A Winter’s Wedding (Christmas Cove #3)

Chapter 6

The tip of the ballpoint pen scraped across the paper with the final flick of Leo’s signature. He dropped the pen and slid the document back to the registrar.

After looking it over, the expressionless older woman slid a pair of driver’s licenses back to Leo. “Congratulations on your wedding,” she said like she was numb to the excitement still filling the ballroom and squeezed a brass seal against the corner of the license. “Check your mail in ten to thirty days for your copy. Have a nice day. NEXT!”

With America’s fingers intertwined with his, they walked out through the ballroom doors and laughed once they were out of earshot of the registrar. “I can’t believe we just did that.” Leo stopped and pulled America in for a hug. The whole moment seemed like a dream. America looked up at him with shiny eyes. “What’s troubling you?”

“Is it bad that I’m not feeling happier?” she shook her head at her own question. “What are we going to do about the wedding next week?”

“Listen to me, America. You are allowed to feel however you want. I won’t lie and say I know how you’re feeling. I think it’s pretty cool that we just got married and helped all these other couples make it into the history books.”

“I don’t mean I’m not happy to be married to you.” America shook her head and looked down at the ground. “Of course, I want to marry you, it just doesn’t feel real.”

He tilted her chin back and straightened her shoulders. “I hate to break it to you, but we are married.”

America slapped his upper arm and grunted. “Don’t tease me.”

“You like it when I tease you,” Leo moved a stray tendril behind her ear. “As for the wedding next week, why don’t we just call everyone and tell them what happened. They’ll probably all have a good laugh at this.”

America stood back from him with a look of disgust wrinkling her face. “You can’t be serious. We’d be letting everyone down. And all that waste… It makes me sick thinking about it. Oh goodness, here comes Margarete. How’s my face?”

“Fine?” Leo said, not knowing how to answer the question, though he suspected there was no correct response. “I’ll take care of this.” He closed the distance and greeted Margarete in the vestibule outside the ballroom where other couples were still making their way out.

“I am just delighted for you both. What a special way to begin your forever together.” Margarete kissed him on both cheeks. “Did you ever imagine?”

America caught up and shook her head, no. Leo nudged her in the shoulder, and she threw a smile on her beautiful face. “We couldn’t have planned it better if we’d tried.”

“Well, America, Leopold, on behalf of Paris Resort and Casino, we want to gift you with the penthouse room tonight and reservations in the tower?—”

“That’s very kind,” America interrupted.

“On one condition. You must include your story in the article about this City of Love.” Margarete beamed.

“I appreciate the offer, but we can’t stay. We’re flying out this afternoon.” At that statement, America checked her watch. “Shoot. I’m running late already.”

“To the airport?” Leo asked.

“No. I’m supposed to pick up my wedding dress from alterations. Not that I need it anymore.”

Leo’s heart broke at how sad the words sounded as they spilled from her mouth. What should have been a joyous occasion was tinged with her concern that all her work planning a wedding was now a waste. It was as though she was mourning the loss of having her dream wedding that she had been meticulously planning for months. He couldn’t begin to try and understand what the big deal was, but he knew if it meant so much to her, he should at least seem sympathetic.

“We’ll pick up your dress and then head over to the airport. I know you just want to get home. How’s that sound for a plan?” Leo asked, and she nodded. “We can talk about how we want to handle all the wedding stuff while we’re on the plane. That’s a few hours, just me and you. No distractions.” America was silent but nodded, and Leo was sure he saw a slight one-sided grin. Taking her hand, he addressed Margarete’s offer. “Can we have a raincheck?”

“You are welcome to visit Paris anytime as honored guests. I’ll leave you to it. Have a good journey home and congratulations again.” She kissed America on both cheeks. “You are a beautiful bride, and I’m happy to have met you.”

“Thank you, Margarete, for everything,” America said and led the way to her suite.

Though the walk and elevator ride were taken in silence, her grip on his hand said it all. She was stressing about the wedding, and Leo couldn’t stop himself from seeing this rocky, unexpected beginning of their marriage as a bad omen. What did it matter what day the official records say the union took place on? This Saturday, or next, it made no difference to him. The whole point was to marry the stunning woman to his left.

She was upset and hiding her feelings poorly. Leo didn’t know why she was so bothered, but he figured they had several hours to sort it out before making it back to Christmas Cove by evening. He wanted nothing more than to have a love as strong as the one his parents shared before they passed away, and he thought he had found that with America. He just hoped this accidental wedding wasn’t ruining everything.

He reminded himself that a single day does not make a whole marriage as they stopped at his hotel room door. “I’ll grab my things and meet you in your room in a few minutes.” Leo kissed her on the tip of the nose. “Everything is going to be fine. I love you.”

“I love you too.” America gave him a hug and whispered, “husband,” in his ear. She turned and walked down the hall to her nearby room, looking back at him over her shoulder with a sly grin on her face. He knew in that tiny flexing of facial muscles, that they would be alright when the dust kicked up by the unexpected events of the morning finally settled.

Leo waited outside his door until she reached hers and they opened their doors at the same time. Their eyes stayed locked onto one another’s as they entered their respective suites. As the door closed behind him, Leo took one more look at the Eiffel Tower positioned outside his room’s window. The sun shined on the tower’s polished surface and reflected streaks of light in through the window and across the far wall. His bag was already packed, save for the gift he had planned to give to America for Valentine’s Day. Though the small heart shaped box of chocolates was nice for a romantic holiday, it lacked the luster that she deserved on a wedding day. He shoved it inside the weekender bag and double checked the bathroom for loose items.

His phone buzzed in his pants pocket. He read the message from the airline and immediately headed to America’s room. Out in the hallway, America stepped out of her room and held up her phone towards him. “Canceled?” they said at the same time.

Leo clicked the link and a text box popped up in a blue square on the screen. He read it out loud. “Attention: Due to inclement weather impacting your area, your flight has been canceled. Chat with a representative now.”

“What weather?” America said and pointed out to the sun-washed skyline.

Leo opened the weather app and waited for the radar image to load. “It looks like there’s a huge storm, a bomb cyclone or something. Take a look. It stretches from Colorado to the Great Lakes and is moving towards home. I doubt any flights are going that way. Why don’t you finish packing and I’ll chat with the airline and see what our options are.”

It didn’t take long for the representative to inform him that the next available flight out of Vegas to anywhere in the Northeast wouldn’t be until Friday at the earliest.

“How do you feel about taking Margarete up on her offer to stay here?” Leo said. “We can’t get a flight home until Friday.”

“Friday!” America said from the bathroom where it sounded like she was rearranging pots and pans and not throwing a few plastic toiletries into a bag. “That’s a whole week. What are we supposed to do?”

“Hide out in Vegas and ignore the fact that we have to tell everyone coming to our wedding that we accidently got married already?”

“You’re not funny, Leopold Thorpe.”

“Yes, I am, America Thorpe. But why shouldn’t we have our honeymoon here?”

She poked her head out of the door and glared at him. “We can’t just ignore the fact that we’re getting married next Saturday, and everyone is counting on us.” She ducked back inside the bathroom, and he heard the metal shower hooks scrape along the curtain bar. “How long is it to drive home? Two days?”

“Maybe, if we drove all day and all night.” Leo checked the map app, and it showed three different routes. “The fastest route would bring us straight through the bad weather, so if we go the southern way, it’ll take us four days at best.”

“Sounds better than waiting here and driving myself crazy losing all sense of control over this wedding fiasco.”

“Really? Staying here and lounging in a beautiful hotel room with my new bride for a few days, sounds like heaven to me,” Leo said.

America came out of the bathroom, ignoring his reasoning, wearing light blue jeans and a white tee. She had twisted her long, dark hair into a knot on top of her head the way he liked so that he could see the length of her neck. She smiled at his smile. “When can we leave?”

“After I kiss you properly,” Leo said, settling for a single moment since the question of staying at the hotel and waiting for a flight seemed resolved for the time being.

He wrapped his fingers around her waist and used his grip to pull her against his body. Her hand rested on his chest as she bit her lower lip. There was no need to say anything. Without an audience or prying eyes, he was free to show her how happy he was that she was now his wife.

America arched up on her toes and their lips touched, sending little shocks through his body. As they joined in a passionate kiss, heat traveled up his neck and to the tips of his fingers. She was pliable in his arms and let out a little moan as he flicked his tongue gently against hers. The kiss was everything he needed to belay his own concerns. She loved him, he was sure the rest would work itself out.

She was the first to pull away. “Let’s get going.”

“I’ll get a rental car,” Leo said. This road trip was happening whether he wanted it to or not. “If we leave now, we should be able to get to the Colorado border tonight.”