The Billionaire's Marriage Contract(73)

A knock on the door brought Amy back into the moment. Callie opened the door slowly and leaned in. “Amy, everyone is ready and waiting.” Callie began to tear up as she looked at her sister. “You look beautiful, by the way. I wish mom and dad were here to give you away.”

“You’ll do fine in their place,” Amy replied. She didn’t want Callie getting overly emotional. She was going to have a hard enough time not getting emotional herself. “Why don’t you wait in the hall? I’ll be out in a second. I just need a moment.”

Amy took one last look at the office before heading out. Over the years, it had been a second home for her. It had been her bedroom for months when she renovated her house; it had been the scene of countless negotiations and deals; it had served almost every purpose she could think of, but now she could check off one more: dressing room for her wedding.

Amy followed Callie out of the office to the stairs that led up to the roof. As she entered the stairwell, she heard the faint sound of a string quartet playing Pachelbel’s Canon. Amy stood at the landing at the bottom of the stairs, and looked up toward the open doorway. “Did you do this?” she asked Callie? Someone had wrapped the handrail in flowers and had laid a path of petals up the stairs.

“Believe it or not, the decorations were Ethan’s idea.”

“I should have known he’d nail down every detail.”

“Well, we let Rich orchestrate the buffet, and you wouldn’t believe me if I told you who arranged the string quartet.”

“Do I want to know?”

Callie held out her hand. “I think it will be a pleasant surprise. Now I have to give you away so you can live happily ever after, plus I’m starving, and that buffet looks amazing. Just wait until you see. Oh, who am I kidding, you’ll be blind to everyone and everything but Ethan. Now, take your flowers and get a move on.” Callie handed her the simple yellow bouquet.

Amy laughed and tried to fight back a surge of emotion as she walked up the stairs. “Don’t cry,” she whispered to herself, but as soon as she walked through the door, she couldn’t help herself. She took one look at Ethan, and the tears welled up in her eyes.

Slowly, Amy walked down the aisle. Sure enough, Rich was there with a cup of cocktail shrimp in his hand, and Laura was right next to him, giving him a death stare for attempting to eat during the wedding, readying her elbow to jab him in the side if necessary. Hank stood grinning on the other side of the aisle next to a few of Amy’s close family friends. They were all bathed in the warm light of sunset, and Amy had never seen a happier crowd.

Vi stood at the head of the aisle, looking quite ministerial in her long purple dress. Amy tried not to focus on Ethan again until she was standing across from him, but, as soon as she reached him, she couldn’t look away.

“Before we begin,” Vi declared in her most serious voice, “I would like to say a short prayer.” The corner of her mouth curled up in a grin, and she gave Amy a wink as she bowed her head. “Dear God, creator of orgasms, sunny days, good wine and breathtaking sunsets, you are the designer of that most curious and powerful creation: the human heart. From the depths of our hearts we ask that you bless this marriage, and witness, as we do, the great love between my niece Amy, and her husband-to-be, Ethan. We pray to you that their hearts remain as full of love as they are today, and that all of us can share in their happiness as they build a life together.”#p#分页标题#e#

The rest of the ceremony was a blur. Amy barely heard herself repeating her vows to Ethan, and she barely heard him recite his to her, but she never broke eye contact with him, not for a moment until she heard Vi say, “You may kiss the bride.”

Ethan leaned in and kissed Amy, and everything, from the way his arm fit around her to the way his lips fit against hers to the way the evening light shone on them, everything was perfect. Amy leaned into him as he deepened their kiss. The little motion of their mouths against each other delighted her. She couldn’t’ wait to wake up next to this man every day for the rest of her life.

She took his hand and walked back down the aisle as everyone else stood up and cheered. The other side of the roof terrace had been set up for a banquet. Amy and Ethan took their seats at one end of the table and waited for their family and friends to join them. They let Vi sit down at the head of the table, and Hank sat down across from them.

“Hank, Vi, I don’t know if you have the pleasure of each other’s acquaintance, but I think you’ll find each other to be wonderful company.”