Page 83 of The Vegas Rerun
My mom walks me down the aisle which is fitting because she’s always been my rock. My anchor. My fiercest champion. Today, she wears a pale silver dress and a matching hat. She looks beautiful. Every time she looks at me, she gets watery eyes, and she gives me a proud, trembling smile.
“Are you ready to become Mrs Redfern?” she whispers as we reach the end of the aisle.
I glance down the aisle. Joshua’s already there standing at the end in a perfectly tailored suit, his dark hair just a little messy, his jaw clenched like he’s trying not to cry. His eyes lock on mine the second he sees me standing there. And everything else disappears.
“I’ve never been more ready.”
We walk slowly, the music swelling around us. Autumn skips ahead of us, holding her tiny bouquet of silk flowers. She looks back at me and beams, like she knows she’s part of something big. Like she understands, in her own way, that today matters. When I reach Joshua, he takes my hand in his and he doesn’t let go.
The officiant’s words blur a little. Not because I’m not listening, but because I’m too busy looking at Joshua. At the way his thumb moves in slow circles over the back of my hand. At the faint sheen of tears in his eyes. At the love written so clearly across his face it makes my chest ache.
We say our vows in soft voices. I promise to love him through every season, every storm, every quiet night and noisy morning. I promise to trust him, to grow with him, to raise our children in a home filled with laughter and light.
He promises to protect me. To stand by me. To never take one second of this life for granted.
We exchange rings. We kiss.
And just like that, we’re husband and wife.
The reception is held on the rooftop terrace of the hotel, the skyline glittering around us like a crown. The night is warm, the breeze soft, and laughter spills like champagne into the open air.
Joshua’s mom cries during her toast. His dad claps him on the back like he’s just scored the winning goal in a championship match. Hannah dances with Mitchell, her feet bare, holding Oscar against her chest while he gums on a teething ring and watches the lights with wide eyes.
But it’s Autumn who steals the show. She dances with everyone - me, Joshua, my mom, the bartender, a random tourist who wandered into the venue thinking it was a public party and when he came to apologize, we told him to stay. She eats three cupcakes, gets frosting in her hair, and passes out curled up on a deck chair under a borrowed blanket before we even cut the cake.
And through it all, Joshua never leaves my side.
We dance under the stars, his hands warm at my waist, my cheek pressed to his shoulder.
“Are you okay?” he murmurs.
I nod my head.
“I’m more than okay.”
“You look like a dream, Mol,” he says.
He kisses me, slow and sure and sweet.
“You’re stuck with me now,” I say against his lips. “I officially trapped you.”
“You’re the best trap I’ve ever fallen into.”
I smile.
“And you’re my favorite mistake.”
Later, after the party is over and we have retreated to the honeymoon suite, my mom having taken Autumn to her room for the night, we sit on the edge of the bed, barefoot and tired and glowing.
My dress is draped over the armchair. Joshua’s tie is looped around the door handle. Joshua brushes a strand of hair behind my ear.
“You look happy,” he says.
I lean into him, my hand resting over the gentle swell of my belly.
“I am. More than I thought was possible.”
“I keep thinking about that night,” he says. “The night we met. How I never expected it to mean anything.”
