“What’s it feel like?” I asked.
“What does what feel like?”
“What does it feel like to be the best at something?”
“No different. It’s how I feel every morning when I wake up.”
“I thought you might say something like that.”
“Where are we going anyway? I thought you had a suite back at that hotel.”
“Are you complaining?”
“Just wondering.”
“Good. Sit tight. You’ll see in a minute.”
We rode together in comfortable silence as I admired the lights along the strip. We had such a great time in this city just a few short weeks ago. It was a special place for us.
Luke turned off of the main drag and down a street on the south end. He pulled into a small parking lot.
“Okay…,” I said. “What’s this?”
A crooked grin crossed his face. He nodded toward the building across the street.
“Look.”
A huge sign adorned the exterior of the building. It read: Graceland Wedding Chapel.
My jaw dropped.
“You can’t be serious.”
“Will you?” he asked.
“Oh my God. You are serious.”
“Of course I am.”
I sat in stunned silence.
“I get it,” he said. “This is fast... But I feel like fate is telling us to do this. And I’m sure. I don’t need time to tell me what I already know in my heart.”
He pulled a little box from beneath the seat.
“Will you? Will you marry me?”
The box flipped open. Inside was the most beautiful diamond ring I’d ever seen.
“I… I…”
His grin widened. Everything bit of logic told me to wait. To think it over. But I’d done the logical thing my whole life. It was time for me to trust my instincts.
He was everything I’d ever wanted.
“Yes!”
I threw my arms around his neck, letting him pull me close.
“Yes! Let’s get married.”
“You’re on,” he said. “Just you and me. Right here, right now.”
“I have to call… I have to call-”
My brain struggled to keep up with everything.
“You don’t have to call anyone,” he said. “This is about us. Here. Tonight.”
He waved his arm toward the city behind us.
“This is ours. We’ll do one for everyone else when we get back home. The church, the guest list, whatever you want. But tonight, it’s about us.”
“Luke,” I asked. “When did you know? When did you know that you were going to ask me to marry you?”
His eyes fluttered and he nodded again toward the chapel.
“Let’s go.”
My cheeks flushed. I felt lightheaded. It was like floating on a cloud.
We ran to the front, laughing and pushing each other. There was a big warning sign on the door. It said something like ‘use caution when combining alcohol with you impending nuptials. This chapel, including its proprietors, are not responsible for your choices.’
We were greeted by an overweight man in a sequined Elvis costume. He’d given up on trying to make the hair look the part long ago.
“You kids ready to do this?” he asked, enthusiastically.
We looked at each other and nodded. Neither one of us could contain our exuberance.
The place was all ours. Apparently, we were the only couple in Vegas feeling the allure of an impromptu Elvis wedding tonight.
I threw on a gaudy white dress from their selection in the back. Luke came out wearing a hilarious lime green tuxedo. He still had his championship belt around his waist.
I jumped into his arms. I let him cradle me so Elvis’s wife could take a picture.
“Just the two you?” asked Elvis.
“That’s right,” I said. “Just us.”
“Well, alright then pretty mama, why don’t you and your beau step on up to the alter so we can commence with this momentous occasion.”
“You got it, Big E.”
I took Luke by the hand and led him to the front. He was trying not to crack up.
Elvis’s wife shoved a bouquet of fake flowers under my arm and kept taking pictures.
I got lost in my own thoughts while our wedding official gave his little spiel. I still didn’t quite understand how my life had gone from zero to a hundred in less than a month. It was better than any fairytale.
There wasn’t a question in my mind that I was doing the right thing. Luke gave me something that I never thought I would have.
“Now, would the bride and groom like to share any of their own words before we put a seal on this thing?”
Luke made me blush with that look. The same one he gave me that first night in my condo.
“We’re going to have a lot of time to say a lot of things to each other,” he said. “But right now I just want you to know, Bria, that I’m madly in love with you and I’ll always do anything for you.”