We walked to the door and then turned to walk down the aisle.
The church was filled with rows upon rows of white and black roses, with black tulle lining the aisles. The only people sitting in the seats were my family, Greg’s, and our friends. I smiled at everyone as we made our way down the aisle and I finally looked up to Greg. I had waited because I just couldn’t look at him the moment he saw me, even though that was my favorite part of a wedding. I just couldn’t because I knew by the way his eyes were puffy and he was trying to hold himself in place that he started crying the moment I walked through those doors with his father by my side.
He was the most handsome man I had ever seen, waiting for me in the suit he had on from earlier, the scuff marks still on his pants from when he got down on one knee at Stone Mountain. Everything was coming into place today and I just couldn’t wait for the few more steps I would take in order to get to him.
David and I stopped just at the first step of three that led to Greg. He stepped down and David held out my right hand to Greg, who took it.
“Thank you, Dad.” Greg finally spoke up as he helped me up the stairs. I turned around quickly and leaned down to give David a kiss on his check and just loud enough for all three of us to hear, “Thank you Dad.”
Greg pulled me up to the altar, where it was just us and Pastor Charles. Greg held our hands between us and a flood of memories came back from being in Vegas.
We stood there saying our vows and the pastor asked us to exchange rings and then told us to repeat after him.
“Do you, Greg Moran, take Lilly Alexander to be your lawful wedded wife?”
“I do.” Just as before, the tears started to roll down my eyes. This time Greg reached out to wipe one away and smiled at me. The way his eyes shined I knew he felt it, too. This time was completely different from when we were in Vegas.
“And do you, Lilly Alexander, take Greg Moran to be your lawfully wedded husband?”
I took a deep breath and looked around the room. I looked to where my family sat huddled together and where Greg’s family sat, all smiles beaming up at us, and then Alexa and Erica sitting on the edge of their seats, waiting for my answer. I snuck a peek over to Judge Baker and Tessa sitting in the back corner and by the smiles on both their faces, I knew we had lived up to the expectations they both wanted. Yeah, this time it was different, but the best kind of different.
This was what I had wanted and Greg had made it come true.
I looked back at him and, with tears in my eyes, I sealed our fate with two blissful words.
“I do.”
