Page 127 of When Stars Collide
I reached out my hand to Elle as she approached Luke, taking her bouquet from her so that they could join hands while they made the ultimate declaration of their love to each other. Whether or not I had to do anything else, like straighten out her dress, offer her words of encouragement, or a tissue—which surprise, surprise, I didn’t have—I didn’t know. As far as maids of honor go, I was pretty much the worst ever. I’d be willing to bet my left boob that Violet had tissues tucked away in her dress pocket. Hell, she probably had Tums in there, too.
Luke moved over just enough for me to catch another glimpse of Peter. Visibly uncomfortable, he stood as straight as he could, occasionally having to correct himself whenever he began to slouch. I wondered what was going on inside of his head, whether his thoughts were as disjointed as my own. He remained transfixed by something off in the distance, and I couldn’t help but look over my shoulder to see what it may be. Finding nothing, I turned back around and sighed.
“Luke and Elle will now exchange the vows they have written for each other.” Suzanne must have woken up on the right side of the bed this morning, as her disposition was leaps and bounds cheerier. Either that or she’d already partook from the open bar. “Luke, we’ll begin with you.”
Luke cleared his throat, finding Elle’s face behind her veil. He was trying to hold it together, but I sensed his resolve cracking.Elle’s had long since crumbled and turned to dust, blowing away with the same breeze that had swept the dogwood blooms across the cobblestone walkway.
“Sloan, you had me the evening I first saw you in that hole-in-the-wall coffee shop we used to visit downtown. I’d gone there that day to focus on the term paper I’d put off writing until the last minute, but when you walked in the door, all I could do was focus on you. I tried to resist the pull I felt to you; the beautiful brunette intently working on an assignment of her own. But try as I might, I couldn’t take my eyes off you. Well, that is to say, when someone else’s head wasn’t in the way.”
The audience chuckled as I raised my hand, remembering that day as vividly now as I had the day after. I was sitting across from Elle at a table in the coffee shop working on an assignment, completely unaware, at first, that I had been obstructing the annoyingly handsome blond’s view of my best friend, thus interrupting his foray into light stalking. A boyfriend was the last thing Elle had wanted back then, having just come from an abusive relationship. Still, despite that, even she felt a pull to Luke the second they locked eyes. She could feel it so much, in fact, she’d packed up andleft the coffee shop in a hurry, dragging me along with her.
“When you abruptly stood up from the table to leave, I knew that I couldn’t let you go without talking to you, even if it meant scrambling out of the building to run after you like a crazy person. I didn’t know what I was going to say or how I was going to say it. The only thing I knew was that if I could just get you to say one word to me—whether it be hello or buzz off—I would have leftfeeling like the luckiest man alive.
“When I finally caught up to you outside, and you looked at me with your breathtaking hazel eyes, time stood still. I forgot who I was, where I was—why I was. And you know what? It didn’t matter because all I cared to remember at that moment was you. From that point forward, you were the only thing that mattered to me … well, you and my family … and Monroe, of course.”
“Aw, thanks, man,” Peter muttered with a smirk as Luke reached back to smack him playfully on the shoulder before he continued.
“Little did I know then that I would have eighteen incredible months with you—laughing and talking, crying and loving you in ways I’d never loved anyone else before. It was all too good to be true. I often wondered what I’d done to deserve you—I still do. And then things slowly began to unravel, and I lost you. At first, I was positive it was only temporary, that you would make your way back to me and everything would go back to the way it was before. However, as the days turned to weeks and the weeks to months, I realized the unthinkable had become my new reality. I’d lost you.”
Luke’s voice cracked. He paused mid-speech, taking a moment to gather himself, clearing his throat before picking up where he’d left off.
“I was so angry with myself for not fighting for us—for not bringing you back home to Roanoke. Because I didn’t fight, I spent the next decade of my life stumbling through each day, throwing myself into my work to forget about everything I’d lost. Little did I know, that would be an impossible feat. No matter what I did, no matter what I accomplished, my life was always lacking something. It was lacking you.
“I told myself it wasn’t you, but I was only lying to myself. I was a broken man who would never be put back together again, because as hard as I tried to convince myself otherwise, the pieces of my heart were still with you. Then the accident happened.
“Many people—okay, probably all people—would consider nearly losing their life and being placed in a coma for a month to be pretty unlucky. Not me. That accident was a blessing. It was the best thing that could have happened to me. It brought you back into my life.
“Elle, when I woke up from that coma, the only thing I could remember was you. And you know what? I’m okay with that. I’m okay with having lost ten years of my life. Yes, I’ve regained certain fragments of it here and there, just enough to remind me how miserable I truly was. And If I never completely regain my memories from the time I lost, I’ll be okay with it, because I don’t want to remember my life without you in it. By the grace of God, I’ll never have to.
“So, Ellen Rae Sloan, I vow to you that for as long as I draw air, I will never take the time we have together for granted. I’ll be your listening ear, your shoulder to cry on, your lover, friend, and your biggest supporter. I vow to never let us go to bed angry with each other, to exercise patience, even when it feels like I don’t have any left. I promise you that I will better myself every day to ensure that I’m the husband you deserve, beginning with remembering to put the toilet seat down when I’m finished in the bathroom.”
“And picking your clothes up from the floor,” Elle interjected.
“Yes, and picking the damn clothes up from the floor.”
“And remembering to put the toilet seat down.”
“Now let’s not get carried away here.” Luke chuckled. “Above all, Elle, I promise I will never stop loving you for the rest of my days.”
A tap on my shoulder alerted my attention to Violet, who, sure enough, was standing behind me holding tissues in her hand for me to give to Elle. Damn Violet and her always planning ahead bullshit.
“You wouldn’t happen to have any antacids tucked away in your pocket, would you?” I muttered to her.
“No, but I have a bottle of tequila in there.”
My eyes darted down to the bulge in the pocket of her dress that faced away from the guests, finding myself a combination of stupefied and impressed by her ingenuity. “We’ll revisit that later.”
I discreetly brushed the tissues across Elle’s arm. Without looking back, she took them from my hand and proceeded to blot her eyes underneath her veil.
“Elle will now read the vows she’s prepared for Luke,” Suzanne announced when it was clear that Luke had nothing further to add.
Still crying, Elle dabbed at her runny nose. She then began to speak, immediately stopping when she discovered how unsteady her voice had become. After taking a deep breath, she started to speak again, but then stopped when her voice wouldn’t cooperate.
“Luke, I think you just broke Elle,” I announced, rubbing her shoulder.
“Yeah, that is a pretty hard act to follow,” Suzanne chimed in.
I imagined Elle shooting a death glare at her. At least, that’s what I would have done.
