Lost and Found (51 page)

"How is Caleb doing? Has your secret gotten out yet?
When are you going to just let go and start living your life,
Claud? You know he's still crazy about you."

"Oh, this is your day. Let’s not ruin it by talking about my fairy tale never coming true and no, I haven't let my secret
out and I still don't plan on it EVER coming out! As a
matter of fact, I'm hooking him up with a girl from work, so
who knows, maybe they'll get their fairy tale." I grab her
hand and pull it into both of mine.

"One of these days you're going to have to face whatever it is you're running from, ya know." She rolls her eyes at me.

"Yeah well, today is YOUR wedding day and you have too much going on to be worrying about me. I know
someone that is outside your door and he's looking forward
to walking you down the aisle."

"Alright, Claudia. Right now isn't the right time for this
conversation, but I always worry about you and one day we
will have to have that talk."
I give her a hug and she squeezes me tight. I open the door and there's my dad looking rather handsome in his tuxedo.

"Oh, Sweetheart! Other than your mother, I don't believe I've ever seen a more beautiful bride! Are you ready,
because I think your groom is getting pretty nervous
downstairs?"

"Yes, Daddy. I'm ready; I don't think I've ever been more
ready for anything."
He leads us towards the elevator and I sneak a glance
down the staircase and I see nothing but lights everywhere.
Claudia had told me that Amelia and Mom had gone all out
with the decorating.

We walk out of the elevator and my breath catches. Everything is so beautiful. There are Christmas lights
hanging off of the staircase in cascades, and all over the
windows and walls. It looks like I’ve walked into a winter
wonderland with all of the fake snow and lights
everywhere.

I look towards the archway and see Cash and his eyes light up as soon as he sees me. Next to him is Gideon, who's
giggling and pointing at me to let his father know that I had
arrived.

The look of utter love and joy in his eyes has me wanting to
run down the aisle, but I can't take my eyes off of how
gorgeous he looks in his tuxedo. I feel as if I'm the luckiest woman in the world for marrying someone so gorgeous not
only on the outside, but on the inside as well.

If someone had told me six months ago that I would be
marrying the man of my dreams today, I would have
laughed in their face and told them that they were lying, because I never would have believed it.

We finally reach the front of the room and I see my mother
and Amelia both sitting next to each other arm in arm
dabbing at their eyes. I've been trying not to cry all
morning while getting ready and they cause me to release
my first set of tears. The minister is smiling at me and
looks over to my father.

"Who gives this woman away?"

"I do, her mother and I." Dad kisses me on the cheek and
puts my hands in Cash's and goes to sit next to my mother,
as the minister continues.

"Ladies and Gentleman, I am here to join this couple in
holy matrimony in the great state of Oregon. I spoke with
this wonderful couple this morning and I must say, I do not
believe that I've ever seen a couple so much in love with
each other and it gives me great joy to not only witness
such a joyous occasion, but to be the one officiating. I
understand that you two want just a simple ceremony and
have written your own vows?" Both of us nod. "Alright, Gideon Cash, I will let you start us off. Do we have the
rings?"

Cash leans down to Gideon with his hand out for him to
hand him the wedding band and Gideon can't contain his
excitement.

"You look beautiful, Mom! Oh sorry. I guess I wasn't
supposed to say that."
He hands Cash the ring and Cash gives him a hug and kiss.

"It's alright, Buddy and you're right, she is always beautiful,
but even more beautiful today." The two men of my heart cause a waterfall of tears that I can't seem to stop. He grabs
my hands to try to steady them
and takes a big nervous breath and exhales slowly, while
smiling at me and starts on his vows.

"I, Gideon Cash Kingston, Jr. take you Olivia Danielle
Porter, as my wife and soul mate. I promise to love you
through sickness and in health and through tears and
laughter. I promise to always be by your side throughout
every trial that we go through whether it is stomach flus, pregnancies, or just my plain ignorance." Everyone in the
room chuckled. "I promise to remind you of how beautiful you are every day and to show you my love in every way I
can whether it be a foot or back massage or a white flag of
surrender during our stupid ridiculous arguments that we
have from time to time. I promise to always tell you that
you're right, because I'm usually the one that's wrong and I
promise to obey you. Yes, I said obey, because no matter
what you desire in life, it is my solemn vow to give it to you
. I promise to co-parent with you so that you don't feel
that everything is on your shoulders alone and most of all. I
promise to love, cherish, and worship you for the rest of my
life."

I have to take a minute to compose myself from all of the
crying. Amelia hands me a tissue to wipe all of the tears
from my face, while Cash is biting his lip to keep from
crying. I nod at the minister that I'm okay and grab Cash's
wedding band from Eden who is being held by Claudia.

"I, Olivia Danielle Porter, take you, Gideon Cash Kingston,
Jr., to be my husband and soul mate through sickness and
in health, for richer or poorer. I promise to love and honor
you and obey. I promise to never run away from conflict and to face whatever conflict comes up right away. With
you by my side, we can accomplish anything. I promise to
love and cherish our children and unconditionally love the
ones we share that are not mine by blood but are mine by
my heart and soul. I never really knew unconditional love
until you showed me how it felt in a partnership and I
promise to always unconditionally love, honor, and cherish
you for the rest of my life."

I look at the man I’m marrying and he has tears running
down his cheeks and gives both of my hands a squeeze. I
look at the minister and he's wiping his face with his
handkerchief, which causes Cash and I to laugh through our
tears.

"Like I said, these two here are deeply in love and have a
very strong bond that will last a lifetime. I now pronounce
you man and wife! You may now kiss your bride!"

I leaped into his arms and kissed him with all I had and he
tipped me towards the ground, while I held on to his shoulders
until the kiss was over and everyone cheered and
came and hugged us to wish us well.

Carmen announced that dinner would be ready in thirty
minutes, so we all sat around the living room discussing our
vows and the ceremony.

"Daddy! Where's my kiss?" Eden feeling all left out
climbs into Cash's lap, while he smothers her with kisses
and Gideon comes to sit in my lap and cuddles with me.

"Well, Mr. Gideon. How do you think the wedding went?"

"I really loved it, Mom. Especially when you and Grandpa
Henry walked in. You looked as pretty as an angel. I love you so much and I'm so glad that you're my mom for real now and I'm so happy!" He reaches up and kisses me on
the cheek and hugs me tight, and I pull him even closer to
me and whisper in his ear.

"I love you too, Gideon. As if you were my very own. Never forget that, okay?" He nodded his head and hugged
me again and I reached for Cash's hand, and he and Eden
moved closer and the four of us were finally united as a family in the tightest group hug, and I couldn’t be happier.

"Gid, Eden. Your Mom and I have something that we
need to tell you both and I hope you guys are going to be as excited as we are." Oh lord! With all of the craziness from
the last few weeks I had forgotten that the children didn't
know about the twins!

"What is it Dad? We're not moving, are we? I love this
place!"

"No, we aren't moving. At one time I thought this place
was too big for us, but now I think it's absolutely perfect for
all of us. Which reminds me. We will need to figure out a
couple of spare rooms that we can use. Your Mom
and I are having a baby. Well, not just one baby, but two
babies! Twins! So you guys are going to have a couple of little brothers or little sisters or maybe one of each in a few
months!" Gideon was the first to react.

"What? Are you serious? Twins? Do you know how
cool this is? I hope it’s boys. No. Girls. No. How about
a little brother for me and a little sister for Eden. Oh, I don't
care! Two babies? Oh my God! I can't breathe, I'm so
excited!"

The whole room broke out in laughter. Gideon always talks
so fast when he's excited and it’s hard to catch up with
what all he's saying at once. Eden is just sitting there,
quietly smiling and reaches her hand out in front of my
stomach.

"You have two babies in there? Can I feel your bewy?"

"Of course you can, sweetheart." I grab her hand and put it
over my abdomen. "You won't be able to feel them for
another couple of months, but anytime you want to feel
them just let me know, okay?"

"Okay. I want a wittle sister." This has me laughing, but
she has such a serious face when she said it, I immediately stop laughing.

"Alright, Eden. I'll see what I can do, okay?" She nods her
head and smiles at my belly and sits down next to me and
Cash, and I notice Cash is staring at me with the biggest
grin on his face.

"Why are you grinning at me like that, Mr. Kingston?" I
lean over Eden to put my hand on his shoulder and start
playing with the collar of his jacket.

"Because I'm very happy, Mrs. Kingston. Are you as happy
as the contented look that I see on your face?"

"Oh, indeed I am. I'm so glad that we opted to not rush
around and have to leave and go anywhere. Honeymoon at
the house, while the grandparents watch the kids? It's a
good thing you didn't take me up on the idea I had about
staying at The Plaza."

Eden gets distracted and goes over to disrupt Claudia and Caleb's conversation, asking Caleb to swing her around like
an airplane, so Cash moves closer to me and pulls me next
to him.

"You didn't realize what a smart man you were marrying? Now, Mrs. Kingston. Whatever am I going to do with you? I knew that my bride would be too tired for anything more
than what we have planned, which includes dining and
bowling and honeymooning in the suite on the top floor. I
even had Carmen fill up the tub, so that we can take full advantage of the room."

A nice long bath with the man I love sounds really good
right now and I can't wait until the entertaining is over,
because he's right, I'm already absolutely worn out. The
babies seem to be zapping the life out of me.

"Oh, that sounds wonderful! I can't wait and yes, I knew
exactly how smart you were. I mean come on, not only
did we hit the jackpot when we met, but look around this
room at all of the people that we love and love us back. I've
never felt so much love in one room in my whole life."

He looks around the room slowly and looks back at me
with tears in his eyes and he leans over and kisses me.

"It's all because of you, my Angel. It's all because of you,
and I thank God every day that I have the rest of my life to
thank him for it. I love you, Mrs. Kingston."

I pull him on top of me right there in front of everyone on the couch and kiss him harder, which has Gideon giggling
and before you know it everyone is laughing along with him.