Written in third person from both their perspectives. Not in diary style - it'll switch back to that in the next chapter!


"Jamie", he breathed.

He watched her - watched her bare feet as they padded up the stairs that belonged to their new home. He smelled the familiar shampoo she always used in her hair where he buried his nose into, now wafting into the rafters and making the house more cosy and familiar.

It was only a few hours ago that he had been watching her in this very same way, as she strolled down the wedding aisle carefully, arm in arm with her father, smiling so bright he thought his heart would burst from his chest. She looked - she looked so beautiful.

Just as she did now, hair cascading in waves down her back, clad only in a bare nightgown. Her back was turned to him, but he was certain she was grinning coyly, pleased that she had this reaction on him, just like how she did over and over again. And she was certainly creating a reaction - emotions that stirred between lovers each time and time again, as they found themselves in such an intimate setting.

He would entertain brief thoughts about this moment every now and then, but usually in feverish dreams that were tossed up in the morning. Never when they were together and absolutely never when she was within touching distance. There was that brief moment when he lay on a blanket on a chilly night when they were out in the cemetery stargazing, and she had abruptly asked, "are you trying to seduce me?" Covering up his shock quickly, he had playfully asked "are you seducible?" he wouldn't admit it to her, but the momentary flash of longing across her face had...evoked oh-so familiar emotions with him that he had to consciously recite the words "self control...self control" in his mind.

Jamie was different. She didn't just walk around like other girls, declaring they had morals that promptly vanished out the window when they were alone with a guy...she actually held to them and lived by them. She would never let a guy dictate anything she did. She would never let anyone else compromise what she stood for, what she was comfortable with. His presence in her life never changed that. That was what he loved about her.

But tonight...tonight was different. She was different. She was silently asking something from him, something he desperately longed to give her, and finally could.

He strode up the stairs after her in a trance, following her into the bedroom blindly. Like a boy pressed up against the window of a candy shop, he watched her every move.

He needed to make her understand, what she was doing was driving him crazy...whatever she was doing. Everything she was doing. The way the sleeves of her nightgown fell off her shoulders, exposing milky-white, gorgeous skin and the faint outline of a butterfly tattoo he had once pressed there. The way she absent-mindedly flicked her hair over her bare shoulder, letting the long brunette locks cascade down.

"Jamie…" he blew out a breath and ran his hand through his hair, leaving it a disheveled mess.

How do we start…?

Before this, Landon never had trouble working that out. In his old lifestyle, he would just be getting hot and heavy with his girlfriend in the backseat of his car or his room, push her down, and have his way with her. But he knew with Jamie it was otherwise. It was everything different, and he had no idea what to do!

"Landon…"

He jolted up and looked at her. Fear filled eyes met comforting, reassuring ones.

She dreamily stretched out a hand to him, feeling giddy, finding comfort and reassurance in his uncertainty and knowing he would rather hurt himself before he ever hurt her.

"Let's pray together...Lan- I mean, husband." she giggled.

Pray?! I barely pray by myself as it is, unless it's for Jamie's health. But well, it's Jamie we're talking about here. Might as well get used to it.

He nodded and then on impulse, scooped Jamie up in his arms. The pair of young lovers giggled as he strode over to the bed and let her fall gently on the thick mattress.

He sat beside her and they fell silent, just looking at each other, drinking in the taut emotions they found in one another's eyes. His hand searched for hers and held it tight.

"You… you start," he said hesitantly. A knot suddenly formed in his stomach and his throat was dry. He couldn't find the right words to piece together a prayer.

Jamie had seen many emotions on Landon's face before, but not the ones that danced on her husband's face that night. A longing he was trying to hold back to not scare her, a fierce protectiveness to prioritise her, and unabashed fear that he wasn't doing this right.

Funny, I thought it would be me who had the wedding night jitters! Keeping her hands in his, she folded them into the prayer posture, feeling another rush of giddy joy.

But instead of bowing her head and shutting her eyes to pray, she looked into the loving eyes of her husband instead. Eyes filled with equal parts anticipation and doubt. She smiled and whispered, "don't worry about the words to say. Just let it come from within. From your heart. From your love for me and your love for us, and everything that's led up to this moment."

Then, eyes still fixed on his, she began to pray:

"Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you for this man. Thank you for HIM - for his love, his devotion and his willingness to follow this through with me. Thank you for the courage You gave him when he knelt down on one knee and asked me to marry him. Thank you that you made him perfect in every way, and you gave him to me, to love and cherish him as husband and wife.

Lord, the road ahead isn't easy. And we can only live day by day, in Holy fear of You and Your sovereign will. I know -" her voice caught - "that I have anything from a day to years ahead of me, as you graciously grant, Lord. But You hear our prayers and You graciously answer according to Your pleasing, perfect will, and You answered the biggest wish I had in my heart - to love and be loved, to be able to get married at the church where my parents tied the knot. Your answer was Landon, Lord, and I'm so happy. I'm so glad I get to live as close to a normal life and open a new chapter in my life with this person - my husband." She uttered the last word reverently, and her eyes fluttered shut.

"So Lord, just as we hold each other tonight, may You hold us, and hold us for the rest of your lives. May You be glorified in every waking moment. Amen." She released him and smiled broadly, flicking his bangs away from his face. "Your turn!"

He gulped visibly and stared into her eyes. She took him in, drank in his features - his adam's apple nervously bobbing, his brown hair, his ash-grey eyes, his trembling lips. She raised a hand and gently stroked the side of his right cheek. Chest heaving, he brought his hand up to meet hers, and held both their hands against his face.

As he fumbled for the words to say, he suddenly recalled the quotation about love, from the book Jamie and him read together while she was ensconced in her hospital room.

The first quote from the Bible he believed, and memorised. He looked at her and suddenly smiled. To her, it was though the night sky had lit up with fireworks.

"Dear Heavenly Father...thank you for Love. Thank you for the gift called Love. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."

They whispered the last verse together; "Love never fails."

"Thank you, Lord, for giving us that love, and teaching us how to love through one another. I'm a changed man because of Jamie, Lord, and though she insists You are what has changed me, I want to honor my wife tonight. She is responsible for everything I am and I've become today."

Landon briefly wondered if it was strange he was talking about Jamie right in front of her - as though he was gossiping. But there was something holy, something sacred about praying right now. Was it a form of intercession? He didn't bother to continue the train of thought, brushing the thoughts away.

"And tonight, Lord, I want to do things right. I want things to go as best as they can, love Jamie as much as I can. So...please help us. Please let it not hurt much. For her. And let us enjoy it. Together. Equally." She looked at him, amused that his ears had flushed red and eyes squeezed shut in embarrassment. God, she loved this man! She flicked his bangs again and his eyes opened and laughed.

"Amen," they mouthed together.

Then he fell on her and they let his weight cover her, a protective, comforting heavy blanket protecting the two young lovers from the realities ahead.