Chapter 16 #4
“Don’t let him get away, cousin! Father, let’s continue with this wedding because romance and love are in the air!”
More applause followed, accompanied by laughter.
We walked with our hands tightly clasped.
When we passed through the church doors and were out of everyone’s sight, Henry turned to face me.
My heart was racing, my body trembling from head to toe, and my tears were already flowing uncontrollably.
We looked at each other without blinking, until our arms opened and we melted into a strong embrace.
It was like coming home after a long time, like taking refuge in the best place in the world.
His arms were that place I never wanted to leave.
Henry buried his head in my neck and I began to caress his hair.
He pulled back a little and we looked into each other’s eyes for endless seconds.
“I love you, Dalina! I’m crazy in love with you!
I can’t keep fighting against this feeling anymore.
I’m completely and desperately in love with you.
I need you more than I can explain with words.
I’m willing to do whatever it takes to be with you—you just saw what I did, I interrupted a wedding and it wasn’t even yours,” he said with a shy smile, and I smiled too.
“You’re everything I need and everything I want, nothing else matters.
Just now, when I thought I had lost you, I felt like my life was over.
You’re the best thing that ever happened to me.
Please, love me. Please tell me you still love me, and if you stopped loving me, I swear I’ll earn that love agai—”
I placed my fingers on his lips.
“God, how I wanted to hear you say that! I love you... I love you...” I exclaimed. “How could I stop loving you? You gave me reasons not to, but feelings don’t understand reason. My heart belongs to you completely...”
He didn’t let me finish, he took possession of my mouth with a kiss that bordered on desperation.
He explored my entire mouth and I explored his.
His hands sank into my hair and caressed my back.
In that moment, we could only feel our lips, feel our skin and the blood rushing frantically through our veins.
His warm mouth kissed me deeply and passionately, consuming my mouth, my body, and my soul.
It was a kiss full of love, discovering each other and opening our hearts so that love could flow through our bodies and envelop the other.
We let ourselves be carried away by that feeling to do what our hearts asked for—to love each other. Passion turned into love.
“I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve you. I love you, my Dalina. I love you. I’m never letting you go again.”
“And I love you, my Henry.”
We kissed again until...
“Ahem, ahem...”
The throat clearing forced us to separate. When we turned around, we found our three siblings. Mine were serious as the devil, while Niky still had the smile that hadn’t left her face all night.
“Woollardy, what’s the meaning of this show you put on?” Bastián asked.
Henry stopped embracing me, but continued holding my hand in his, tightly squeezed.
“It means I love Dalina, I love her with all my heart.”
“Henry thought it was Dalina who was getting married today,” Niky added.
“And why did you think such nonsense?” Lolo asked.
Henry looked at Niky and she blushed.
“Let’s just say someone made me believe it and I didn’t doubt their word.”
“Who made you believe such a thing?” Bastián asked incredulously.
I didn’t need any explanation, now I understood the joy Niky had these days. The clever girl had everything organized for her brother to put on such a scene, but I would find out all about her scheming later.
“It doesn’t matter,” Henry said.
“It was me,” Niky stated, and my two brothers looked at her in astonishment.
“Someone had to do something, right? Anyone with eyes could see that these two love each other like no one else, they couldn’t go on like this.
They were both suffering, but neither would take the step.
I’ll never cease to be amazed by the blindness of those who refuse to accept reality.
And well... I’m not the kind of person who sits back and does nothing, especially when I see people I care about suffering. ”
“What matters is that we love each other and we’re not going to separate anymore,” Henry affirmed, looking at me tenderly.
“This is a conversation to have elsewhere. Now we should go in and accompany our cousin. That goes for you too, Dalina,” Bastián said.
“Bastián, I don’t think it would be good for Sara if we went in. I have no doubt that the people in there,” I said, pointing to the church door, “would be watching us. Today is Sara and her fiancé’s day, we can’t steal their spotlight.”
“I agree with Dali,” Lolo pointed out, “besides, I don’t plan on going back in there because I feel watched and that makes me self-conscious,” he indicated with a mocking smile.
“It’s best to wait until they come out and then we’ll talk to her,” I suggested.
“I owe you all an apology for making you live through this moment,” Henry said, “although I would do it again as many times as necessary because I have the woman I love by my side.”
My brothers looked at him and then at me. When I thought they were going to say something, the church doors opened and we all moved to make way for the newlyweds who were coming out smiling. Sara immediately came over to us.
“Well?” she asked, looking at me and Henry.
“I got her back, and not least importantly, she’s single,” Henry said, looking at me with a smile.
“Congratulations!” Sara exclaimed enthusiastically.
“We’re the ones who should congratulate you and apologize for this confusion,” I stated.
“No apologies needed,” Sara said, “it was the most fun thing ever. Everyone will remember my wedding, I’m sure no one will forget it.”
“Although, to tell the truth, it nearly gave me a heart attack,” the groom pointed out.
Sara looked at him and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
“We’ll see you at the reception. And needless to say, I expect to see you there too,” Sara said to Henry.
“The truth is we weren't planning to go so as not to cause...” I began to say, but couldn't finish.
“Don't even think about it! And that's my final word. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to continue greeting people.” And she went toward my brothers.
Henry looked at me and placed a soft kiss on my lips.
“You're so beautiful that when I look at you, you take my breath away.”
“Thank you.”
“If I'm going to that party with you, I should go change. I can't go dressed like this when you look like a golden angel.”
“Excuse me for butting into your conversation, but I heard what you were talking about,” Niky interrupted. “Anticipating this situation, I have a tuxedo of yours in my car, so you don't need to go home.”
“You did that? When did you get into my house?” he asked, completely astonished, though I didn't understand his surprise—we could expect anything from Niky.
“One of those nights when I had to pick you up because you were drunk...”
“Better not talk about that,” Henry interrupted, looking at her with a frown.
“Then go change. I suppose there must be a place in the church where you can do it, though I don't think the priest will be very fond of you,” Niky pointed out.
“Fine, give me the car keys.”
After Henry left, Niky looked at me and took both my hands.
“I had to do something,” she stated.
“Later you'll have to tell me in detail what you said to make him believe such nonsense and do what he did.”
“It was very fun, although there were moments when I thought we wouldn't make it to today because my brother was desperate.”
“Thank you,” I said sincerely. I owed my happiness to this woman.
“Thank me by being happy together.”
At that moment my brothers approached us.
“Dali, we're heading to the reception. What are you going to do?” Lolo asked.
“I'm going with Henry. You go ahead and we'll see you there.”
“So you decided to go after all,” Bastián affirmed.
“Sara asked us to come.”
“Very well, we'll see you at the reception.”
My brothers left and immediately Niky looked at me seriously.
“They don't like Henry,” she stated. “It's obvious they have it in for him.”
“But they'll have to accept our relationship. I'm not going to separate from him. I love him with all my heart.”
At that moment, the man in question was walking toward us, and I had to hold onto his sister for support.
Holy mother of love! Seeing him approach with such confidence and dressed in a black tuxedo left me completely hypnotized.
That man stood out wherever he went. He was damnably attractive and sexy!
“Shall we go, beauties?” he proposed, looking at us.
“I'm taking my car, give me back the keys,” said Niky.
Hand in hand, we walked to his car. As soon as we were inside, Henry turned and looked at me seriously.
“Forgive me for being such an imbecile. I should have taken care of our relationship, I should have taken care of you.
I was confused and terrified by everything I felt.
Love turned out to be a very complex emotion for me.
For the first time, I had no control over my emotions and it terrified me.
Depending on someone else for happiness is a terrifying feeling.
I became fragile, vulnerable, and nothing made sense if you weren't with me.
I had never felt this need to have someone close all the time, at all hours.
No one had ever made me feel this way, so full of life.
And when I realized that if you loved me you felt the same, when I realized that I caused all those emotions in you, it was like an awakening. I couldn't lose you.”