Life Support (The Breathe Series Book 2) (47 page)

“You are perfect for me. I didn’t know that I could love someone as fiercely as I love you. Nor did I know that someone as amazing and smart and kind and loving and beautiful as you could manage to love me. We have shared a kind of love that other people only dream of, and until my dying breath, I will prove my love to you…and to be worthy of yours. My whole heart is yours, Olivia.

“I stand before you today, before our closest family and dearest friends, and promise to be your husband, friend, lover, and partner for life. I promise to give you the best of myself, because you deserve nothing less. I promise to empower you to do the things you dream. I promise to be your biggest advocate and best friend. I promise to passionately fight with you and, just as equally, passionately love you.

“Over the past few years, we have endured things that have tested us. I cannot promise you that things will always be easy and that I will not disappoint you at times. What I can promise you is that I will always love you and that I will never stop kissing you. I promise to respect you and encourage you and be compassionate toward you.

“You have already given me two of the greatest gifts in the world – your unconditional love and our son, Andrew. I see how you are with our son, and it makes me fall more and more in love with you. I promise to always put you and Drew first and to be your encourager, protector, advocate, and confidant.

“Everything that is me was yours long before today and will be yours long after. You are all I could ever want and way more than I deserve. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for being an amazing mother to Drew and for the gift of him in our lives. You are the very best of me, Olivia, and I would be honored and humbled to have you as my wife.”

I remove a handkerchief from my pants pocket and slip my hand under Olivia’s veil to dab the tears falling from her eyes. She tenderly leans into my touch and tells me that she loves me. I’ll never tire of hearing her say those three simple yet powerful words to me.

"I must say, I have officiated a lot of weddings over the years and those have to be the most heartfelt vows I’ve ever heard. Thank you for letting us all be witness to that and to your love for each other.” The Justice smiles, looking to Olivia and back to me with a wide grin. “Now, let’s get you two married, shall we? May I have the rings?” he asks, turning to Travis.

Travis takes the rings out of his suit pocket and places them in the palm of the Justice’s hand.

“Owen, repeat after me: I give you this ring as a symbol of my love, my faith in our strength together, and my promise to learn and grow with you.”

I repeat the words verbatim as I slip the sparkling diamond ring onto Olivia’s left ring finger. It slides on with ease—like it was always meant to be there. Olivia beams as she looks up to me, biting her lower lip, and I know she’s tripping out just as much as I am right now.

“Olivia, if you’re ready, please repeat after me.”

She recites the same words as she places a brushed, black, tungsten carbide ring onto my left ring finger, pushing hard past the second knuckle to get the sucker on. We both laugh at the irony of how difficult it was to get the ring on, but it’s there. It’s most definitely there.

“Now…” the Justice says loudly for everyone to hear. I take hold of both of Olivia’s hands and flash my eyes wide. She smiles, showing me her beautiful, straight, white teeth. “By the power vested in me by the state of New York, I now pronounce you husband and wife.”

I squeeze Olivia’s hand and whoop loudly with joy. The guests start to applaud.

“Owen, you’ve been waiting for this moment. You may now kiss your wife.”

As the crowd claps their approval and congratulations, I delicately and reverently lift Olivia’s veil, laying it over her head and down her back. Then I wrap my hands around her neck and gently place my thumbs on her chin, tilting her face up toward mine. I brush my lips over hers, whispering, “Forever mine,” before lightly kissing her full lips and claiming her for the first time as my wife.

My hands slip down from her neck to her back, molding her body to mine. Deepening the kiss, I trace my tongue along the seam of her lips then dip it inside, licking and teasing as if this were our honeymoon night and we weren’t in front of our parents and guests. Regaining my composure, I plant a soft kiss on her lips and reluctantly pull away. Olivia and I look at each other, already greedy for more and elated with the fact that we have a whole lifetime ahead of us for just that.

“Ladies and gentlemen, it is with great pride that I present to you Owen and Olivia Maxwell.”

The crowd erupts at the announcement, and we can’t help but beam. I imagine that fireworks are shooting from us, the intensity of this moment so overwhelming. Then I hear a cry and turn to see Drew squirming out of Emily’s arms, hysterical, likely due to the shock of the loud noises. In an effort to help I nod toward Emily, who looks like she’s really struggling, and she puts him down. Drew bolts for me and throws himself into my arms, only to be usurped by Owen who hoists him up on to his shoulders.

“Hey, little man! No tears today! We’re celebrating our family!” Owen says as I lean in and wipe his tears away, giving him a kiss on the nose.

“It’s scawy,” Drew says, still sniffling.

“No, baby boy. It’s going to be a party now!”

“A pawty?”

“Yup. We’re going to celebrate Mommy and Daddy. Look over at your mommy, Drew. She looks like an angel, doesn’t she?”

“She’s a printhess” Drew is beaming at me.

“In every way, son. In every way. Come on. Let’s go see Uncle Simon. He needs a little Drew time.”

Owen leans over to kiss me before he takes our son over to Simon in the hopes of distracting him. As he does, I watch the wedding guests gather, talking to each other as they start to move toward the reception tents. There are drinks and appetizers for the guests while we take a few photos with the wedding party on another part of the property. We didn’t want anything too fancy, so we’re just taking a few with a friend of Laney’s as the photographer. Simple. Just like we like it.

When Owen gets back to me after handing off Drew, his eyes have a heat in them they didn’t have when he left. He slides his hands around my waist and pulls me to him nuzzling my neck and humming with happiness.

Owen murmurs against my skin, “I can’t stop looking at you. You’re breathtaking. I love this dress”—he pauses to pull back and assess me again, his eye gazing over me from head to toe—“but I have a really major desire to rip it off you.”

I grin at my husband—my dirty boy. “Don’t you think people will wonder where we are?”

“I don’t give a fuck,” he growls and pulls me in for a deep kiss.

One hand rests on the small of my back and pushes me against his groin while the other lands behind my neck, intensifying our kiss. His tongue sweeps through my mouth, dancing with mine. I can’t help but moan. As his lips start to work down my chin, to my neck, he begins to whisper.

“My wife… So beautiful… Sexiest woman alive… Mine… Mine… Wife… Olivia Maxwell… Mine…” He finally backs away, breathless and looks me in the eye. “Upstairs. Quick. Now.”

I nod my head with a look on my face that is likely somewhere between reverence and zombie. He grabs my hand and practically drags me toward the house. We barely make it through the drapery when the photographer grabs us.

“I was just looking for you two! Hurry we need to get this light!”

Owen and I groan and glare at each other. Sighing, we follow the photographer out to the side yard to take more pictures.

One hour, a gazillion pictures, and one very cranky two-year-old later, we have finished. The family has moved into the tent and the sky has grown darker, my mother taking Drew so he can eat his dinner. We planned in advance for Drew’s presence here and brought with us our babysitter. She’s amazing, and the plan is for her to take Drew into the house after he gets his dinner.

Owen and I make our way to the side of the tent and await the announcer to usher us in. Suddenly, Justin Timberlake’s “Not a Bad Thing” starts to play over the loudspeakers and we hear the whine of the microphone.

“Ladies and gentleman, please find your seats, because we would like to introduce to you all, for the first time ever, Mr. and Mrs. Owen and Olivia Maxwell!”

Owen squeezes my hand and gives me a quick kiss before we walk in, our clutched hands raised above our heads, sashaying to the music.

We walk over to our table and have a seat while the song plays out. In the meantime, a waitress comes over, preparing to hand us each a flute of champagne. As we sit down, we take our glasses, only to be met almost instantly with the sound of people tapping their glasses, expecting us to kiss. Owen wastes no time and drags me to him, giving me a passionate kiss that for sure isn’t for public viewing. The crowd roars with approval and there are a series of catcalls coming from the “friend” table, which includes Owen’s TOM boys and potentially even louder, Charley.

The announcer calls over the loud speaker that it’s time for our dance, and Owen takes me by the hand and walks me out to the dance floor. The first note of our song, “How Long Will I Love You” by Ellie Goulding, starts, and I tear up. When I suggested the song, Owen fell in love with it and has clearly memorized the words. The whole time we dance, he sings them to me, tears glistening in his eyes.

We finish our dance with a deep kiss, and the father/bride dance is announced. I wait as I watch my father walk toward me on the dance floor, his hand patting Owen on the shoulder as he comes to take over the dance from my husband. It is a poignant moment for me, watching these two men who mean so very much to me.

Twenty minutes or so later, we are done with dances and it’s time for dinner. As I make my way to the dinner table I realize that I’m still in my gown. I purchased a second dress for the reception, something shorter, easier to dance in, and frankly super sexy. I bought it with both my comfort, and Owen in mind, knowing that this dress and high heels will have him straining just about everywhere for the rest of the night. Just thinking about his reaction has me wanting to finish what we were trying to start earlier.

I pull him down to me so I can whisper in his ear. “I have to go change into my reception dress. Come with me?”

He looks down at me with a smirk and winks. “Are you kidding? I want to devour you right now.” Without excusing himself, he grabs my hand and drags me toward the house.

We aren’t even to the opening at the side of the tent when I hear Owen’s mother.

“Love, I’m so sorry to interrupt, but there seems to be a problem with the food. Can one of you help out?”

Owen and I look at each and sigh.
Diverted again.

“Go in and change. I’ve got this, baby,” he says with a groan.

“Okay…husband,” I say reaching up for a quick kiss. When I do, I whisper in his ear, “Try again later?”

He grins and turns his head to whisper back, “Count on it, Mrs. Maxwell.”

I scamper up to the house to change my dress.

The dress is champagne-colored satin. It’s a thin material and has spaghetti straps, hitting mid-thigh. It leaves almost nothing to the imagination and is reminiscent of a negligee. My father is going to shit himself, and my husband may come in his pants. To go with it, I splurged on a pair of champagne, silk Louboutin sandals. They’re fucking hot. I’m fucking hot.

I leave my hair up and freshen up my makeup before returning to the tent.