Sandi Lynn - When I Lie With You

“Don’t worry, sweetheart. I didn’t prepare because I’m just going to say what’s in my heart.”

“I love you,” I mouthed as he took my hands.

“Rory, these are my vows to you. I will love you and cherish you forever. You’re the light in my day and the stars in my night. You’ve held me up during the most difficult times and you’ve been my rock. I will forever be faithful to you and I will honor you for the rest of my life. You have my word, my promise, and my love forever and always. I will be there for you in sickness and in health until death do us part. You’re the sun in my rain and the rainbow that shines after. My love for you is eternal and nothing will ever change that. With this ring, I thee wed.”

I tried so hard to hold it together, but I couldn’t. I loved him so much and the tears had to fall. He took his thumb and gently wiped them away. “Ian, these are my vows to you. You showed me a world that I had only ever dreamed of. You saved my life and you saved me. You’re my rock and solid ground. You have filled my heart and my world with love and I’m going to spend the rest of my life thanking you. You are mine for eternity and I will love and cherish you forever. I will be there for you in sickness and in health and through the good and the bad until death do us part. I also promise to make sure you have blueberry muffins every day. With this ring, I thee wed.”

Ian let out a light laugh and smiled at me as I slipped the ring on his finger. “I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss your beautiful bride.”

We both smiled as we shared a passionate kiss and everyone clapped. “I can’t believe everyone is here,” I said.

“Are you happy?” he asked.

“The happiest person alive.”

“Good. That’s what I wanted.” He smiled as he kissed me again.

Ian broke our kiss and leaned down and kissed my tummy. “How are my girls?” he whispered.

“They’re very happy too.” I smiled.

We walked hand in hand up the aisle. I stopped when I saw Jimmy and he pulled me into a warm embrace.

“Look at you. My beautiful daughter. I never thought in a million years that I’d ever get to see this day. Your mom would be so proud of you.”

“I wish her and Stephen were here.”

“They are in spirit, Rory,” he said. “You’ve married a very generous and loving man. I couldn’t ask for a better son-in-law.”

“You made your old dad here cry,” Rosie said as she hugged me and then Ian. “Congratulations to the both of you. It was a beautiful ceremony.”

“Thank you for dropping all your plans at the last minute to come,” Ian said.

“Excuse me for a moment,” I said as I walked over to Richard and Veronica. “I’m so happy you’re here.” I smiled as I hugged them both.

“Not as happy as I am. Seeing my son marry you is the best thing I’ve ever seen in my life. I’m proud to call you my daughter-in-law. Thank you for everything, Rory.”

Once again, being the hormonal mess I was, tears filled my eyes. “Thank you, Dad.” I smiled.

Veronica looked at me with her tear-filled eyes. “You are simply gorgeous and this is the best day of my life,” Ian’s mother said. “To finally be a part of my son’s life and now I have a daughter and two granddaughters on the way. I feel like I’ve finally been blessed.”

Ian walked over and placed his hand on the small of my back. He placed his other hand on my stomach and held it there. “I can’t wait for you to meet your granddaughters, Mom and Dad,” he said.

Connor and Ellery walked over to us, grinning from ear to ear. “Congratulations!” Ellery exclaimed as she hugged both of us.

“You look absolutely stunning, Rory.” Connor smiled.

“Thank you both for coming,” I said.

“We wouldn’t have missed this wedding for the world,” Connor replied.

Ian

After the photographer was finished taking pictures of us, I escorted Rory to the limo that was waiting for us. Adalynn and Daniel, along with the rest of the guests, took separate limos back to the hotel, where I had arranged a small, intimate reception.

“You are so beautiful, sweetheart. When I saw you walk down that aisle, I swear my heart stopped beating. I thought I died and I was in Heaven.”

She placed her hand on my cheek. “Thank you, Ian, my husband. I felt the same way when I saw you standing at the end. You have no idea how hard it was to hold back the tears.”

“Yes, I do, because I had to do it too, sweetheart.”

“How did you pull this off in such a short amount of time?” she asked.

“Anything’s possible when you’re madly in love and you want something bad enough.”

“I want to make love to you right now.” Rory smiled.

“I want to make love to you too, and we will tonight, after the wedding reception. All night long, I will make you come multiple times.”

“God, Ian, stop.” She smiled. “You’re making me wet already.”

“Okay, Rory. We need to stop talking like that. I don’t know if I can hold back. So, tell me about Andre.”

Rory laughed as she held my face and kissed me. We arrived at the hotel and I took Rory to the room where the reception was being held. The wedding cake turned out perfect and Rory was very happy. We shared a wonderful celebration dinner with our family and friends and then Rory and I cut the cake. As we danced our first dance as husband and wife, Rory made a comment to me.

“Have you noticed that Andre and Mandy haven’t left each other’s side since the ceremony? They even sat next to each other.”

“I did notice that, sweetheart. I wonder if they’re falling for each other.” I smiled.

“Come to think of it, they did talk quite a bit when he was staying with us,” Rory said.

“Good for them. I hope they find in each other what we have.”

It was finally time to take my wife up to our hotel room and make love to her for the first time as Mrs. Ian Braxton; something I’d been looking forward to all day. I carried her into our room and laid her down on the bed while I hovered over her and stared into her beautiful brown eyes.

“I love you more than anything else in this world, Mrs. Braxton, and now I’m going to show you how much you mean to me and how special you are.”

“I’m looking forward to it, Mr. Braxton, because I plan on showing you the same thing.” She smiled.

I growled and kissed her passionately as we made love a few times that night and celebrated our marriage.

Rory

3 Months Later…

I stood in the middle of the nursery and looked around. It was huge. Ian had the wall knocked out between both bedrooms and had them completely renovated. I felt sorry for the workers because Ian was on their asses every second of every day to get the job done. They finished two days early. I slipped them some cash and apologized for my husband’s behavior. It turned out exactly the way Ian and I had planned. We decorated with the colors of soft pink and cream. It was perfect and so were the two paintings that Ellery painted for us that hung above each of the girls’ cribs.

“It’s beautiful in here,” Ian said as he wrapped his arms around me.

“It is. Now that it’s complete, we just need to wait for our daughters to be born.”

“Ah, they’ll be here soon, Rory. Filling this room with laughter.”

“Laughter won’t come for a while, babe. They’ll fill the room with cries.”

Ian chuckled and kissed my head. “I can’t believe all the things we got from the baby shower. People were so generous,” I said.

“They always are, sweetheart.” He smiled.