Accidentally Engaged(91)
What she said wasn’t entirely true, she wasn’t on her way to falling in love, but had already been swept in a tidal wave so strong she thought she’d drown. She had no doubt she loved him enough to survive oceans of separation and an uphill fight to be together.
But would he be willing to take this leap of faith, too? Not because his father ordered it, or her father encouraged it, but because he wanted to be with her forever? She watched his face, seeing no expression. He was silent.
This was a mistake. He didn’t want her. Mortified, Reena looked down, feeling her eyes well up. She squeezed them shut.
His hand suddenly left her ankle to gently open the fingers on her right hand, exposing the thirty-dollar cubic zirconia ring he’d bought her. He took it from her hand and smiled. Then, ever so slowly, he placed it on the ring finger of her left hand.
“Yes,” he whispered, still holding her hand. “I will marry you. Yes, to all of it. Niagara Falls, you sponsoring me to come back. Living here, or there, wherever. I am not on my way to falling in love with you. I am already there. And I want you to be my family, forever.”
“Yes?”
He nodded. “Yes. I love you, Reena.” And he pulled her by the arms onto his lap completely and kissed her like no one had kissed her ever before.
She finally pulled away, needing a break, even a tiny one, from the intensity. “Are you sure?” she whispered.
He took her hand in his and kissed the finger that held the ring. He smiled—a wide, incandescent smile that she could look at every day of her life.
He nodded. “Absolutely sure. This…you…are my home. But…” He grinned, pulling her even closer. “I should come clean, there is one more thing you don’t know.” He kissed the ring on her finger again. “This cost me more than thirty dollars.”
Reena’s eyes widened. A diamond this size would be worth thousands. Thousands she didn’t want. She wanted the fake ring to celebrate their real love.
He grinned widely. “It was actually sixty dollars. Plus, I paid extra for the box.”
She laughed, wrapping her hands behind his head and pulling him in. Enough of this talking, she just wanted to kiss.
They should have gotten up off the floor to start planning. They had to figure out how to get a marriage license fast, find a wedding place in Niagara Falls and book it, and call Amira. And Reena had another idea brewing for Sunday, but it would also need a lot of planning and pulling some strings. But instead they just kissed until he finally picked her up off his lap and took her to his bedroom.
And Reena got the reverent, intense, sensual sex she expected. Apparently, that wasn’t for endings, but for beginnings.
*
They started planning early the next morning. A quick Google search found a Toronto-based wedding officiant who specialized in elopements in the city, so thankfully they could avoid the drive to Niagara Falls. They’d met in Toronto, and Reena wanted to get married here if possible. After taking the subway downtown to get their license at city hall, they called the officiant and arranged for her to come over late in the evening. License in hand, Reena called Amira.
Her best friend was, of course, shocked and appalled that Reena would do such a thing as elope after only a few weeks of dating, and spoke louder and faster than normal voicing her objections. But once she got it off her chest, Amira informed Reena she wouldn’t allow her best friend to tie the knot without standing next to her. She assured them that she and Duncan would leave straight after work and arrive at the apartment, hopefully before the officiant.
She called Saira next, who sounded surprised but happy. She said she was glad Reena was doing this, because if Mum disagreed with any of her own wedding plans, she could just threaten to elope like her big sister. Reena wanted to call Marley and Shayne next, but she knew they were both working late shifts at their retail jobs.
And so, on Friday night, under the October stars on the tiny back deck of her father’s building still decorated with glowing white balls of light and rainbow-colored patio chairs, Reena Manji and Nadim Remtulla were married. The bride wore a turquoise and pink lehenga with her hair open on her shoulders, silver anklets on her feet, and to the groom’s delight, no shoes. The groom wore a gray kurta with turquoise Converse high-tops that he bought to match the bride’s lehenga. Standing beside them, the maid of honor wore a black pencil skirt with killer stiletto boots, the bridesmaid (who’d rushed straight from work) wore jeans and a Nourish health-food store T-shirt, and the best man wore jeans and a red plaid flannel shirt, his vibrant red beard reflecting the low light on the deck.
It was the strangest wedding Reena had ever attended, and it was exactly the fairy-tale wedding she didn’t know she wanted. In a single word, it felt perfect.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
After the ceremony the entire wedding party started brainstorming plans for a reception. And Saturday morning they started making phone calls to plan the event. Not too early, though. It was, after all, the day after Reena’s wedding night. First, they called Steve at the Sparrow to secure the venue. Then, together, they called Anderson, explaining that Nadim needed to head back to Tanzania this week, so could they please bump up the video shoot for the contest finals. Anderson, thankfully, was easily convinced, once Reena hinted that Shayne would be there. Then they called their family and friends to invite them—and they fully expected a significant portion of those calls to go badly.