3 years later
My dress was beautiful, it fit perfectly around my small waist. The small piece of lace hovering over my shoulder gave the impression of a beautiful flower, the slit running down my leg showed off my tan skin. My hair was loose except the small piece that was being held up by a diamond clip, I have on a pair of small dangling teardrop diamond earrings that were once my mom’s.
Today is my wedding, today was the day I finally get to marry the love of my life. We’ve grown a lot in theses three years we’ve spent together, we bought a house together, we combined bank accounts, we’ve attended to each other’s families parties, we got a dog together and this is the next step.
The door opened, my mom walked in with her pale orange dress and a small envelope between her hands. When her eyes met mine a smile took over her lips, tears started to fill her eyes when she trailed down to my dress and appearance.
You look beautiful, cricket. My mom whispers in awe.
I shyly smiled, the veil on my head fell perfectly with my long, curled hair when I turned around fully to face her. I glanced down at the letter calling her attention back to the envelope in her hand.
Victoria had this mailed to my house, she asked me to give it to you. She says.
My smile slipped from my face, I haven’t heard from her since the court hearing. I slowly grabbed the letter my mom held out for me, I held the letter close to my chest as my mom softly kissed my cheek and retrieved back to the door.
I’ll see you out there, okay ?
Okay. I replied with a force smile and a small nod, I waited till she exited the room completely to rip open the letter.
I wasn’t sure how she was doing, where she was at, if she was even alive still. My heart was beating so fast against my chest, I took a seat on the couch that was in the corner of the room. I inhaled shakily before opening the letter, my fingers were shaking around the white piece of paper.
Dear, Adora
I’m currently sitting at my house in Italy, watching the rain roll off my window and I can’t help but to think of you. You told me once that alcohol was your savior but that wasn’t the truth, not even close, you survived on your own. This will probably be the last time you hear from me, we both deserve to grow and move on from all the trauma we’ve gone through. I just needed you to know that I’m happy now and I’m glad that you’re too. I get to say this one last time, I love you, party animal.
Sincerely, your Tori
Small tears gathered around my eyes, I blinked them all away not wanting to ruin my makeup. I gently placed the open letter down on the table in front of me, I glared at it like I was expecting it to fly away. I stood up and looked at myself through the mirror that was sitting right in front of me, I’ve grown a lot and I’ve came a long way. I’m proud of myself and my accomplishments, I wish seeing her wouldn’t give me ptsd or anxiety but it does and I’m thankful that she respects that.
I’m now more ready then ever to marry the love of my life now.
I opened my door, my uncle stood right outside waiting for me. These past years he’s really shown me how much he’s changed and how much we both lost in the previous years. We were able to heal each other in our own ways as a family, each day he reminded me more and more of my dad.
You look gorgeous. His voice cracks, he blinks away tears while chuckling.
I smiled before kissing his cheek. Thank you. I whispered.
I locked my arm with his, we both stood together as we waited for the melody start. Faust and I decided on a outside wedding, it was fall so all the plants looked so aesthetically pleasing, everything just fell together perfectly. The music softly started playing giving us the signal to start walking, I was so overtaken by nerves that my fingers started digging inside my uncle’s forearm.
We started walking, I spotted from a couple inches away all my guest standing up waiting for me to make my appearance. My dress trailed right behind me, my heels clicked against the wooden pathway. When we stopped right at the aisle, my eyes glanced up meeting my future husband’s grey ones. Faust stood at the alter in his black tux, he had a small apricot tulip against his tux matching my bouquet.
All my fears drifted away when we made eye contact, he smiled brightly at me. I inhaled and exhaled, everyone suddenly disappeared and it was only me walking to him. I kissed my uncle on the cheek before stepping to the altar, Faust held my hands tightly in the palm of his hands.
Friends, we have joined here today to share with Adora and Faust an important moment in their lives. Their time together, they have seen their love and understanding of each other grow and blossom and now they have decided to live out the rest of their lives as one. The priest says, I couldn’t take my eyes off of Faust and he couldn’t take his off of me.
He shared a few more words, I wasn’t paying attention to any of them.
I Faust Santos, take you, Adora Ridges, to be my wife. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honor you all the days of my life. He says softly, he grabs my ring from Kenzo and holds it only inches away from my hand.
I give you this ring as a sign that I choose you and as a reminder that I will always love you. He slips the ring on my finger.
I could hear everyone gushing about how romantic this was, my very own heart was in awe with this man.
I Adora Ridges, take you, Faust Santos, for my lawful husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and health, until death do us part. My voice sounded shaky, I wanted to cry in pure happiness.
I give you this ring as a sign that I choose you and as a reminder that I will always love you. I gently slipped his ring on his finger, we both smiled in relief.
I now pronounce you husband and wife, you may kiss the bride. The priest says.
I’ve been waiting to hear that since the very beginning. Faust whispers under his breath as he trapped my cheeks with his hands, he slowly brought me in for a kiss.
My hands grabbed on to his elbows to settle myself, I tilted my head to deepened the kiss. The world went silent like it always does when I kiss him, my body gently lifted with his when he pulled me closer to his chest. I smiled against his lips when he grabbed my leg to dip me, I held his shoulders while tilting my head back giving him the opportunity to kiss my neck.
Everyone started clapping and cheering, when he helped me back up to my feet. We stared at each other for what felt like forever, we both were breathing so hard and filled with excitement.
I am truly the luckiest man alive. He whispers.
We leaned our foreheads against each other, my eyes shut for a split second, I was trying to enjoy this sweet moment just for a bit longer.
I present to you Mr and Mrs. Santos.
We turned around to face our guest with our hands intertwined together, everyone started to throw small flowers in the air as we walked down the aisle together. Livia and Kenzo both ran up to us, I picked her up to twirl her around a little.
We’re officially a family now. Livia says, excitedly.
I nodded my head while bringing her head in for a loving kiss, this was our little family and I couldn’t be more happier.