Chapter 21 #3
Her eyes wide, Jenna looked back to the rings on Jack’s palm. “Oh, no, we couldn’t. I mean,” she looked to Mr. Zarin. “Those are… They’re yours.”
Mr. Zarin stepped forward. Much as Chief Cunningham had out in the hallway, he took Jenna’s head gently between his hands and kissed her forehead.
“And now they’re yours. She couldn’t be here today to celebrate with the two of you.
Now you get to carry her with you always and remember how much she loved you. ”
Tears streamed down Jenna’s face. She pulled Mr. Zarin into a hug, her bouquet of lilies that Lilly had insisted she carry pressed into his back. “Thank you,” she said into his uniform.
Mr. Zarin’s lips brushed lightly against her intricate hairdo before he gently moved Jenna backward to her place before the judge.
No one, not even the judge, had been unaffected by the display. Mrs. Cunningham had come prepared with tissues though and started to pass them around.
The judge cleared his throat. “Did the two of you write your own vows?”
“Yes,” Jack and Jenna said together.
“Jack, place the ring on Jenna’s finger and proceed,” he prompted.
Jack handed Jenna Mr. Zarin’s ring in her right hand before picking up her left. Mrs. Zarin’s rings fit perfectly. Jenna had to wonder if Jack had had them resized.
As he started to speak, Jenna lifted her gaze to meet his gunmetal-gray eyes.
“Nine-hundred and sixty-nine. Do you know what that signifies?” Jenna shook her head.
“How many days since we met, which means it’s been nine hundred and sixty-nine days since I fell in love with you.
That’s two years, seven months, and twenty-seven days.
When we met, I had a different countdown in my head that couldn’t come fast enough and for an entirely different reason.
I never thought that I’d be happy to make that number larger, but that’s what you do to me, Jenna.
You change my perspective, my outlook, and you make it better.
“A part of me can’t believe we’re finally here, Jen.
We’ve been counting down for so long that it makes me wonder what the hell we’re supposed to do now.
” Jenna laughed softly with him. “I know I’m supposed to be making a vow now that declares my love and devotion to you.
But you don’t need those vows. You already have them.
You’ve had them for nine-hundred and sixty-nine days.
“So here’s our new number, Jen: zero. There is no countdown, no deadline, no end date. We are forever and eternity. From now on, we only count up.”
Tears flowed down her cheeks like a dam had broken. “Jack…” Jenna sniffled, trying to get her emotions under control. “You jerk, what am I supposed to say that can compete with that?”
Chuckling, he reached forward to help wipe the tears off her cheeks. “There’s no competition, Jenna. Only the knowledge forevermore that my vows kicked your vows’ ass.”
Their audience shared in their laughter.
Jenna grabbed Jack’s hand. Mr. Zarin’s ring fit perfectly on his finger too. It had to have been resized. Mrs. Cunningham stepped forward to take her bouquet and hand Jenna her vows.
“Thank you,” Jenna mouthed to the older woman. Opening the piece of paper, the words blurred before her eyes from her tears. “Damn,” she muttered, hastily wiping at her eyelids.
After several long breaths, Jenna started, “Jack. I know you hate your last name. More than once you’ve mentioned us creating a new last name that is just ours.
Problem is, I don’t want a new last name.
I want your name. Jack Duncan. My Jack. Changing your last name to create a new one won’t change your past and I don’t want you to change your past, because it shaped you into the man I love.
“You are the boy who took his little sister under his wing when your parents failed her. You are the boy who worked himself to the bone to provide food and clothing for himself and his sister when it wasn’t your responsibility.
You are the boy who counted pennies and saved up for the future—but not his own future, for his sister’s future.
“You are the teenager who swallowed his pride for an act of kindness, all because it brought a smile to his sister’s face.
You are the teenager who risked his own education to ensure that his sister got to school on time.
You are the teenager who ignored what his peers and elders said, thought, or did because you knew you found love. ”
Jenna swallowed hard, finally raising her gaze.
“You are the man who swore to love, protect, and cherish me. You are the man I love because you never falter, you never give up. I will never take you for granted. There’s no point in vowing to be faithful because you and I are incapable of infidelity.
Hurting one of us hurts both of us. We will span the distance, be it geography or time.
“You’re about to leave for boot camp. You are about to be trained to be the best of the best so that you can serve your country with honor and dignity.
You might have to prove yourself to your fellow soldiers, but you never have to prove yourself to me, Jack.
You already have. And know that I will always be at home waiting for you.
“I love you and I am proud to be Mrs. Jack Duncan.”
There was a single heartbeat of silence before Jack muttered, “Fuck, baby. You just kicked my vows’ ass.” Then he rushed forward to kiss her.
They barely heard the judge state, “I now pronounce you ‘husband and wife’.”
Jack turned the old fashioned key in the lock to their room. “Okay, wait here.” He left Jenna in the hallway to rush their suitcases inside. Then he came back out, leaving the door open. Fuck, she was a sight. “Mrs. Duncan.”
Her gown was simple, yet elegant. The V-neck ivory overlay had lace shoulders and sleeves down to her elbows.
Under the lace was a sleeveless, solid white dress that hugged her waist and flared out from her hips.
She was currently wearing a pair of sneakers that he insisted she put on after the second time she’d tripped in the heels she’d worn in the judge’s chambers.
A small white bow and belt above her waist completed her wedding dress.
In her hair, Mrs. Cunningham had done elaborate braids, twists, and curls to somehow fold her wild orange hair up on top of her head. Rather than a veil, she wore a princess crown with a white net that sat over her knotted hair.
At their lunch celebration, Jack had learned her something old was the butterfly barrette in her hair that had belonged to Mr. Zarin’s grandmother; her something new was the heart necklace Lilly had bought her with the engravement sisters on the back; her something borrowed was a pair of Mrs. Cunningham’s earrings, which she had given back after lunch; and her something blue was the blue lacy garter belt Jack was very much looking forward to seeing.
As they hadn’t had a traditional reception, there had not been the throwing of the bouquet or garter belt.
Jack was fine with that, as he got to remove her garter belt in private, and Jenna had gifted Lilly her bouquet of lilies.
Careful of her dress, Jack picked Jenna up bridal-style and walked her across the threshold.
“I can’t believe you got us a night here,” Jenna said in awe as she saw the Elizabethan style room. “It looks like a queen’s chambers in the movies.”
Jack tapped the door closed with the heel of his foot. “I wanted tonight to be special for you.”
After everything Mr. Zarin and the Cunninghams had done for both him and Jenna over the years, he’d also paid for lunch, even though Mr. Zarin had tried to cover it as a wedding gift. It had seemed like the right thing to do.
Jack lowered her feet down to the floor at the foot of the gold bed. He took his suit jacket off, tossing it over onto their suitcases by the wall. Then he wiggled his finger in front of her face in the universal sign to turn around.
Jenna did.
He lowered the zipper of her dress from the nape of her neck all the way down to the small of her back. Goosebumps appeared along her pale flesh as he worked his hands inside her sleeves to remove one arm and then the other.
The dress fell to the floor, pooling around her sneakered feet.
Jack ran his rough fingertips down the smooth silk of her back, noticing the lack of straps on her bra, and the lacy material of her panties.
It looked like a thong swimsuit but the lace still covered part of her butt cheeks.
Thong or panties, it didn’t matter; it was fucking hot.
Jack knelt slowly behind her, kissing his way down the curve of her spine until his knees finally touched the carpeting. She was not wearing tights or pantyhose. Just her luscious legs and that fucking garter belt on her left upper thigh.
After placing a kiss over the lace covering her right ass cheek, he instructed, “Turn around.”
Again, she complied.
Jack untied the laces of her shoes, removing them one after the other.
She wasn’t wearing socks because he was a dumbass who only grabbed sneakers from her suitcase and forgot to get socks too.
Jenna said she didn’t mind and hadn’t wanted him to go back out to the truck again to have to get her socks.
Jack tried to offer her his, but she’d insisted she was fine.
Once she was free of her shoes, Jack stood up. He pressed a kiss to her shoulder. The strapless bra she wore lifted her breasts, giving him a fantastic view of her ample cleavage.
“Do you have any idea how fucking beautiful you are, Jen?”
She raised her half-lidded gaze up to meet his, her cheeks a sexy pink. Her heavy breathing made her breasts rise and fall temptingly. Like they were calling out for him to claim them. She lifted her hand to the top button of his shirt. “You’re far too overdressed.”
“Then take my shirt off.”