CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE #2
“I promise this is what I want. Thank you for helping me do all of this.”
“Hey, I’d do anything for you. That is what family does,” she says, then wraps me in a hug where our bellies bump together.
My relationship with Alice, Levi’s mom, is even better now after the shooting.
We aired a lot out after the funeral, and are almost back to the way we were before all this mess happened.
Although, Daniel is still not a welcome sight.
I know in my heart that he was doing what he thought best for his son, but the hateful names and not helping me out when I was pregnant was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
He could’ve helped, and then I’d never been placed in the jail cell where that evil bitch and her lackeys beat me.
“Momma!” Halo squeals, and it brings me out of my thoughts.
She’s looking at the lit-up barn, with the candle lanterns that lead the path to the barn doors. I wanted something simple here on our property. As soon as I proposed to the groom, he made sure this barn was the perfect fit for our wedding, and he didn’t disappoint.
“You ready, baby girl?” I take her hand and we walk down the path towards the entrance.
Soft music plays on the other side of the lace curtain that separates the inside from the outside.
I can see the entire barn is lit in candles, and there are strands of clear lights around the wooden poles throughout the barn.
He made sure to put in new flooring so I wouldn’t trip over the unleveled wooden planks that were there before.
The aisle is divided down the middle, and there are a few rows of chairs that occupy our closest friends and family; nothing like my first wedding where there was only myself, the groom and the Justice of the Peace.
Two men dressed nicely stand on either side of the door and carefully draw back the lace curtain.
The music changes and my eyes meet my groom as Halo and I take the first step inside, as the Wedding March plays.
Everything else fades away, and only he and I are there.
My pulse starts to race, and it’s like the aisle is a mile long.
Our two dogs, Zeus and Ginger who are at the front, perk up and move to us in a matter of seconds.
Halo jumps up and takes off to meet Ginger halfway, but I stay put and take in everything that is about to happen.
Our lives will never be the same after this, and we plan to move forward and never look back at the past. We’ve learned a lot but promised to never experience those mistakes again.
My groom, impatient as ever, moves from the front of the aisle and meets both Halo and I in the middle.
He picks up Halo, giving her a sound kiss on the cheek, then circles my waist placing a hand on my protruding belly, giving me an almost inappropriate public kiss.
Only the sound of the Pastor clearing his throat makes him stop.
He blushes pink, and it only makes me love him more.
We’ve come a long way over the months, and I have to say that I made the right decision after picking up the pieces, after that fatal night several months ago.
As we make it to the front, he places Halo down and fixes her dress before her attention is back on Ginger, and they move over a few feet away from us and Pastor Reynolds.
“Shall we begin this beautiful ceremony?” Pastor Reynolds asks, and we both nod.
The Pastor starts by reading a few verses but my hearing is muffled by my groom’s whisper. We’re only inches away and if I wasn’t five months pregnant, I’m sure he’d be molded to me.
“You look stunning,” he whispers.
“Thank you,” I mouth.
He leans his body into me, and I know he’s about to seal his lips to mine but once again the Pastor speaks up.
“I know both the bride and groom want to say their own vows…”
My eyes focus back on my groom and I can’t help but start to tear up, looking into his beautiful eyes.
“Levi, if you will start your vow renewal.” He nods to the Pastor, then turns back to me.
“Saylor, my love, my life. Words fail me every time I opened my mouth when I was practicing this. I know we’ve been here before, but this time it’s different.
We’re different. You came into my life when I needed you the most and turned me upside down and inside out.
For the longest time, I thought this was a fluke and that at any moment, I would wake up and it would all have been a dream.
That I was destined to be alone for the rest of my life, but from day one you wedged your way up to the bar and changed all of it.
Three months later, we married and I swore to be one with you and walk through this marriage as an equal partner.
I failed that because on day two-hundred and forty of our marriage, I lost you to my foolish pride.
Never did I think that one mistake would cost me my entire world for over two and a half years.
But it did, and in a way I’m thankful. Thankful because I was able to grow up and become the man you needed. The man who you deserve.”
I squeeze our joined hands, and will the stinging in my eyes to let up. We’ve both cried enough over the years, and now I want nothing but happiness from here on out.
“Today, I stand before you and our daughter, and pledge that for as long as I’m breathing that I’ll be the man you both want in your life.
I promise to be the best role model for our daughter and the best husband that you could ever want.
I promise to love, honor and cherish you, to include you on every aspect of our lives and walk hand and hand together until we can’t walk any more.
I love you Saylor, with my whole heart, and promise to keep you safe and warm on chilly nights, to help make you the best person that you have always wanted to be.
I love you and promise these things until death do us part. ”
Levi takes his monogramed handkerchief out of his front pocket and dabs my soaked cheeks. How can anyone follow those words?
Pastor Reynolds turns towards me and nods, letting me know it’s my turn. Steeling myself, I take a deep breath and try to calm my emotions to get through this.
“Levi, I didn’t really know what living was until I saw you for the first time. The moment I stumbled into that crazy bar, it was like you had turned on a switch and my life began. You have given my world color and I don’t think I could ever go back to living the way I was before you.”
Our daughter walks over and circles her daddy’s legs, giving him a big hug, making us all laugh.
“You have shown me what it’s like to have a true partner and even though we’ve had some rocky bumps in our time, I think we both can say that we are better people because of them.
It might’ve taken us years to get where we are now, but I’m glad that you never gave up on us.
Our daughter and I love you more than you’ll ever know and I hope that every day I can show you exactly that. ”
I can see the tears welling up in his eyes, and I know he’s trying his best to keep them in because seeing him cry is going to make me lose it.
“Kiersten White said it best, ‘I’d choose you, in a hundred lifetimes, in a hundred worlds, in any version of reality, I’d find you and choose you.’ Never in my heart was there another for me; you are it for me Levi Thorne.”
“I promise to love, honor and cherish you. To keep you and your heart safe, to be a sounding board when life is too tough, and even a warm place for your cold feet. I pledge my love and life to you, and only you for, as long as we both shall live.”
We don’t wait for Pastor Reynolds and surge forward to seal our promises to each other. We’re already married so we can do as we like. I can hear cheering and clapping in the distance but tune them out. It’s only when I feel a tug on my dress that we pull apart.
“My daddy!” Halo stomps her little boot.
“Of course, baby doll.” Levi swoops down and brings her between us as we both kiss a chubby cheek, sending her into fits of giggles as she’s the little ham of the party.
The reception is what I had hoped it would’ve been the first time around. I think back to the girl I was then and the woman I am now, and can’t help but be relieved that I’ve changed. At least for the better, I think.
My lower back has a pinch to it so I’m sitting down to relieve some of the pressure.
My mind drifts back to three months ago, and I can’t help but remember when the doctors came in to tell me that Brody didn’t make it.
At first, I thought it was Levi and my entire world stopped for a few brief moments.
Ryan, Everly and Linc had to hold me upright until they assured me that it was in fact Brody, and not Levi, who had died.
“Wha…what do you mean, he didn’t make it?” I sway and several hands catch me.
“We did everything we could, we’re sorry for your loss,” one of the doctors says, but I can’t focus on anything right now other than the fact that the love of my life didn’t make it.
“This can’t be happening,” I look over to my left and see Ryan. “He promised me forever. He said he’d never leave me and Halo!”
“Saylor…Saylor please listen.”
I think I went into shock because the next thing I knew, I was in a hospital bed.
Something was holding my legs down and when my eyes focused, it was Everly with her head laying across them.
She was sound asleep. I heard beeping and when I turned my head, I saw a man lying in a bed next to me, making my heart stop.
“Levi!” I shouted as if I was dreaming and wanted to wake us up.
I heard his familiar grunt as Everly sprung up from her seat.
“Shh.” Everly grabbed for my hand. “He needs all the rest he can get.”
“But…h-he’s here? The doctors?” I stuttered.
“They were talking about Brody, Saylor. Levi is in bad shape but they think he will be just fine, as long as he rests and gets through this first night.”