Forever Mine (Joe & Ella 2)

“You didn’t need to prove that, things are different now, I trust you with my life Joe, I don’t need this to back it up.”

“Humour me then. I wanted to make sure that whatever happened, even if I turn into an even grumpier sod than I already am you’ll still work with me on our marriage. You won’t ever give up on me.”

“I never would. I thought you knew that anyway.” I grabbed his hand that lay on my knee and kissed it which made him chuckle for some reason.

“Okay well it also gives me the reassurance that I’ll never have to spend too long away from you when we branch out the clubs to Europe soon.”

“I disagree with that one, I want it changed.”

He took in a sharp breath, “why?”

“Because I want it to say one day instead of seven. Why would we spend a week without you? That’d suck ass.”

He laughed out loud now and took his pen to cross out the seven and rewrite one. He initialled it and the lawyer did the same.

“Now will you sign? Please?”

I tapped the pen against my lip and thought hard.

“Look Ella, the thought of losing you literally hurts my heart. I need you to promise me that we will have each other forever. If we argue, we have to fix it, we need to be right and sort it out. I’d rather argue with you and then work damn hard together to put it right, instead of taking a chance and then losing you. That’s what this is about.” He took my free hand and kissed it, giving me his puppy dog eyes.

“Okay, I get it but you didn’t have to do this you know. I’d do all the counselling in the world to keep you, I trust you more than any other person alive and I can’t be away from you for hours let alone days. The money is useless, I don’t need it. So yes I’ll sign and my third gift is you in a few hours standing at the end of that aisle ready to say I do. Is that a deal?”

“Deal.” He said as I signed the bottom of the papers and Max came over to counter sign.

“Just for the record I told him all that too but he’s one insecure guy when it comes to you Ella, he takes no chances.” Max said.

“Well I have the rest of our lives to make him feel more s

ecure.” I replied.

A few hours later and I was standing back in the middle of my dressing room at the health club. The sound of the string quartet from the gardens below drifted up through the open window and filled the room with the delights of Pachelbel’s Canon. I took a deep breath and turned to Nan and Robyn.

“I’m ready, let’s do this.” I grinned, holding my bridal bouquet of white roses and taking one last glance in the mirror. My hair was so well behaved today, it had curled perfectly into the big bouncy Hollywood curls I loved, spiralling down my back and over my shoulders. A sparling diamond tiara nestled perfectly on my head. My make-up was flawless, natural with a hint of silver smoky eyes and soft pink glossy lips. It was exactly how I’d always wanted to look on my wedding day.

We left the room, Robyn coming behind me in her full length gold satin dress to make sure the small train I had on my dress wasn’t caught or snagged on anything and then we descended the stairs. The staff were gathered below and I heard them gasp as we came down. I felt a little embarrassed to be so on show, but I guessed that was something I’d have to get over today. Nan blew me a kiss and went off to take her seat next to Simon and his girlfriend Rebecca. I’d made the decision to walk down the aisle on my own. Apart from my beloved Grandad I’d never had a father figure in my life growing up. Chris was a friend and it didn’t feel right him giving me away. I believed the bride was given away from one person such as a father to a husband, from the care of one to another. I know it sounded old fashioned and feminists the world over would berate me for being so out of touch, but that’s how I felt. So in honour of that I figured I would give myself away. I would walk down the aisle alone and then back up again as a couple. A symbol of the transition from alone to together, and I didn’t want it any other way.

As for my dress, I know you’re dying to know what I went for. It was what the shop assistant had called a fit and flare wedding dress. It was an ivory strapless dress and fitted snugly to my figure all the way to mid-thigh length then gently flared out but not too much like a puff ball, no just enough for it to hang elegantly to the floor. There was a small train to showcase the lace detail and I wore a full length veil but kept it behind me, I wanted to keep my face uncovered, veils over the face looked too old fashioned I thought. The dress itself had beaded lace on top with a sweetheart neckline, the bodice itself was accented in Swarovski crystals and tulle underneath finished off with a lace hemline. The inner corset detail helped to skim over my slight baby bump and I felt the most beautiful I have ever felt wearing it.

I made my way to the top of the aisle and stopped. The guests all stood as the music changed and I made my solo journey to where Max and Joe stood. Max was looking right at me and whispering to Joe beside him but for whatever reason Joe seemed reluctant to look back at me. I knew he wasn’t superstitious, thinking that looking back at me might mean bad luck so I wasn’t sure why he didn’t want to see me. Then I saw him take a deep breath and turn around and in that instant I knew why. His eyes were pooled with tears, he was shaking with nerves. I’d never seen him look so terrified, but when I came up next to him after passing off my flowers to Robyn, he turned and grabbed both of my hands and the love I saw in his eyes overwhelmed me.

“You look too beautiful.” He whispered looking from my dress to my face and back again, then he cupped my face and kissed me.

Half the guests gave an ‘ahh’ whilst the others laughed. Chris’s distinctive voice called out, “You’re supposed to kiss her at the end not the beginning.” And we laughed.

As the ceremony commenced we held hands and looked into each other’s eyes, meaning every word we spoke and oblivious to anyone else around us. As the officiant conducting the vows mentioned blessing our union with children Joe rubbed his hand over my tummy proudly and I smiled. Then we said the words we both wanted to hear, ‘I do’. We hadn’t written our own vows. I know some people may find that strange considering how totally head over heels in love we were, but putting all that I felt for Joe into words seemed a near impossible task. The words just didn’t exist. Joe felt the same so we decided to stick to the standard wedding vows. Once those were over and the officiant announced ‘I now pronounce you husband and wife…’ the guests all cheered and applauded. I hadn’t expected that and I could help but laugh, then Joe kissed me, a proper heart stopping kiss to seal the deal. I was oblivious to anyone else from then on, it was only me and Joe, and I couldn’t wait to start my life with him as Mrs Ella Madden.

Epilogue

Five years later…

Joe

My favourite part of the day was coming home to my family. It was a busy time for JM Fitness, after setting up a further five clubs in the U.K over the last few years we were heading across the channel to open a new club in France and then Germany later this year. With all the stress that entailed, it made me thankful I had these wonderful human beings to come home to at the end of the day. They kept me grounded and made sure I didn’t take on too much, but delegated to my team as much as possible. My time with them was the most precious thing I had so I fought to get every minute I could.

I pulled into the garage next to my new baby blue 1961 Jaguar E-Type and turned the engine off. I knew I’d find them in the garden, it was summer and the sun was still up giving Ella some bonus sunbathing hours. I headed around the side of our house and stopped when I saw them. My breath always caught in my throat even now when I watched them like this, I still couldn’t believe they were mine.

Freddie was four and a half now and loved digging the garden up. We’d brought him his own gardening set and given him a patch of land to plant his seeds in an effort to stop him digging up the lawn. He was biting his lip and leaning over his patch frowning. I wondered what was going on under all that dark curly hair of his. He was probably wondering why the seeds he planted with Ella yesterday weren’t sprouting already. We tried explaining that he needed to water them and wait but waiting a week or so for a green shoot was a long time for a kid Freddie’s age. Ella had brought some plants to sneakily put into the ground when Freddie was asleep tonight so he wouldn’t have to wait any longer, but we had given him another day to try and get him to be more patient. He was my double, and he had no patience like me, but he was kind and loving like Ella. He started patting the soil and singing to himself. He made my heart hurt, he was too adorable.