*
Lizzy helping with the company meant I had time to focus on planning my wedding. Hunter and I got married in the fall, at a small venue overlooking Lake Erie. The food and alcohol was catered by the Buckeye Brewery. Charlie insisted on doing it for free, but Hunter promised me he would find a way to slip an envelope of cash into Charlie’s back pocket when he wasn’t looking.
The guest list was small: only twenty-two of our closest friends. There wasn’t even a wedding party. Small and sweet. With all the hectic stuff going on with my company and Hunter’s channel, we valued simplicity.
I wore a trumpet-style wedding dress, the kind I had always wanted ever since Mom took me to wedding expos as a little girl. The strapless bodice was covered with lace and fit me like a glove. Part beautiful, but part sexy, too. Mom would have approved.
Brad walked me down the aisle whileCanon in Dplayed. The altar archway was made from woven birchwood interlaced with tulips, and beyond it was a gorgeous view of the lake, but I had eyes only for my future husband. Hunter wore a dark suit, not a tuxedo, and he looked like he had been born to wear it. His hair was cut and combed perfectly and he stood straight and tall, hands clasped in front of his belt. He was dashing, he was sexy, and he was everything I’d ever wanted.
I was in tears before we even reached the altar.
Brad kissed me on the cheek, hugged me, and then sat in the front row. Next to him were two empty chairs, one on either side of the aisle. The right chair held a framed wedding photo of my parents, a photo we had found in the attic while going through their things. On the other chair sat a similar photo of Hunter’s parents at their wedding. His father wore the ugliest lime-green tuxedo I had ever seen, but he smiled like it didn’t matter.
It was the same smile Hunter gave me when I took his hand. Our parents weren’t here physically, but they were here in spirit.
We exchanged vows. Mine were simple and short, because I knew I wasn’t going to be able to speak for more than a few seconds before turning into a weeping, blubbery mess. Hunter was more composed as he held my hands and stared deeply into my eyes, reciting his vows with steel-like strength.
“It’s you, Erica,” he ended with. “It’s always been you. I want you to be my partner in this crazy world. I want you to be mywife. If you’ll have me, then I’ll be yours forever.”
The minimal crowd loved the line, but I grinned up at Hunter. “You used that line when you proposed.”
“It’s a good line,” he said defensively.
“And it’s coming from an even better man.”
We exchanged rings next. Lizzy jokingly shouted, “Where’d you get the bling?”
Hunter, not missing a beat, turned and said, “Pawn shop on eighth street. Two for ten bucks.”
Everyone laughed. The minister officiating the ceremony said the rest of his part, which I barely heard. I was busy staring into Hunter’s beautiful face, a face I knew I would grow old with.
We kissed, and Charlie from the brewery cried louder than anyone.
*
Since we’d had so much fun on our cross-country road trip, Hunter and I decided to honeymoon in Europe. There were several Formula One races around the continent, which gave us an excuse to hop around. We landed in Madrid and spent three days touring Spain and eating tapas.
Then we took a train to Paris and saw all the sights there. Half a day in the Louvre—although I could have spenttwo daysthere—and the Eiffel Tower. After that was a tour of the newly-renovated Notre Dame.
We hopped over to Bruges, Belgium, next. It was my favorite city of the trip! The city was criss-crossed with canals, like Venice but without all the tourists. We only spent a day and a night there before sliding over to Prague, and then flew home after that.
Hunter and I couldn’t keep our hands off each other. We held hands everywhere we went, and when our fingers got sore he wrapped an arm around me. I liked the way he held me possessively, like a man who knew how lucky he was and didn’t want to ever let me go.
It was exactly how I felt.
We didn’t want to leave Europe… But we were also excited to get home and start our life together. Because that’s the thing about being with your perfect partner: every day is just as exciting and full of potential as the honeymoon. Maybe even more so.
*
We hosted a small pool party when we got home. Nothing fancy—just some beer, barbecue, and good company on one of the last warm days Columbus would have before the cold winds blew south off the lake. Lizzy and Brad were there, along with a few other acquaintances from around town.
As things were winding down and the sun began to set, it was just the four of us remaining. All of us were good and buzzed by that point—we’d polished off most of the Buckeye Brewery beer from the fridge.
“It just keeps growing,” I was telling the others. “It’s like a snowball rolling downhill. I can barely control it now. In just the past two weeks, we went from sixty-seven contracted jewelry companies to eighty-nine. Without doing any work to recruit them!”
“The brand is strong,” Lizzy said simply. “When you’re selling Coca-Cola, people come toyou.”
Hunter put an arm around my shoulder and kissed my temple. “Remember when I first invested?”