To Have and to Hold

“Welcome. Are we ready to renew your vows as a declaration of love everlasting?” the man in front of us asks.

“Yes!” the kids holler in unison, and we all laugh.

“All right. If the bride and groom would face each other and join hands, we will give you the chance to share your vows. Who’s first?”

“Ladies first.” I smile at Scarlett.

Returning it with an adoring look, she never once breaks our connection. “Gideon. All my life, I chased perfection in myself. Little did I know that the perfection I was searching for was you. You have brought me love and held us together, when that love felt too fragile at times. You gave me two wonderful children who I not only adore, but who I love to see you love. You provide us shelter, safety, but most of all unconditional love. You see me for who I am and understand when I need to lean heavily on you, even if it seems irrational. There is no love out there like ours. We were meant and molded for one another. Carved to fit each another like a puzzle piece. We say it often, but it still hits me like the first time, every time. You are my love, my companion, my partner, but most importantly, my best friend. I love you irrevocably. My greatest love.”

How can I follow that? I’ll have to give it my best shot.

“Scarlett. You own every bit of who I am. The day I saw you, I had to check if I was still breathing and if you were real. You were and are still the most beautiful woman—a breathtaking creature I constantly can’t believe has chosen me in this life over and over again. In my jealousy. In my ownership. You have accepted me and nurtured all of it. You selflessly gave me two wonderful children you raise so perfectly. I can’t wait to see the woman Lilac becomes with a mother so smart and loving and pure in her heart as you. I can’t wait to watch our son see the greatness in his mother and seek it out in his own life one day. You are perfection. There’s supposedly no such thing, yet here you are. Mine. Forever. Then and now. My best friend.”

Scarlett is crying, soft little whimpers leaving her lips, and Lilac rests her head on her mother’s hip, comforting her.

“With vows now shared, we ask you both this. Do you both take each other from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, to have and to hold as long as you both shall live?”

Scarlett smiles lovingly at me. “I do.”

“I do,” I respond with a wink.

“With the power vested in me by the state of Nevada, I now repronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss your bride.”

I take my woman, claim her, and kiss her like I did the first time she ever let me. Making sure I leave an everlasting imprint on the woman who will never be able to be anything but mine.

As we kiss, my mother shouts her cheers with the kids, and they throw birdseeds on us as we make our way out. If they didn’t do that, they would have had to tear me away from Scarlett, because I could kiss her like that for hours.

The kids and my mother follow after us, and when we make it into the lobby, Scarlett and I bend to say goodbye to the kids and give them extra hugs and kisses. I plan to whisk my wife away to a private villa in Bora Bora, where we will do nothing but swim and make love for a week straight.

“You be good to Grandma, and no chocolate before bed,” I tell Gideon Jr., but I make sure to look at my mother. She’s no better; in fact, she may be the world’s biggest enabler.

“I raised you just fine. Now you two go and enjoy yourself. Call us when you can.” My mother ushers us off, and Scarlett keeps looking back and blowing kisses to the kids.

“Mommy misses you already! Have fun and be good!” She does this until the door closes, and we are greeted with a Mercedes waiting to take us to the house to change, then straight to the airport.

Helping Scarlett in first, making sure the train on her gorgeous dress doesn’t get damaged, I climb in after, and she is on me in seconds.

“Those vows… Gideon. Those vows made me so…” She pauses, looking at the driver. He is paying no mind, and the music is at a comfortable level, but she still whispers in my ear, “Made me so wet, and I need you. Now.”

As she nips at my ear, my eyes roll back, and I have to adjust myself in my seat, my cock growing painfully hard in my restricting suit.