Setting Me On Fire

24

I Do

Two Years Later

Normally, anything to do with marriage had me running in the other direction. My parents wanted me to marry a good decent guy, how's Alexander for you?

A year ago, when things were going smoothly due to the fact that I gave in and the idea of love didn't scare me anymore, Alexander took me out on a date at La Grenouille, on 3rd East 52nd Street. This is where the next step in my life began.

"Margo," he starts. I look up at him from cutting my stake. "From the first time I caught sight of you, I knew my whole world was going to change. You were different, mature, sexy, and unaware of the fact that you were the most beautiful woman in every room. I wanted to be with you, love you forever, wake up to your face, and make you feel loved in every way possible. And I want this love to continue until the world ends."

He shoves his hand in his blazer pocket, and at that point, I laid my fork and knife on my plate. He took out a small velvet jewelry box. From that moment I knew what was about to happen, but I wasn't scared, instead, I smiled. He got up from his seat and kneeled beside me, and flips the box open revealing a side stone engagement ring.

Everyone had their eyes on us, smiles and gaped expressions throughout the room. Even the waitresses stopped in their tracks to watch.

Then Alexander was speaking again.

"Margo Soriano Ambrosia," he says. "Will you do me the honor of marrying me?"

My smile spreads, and I nod. A relieved laugh escapes his mouth, I hold out my hand and he slips the ring onto my finger. The room erupts into a burst of laughter, applause, and cheers. We both stand up and hug, he lifts me off the ground.

"Wow," Amber stands behind me now in the dressing room as I glance at myself in the mirror. "You're getting married."

The stylist doing my hair smiled at me in the mirror.

In an hour or two I'll be walking down the aisle to marry Alexander Romano. I'm glad he never gave up on trying to get with me. We wouldn't be here, happy and starting a new chapter in our lives.

My parents turned out to like him. At least that's what Amber told me. "They told me that they didn't know who you would've picked to marry, but they're glad that it was him." This was what she told me after the day that my parents came to my penthouse to have dinner with Alexander, me, Marco, and my friends.

I called them to give them the news about my engagement and they flew in a month before the wedding and stayed at The Plaza Hotel.

And now here we are, in North Carolina, at my beach house on Wrightsville Beach, which was just outside of Wilmington on the southern reaches of North Carolina's coast. I wanted my wedding to be on the beach, and Alexander said we could do anything I wanted, which was the right answer if you know what I mean.

"Your husband to be is sexy as hell," Sofia says walking into the room with a cocktail in hand.

"You don't say."

"Congratulations, I'm glad you didn't end up alone as I expected." She finishes. Amber and I give her a flat expression. She puts her hands up. "I'm fucking with you."

The vow I wrote, was in my palm. Sweating away with my nerve-racking mind. I hoped it was as good as the one I was positive Alexanders will be. I wrote it from the heart, I poured my kisses onto it. The memory of the past, between him and me, flashes through my mind, and I always feel thankful that I didn't decide to keep things distant.