Epilogue
Ashley
Whoever first introduced alcohol to weddings must’ve been some kind of prankster who wanted to submit the rest of the world to the horrors of a drunk wedding party. Bare chests, lost shoes, smudged lipsticks, and wild bets.
The open bar was my idea—a way to bring strangers together.
On one side, my family and friends, folks I’d spent my whole life around.
On the other, Matt’s family and military buddies.
Most of them were flying in and meeting me for the first time at the wedding, and I was sure there was bound to be a little tension. Hence, I wanted an open bar.
The first part of the wedding went off without a hitch. There were polite smiles and nods from people who were practically strangers. When Matt and I were pronounced husband and wife, the applause was polite, and the looks on their faces hid what everyone felt about our union.
But I knew there were questions. Curiosity and, perhaps, a little judgment. Here I was, marrying a man I’d only known for six months. A man who was supposed to be my patient.
Of course, there would be questions.
And then alcohol was introduced.
The tension disappeared, and everyone loosened up. It started when Gramps made a comment about how soft and spoiled the younger generation is, prompting Miller, Matt’s military buddy, and his brother, Michael, to join arms in defending their generation.
A drink was had.
And then another.
And another and another, until no one could recall what generation they were from. Soldiers were laughing with my cousins, flirting and mingling with other guests until it was hard to tell which side of the family everyone was representing. A shoe was lost and a shirt stolen.
My cousin, Harper, disappeared for a while and reappeared with smudged lipstick and a dreamy look in her eyes shortly before Miller sauntered back into the reception with a smirk on his lips.
William, another military buddy, bet Gramps that he could down five vodka shots without losing his balance.
He lost his balance and nearly face planted on the grass after three.
The drinks made his people and my people finally our people.
A laugh draws my attention.
“That lucky bastard. How the hell did he find someone so pretty to love his sad, ugly mug?” Miller slurs to Michael.
“Me, it was me. I brought them together, and I deserve a fucking medal,” Michael responds.
“I’m sure you do, honey” adds a pretty brunette that I’ve grown fond of. Jenny offers me a small apologetic smile, but I shake my head, happy with the mood shift.
I watch it play out for a while, leaning by my husband’s side.
As the evening wears on, I notice the exhaustion lines on his face.
He never was one for company, even familiar company, and I can tell he’s bearing all this chaos for me.
The past several months have seen him change for the better.
The nightmares plague him less often now, and he doesn’t blame himself anymore for what happened.
Still, I can tell we have a long way to go until he finally forgives himself.
“Hey,” I whisper when I catch the faraway look in his eyes, and because I know him, I can tell he’s thinking about his brothers who couldn’t be here tonight.
His eyes are fixed on the empty table with five chairs that I set out with a beer at each seat for his lost brothers, so I pull his focus back to me. “I want to dance.”
I watch as the sadness melts from his face, and he flashes me a smile as I become his sole focus. “You do?”
“Of course, we can’t have our friends hog the entire dance floor.”
He turns to look at the dance floor and chuckles when he spots his Navy buddies dancing with some of my single cousins and friends. “Let’s dance, my beautiful bride.”
He rises and offers me his hand. I take it and let him lead me to the dance floor. The music changes when we step on it, and some of the couples make space for us, walking back to the open bar, giving us a sense of privacy.
As the music plays, I lay my head on his chest and stare up at the sky.
It’s beautiful tonight. Choosing to have the reception in our massive backyard was a great idea.
The Red Cliffs area has the most beautiful sky this time of the year, and the stars are especially bright, as was the day and the man swaying with me to slow music.
“Thank you, Ash.”
I turn my head and look up at my husband’s face, brows furrowing when I hear the emotion in his voice. “Why did you thank me?”
His brown eyes meet mine, and the love I read in them staggers me. “You changed my life, Ashley. From the moment you walked into it. Fuck, you have no goddamned idea how much I love you. What I would do for you.”
“Maybe I do.” I cup his jaw, stroking his beard. “I understand because I feel the same way.”
He drops his forehead to mine, and in this moment, it’s just the two of us in the entire world. “I’m yours, little rabbit. That day, you said you wanted me to see myself the way you see me... Fuck, you saved me.”
“Your joy is mine. When you hurt, I suffer, too.” I push up and brush my lips over his. “I’m yours, just as you’re mine.”
We dance together, finally husband and wife, and when the song winds down and another starts, we don’t move.
I notice Michael and Miller, who seem considerably more sober than they were an hour ago, rounding up the drunk guests and ushering them out to the waiting cars and the drivers hired for the night.
As we sway, I mouth my thanks to Michael and wave at my grandparents.
Finally, it’s just us on the quiet night.
We don’t stop moving until the last song plays out, then Matt sweeps me off my feet, drawing a laugh from me as he carries me back into the house.
“Eager, aren’t we?” I tease as he carries me down the hall to the master bedroom. I have a little more left in me to tease him, but the words disappear when we walk into the room. “W-what is this?”
There are flowers. Everywhere. More kinds than I’ve ever seen in my life in one single place.
How? When?
I blink up at Matt when he drops me onto the rose petal-covered bed. He follows me down, kissing my lips before pulling back to look at me.
“I wanted you to see how I see you,” he rasps, brushing his lips with mine. “And how my life feels around you.”
“Like a field of roses?”
His proud smile tells me I’m right. “Like a field of roses.”
Emotions clog my throat as I wrap my arms around his neck and pull him to me.
“Now let me show you how I feel around you.” I nudge him onto his back, then move to straddle him.
It takes some effort to do so and arrange the puff of my dress, but I make it work.
He’s hard, I feel his arousal pressed against me.
I tug off his bowtie and start to unbutton his shirt, stroking his muscles as I trail my fingers down his body.
“There are too many clothes between us,” he growls, reaching up and gripping the back of my dress and tugging on the small buttons. I gasp as the bodice falls and pools around my waist, revealing my naked breasts to the cool air.
“Matt, you ripped it,” I whine, mourning the fact that it’ll take forever to fix it. “That dress…oh God!” I cry out when he pushes up and dips his mouth to my breasts, licking across my stiff nipple. I moan as he kneads the other in his palm, stroking his thumb over the sensitive peak. “Oh, Matt.”
“I’ve been waiting all day to touch you, baby,” he growls as his hand crawls under the puff of my wedding dress and cups my pussy.
I grip his shoulders and whimper when he pushes my thong to the side and slips his middle finger into me.
“I nearly lost my tongue when you walked down the aisle to me, and I kept counting the hours…” He adds another finger, slowly thrusting in and out of me. “Counted the minutes…”
I sob out when his fingers make a come-hither motion and stroke the sensitive flesh that makes my hips shoot up. “And the seconds until I could tear this dress off you and make love to my new bride.”
“Y-you were having t-these…oh God, t-these dirty thoughts in church?”
He adds his thumb to the mix, stroking my clit as he thrusts in and out of me. “I’ve had them all day.”
“What?” I cry out, losing my train of thought as I feel myself teetering close to an orgasm. “Matt…oh God!”
“Come for me, baby.”
The explosion is bliss, and it has my pussy clenching hard around his fingers and releasing violently as pleasure floods my body.
My back bows, and I claw at the sheets, sobbing at the intense feelings that blanket my entire body.
I roll my hips over his thrusting fingers, crying out until the tremors fade.
Then I find myself rolled onto my back. He makes quick work of undoing the buttons of his pants, unzipping them, and pulling them down enough to release his cock.
He shoves up the heavy skirt and positions himself at my entrance, rubbing it over my wetness.
He keeps his eyes on mine as he buries his shaft into me. I cry out, pleasure flooding my system as he pistons into me, hard and fast. Rose petals—red, pink, white, and yellow—fly around us as we make love. And it’s perfect. The most perfect thing ever as we become one in every sense of the word.
“Mine,” he roars as he presses deeper, drawing rugged moans from my lips. “You’re mine. Mine.”
“Yes,” I sob, gripping the sheets under me and struggling against the threat of my orgasm.
I sob as I feel myself pushed to the edge, clawing at the rose petal-covered sheets and moaning as the drop becomes more evident.
His eyes stay locked on mine as he thrusts harder into me, trailing his hand under my dress and stroking my swollen clit.
I bite down hard on my lip, but the cry slips out, voicing the pressure that explodes through my body.
Oh God.
God!
Wave after wave of pleasure rolls through me, doubling when he finds his own release. More flower petals bounce around us as he pumps his cock into me, coating my walls with his cum and making me his all over again.
The air in the room smells like sex and roses. And the feral look in his eyes when his lips find mine tells me that the night has only just begun. Tonight, there will be no room for bad dreams. No space for anything but love and passion as we start the rest of our lives together.
~The End