The music began, and she pushed Naomi’s wheelchair through the doors. The chapel looked beautiful, the building itself was over a hundred years old, a large stone building, with lots of wooden beams inside. Bunches of white and pink hydrangeas dotted with dandelion puffs adorned the sides of the old wooden pews, Clara carried a matching bouquet. Twinkling fairy lights had been strung amongst the mass of beams, and flickering candles covered the pulpit. It was a small wedding, Clara and Jonathon had decided against inviting everyone they knew and instead had opted to just have family and close friends in attendance.
As she stood up the front of the church and listened to Jonathon and Clara recite the traditional vows, Aggie felt mesmerized, everything was so beautiful, and her sister looked so happy.
She wanted this.
The past six months had been a long, hard road, and she had struggled in her relationship with Nick. She loved him, that was the easy part, but he had betrayed her trust in a massive way and learning to trust him was a slow process. She was trying, and Nick was very patient and the first to say that he deserved to not be trusted after what he’d done, but she didn’t want to be stuck in this limbo forever. Either she trusted Nick or she didn’t.
She had to decide.
Right here and now.
She could decide that what he’d done had irreparably decimated any sense of trust she could ever have in him, in which case she should end things immediately, so they could both move on. Or she could decide to take that leap of faith, let go of the past, and focus on the future. She could have all of this, a wedding, a marriage, the man she loved standing up and publicly declaring that he was hers for life.
Nick hadn’t done anything else in the last six months to show that he was still untrustworthy, and she knew he would never intentionally do anything to hurt her ever again.
“I now pronounce you husband and wife,” the minister’s announcement brought her back into the moment, and Aggie raised a hand to her cheek to catch tears falling. Only some of those tears were for Clara and Jonathon, the rest were for her and Nick.
She smiled so wide her mouth hurt as Clara and Jonathon kissed.
They were so happy.
Nick caught her hand as they followed the happily married couple back down the center aisle of the chapel.
“Marry me,” he whispered in her ear.
She looked at him in shock. They hadn’t talked about marriage yet because Nick knew he was still earning her trust back. “Are you serious?” she struggled to keep her voice to a whisper.
“I've never been more serious about anything before in my life,” Nick whispered back. “I know I can never undo what I did, and I know I'm still working on earning your trust, but I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”
The vulnerability in his voice settled the last of her lingering doubts. Maybe love really did conquer all.
“Yes.”
* * * * *
2:28 P.M.
“You’re overdoing it,” Sam said quietly in her ear.
That was true, Naomi knew it was, but this was her sister’s wedding. “There’re only a few more hours to go.”
“Naomi,” he sounded exasperated, “you’re going to crash and burn if you keep this up.”
“No.” She shook her head. “I’ll never crash and burn, you won't let that happen.”
Sam smiled at her. She loved seeing him smile so much. She thought she’d seen more smiles on his face in the last couple of days than in all the years she’d known him.
“You look so beautiful.” Sam knelt in front of her chair, staring at her like she was the most precious thing on the planet.
She laughed at that, it couldn’t be less true. “No, I don’t,” she contradicted. “I look a mess.” She looked like she should be in the hospital. Which she should. She had begged and pleaded until Sam had finally given in and agreed to let her attend the wedding. While she was out of the woods now and her wound was healing well, she was still weak and the pain from where the bullet had broken her ribs meant that her chest hurt with every breath. Her right hand was still bandaged, and the bruises from Gene beating her meant that there was no position she could put her body in that didn’t hurt. She wasn't able to stomach much food, so she’d lost weight, and was still receiving fluids and medications via an IV. She’d had to work to convince her doctor to remove it for the wedding. No amount of makeup or a pretty dress were going to make her beautiful right now.
“Not a mess at all, you’re gorgeous.”
Naomi shivered, not because she was cold but because Sam just made her feel so good inside.
“Are you cold?” he asked. Instantly concerned, he shrugged out of his suit jacket and draped it over her shoulders.
“I'm not cold, just happy,” she assured him, but didn’t protest his jacket being wrapped around her. It smelled like Sam, it felt like Sam, it was like having his arms around her. It had been such a beautiful day. Clara had looked gorgeous and happier than she’d ever seen her. The church had been beautiful. The reception hall was beautiful, lots of candles, and fairy lights, and bouquets of hydrangeas and dandelion puffs adorning every table. It was her sister’s dream wedding and Naomi couldn’t be happier for her.