Chapter Three – I do
Damon smiled as our eyes met and nothing else mattered. In that moment, before I had even said I do or before I had even got to him, I was his. I was hardly aware of Matt on my arm, Jennie in front of me, all my friends and family around me, all I could see was Damon, at the end of the isle framed with roses and vines. Then I remembered what Matt had said in the car.
"What do you mean, in the car, when you said they were saying goodbye?" I whispered, barley moving my lips, keeping my smile in place but by the look on Damon's face he could see the concern in my eyes. With him, my eyes always betrayed me.
"You want to know? Now? Really 'Lyssa . . ." he never finished as we reached the wooden frame and the minister and Damon. Stood next to him was Stefan, he looked very dapper but the only person I could really see was Damon. Matt kissed me on the cheek the passed my hand over to Damon where he took it and gave t slight squeeze, causing my heart to flutter.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, please be seated. We are gathered here today to witness the marriage of Alyssa Duncan and Damon Salvatore. To start, I shall read a poem, written by the bride for the groom.
"For you: I'd give my heart and soul,
For you: I'd be the one you own.
For you: I'd run a thousand miles to see you more,
For you: I'd take the train alone to turn up at your door.
For you: I'd never forget a word you have said,
For you: I would treasure everything instead.
For You: I would go to the ends of the earth, if it meant I would be yours now and forever because, you're all I'm worth."
Everyone sighed and I know that I blushed slightly. I meant every single word of that poem; it was as good as my wedding vows which were soon to come.
"The step which you are about to take is the most important into which human beings can come," Myself, Damon, Jennie and Stefan and who ever else knew had to stifle our laughter at how wrong that was. "It is a union of two people founded upon mutual respect and affection. Your lives will change, your responsibilities will increase, but your joy will be multiplied if you are sincere and earnest with your pledge to one another."
We knew what we had to say and we told the minister that we didn't want any of that repetitive crap where he says two words and we repeat it was stupid and meant nothing, so we scrapped it. First of all we had thee I do's. We stood side by side for this, my right hand in his left.
"Damon, do you take this woman to be your wedded wife, to love her, comfort her, honour and keep her, and forsaking all other, keeping you only unto her, for so long as you both shall live?" Damon turned to look at me and the joy and happiness on his eyes was clear when he said: "I do." I could feel the smile spread across my face, the Damon turned back to the minister and the minister turned to me.
"Alyssa, do you take this man to be your wedded husband, to love him, comfort him, honour and keep him, and forsaking all other, keeping you only unto him, for so long as you both shall live?" me and Damon looked each other, he knew my choice, he didn't need to hear it but I said it anyway: "I do." Damon wore the same smile I had worn only a moment ago. We continued to smile at each other as the minister went on.
"Take hands, Damon and Alyssa have asked not to have to repeat after me, so Damon, would you like to proceed." This was the bit we had changed. I passed my flowers to Jennie, then turned to my right to face Damon straight on as he took both my hands in his.
"I, Damon, take you, Alyssa, to be my wedded wife, to have and to hold, for better and for worse, for richer and for poorer, to love and to cherish, with every beat of my heart." I couldn't help but let the one tear fall as I heard Damon say these words to me. Especially in that voice which dripped with honey and melted me to the core; the minister silently turned to me.
"I, Alyssa, take you, Damon, to be my wedded husband, to have and to hold, for better and for worse, for richer and for poorer, to love and to cherish, with every single beat of my heart." I added in the extra word just to emphasis how much I loved him, Damon knew it already but the witnesses didn't and there was a chorus of ooh's, and aww's, when I had finished and I couldn't help but giggle.
"Do you have a ring for the bride?" he asked as Stefan stepped forward and handed the white gold, sapphire, lapis lazuli and Australian opal ring to Damon to place on my finger. Damon had taken the rings to Georgia, to an old which friend of his, Bree, to put the daylight spell on them.
This was another thing we had changed, we didn't want to say, with this ring, I thee wed so instead we were doing it our way, Damon put the ring on my finger and held it in place and looked in my eyes through my veil and said: "I give you this ring and a token of our marriage, a symbol of our love and a reminder that I am yours forever."
"Do you have a ring for the groom?" Again Stefan stepped forward and handed me a slightly thicker version of the ring that was on my finger. I put the ring on Damon's finger and held it in place.
"I give you this ring as a token of our marriage, a symbol of our love and a reminder that I am yours forever." Our eyes never left each other as the minister said the final parts of the ceremony, it wasn't a long one but it meant so much more and everyone here knew it.
"Let these rings be given and received as a token of your affection, sincerity and fidelity to one another. In as much as Damon and Alyssa have consented together in wedlock, and have witnessed the same before this company, and pledged their vows to each other, it gives me great pleasure to say that by the authority invested in me by the State of Virginia, I now pronounce you husband and wife," out of the corner of my eyes I saw him turn to Damon, Damon moved his head slightly "You may now kiss your bride."
My eyes never left his as he let go of my hands and lifted my veil, sending it floating down the back of my head. One hand was in my hair the other around my waist as he crushed his lips to mine. An eruption of cheers started but we didn't hear them, we were both lost in the heat of the moment, our lips moving in perfect unison, his tongue traced the out line of mine, and mine his. We were each others and that was the way it was going to stay, I had to ring to prove it.
Eventually and resentfully I had to stop for air and when I did there was no starting again for a while. Jennie handed me my flowers with a huge smile on her face. I let go of Damon and gave her a massive, well deserved hug. I couldn't have planned any of this without her or Damon. We did it.
Leaving Damon standing at the 'alter' I gave each of the wedding party a hug in turn, it only consisted of Matt, Jennie and Stefan. I gave Stefan a hug then eagerly went back to my patiently waiting husband, eek; I could call him that now. He wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me into his side as he kissed the top of my head as we started our way down the isle followed by Jennie in-between both Matt and Stefan, bet she loved that.
Walking down the isle there were smiling at me and Damon as we passed, many murmured congratulation, we just smiled and lived I the moment, it was perfect. I couldn't have wished to have been surrounded by better people, except my mother. I shed a single tear at the thought of her just as Damon glanced down at me, he hugged me closer. To anyone else it would have been the emotion of the wedding that had caused the tears, but to Damon: he knew.
We got into the car that was waiting at the end of the isle, it was different to the one I arrived in, and this one had red and green ribbons on it. Damon opened my door and I got in with a shower of confetti, courtesy of the company that had congregated behind us as we walked down the isle. Damon shut my door and made his way around the car as I rolled my window down. Jennie was right there.
"You did it you know!" she shouted to be heard over everyone's cheers, "You got yourself a Salvatore!"
"I know!" I shouted back as Damon got in the car and without looking I automatically reached for his hand. "Maybe you will be next, become my real sister!" we laughed as she disappeared into the crowd, and her face was replaced by Stefan's. "Watch yourself Stefan, Jennie's got her eye on you. She's a little jealous, I've got a Salvatore and she hasn't, you know how it is."
"It's how it always is when come down to me and my brother, but now, I have to calculate my sister-in-law into everything I do, whatever happens I will protect you." There was nothing humours about that and before I had time to ask he was gone and no-one else was at the window. With some silent signal that I missed our driver began the journey to our reception.
"Mrs. Salvatore?" Damon asked, lightly squeezing my hand as we pulled out of the woods. I was lost, staring out the open window at the woods and it sped by both Stefan and Matt's word racing around my head, 'They were saying goodbye' Matt had said and then just know, with Stefan, 'whatever happens, I will protect you' what was going on? "Alyssa?" Damon asked pulling me out of the woods, I turned to look at him, "Everything alright?"
"Everything is perfect," I said, forcing a smile onto my face and Damon's eyes narrowed. I looked away.
"Your eyes, so beautiful," he said placing a finger under my chin and turning my head so I had to look at him again, "But they always betray you. What's wrong?"
I sighed and leaned forward to tap our driver on the shoulder, asking him to stop the car for a moment, Damon looked at like I was completely mad or scared that I was about to get out and ditch him.
"I love you." I said and placed a finger on the crease between his eyebrows until the frown had disappeared. "Okay, two things really; something Matt said and something Stefan said. Ah! Before you go jumping down my throat about how you are going to kill them for spoiling my day, you're not because they didn't. Don't look at me like that, you know just as well as I do that that is what you were going to say."
"You know me so well." He said as he lifted my hand and kissed it.
"I'm your wife, I'm meant to." I smiled at him and this time it was real.
"I like you saying that," he smiled and cocked his head at me, "Now tell me what's wrong." Before I could answer he leaned in and kissed me. How am I suppose to tell him what was up now? I pulled back and regained my control, then I looked at the clock on the dash bored, we were going to be late but it was our own wedding, we were allowed.
"This morning when I walked through town to The Grill, everyone was about, I mean everyone but they were all either glaring, staring or whispering about me, then Jennie explained to me that it was because I was marring you; the bad brother. Then later when I was leaving my house to marry you everyone was there, waving me off but earlier, before I got out the car, when Matt got in, he said they weren't waving me off to my wedding they were saying goodbye and then just now with Stefan, I was joking with him about Jennie and he went off on something completely different about how whatever happens now he will protect me." By the time I had told him I was chewing on my nails. "Damon what is going on?"
"Firstly: I love you." I smiled as he kissed my hair, "Secondly: stop chewing those beautifully manicured fingernails." He said as he took my hand away from my mouth and kissed each finger. "And thirdly: the town thinks that now you have married me, you life is doomed and that you will not live long because of the danger I attract."
"Oh." I loved the way he said it, no hesitation, he just came straight out with it. That was one of the things I loved about Damon, he wouldn't try to protect me by lying to me, he preferred to tell me the truth and then let me decide if I needed protecting or not. That's how we worked, making decisions together. We have, ever since I was ten. On this occasion, I knew what I was signing up for when I fell in love with a vampire. There are bound to be psycho ex-vampire-girlfriend who is going to want me dead just to get their guy back, well watch your backs bitches, this Salvatore is mine. "You can drive again now. Thank you for waiting." I said to our driver and he started the engine once again.
We were about fifteen, twenty minutes late to our reception at the Lockwood Mansion, there weren't many places in mystic falls to hold a wedding reception so the Mayor kindly offered his place for us. We pulled up outside and there was no-one about, or so I thought, then Jennie came out of the front door and pretty much ran down the steps to the car as Damon got my door and they both helped me out, Jennie picking up my train.
Damon invited the driver into our reception with us while I walked up the steps to the door. I knew no-one would be inside as the actually reception was outside, in the back garden, backing onto the lake. I hadn't actually seen it yet. I was greeted by Stefan, Matt and Tyler when I walked through the door followed by Jennie and Damon.
"Hey, you two!" I said when I saw Matt and Stefan; they looked at each other quaintly before looking back at me, "Thanks for confusing the hell out of me on my wedding day, you will be glad to know that I managed to talk Damon out of murdering the both of you." I pushed gently passed them, Jennie had now let go of my dress and it floated out behind, Damon was still stood at the front door, just watching.
I hadn't been in the Lockwood Mansion since I was ten, the day my parents died, it hadn't changed a bit. Still crisp white, still clean, still decorative. As a child, after my parents' death I used to avoid this place like it was contaminated with the plague or something, how iron that my wedding reception be held here.
At the thought of my parents and this house I had to stop and grab the banister for support as I passed, closing my eyes to clear my head. Damon was next to me but didn't know what caused it, Matt, Tyler and Stefan had gone through to take their seats only Jennie remain and she had a steady hand on my arm, ready to support me if I fell.
"You okay?" she asked, bending her head to be level with my eyes.
"Yeah, just that last time I was in here was. . ." I couldn't finish.
"I know." At mine and Jennie's exchange of words, somewhere along the line, Damon picked upon what we were saying. He sighed loudly, closed his eyes and pressed his forehead into my hair. I leaned into him while I tried to stop myself from thinking about that day thirteen years ago. I pulled into a deep breath and I was ready. I looked up to Damon, right into his dazzling blue eyes, smiled and nodded.
Jennie was watching us closely and as soon as I nodded she had hold of my hand and pretty much yanked me away from Damon and through the hall to the French doors which lead out into the garden where the reception was being held. This was the part of the wedding I had left to Jennie after nearly having a mental breakdown trying to get the service where I wanted it.
"Wait here until I announce you. I have a microphone so you should hear me; even if you don't, you have Damon and his freaky ability to hear far away conversations." Jennie said, standing in front of me, blocking my view of the garden. I couldn't help but smile at her analytic skills of Damon's hearing, she had always found it weird. Damon caught up to us at that point and stood to my right, taking my hand.
"That may be true, but how useful is it right now? What if I were a mere human?" he said mockingly.
"A mere human?" I asked smacking him on the arm with my free hand, "Hate to disappoint but you just married a 'mere human', so I would watch what your saying if I were you. Even if you are a vamp I could still kick your ass and you know it." I said and Jennie laughed and shook her head, Damon's smile just turned brighter as he lent down to kiss me quickly.
"So, um, yeah, you two ready?" Jennie asked and then disappeared down the steps before waiting for an answer; I and Damon just looked at each other, smiled and laughed.
With Jennie bounding off down the steps at the back of the house I got my first look at what she had done and believe me, form up here it look pretty spectacular.
There was a red velvet carpet leading form bottom off the steps to the Lockwood's water fountain about halfway down the garden, it was there also that the great big white marquee began and stretched the rest of the length f the garden stopping a good distance from the edge of the lake.
From here I could see reds and greens; I was just trying to make it all out when I heard Jennie's voice call out over the speakers.
"ladies and Gentlemen, if you would all like to be up standing in your seats and help me welcome the newly weds with a round of applause, I give Alyssa and Damon, Mr and Mrs Salvatore!" there was a roar of cheers and applause as Damon lead me out of the shade of the house and into the bright sun.
He held a tight grip on my hand as we descended the stairs together. When we got to the bottom and on the carpet he turned and kissed me, receiving another round of cheers before he let me come up for air and we walked down the carpet towards all of our family and friends. We hit the fountain and we split, Damon going right, me going left. It brought us out at different ends of the marquee and we work our way through our guest, stopping here and there to accept congratulation's but our eyes never left each other for long.
We worked our way through the maze and made it to the top table; we walked to our seats from either end. I stopped next to Jennie to give her a massive hug whilst Damon and Stefan exchanged a 'man hug' in passing before I turned and found myself face to face with Damon once more. This time he just held my hands and looked into my eyes. I have to admit, this meant more than him kissing me in front of everyone, it meant so much more. I couldn't help myself, I reached up with my right hand and caressed his soft cheek, Damon closed his eyes and leaned into my touch that got him a chorus of sighs from the on lookers. It also brought up back under the marquee, I'm not sure where we were in that moment but it wasn't there.
Jennie leaned over and handed me the microphone. I turned it and looked to everyone standing before me.
"You can sit down you know, I don't know why Jennie asked you to stand in the first place, I'm not royalty, and although he may think it, neither is Damon," Damon lightly smacked my bum out of view of everyone else as he sat down with everyone else as they laughed. "Before we do anything else, I want to say a huge thank you, not to Damon for actually marrying me, not to Jennie for keeping me same through out all of this, and believe me that took a lot. I want to say thank you to all of you who came to watch the most important day of my life. It means so much to see not a single empty chair in this room…wait, is this a room? Babe can I call it a room?" I asked look down at Damon who sat to the left of me holding my hand. He simply smiled and shook his head at me "Okay, so it's not a room, but I don't care it's my wedding day. So, yeah, thank you so much for just turning up, I know that at some point in my life I have probably done something or other to piss you all off and you all just being here to day means so much and makes me feel like part of the town which I haven't in a long, long time but you all know that. Anyway, it's a set meal so if you don't like something I apologise on behalf of my husband – oh I just love that – he picked it and just leave what you don't want. Enjoy." I turned of the mic and handed it back to Jennie and sat down to a sea of smiling faces and applause and cheers, I felt like I just won a major prize or something and in actual fact I did: Damon.