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“Did we really just do that?” Roslyn shrieked as she and Nick ran out the doors of the wedding chapel hand in hand after saying their I do’s.

“Yeah, we did,” Nick replied, pulling her suddenly to a stop in the middle of the parking lot. “We’re married,” he whispered, pulling her close and planting a strong kiss on her lips. “I love you Roslyn.”

“I love you too Nickolas,” she responded, pecking him gently on the lips.

“I love it when you call me that,” he roared into her ear huskily, letting his hands roam her body freely over her white dress as he nibbled at the same ear. A low moan escaped her lips as she enjoyed the feelings he was arousing within her and realizing just how long it had been since she’d been touched this way.

As she realized it though, fear invaded her happiness. Things had changed so much since she was last touched that way, and now she was infected. She knew the risks and the statistics just as Nick did, she knew the chances of infecting him were low, but there was still a chance…a chance she wasn’t completely sure she wanted to take.

She had been sure on the plane ride, she had been sure on the drive from the airport to the hotel, and she had been sure on the limo ride from the hotel to the wedding chapel and sure while she was walking down the aisle, but now, as the moment was approaching, doubt began replacing certainty.

“I can’t wait to get you back to the hotel,” Nick purred into her ear, continuing his bedroom talk. “I’ve been waiting so lo—“

“Let’s go to the casino first,” Roslyn offered, interrupting Nick mid-sentence. She didn’t want to tell him she was having second thoughts about making love to him, so she hoped a distraction would give her time to sort out her feelings. Nick took a few steps back from her, making it quite obvious he was a little put off by her lack of cooperation and willingness and he eyed her carefully.

“Are you sure? We can gamble later tonight, or tomorrow or whenever. I thought our first stop would be our honeymoon suite?” His eyes showed concern and disappointment and she knew she had to tell him something so he wouldn’t feel like she had regrets about what they had just done.

“Nick, I love you, and I want to make love to you just as much as you want to make love to me…I just don’t feel ready quite yet,” she told him, shrugging her shoulders as she said it. “I’m scared.”

He knew what she meant, and he knew this would be an issue, but it was an issue he was prepared to deal with. He was scared too, but he wasn’t going to let fear or any of the endless possibilities stop him from consummating the union that had been bestowed upon them just five minutes ago.

“Okay baby,” he said softly as he pulled her close to him, this time keeping his hands on her back instead of wandering around her body. They held each other for a moment, still standing in the middle of the parking lot. When they released, they climbed into the limo that was waiting to take them back to their hotel, anticipation of things to come creeping over both of them.




“You don’t think they would go to Vegas to elope do you?” Kaci asked AJ as they sat on the bed in their room. AJ stopped rubbing her feet and thought seriously about the question his wife had just laid on him.

“I’m not sure,” he finally said, shaking his head from side to side. “I know they think they have to hurry up and do things so much faster, but would they really make us miss out on something like that?”

“I’m her best friend! She was my maid of honor and I am supposed to be hers! I’m her best friend! She wouldn’t go off and do something as huge as getting married without telling me! I’m her best friend!”

AJ couldn’t help the laughter that overtook him as he listened to Kaci’s ranting and watched her facial expressions. He knew in his gut that Nick and Roslyn most likely went to Las Vegas to get married, and he knew when Kaci found out about it, she would be crushed, but the way she was acting at that moment seemed quite comical to him.

“Alex,” she whined playfully, “it’s not funny. Stop laughing! I’m her best friend! You don’t do this to your best friend!”

“Oh, poor baby,” he mocked, pulling her into his body forcefully and pretending to rock her back and forth like a crying child.

“You’re such a jerk,” she retorted, giving in and letting the contagiousness of AJ’s laughter infect her too. They played around on the bed for a few minutes, tickling each other and laughing, until Kaci shot up on the bed like an epiphany had just hit her.

“I’m going to call her and find out what’s going on!” she proclaimed, jumping off the bed and charging down the stairs to retrieve her cell phone. She dialed the number and waited while it rang three times.

“Kaci, don’t be mad,” was the first thing she heard as Roslyn’s voice came over the line.

“You did it didn’t you? You got married in Vegas without me there! I can’t believe you!”

“Kaci, I’m sorry! We just wanted to do it right away and not wait while things were planned and guests were invited and all that stuff! Remember how long it took us to plan your wedding?”

There was silence on the phone, Kaci waiting to see if Roslyn was going to say anything else and Roslyn waiting to see if Kaci would accept what she said or not.

“So, how’d it go?” Kaci finally said, her tone indicating that she was not upset and she understood why Roslyn and Nick had made that decision. Roslyn told her about the wedding chapel, the minister that looked like Elvis, walking down the aisle to the “Love Me Tender” being played on an organ, wearing a Donna Karan gown, white of course, that she had picked up in the hotel boutique, and carrying a bouquet of miniature white roses with several pinned in her hair.

She told her every word of the vows, recounted every emotion she felt, every tear that fell throughout the fairly cheesy ceremony, and every look Nick had given her, which sent goose bumps over her body once again as she thought about it.

“It wasn’t traditional, it wasn’t classy, it wasn’t even remotely how I had imagined my wedding to be when I was younger, but Kaci, it was absolutely perfect.” She and Kaci continued to chatter back and forth about it all for a few more minutes, and then Roslyn turned the conversation in a different direction.

“Kaci, um, I need your advice about, uh, having sex with Nick. I’m scared. I know the risks and he knows the risks and I know that probably nothing will happen, but what if I infect him? What if something happens?”

“Wow,” Kaci breathed into the phone, taken aback by the sharp turn in conversation. She wasn’t prepared for this; she knew less about HIV and everything that goes along with it than Roslyn or Nick, so how was she supposed to advise her cousin on the matter?

“Well, Ros, you no more about it than I do, so I can’t give you any advice on infecting him, but what I will say is that you have to trust him, and trust yourself. You can’t live so cautiously anymore, you did it all your life and bad things still happened. You have to make the most of what you have, of the time you have with him, and I know that’s what he intends on doing with you. You just have to let it go out of your hands and into the hands of something bigger, it’s not up to you anymore.”

“I know, Kace, but—“

“Do you want to have sex with him?”

“Yes, but—“

“Do you trust him?”

“Kaci, of course I trust him, but—“

“No but’s, Ros, then trust in him that he knows what he is doing and he knows the risks he’s taking. Just love him, let him love you, and ‘come what may’, ya know?” Again, there was silence for a little while, Roslyn trying to process everything Kaci had said. She knew her cousin was right, she knew that even though some people would think it appropriate for her to just enclose herself in a bubble in order to protect the rest of the world from what she had, she didn’t feel that was right. She deserved to be happy, to live a life like everyone else, and she had found someone that loved her and was willing to do that with her and she would be a fool to interfere.

“Thank you Kaci,” she said quietly into the phone. “I’ve got to go; he’s coming this way right now.” Roslyn flipped her phone shut and stuck it back in the little white clutch she had purchased to go with her dress moments before Nick reached her.

“Did you win?” she asked him, hoping he wouldn’t question who she had been on the phone with. He probably knew though, there was no way that they could have gotten through the entire trip without Kaci calling and nailing them on their secret plan.

“A little, how ‘bout you?”

“Nah, those nickel machines are rigged I swear to God!” she joked, stepping a little closer to him. “I’m ready,” she whispered in his ear, running her hand down the back of his neck softly. His eyes lit up like a little kid’s on Christmas morning and he backed away from her quickly, almost bumping into a cocktail waitress in all his excitement. He mumbled an apology to the waitress and then grabbed Roslyn’s hand and pulled her quickly to the elevator.

“I guess someone’s a little excited,” she chided, watching him frantically tapping his foot as they waited for the elevator to arrive.

“Girl you have no idea,” he responded with a smirk. She really had no idea how long he had been waiting for this moment, for his moment to love her the way she deserved to be loved. He wasn’t going to waste it either…tonight he was going to love her like she had never been loved before.

As they stepped onto the elevator, the soft instrumental music floated through the speakers, causing Nick and Roslyn to look at each simultaneously, recognition of the song hitting them.

This must be fate, Roslyn thought to herself as Nick started singing along softly to the music.

“I will love you more than that; I won’t say the words and take them back. Don’t give loneliness a chance; baby listen to me when I say I will love you more than that.”