In August 2005, he attended a wedding in the small mountain town of Grand Lake, Colo. He arrived alone for a weekend of events populated mostly by married couples. Then, at a lakeside gathering after the rehearsal dinner, Nora Burnett passed by in a flash of green pashmina, tan skin and glistening hair.
She seemed “electric,” remembered Mr. Abrams, a gregarious Denver native and Harvard graduate known to favor ski slopes and rodeos. Now an owner of a mergers and acquisitions advisory firm in nearby Englewood, he remembers being captivated by Ms. Burnett’s hearty laughter. “She was confident and charming and radiant,” said Mr. Abrams, 30.
But he didn’t make a move, because he assumed the man at her side, Stuart Nagae, was her husband.
Unfortunately, Mr. Abrams looked away just as she left with Mr. Nagae — and his wife.
The next night it was Ms. Burnett’s turn to notice Mr. Abrams as he boarded a bus carrying guests to the wedding. She was immediately attracted to his “upbeat, optimistic, fun-loving personality,” said Ms. Burnett, also 30, a born-and-bred New Yorker who is a doctoral student in art history at New York University.
At the reception she tried to catch his eye, “but he wasn’t paying any attention,” she said. So she enlisted Mr. Nagae, a former classmate of hers at Stanford, as her wingman. But as they approached Mr. Abrams, he abruptly turned and left the room.
“In my mind she was married,” said Mr. Abrams, who had started his first company at 25 but had never had a long-term relationship, “I kept noticing her in spite of myself.”
This went on until the morning hours as they made their way to an after-party at the Lariat Saloon. They were both a little worse for wear, with Ms. Burnett sporting a six-inch wine stain on the front of her ivory dress.
“All of a sudden I turned around and she was right next to me,” Mr. Abrams said. “Then I noticed her hand.”
There was no wedding ring. He was confused yet hopeful, and fortified by liquid courage he blurted out, “Where’s your ring?” In quick succession he asked the whereabouts of her husband, fiancé or boyfriend.
Taken aback, she replied: “I’m single. There’s nobody in my life. Thanks for reminding me.” Her good humor and, most important, single status delighted him.
But the bar was closing in less than a half-hour. “I was racing against the clock,” he said. Soon the lights were on, and he had yet to get her phone number.
But he needn’t have worried. “For most people it was the end of the night,” she said. “But for us this exciting thing had just started.” They walked down the moonlit mountain road, hand in hand, and then he gently kissed her.
“I felt butterflies all over,” she said. Like “something out of high school.”
She wrote her e-mail address and phone number in lip liner on a Post-it note. Within hours she was back in New York. And back to the reality that they lived nearly a continent apart.
The first person Mr. Abrams told about her was his sister, Katie. “He said, ‘I met the greatest girl last night and I have to find a way to be with her,’ ” Ms. Abrams said. “He had never been excited about a girl before in his life.”
He sent Ms. Burnett an e-mail message the next day and by October was visiting New York, pretending it was for business. Ms. Burnett suspected otherwise, but didn’t want to jinx things.
“I am someone who’s really pragmatic,” she said. But once he arrived with flowers in hand (“not roses, because I didn’t want to come off too strong,” he said), pragmatism went out the window.
And in February 2007, on a pre-Valentine’s Day trip to Colorado, he surprised her with a return visit to the Lariat Saloon.
He asked her if she remembered his first words to her. She said, “Where’s your ring?” And on bended knee, he provided one.
On Sept. 20, Rabbi Robert N. Levine married them at Guastavino’s, an event space in New York, below the 59th Street Bridge. Under its famous arched granite masonry, they vowed an enduring love. Then, as the couple kissed, their 268 guests gave a mile-high cheer.
“It was love at first sight and love at last call,” said Brooke Borgen, at whose wedding the couple met. “Things can happen at that last moment that can change your life forever.”
More Articles in Fashion & Style » A version of this article appeared in print on September 28, 2008, on page ST13 of the New York edition.
2005年8月，他出席了一个婚礼，婚礼在科罗拉多州的山中小城大湖城举行，他独自去一个大多是已婚夫妇参加的周末活动。晚餐会后，人们来到湖边聚会，而她有着独特的晒成小麦色的的皮肤和泛着光泽的头发，她身着绿色羊绒衫，快速穿过人群。
她似乎全身“带电”，艾布拉姆斯先生回忆道。艾是一个爱交际的丹佛人，毕业于哈佛大学，尤其喜欢滑雪和马术。现在附近的恩格尔伍德拥有一个兼并和收购咨询公司。他记得自己被伯内特小姐的开怀大笑所俘获。“她那一刻光芒四射，自信十足，迷人极了”，三十岁的艾布拉姆斯说。
但是他并没有采取行动，因为他以为她身边那个名叫斯图尔特·拿卡的男士是她的丈夫。
不巧的是，当她离开拿卡先生----和他妻子的时候，艾布拉姆斯先生也转移了自己的视线。
第二天晚上伯内特小姐开始注意艾布拉姆斯先生了，他登上一辆送亲的车。她马上被他“乐观、开朗、幽默的个性所吸引，”同样年为30的伯内特小姐说。伯内特女士是土生土长的纽约人，现在是纽约大学历史系的博士生。
在服务台，她试图和他对上眼，“但是他一点儿也没有注意到我，”她说。所以她邀请拿卡先生作为他的同伴，拿卡先生是她在斯坦福大学的同学。但是当他俩接近艾布拉姆斯先生的时候，拿卡突然转身离开了房间。“我以为她结婚了，”艾布拉姆斯说，他25岁才开始他的第一次恋爱，但是从没有过一段长时间的交往，“我不自禁地老看她”。
这样一直到第二天早上，他俩去Lariat的大厅去参加婚后派对。他俩都穿的挺糟糕，伯内特小姐穿着一条象牙白的裙子，前面有六英寸的酒渍。
“我转过头来，突然间就看到她就在我身边，”艾布拉姆斯说：“然后我就注意到了她的手。”
没有婚戒。他觉得奇怪，但又充满了信心，借着酒劲他脱口而出：“你的结婚戒指呢?”他马上又追问她的丈夫或者未婚夫或者男朋友哪里去了。
她大吃一惊，回答说：“我是单身，还没有人陪我生活。不过谢谢你提醒我啊!”她的幽默，尤其是她单身的消息让他欣喜不已。
但是，酒吧不到半小时就要关门了。“我当时就在和时间赛跑，”他说。但不久酒吧打烊灯亮了，他却还没有要到她的电话号码。
但是他没有必要担心。“对于许多人来说，那一晚就结束了，”伯内特说，“但是对于我俩来说，好戏才刚刚开始。”他俩走在洒满月光的山路上，手牵着手，然后他轻轻地吻了她。
“我感到身在满是蝴蝶的花丛中，”她说，就像“回到了高中时代一样”。
她在一张小纸条上用唇线笔写下了她的电子邮箱地址和电话。几小时后她回到了纽约。并意识到一个尴尬的现实---他俩的住处几乎隔着一个大陆。
艾布拉姆斯首先告诉了他的妹妹凯蒂。“他说，‘我昨晚上见到了我的梦中情人，我要想办法和她在一起，’”艾布拉姆斯小姐说，“他长这么大还从来没有为一个女孩如此激动过。”
他第二天给伯内特小姐发了封电邮，借口说他十月份将要到纽约出公差，伯内特小姐虽然怀疑，但也不想扫他的兴。
“我是一个十分务实的人，”她说。但是当他手捧着一大束鲜花(不是玫瑰，因为我不想表现得太过激，他说)站在我面前时，我的 那些实用主义思想都抛到窗外去了。
2007年2月，在情人节的前一天，他去了科罗拉多，但是他突然回到了Lariat俱乐部，这足实让她吃了一惊。
他问她是否记得他对她说的第一句话。她说，“你的结婚戒指呢?”他马上跪下来，拿出了一个。
9 月20号，在纽约59街大桥下的活动大厅，拉比·罗伯特·N·雷文主持了他们在瓜斯塔维诺举行的婚礼。在其著名的花岗石拱下，他俩说出永恒的誓言。他俩接吻的时候，268位来宾热烈地欢呼。“这真是一见钟情又终成眷属啊，”布鲁克·伯根说，他俩就是在伯根的婚礼上认识的。“最后一刻发生的事情也许就会永远改变你的人生。”
