Gianna looked in the mirror. She saw her sparkling blue eyes, her smooth pale skin and cherry red smile. She saw her hairdresser, Carla, frantically trying to curl her thick, raven-colored hair. To her left, she saw her best friend of 23 years, Kelsey, getting her own hair done. Looking back at herself, she realized she was truly happy for the first time in her life. -------------------------------------------- "Let's go! Everybody out! I need a moment with my best friend," Kelsey said as she shooed everyone out of the small dressing room. When everyone was out, she turned to Gianna. "Wow. I always imagined I'd be the one sitting in a gorgeous white dress getting a pep talk from you before I gave up my last name and signed away the rest of my life," she said with a smile. "Kels, you don't keep a guy around long enough to marry them and we both know you'd be wearing a lime green dress instead of white and you sure as hell wouldn't give up your last name," Gianna said knowingly. "Damn right I wouldn't! Why should I have to change my name for a guy? And last time I checked, getting married in a white dress was not a law!" Kelsey retorted. Gianna laughed. "Stop ranting and help me with this stupid dress," she said, turning around. Kelsey zipped the dress for her friend and opened her mouth to say something, but she was interrupted by the sound of bells and an organ playing. She grinned. "You sure you wanna do this? It's not too late to ditch and go to some strip club in Vegas," she said jokingly. "Why? So you can call me 'The Runaway Bride' for the rest of my life? I don't think so," Gianna said playfully. "Well, don't say I didn't try," Kelsey replied. On that note, both girls left the room to attend the wedding that one girl would never forget and the other would never remember.
The doors swung open and Cameron's head immediately swiveled to the back of the church. He faked a smile as he watched his friends and the friends of the only woman he ever loved file through the doors, but he was secretly just wishing he could skip to the part where Gianna walked in. He saw Kelsey come in on the arm of his best man, Alex. Then, walking in on the arm of a man who hated him more than anything, was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen in his life.
Gianna gently squeezed Cameron's hand. He gave her a smile that made her heart flutter and she wondered how she had ever lived without him. She looked out at the church, packed with people she loved and people her husband loved. Her husband. She'd waited so long to call him that. As she looked at Cameron, she remembered all the times she had gotten lost in his gorgeous green eyes. She thought of the first time she had ever tasted his gentle lips on hers. They were sitting in the bed of his old, red pickup truck at the drive-in theater, watching some chick flick that Cameron had thought she would like. She was trying to pay attention to the movie, but all she could think about was how it would feel to run her fingers through his soft brown hair and eventually that's what she was doing. Gianna was snapped out of her reverie by Cameron gently squeezing her hand. He questioningly raised one eyebrow ever so slightly. She smiled up at him reassuringly and turned her attention to the priest, who was announcing that the couple had written their own vows. "Gianna?" the priest prompted. Gianna took a deep breath and began to recite the vows that she had worked on for so long to make sure they were just perfect.
"If I could pick one person in the entire world to spend the rest of my life with, it would be you. I don't know what I could've possibly done to deserve a man like you, but whatever it is, I'm glad I did it. I'm glad that you even wanted to talk to me, let alone give me the honor of being your wife. I'm glad that I get to call you mine. Even if it was possible for me to stop loving you, I wouldn't want to, no matter what happens. We're in this together. Forever. You're the greatest man I've ever known and I love you, Cameron James Massone, more than you will ever know." There was so much more Gianna wanted to say, but she couldn't find the words. It didn't matter anyway. All the words in the world would never be enough to express her love for Cameron. With glassy eyes, she smiled at Cameron as he began his vows. "Gianna Marie Evanston, you are the most beautiful woman I've ever had the privilege to lay eyes on. I knew from the very first moment I saw you that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. I thank God every day that you feel the same about me. I fall more and more in love with you each day, and I promise you that will never change. You are the only woman I have ever and will ever love and I won't ever let you forget that." By now, Cameron's eyes were welling up with tears too. Even the priest was a little choked up. After clearing his throat, the priest turned to Gianna and asked, "Do you, Gianna, take this man, Cameron, to be your husband?" "Nothing would make me happier," she replied. Turning to Cameron, the priest continued, "And do you, Cameron, take this woman, Gianna, to be your wife?" "I'd be a damn fool if I didn't," Cameron said. "Well, then I now pronounce you Mr. and Mrs. Cameron James Massone," the priest announced proudly. Cameron swept his wife into his arms and tenderly kissed to the applause of the delighted audience.