“We did everything backward,” I said, kissing Luke.
“Yeah, well, we probably shouldn’t have cut the cake, but I didn’t want to wreck the surprise. Did I give it away?”
“No! I definitely wouldn’t have guessed this, not in a million years.”
“So? Are you gonna marry me or what?” he said.
“Of course! And I promise not to throw the ring at you this time.”
“Or threaten to flush it down the toilet?” he asked in a playful whisper.
I shook my head, took the donated rock off my hand, and looked fondly down as he slid my beloved little promise ring back on the finger it had rested on so many years ago. “I’d never flush it,” I said. “I want this too much.”
“Your dad was in on it, by the way,” Luke said, winking at my father.
“You mean this wasn’t to counterprogram the prick propaganda? You didn’t have to watch a
PowerPoint to go through with it?”
“Totally not a publicity stunt. I wanted to ask you before we left the hotel suite, but your dad made me promise that I’d wait till he could see it. He’s really working that you-can’t-say-no-to-a-dying-man angle.”
“You can’t blame the guy for being a little bit of a diva,” I said, turning to smile at my dad, who was beaming proudly.
“You got that right, girl!” I heard a familiar voice call.
When I looked over my shoulder, I gasped yet again. There, right before me, precariously balancing on two crutches that someone had bedazzled with far too many sequins and plastic gemstones, was Zack. The crutches were just about the girliest, gaudiest accessory I’d ever seen, but he somehow managed to look great in his tuxedo, even with a bulging cast beneath it.
“Zack? What are you doing here? How did you—”
“Honey, your daddy and that fine fella of yours said you needed all your friends here for this. I’d be damned if that PMS-y nurse was gonna tell me I couldn’t come to my best friend’s wedding. I told her where to shove her hypodermic, and I checked myself out for the day.”
“We had to promise the doctor we’d take him right back after all this,” Kate said.
“Huh?” I said, looking at them all in disbelief. “So you knew too?”
“Just at the last minute. You’re so blind sometimes, Julia! Really!”
“Before I go, though, you have to tell me which of these fine specimens caught your garter,” Zack said, looking around at all the single men in the room, as if he wanted to devour them as fast as my aunt had devoured her cake.
“Hank,” I said. “Literal jailbait. Then again, we would be cousins, and I’m sure Big Bubba has broken up with him by now, since he had to leave the state pen.”
“Ick, girl,” Zack said, scrunching up his nose. “Don’t tell me I crawled away from my morphine drip for that!”
The photographer had veered away from us to take reaction shots of my dad, and the TV crew was practically drooling over the spectacle.
“You’re so right, Daddy!” I squealed. “It’s the perfect evening for new beginnings!”
“It is,” Dad said with a tear in his eye, “and you deserve it more than anyone I know!”
Luke gazed deeply into my eyes. I couldn’t help but smile.
“Promise me that camera crew won’t join us on the honeymoon,” I whispered to Luke.
“I promise.”
“In that case, let’s get married…right this minute,” I said. “You’ll just have to help me up. I didn’t figure on the dress stabbing me in the ribs when I joined you on your knees. It seemed like the romantic thing to do.”
He laughed, helped me to my feet, gave me a twirl, then caught me in his arms and kissed me.
The End