toward Eli. “Wait, you knew Deanna did that?”
“She told me after you and I had already spent the night together. I didn’t tell you because things were…”
“Complicated,” she offered with a grin.
“Right.” He leaned down and kissed her forehead as he wrapped his arms around her. “Complicated.”
“So, what about the pipe? Was that her, too?” It wasn’t that she cared either way, in fact, she planned on giving her friend an extra special wedding present, as well as birthday and Christmas presents for the rest of her life as a thank you.
“Nope.” Eli pulled her closer. “That one wasn’t her. But she was happy about it when she found out.”
She wanted to stay just like this, in Eli’s arms forever, but she saw that the group was headed toward the restaurant down the street for the impromptu reception. “We should go.”
“Wait a minute,” Eli rasped in her ear as his hands spread across her lower back.
A flush rose up her chest and cheeks. She glanced around. They were tucked under an arch that was covered in ivy and twinkle lights just outside the chapel
“We’re in public!” She wasn’t saying no, she was just saying that they were in public.
“I like where your head is at, but that’s not what I had in mind.” He grinned down at her.
“What did you have in mind?”
He got on one knee and her heart started flapping like a fish out of water. When he pulled his grandmother’s ring out of his pocket, she almost passed out. Her breathing grew shallow and she was afraid that she might hyperventilate.
When he reached for her hand, she saw that his hand was shaking and for some reason seeing that vulnerability, calmed and centered her. She was focused on him. Nothing else existed.
“The last time I asked you to marry me, we were on my twin bed. We’d just had sex and you thought I was joking. When I took out the ring from my drawer, you asked me if I was serious. When I told you I wanted to spend my life with you, you asked if I was sure.
“I told you that I was sure. That I never wanted to spend a night without you in my bed and I never wanted to wake up to another morning without you next to me. I said that you were more than just my best friend, you were my life. That you were the sweetest, kindest, sexiest, smartest, and most beautiful girl in the world. And that I believed the reason I was on this earth was to make you happy, to protect you, and to take care of you. Love wasn’t a big enough word for what I felt for you and that I would be the luckiest guy in the world if you would let me spend the rest of my life doing that. Then I said Mackenzie Elise Sutton I love you, will you marry me, and you said ‘yes.’
“Do you remember that?” Eli asked as his thumb ran over her knuckles.
“Yes.” Silent tears poured down her face as she smiled.
“I want you to know that I still mean every single word of that today. I love you even more today than I did all those years ago. I love you more today than I did yesterday and even though I can’t imagine how it would be possible I’m sure I’ll love you even more tomorrow than I do today. So I’m hoping that this time I ask you, I’ll get the same answer that I did the first time.
“Mackenzie Elise Sutton, I love you, will you marry me?”
“Yes!” She sucked in a shaky breath as he slid the ring on her finger before standing up and wrapping his arms around her.
Her feet lifted off the ground as he hugged her tightly. She snaked her arms around him and buried her face in his neck. “I love you.”
“I love you so much. I can’t wait for you to be my wife.”
“I can’t wait for you to be my husband,” she gushed.
“Then let’s not wait. We’re here, we can—”
“Oh, um…” she lifted her head and he set her down.
“Don’t worry about it. Forget I said anything.” He ran his fingers through her hair. “I just got carried away. I didn’t want to spend another night without you as my wife.”
“It’s not that I don’t want to marry you right now,” she rushed to explain. “It’s just, Kenny wasn’t at my first wedding. And I just want him to be there. I don’t care about anything else. I don’t care about the dress. I don’t care about the church. In fact, I’d rather get married outside, in nature, Runaway-Bride style in the middle of the week. But I just want Kenny there.”
“Of course he should be there.” Eli leaned down and kissed her before resting his forehead against hers. “You probably just saved my life. I think my mom might actually kill me if she wasn’t at our wedding.”
Kenzie laughed, not because he was kidding, but because he was serious.
Eli was getting married, to her. The reality of that hit her as she stared down at the ring she’d only ever worn on the nights she’d snuck into Eli’s room because no one could know that they were engaged. It hit her then that she and Eli were going to get married. She was going to be Eli’s wife and he was going to be her husband.
As they walked into the restaurant and joined Deanna and Lucky’s reception, she started to regret shutting down Eli’s suggestion. She didn’t want to spend another second not being Eli Bishop’s wife.