| 66 | I do...

A sky full of stars and he

Was staring at her.

~Atticus

________________

Finally, after going to rehab from my surgery to help me with healing, and doing endless breathing exercises, then waiting for my surgery area to heal, three months later we're able to do what we've wanted too

A lot of that time was spent on healing, and still more grieving from the loss of our baby...even after months the pain was still there,

But I'm able to take in the good moments in life and move just enough...just a step forward and hope in the future I'm able to be a mother.

We've kept quiet on the heart transplant with everyone but Aaron's parents, I decided it was best to tell my friends and Henry after we got married.

"Thank you so much" I grin grabbing the white little bag that holds Aaron's wedding band inside,

I forced Aaron to wait outside the store so he didn't see the band I chose,

And the sneaky stubborn man saw me at the cash register about to pay, and he stormed over angered and snatched my card out of my hands and hid it in his wallet, and paid instead,

So here we are driving to the courthouse, finally.

"Don't be mad, you know I don't like you paying for things," he says breaking the silence in the car, the quiet in the car us think and uncomfortable.

"But it's your wedding band, Aaron! I wanted to buy that myself, you have to understand how I feel, I'm sure you'd be incredibly mad if I paid for the ring you got me" I sigh as I cross my arms over my chest,

My white dress fans out over the seat, it's perfect, it's low enough that it shows my tattoo, there's the lace detailing going in and out of the corset-type top it has, and the bottom is purely magical and has me feeling like a princess with the slight tule skirt, enough that it gives me the feel of almost royalty but not to the point I feel like a cupcake,

"You're right...and I'm sorry, but I can't help it, I hate the thought of you wasting money on me" he sighs as he grabs my hand and kisses my knuckles

It's difficult being mad at him when I know that it comes from good intentions, but he's just too stubborn sometimes,

"Can I please pay for your tattoo then? You said it's small, just enough that when your ring is on you can't see it ...so I doubt it will be super expensive, please Aaron...please" I beg

"Please...give me this, let me pay" I whisper

He thinks it over, he can hear the pleading in my voice, how much it means to me to pay for at least one thing for him,

And it truly must be a gift from God himself when he utters one word

"Okay" he sighs

My eyes widen and a big smile spreads across my face "Okay? You actually agreed" I practically scream

"oh this is the best day" I sigh happily

He chuckles "enjoy it because this is the only time you're ever paying for me"

His words, though slightly annoying, don't make me less happy, the pure joy seeping out of my heart is too much.

When we arrive at the courthouse I'm a giddy mess, the vows I wrote in the hospital bed while Aaron was asleep on my stomach are burning a hole in my bra,

I decided to curl my hair for today just simple soft curls that cascade down my back, my dress makes me feel like a princess, it was pretty much fate when I walked into the bridal boutique and fell in love with the fourth dress I tried on, I took it as it was because again like some miracle it fit me just right,

My shoes are the heels I wore...the ones I walked into Aaron's office on my interview, they're simple nude heels, and yet they mean more than any heels could on today's date because they're the shoes I wore when I met the man who would become my husband.

"You may now recite your vows," the officiant says,

I grin at my fiancé, he takes out a paper from his pocket and winks at me, sending me a silent message that he's going first,

I'm still stuck at the way he looked at me when I walked out of our shared room today, how tears fell down his face, how he whispered against my lips "I can't believe I'm lucky enough to marry you, that God blessed me with a gift as wonderful as you"

I'm brought out of my thoughts when Aaron wipes a tear I didn't know was flowing down my cheek, and after he gently smiles at me he begins to read from the paper,

"The man I was before I met you...was someone I'm not proud of, it was someone who wasn't deserving of your love, you made me better, with every soft smile, and kind word you spoke, it picked up the pieces of my heart that I thought were forever lost, you picked every one of them up and put them back together"

"I never thought I'd feel love again, but you...so freely showing me that I deserve it was something I'll never take for granted, when I fell for you...it was every part of you, it was your smile and Whitt, then it was your kindness, your beautiful selflessness when it came to others around you, but most of all it was that beautiful heart, the one I'm proud to hold close to me and never let go, I'll cherish it and always be careful. I'll always love you, and you'll never have to second guess it."

He momentarily stops to wipe more of my tears, his soft eyes meet mine and I tell him how much I love him with my eyes, and the soft squeeze I give his hand that gently holds mine

"I promise to provide a home, a safe space for you, to never doubt you, and always have faith in you, I vow to never give up even when times seem tuff, I give my heart to you...openly for you to have and hold, and for it to never be given to anyone else, my heart is yours, figuratively...and well now physically" he gently smiles and I let out a soft chuckle as I put my hand over my heart,

The heart Aaron so selflessly gave me.

"I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you, to bicker and laugh, to fight and make up, to create new memories and bask in old ones, I'm just forever going to be thankful that I'm able to stand here today and marry the one person that my heart can't live without" he finishes

I smile at him and mouth 'I love you' to which he immediately mouth back 'never as much as me'

I roll my eyes and wipe tears just before turning to the officiant "can you close your eyes for just one second?"

"Umm, sure?" He says closing his eyes

I quickly reach into my bra and feel around until I grab the paper and smile when I take it out, Aaron quickly grips my chin and kisses me

"You can't do that yet" I whisper as quietly as I can

He shrugs pecking me again "don't care"

I grin while opening the paper just before turning to the officiant and telling him he can open his eyes,

I clear my throat slightly and begin

"Aaron...I truly didn't think I would be lucky enough to live another month...let alone marry the love of my life, I mean it fully when I say it's all thanks to you, your love for me is so big and beautiful, and I'll never be able to repay the greatest gift you gave me apart from that love...and that's a second chance at life, to be able to spend another second in your presence to have you by my side while I navigate this new reality, one where I can think about a future beyond a heart condition is something I'll never take for granted"

I take a break because I can't talk anymore through my tears and the break in my voice,

Aaron gently cups the side of my face and smiles at me with so much love, that it's strange to think of a time before his love for me, before a time when he didn't smile.

"You never stopped having faith in me...making sure everything I wanted in life was achieved, you'll never know the amount of gratitude I have for you, the amount of love that's in my heart just for you, thank you for always seeing the best in me, for being the strength when I couldn't fathom being anything but weak, for staying by my side even when I kept something so heartbreaking from you, I thank you for your love and I can't wait for this next chapter in our lives to unfold"

"To get to laugh and cry with you, to spend our nights and mornings with one another, to be able to say I love you to your beautiful face every day, and to just live life with you" I end with a shaky breath

Aaron turns to the officiant "can we hurry this along because I need to kiss her"

I chuckle and grab his other hand in mine,

The officiant shakes his head with a laugh and we do the whole traditional repeating after the officiant until finally, blessedly we say

"I do," Aaron says so ready, his face filled with pure joy

"I do" I whisper with a big smile

"I now pronounce you husband and wife, you may kiss your bride" the officiant turns to Aaron and gives him a nod

Aaron doesn't spare him a glance before he cups my cheeks and his lips land on mine, so soft and ready, so full of love, his smile breaks the kiss apart

"You're my wife" he whispers in disbelief

"I'm your wife" I grin nodding happily

"And you're my husband" I shake my head not believing that this happened...that I'm married to the love of my life.

"I'm your husband" he grins so beautifully

I glance down at the beautiful ring on my finger, so perfectly delicate and inside the band engraved, just like I did to his.

We truly are made for each other.

________________

I look down at the cupcake in front of us, we split it in half and he grins at me "you like your makeup today?"

I raise a brow "you like your face today?"

He rolls his eyes and leans in and we both move the cupcake toward each other's mouths,

And of course, both of us are thinking the same thing...we smash the cupcake in each other's faces

I laugh and he stops it with his mouth, the kiss is sweet...literally

He licks some frosting off my lips, and it shouldn't be as hot as it is,

"I love you," I say against his mouth

"Mhm, I love you," he says before going back to kissing me, hungrily, biting my lower lip and slightly tugging it,

"You must really like cupcake frosting" I breathily manage to say

He bursts out laughing "you're so annoying"

"You love me anyway" I shrug and wipe some of the frostings on his face with my thumb, and then I of course lick it because I don't care and why waste a perfectly good cupcake,

His eyes dilate making them look dark as he watches me

I widen my eyes a little and I shake my head "no...we still need to have a first dance before we get to any of the wedding night stuff."

I wipe the remainder of the icing off his face and he reluctantly does the same to me.

He carries me bridal style to the balcony, he connects his phone to the speakers and turns on the song lover by Taylor swift, the first dance remix,

"I think I love you even more for your music taste" I whisper as he puts his hands on my waist and pulls me close

He smiles and starts swaying us both side to side, I lay my head on his chest just basking in his presence, in this new reality that I have to come to terms with,

Where I'm not dying anymore, and I can live my life, being Aaron's wife.

Halfway through the song he twirls and dips me, I feel like a princess, I'm grinning and I can't seem to stop

"I still can't believe we're married...and no one knows" I let out a small chuckle

He smiles kissing me "Mhm, it's good to see that ring finally on your finger"

"When did you even buy it?" I ask curiously

"Months ago" he shrugs

"And you never got rid of it? Even when we weren't together?" I whisper

"My heart always belonged to you and I knew I wanted to marry you, and yeah it broke my heart even more when you broke it off, but I never got rid of the ring, something kept me from doing it, I think it was because somehow deep inside me, I knew it would work out"

"Your so cheesy" I grin cheekily

"Something tells me you love it by that beautiful smile" he traces my lips before we continue to sway to the music

"Yeah...I do a little" I whisper getting lost in his eyes

______________

I slide my card through and grin when it says approved,

It's official...I managed to pay for something,

I think I need to frame this receipt...

Aaron frowns just a little as the man hands me the receipt, I truly don't care about Aaron being crabby,

Because yesterday we got married and had the best night...day, every damn moment really,

And now he has a pretty little sun on his ring finger with my initial on the inside just like he said he wanted,

And even better, I paid for it.

"Stop looking so smug" he licks his teeth while looking at me,

I shrug innocently "I don't know what you mean"

"Okay enough of that, let's go we need to go meet my parents and tell them the news" he takes my hand and we head outside

"What no thank you?" I gasp dramatically

His mouth sets in a thin line just as he's about to open my door,

He closes his eyes and opens them with a soft look on his face "thank you sunshine" he says kissing my lips

"You're welcome" I Softly smile with a breathy laugh

_______________

"You What! Ты что с ума сошел, ya prosil tebya ob odnom, eto bylo ne sdelat' predlozheniye v bol'nitse, I chto ty sdelal? ty sdelal predlozheniye v chertovoy bol'nitse!" His mother rambles in Russian

(Are you crazy, I asked you one thing, to not propose in a hospital, and what do you do? You propose in a damn hospital!)

I have no clue what she's saying and it makes me slightly nervous, what I do know is she's loud and sounds angry,

His dad sits quietly next to his mom, and all he did when we told them was a snort and tell us congratulations,

Safe to say I like his dad right now, his mom on the other hand? I'm pretty sure she might hate me and I'm slightly scared

"Mom relax! She doesn't care that I proposed in a hospital" Aaron sighs

Aah, so that's what she was screaming about...

"It's true...I don't care, I got to live long enough to marry the man I love, the proposal and wedding don't matter to me" I shrug with a smile

"Though I'm sorry you weren't included...I just couldn't imagine having a wedding without my parents by my side" I admit

His mother immediately calms down at my words "I'm sorry for freaking out...it's just my son is insane! How do you sit in a hospital and think 'oh this is the right moment to propose' Господи помилуй меня" she mumbles in Russian at the end

(Lord have mercy on me)

We continue talking with his parents, the conversation after I told them why I didn't want the wedding went more smoothly, we told her how he got a tattoo on his ring finger, how he finally let me pay for something, how thankful I am to have him in my life and him giving me a second chance at life...

After a few hours, Aaron says he has a meeting and that we'll talk to them later,

"Congratulations sweetie" his mother whispers while hugging me

"Thank you" I smile hugging her back

________________

"We'll look at that! You're all healthy and now married" Henry chuckles happily

I smile "I'm sorry for not updating you much...it's just that everything happened so fast and I just didn't wanna worry you"

He waves me off "as long as you're healthy and happy I'm good"

I give him a big hug and ask him to catch me up on the homeless organization,

"Three people managed to get jobs...they're already saving up money" Henry grins big and proud

"That's amazing!" I beam

I make some tea and force him to spill every ounce of gossip that I've missed, the things he's built at work, and the other things that have been happening at the organization.

Yet another bonus chapter because I'm in a good mood. We're so close to the end! Just a few more chapters and I'm closing the book on these two beauties story. It's so sad but so exciting to give them the happy ending you all want.

Am I the only one who hates reading or listening to vows?... I was reluctant with writing them but decided to do it anyway,

Will fully understand if you skipped reading the vows (lol I would've too)

Hope you enjoyed this chapter full of fluff! Fluff and more fluff! Cent believe my babies are MARRIED😭

Vote and comment ♡

Word count: 3069