CHAPTER 27

Paradise

We left in the morning and had our first night in Vegas. It was so much fun gambling for the first time, but we wound up losing, of course. We got tickets to see The Lion King, courtesy of 1-800-Registry. I’d never seen anything like it before—it was amazing. We stayed at the Mirage Hotel. I thought the lights and the strip were the coolest thing ever.

After the night in Vegas, we headed off to Fiji, which had always been my dream destination. I never thought in my wildest dreams I’d be able to travel there. We flew in and had to take a helicopter ride to our destination, which was called Tokoriki Island. It was breathtaking. We had a large bungalow at the Tokoriki Island Resort with a huge bed and white linens, and we could open the windows and the back door and it felt like we were outside even when we were inside. It was just a ceiling, and the walls were basically open. The shower was outdoors and had blue tile.

Everything was blue. The water was blue, crystal blue as far as you could see. There was an infinity pool that Chris would float in; we could sort of see the edge of it, but then it would blend in with the ocean. There were palm trees everywhere. It was gorgeous.

Of course all of the food was amazing, but my favorite dish was at breakfast. Pancakes covered in powdered sugar—so good I couldn’t get enough. We ate every meal on tables outside, looking at the ocean. It was truly paradise. At dinner the waiters would play music. Once, our waiter came around to us and asked if we wanted a love song or an upbeat song. I said both. They started playing Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours.” I couldn’t help but sing along.

Chris learned to scuba dive while we were there. That was something I used to do and always wanted him to learn. They allowed me to go on the boat with him even though it was rough. I just sat there and held on tight. The workers were so nice, all native Fijians from the local village. They carried me on and off the boat. We took two trips over to the local village, which was our favorite part of the trip. It wasn’t exactly wheelchair accessible, so Chris had to lean my chair back and wheelie me over a lot of the terrain. It seemed like none of the kids on the island had ever seen a wheelchair. I let them touch it and spin the spinners. The inside piece actually spins, kind of like a pimped-out car you might see, except I spin these manually. They loved it.

Some other kids approached me on the trip and wanted to know what had happened to me, so our guide, Vili, told them in their native language. He knew my story, as we had become good friends while we were on the island.

Chris did a lot to help on that trip, even going so far as to put waves in my hair with a wave-making iron I had brought along. It turned out he was very particular about wanting to make my hair look good. He’d talk me through it, saying, “Hold still. Wait a minute. Almost done.” It was pretty darn funny. One day, we plugged the iron in and it totally fried. We just stared at it in disbelief. We had a good laugh about that.

While we were away, absorbed in luxury and sunshine, the media had apparently gone absolutely crazy because the wedding stirred up the story again. We did get some time on the Internet there, so we read all these crazy stories and the comments. I was amazed the world had taken such interest. We were scheduled to fly to New York when we returned from Fiji for appearances on Today, HLN, MSNBC, and Inside Edition. It was exciting and exhausting all at once.

Of course, when we first arrived in Fiji, we were very tired. That kind of travel was something I’d certainly never experienced. Plus I was jet-lagged. But after we caught up on our sleep and overcame the exhaustion of our wedding and the trip, we finally consummated our marriage. It was really wonderful. I wrapped my arms around him and he kissed my neck, and it was passionate and loving. A moment I’ll never forget.