Page 9 of A Winter's Wedding

A woman walked from the set of double doors at the far side and made her way through the anticipating crowd, some still embracing while others danced to the soft ambient music playing throughout the ballroom. She handed over an envelope, but her smile gave it away before he opened the flap and retrieved the results.

He leaned into the mic, and it screeched. Backing off, he began. “Well, folks, it looks like you’ve done it!” He was forced to talk over the top of the cheering couples. “With a total of four thousand and two couples taking their vows simultaneously, Las Vegas has won it. Congratulations for being in the history books!”

America was overwhelmed from experiencing the shared joyous occasion and squeezed Leo’s hand in hers.

Margarete hung her arms over the back of America and Leo’s shoulders and nestled her head between theirs. “Congratulations, you two. I didn’t know you were getting married today.”

“Come again?” Leo bolted from his chair and left America’s hand floating in midair.

“I was surprised to see your names in the registry,” she kissed America’s cheeks. “I’m thrilled for you both. Simply thrilled.”

“I… I um, think you made a mistake. We’re getting married next week. Next Saturday. Not today.” America stumbled as her mind caught up.

Margarete’s face deflated. “Are you certain?”

“I’m pretty sure our wedding is next week on the other side of the country. Not here,” Leo said and kicked the invisible dirt on the ground. “And not today.”

“Margarete, there must be some mistake. I don’t know how they would have counted us…” America scratched her head while Margarete called the representative over to join them.

“Is there a problem here?” he asked.

Margarete spoke into a walkie talkie and instructed the staff to hold the doors for a moment. “Tell him what you told me.”

America cleared her throat and Leo stepped in. “We didn’t get married today, though somehow, we were counted.”

The man flipped through the registry print out and Margarete pointed at the pages. “Thorpe and Greene?”

Leo nodded and America gripped his hand like she was about to pull an emergency brake.

“It looks like you did get married today. Congratulations,” he said.

How could this happen? America replayed the whole morning in her mind and snapped her fingers. “When we came in this morning, a man,” she scanned the room and pointed at the tall man sitting behind a table, “that man took our names. Do you think he thought…”

“That you two were participating? I dare say so.” The man held up the list and pointed to their names. “But if you’re saying it was a mistake, I regret that I’ll have to withhold the record from all these soon-to-be unhappy couples, until we can get this figured out.”

“You mean…” The reality was sinking in. America took both of Leo’s hands and gauged his thoughts. Was he thinking what she was thinking? How could they accidentally get married? In Vegas, no less! As irritation traveled up her throat along with her breakfast, she caught a glimpse of all the waiting couples in the ballroom. “All these people, what do we do?”

“I did say my vows today, just like all of them did,” Leo said with a wink.

She cracked a smile and bit her lower lip as the truth set in. “So did I.”

Leo kissed her lightly on the mouth. “Does this mean we’re?—”

“Husband and wife? I think so. If we want to be.” It’s not that America wasn’t prepared to marry this man, but for all the sleepless nights and stress of planning the perfect wedding, this was not how things were supposed to go. America turned to Margarete. “We don’t have a license or anything though.”

“The Clark County Registrar is here with a pop-up office, I believe they are still processing all the registrations and certificates right now, we can slip yours in. Is that sufficient?” she asked the official. “It’s your call.”

“I don’t see any issue so long as you both agree, and I’ll keep all of this hush hush,” he answered. “Just get that paperwork done so that I don’t have to deal with four thousand angry brides.”

“Understood,” Leo said and took America in his arms. Pressing a more passionate kiss to her lips, he hugged her body tightly to his. She could feel his muscles flex around her in an unfamiliar way, like he was using the kiss to expel his anxiety. “Mrs. Thorpe,” he whispered between kisses, and the sound of her new name rolling off his tongue sent chills through her.

Whether she was ready or not, she was his now.

Chapter6

The tip of the ballpoint pen scraped across the paper with the final flick of Leo’s signature. He dropped the pen and slid the document back to the registrar.

After looking it over, the expressionless older woman slid a pair of driver’s licenses back to Leo. “Congratulations on your wedding,” she said like she was numb to the excitement still filling the ballroom and squeezed a brass seal against the corner of the license. “Check your mail in ten to thirty days for your copy. Have a nice day. NEXT!”

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