EPOV
Tanya was frazzled. I have never seen her frazzled. I had never seen her nervous about anything. But as I watched her run around the room, I had to laugh. You would think it was her wedding the amount of nervous energy she was expelling.
"We better get down there on time," she said as she fixed my tie for the hundredth time.
"We will."
She gave me the stink eye. "Well, fuck you for being the picture of calm." Esme looked at her, shocked at how callous Tanya spoke to me. She looked like she wanted to say something, but I shook my head with a smile plastered on my face.
And why wouldn't I be happy? I was marrying the man of my dreams. Something I never thought I would do.
Jasper was something just for me. What more could I want, when he was everything. What else was there besides happily ever after for us. I would take whatever came our way. The good. The bad. We would weather it together. I was never going to let him go.
"I'm marrying Jasper," I told Tanya while she ran her hand through my hair. The unruly locks had grown back, but I could care less because Jasper loved to run his hand through it while he read. To have his fingers threading through the curls was the most relaxing thing I had ever felt. It came in a close second to sleeping in his arms. And I got to have that until the day I died. I was really here, happy and carefree, about to begin forever.
"Weren't you the one freaking out this morning?" Tanya reminded me.
She was right. I was. I woke up screaming from a nightmare early this morning. In it, none of this was real. Jasper and everything we had been through was all a figment of my imagination. I had conjured him after a bad night with a john. I was almost passed the point of hysteria. Tanya, Esme and Carlisle tried to calm me down, but to no avail. I actually believed none of this was real.
In the end, it was Jasper or his voice over the phone that did the trick. Tanya had called him in a panic.
Jasper listened while I told him about the dream. He remained calm while I freaked out. Then, he made me realize none of it was true. He was real. We were about to get married. And I should accept our future. The nightmare was my version of cold feet. I tried to rebuke the thought of cold feet, but Jasper laughed it off and said it was okay. He didn't believe I would leave him at the altar. He explained how he too found it unbelievable we had gotten this incredible chance. That we met, fell in love and were about to begin forever together. He loved how he didn't have to hide anymore. No more lies. No more closets to be forced into. He was free to be with me.
We talked until my eyes drooped, and the last thing I heard was Jasper's deep voice telling me he loved me before I fell asleep.
I rested peacefully until Tanya woke me up while she moved around my room in a nerve wracking energy. Esme was no better and my morning turned into a beautiful chaos.
"Wipe that smile off your face," Tanya warned. "If we're late for your wedding, I'm going to kill you."
I laughed. I was laughing so hard, she and Esme had no choice but to join in. Carlisle, Peter and Bella had gone ahead of us. It was hard to believe Jasper and I were in the same house, much less, on the same grounds. The Whitlock Hampton estate was massive. The whole place had been radically transformed into a beautiful décor of red and white for the theme of our wedding. Our wedding planner had outdone herself. Of course it was with the help of Heidi. Jasper's mom was making of the biggest yet most intimate affair of her career. The wedding of her son to the head of the Masen Empire. That was still a bothersome revelation for me, to be the head of my grandfather's empire, but Esme believed I was born for it. I was assisted by Jasper's dad and his granddad, when it came to dealing with the board. Jasper helped me as well. Day by day, I was learning how to handle it. It was not my dream job. I was working on that. I knew where I would be spending most of my time after school. I already spotted somewhere and when I dropped hints to Jasper, I wasn't sure he had figured it out, but he said he would support whatever I wanted to do with my life. I joked about going back to being a hooker one night, and I was thoroughly fucked out of the silly idea. While we laid on the floor, our limps completely useless to us, Jasper said he would buy me every single night until I gave it up.
It was good to be this loved.
We descended the stairs. Tanya looked radiant in her red gown with the high slit which left most of her right leg exposed. Jake was going to kill whoever flirted with her. Tanya had been complaining about his over protectiveness, though she secretly loved it and adored his attention. She was truly in love with Jacob.
My mother's white suit made her look angelic. Though, she had joked about being far from a celestial being, I didn't share her amusement. I didn't see it as a joke. She was an angel. She could have been defeated by her sister and the man I was supposed to call father, and though, she didn't win at first, we were here now…together. They lost. We won. We were reunited as mother and son and we would finish our days on this earth as such.
I explained that to her last night, making her to cry in my arms while thanking me for loving her. For accepting her. I told her we still had a way to go, but I was willing to, if she was. She readily agreed.
"You two look beautiful," I told Esme and Tanya. They blushed and thanked me then complimented me on how gorgeous I looked in my suit. I had to admit I looked pretty good in the Armani. It was a black suit like Jasper. Neither of us was willing to go with the white suit our wedding planner along with the wardrobe consultant suggested one of us wear. No.
Jasper would also be wearing a black suit and white dress shirt similar to my look. The only difference was our ties. His would be red and mine was white. That was enough for us. Tanya joked about who got to carry a bouquet. I threatened her with the story about the heat went out that one winter. She tried to play tough but she wouldn't want Jake to know about the bet between us that winter and the streaking so she shut her trap.
"You look so good," Mercy said from the tablet Tanya was holding up so Mercy could see me.
I took it from her as we stopped at the bottom of the stairs. Our wedding planner's assistant came running telling me it was almost time to begin. "I'm about to go in."
"I'll be here," Mercy said with a smile. She had unlimited live feed of Jasper and mine's wedding thanks to Jake. She wouldn't be out of the hospital for the next couple of weeks so she forced Jasper and me to nix the idea of cancelling our honeymoon until she got better. Heidi would take over her care for us until we got back from wherever Jasper was taking me. I fucking hated surprises. They hadn't worked out in my favor in the past. Anything close to a surprise put me on edge, but Jasper wasn't budging on details. Maybe I could fuck it out of him.
There was an idea.
"Are you thinking about sex?" Mercy said, actually interrupting the thought of naked Jasper, spread and ready for me.
"Kind of."
Tanya and Esme laughed.
"Oh man."
The assistant came back and told us it was time. Mercy spoke up. "Let's get this show on the road!" She cheered.
I blew her a kiss and handed off the tablet to the assistant. He would handle it for now. I wanted Mercy to feel like she was here and I told him as much.
A gentle melody began from the live orchestra. Tanya kissed both my cheeks and winked before making her way up the aisle, swinging her hips, making most of the men in attendance look twice at her. As well as some of the women. Esme and I were next. We walked hand in hand, mother and son, up the aisle. The minister asked who gives the man to Jasper, and Esme proudly said she did. My hand was passed off to Jasper and the moment I looked into his eyes, everything else faded away. It all became a dream I never wanted to wake up from.
I could say I remember every word spoken with perfect clarity, but I would be lying. All I saw was Jasper's perfect lips moving as he spoke. All I saw was the love in his eyes as he looked at me. I heard myself speak, and the words were correct and apparently lovely enough to make tears come to Jasper's eyes. I had memorized my vows so I knew I must have told him how much I loved him. I would continue to until my dying breath and beyond death. I knew I told him he saved me countless times from danger and from myself. But truly, all I saw in those precious moments as we exchanged vows, were his smile, heard his laugh as he placed my ring on my finger – I must have said something funny – I smiled at the adoration in his eyes and felt relief when I saw him drawing closer to me and felt my heart leap in joy when he kissed my lips.
We were married. Jasper Whitlock was mine.
The world began to spin again as we made our way to our reception. We had just had countless pictures taken and I was now blind. I knew I was because Jasper had his hand around my waist leading me. Not that I mind. He could put his hand anywhere.
"Are you alright, baby?" he asked softly as we walked to the grand area outside. The backyard of the estate was enormous.
"I can't see."
Jasper laughed. "You'll be fine."
"How many photos did we take?"
"Many." He laughed.
I stopped and he halted. "What is it?"
I didn't speak. I pulled him into a hard kiss. I smiled when he took control, pushing me up against the some wall behind me. I didn't care. I wanted us to disappear for some impromptu fucking. "We can't." He pulled away, breathing heavily.
I wasn't doing any better.
"I know."
"We would get caught."
"Tanya would hunt us down."
We were doing everything to talk ourselves out of it, but it was Jake clearing his throat that did trick. "Tanya would kill you both. And since I plan on getting some tonight, I can't have my babymama going to jail. Get your asses out there. There will be time for fucking later."
Jake guided us to the entrance to the backyard where we were met with mountainous applause as our joined name was announced. Masen-Whitlock.
We had argued about it, but in the end, I agreed to merge my name with Jasper instead of just taking his.
Our wedding planner's assistant appeared beside us and I wondered if he had been around this whole time. Until Mercy solved the mystery. "You guys are so hot! What I wouldn't give to watch you two go at it."
I gave the guy a death glare. "Don't bother, Edward. I made him do it," Mercy said with a smug grin on her face. "It was worth it. So fucking hot, man."
"You're a pervert."
Jasper laughed at us.
"And you and Jasper are too hot to handle."
I shook my head at both her and the guy and followed my husband as he walked us to our table. We were greeted by guests along the way. The Volturi were here. And other guests I couldn't remember the names of. Rosalie and Emmett were here. And my friends from the coffeehouse. There were reporters because there would be articles. Heidi's doing.
"Your mother went all out," I whispered with a smile to Jasper after a leggy blonde from Vanity Fair congratulated us.
"Get used to it, babe. She's trying very hard to make me see her in a new light."
"She wants your forgiveness."
Jasper stopped us to look at me. "Could you forgive the Masens?"
"No. But Heidi hid you. She didn't vindictively throw you out so she could steal from you. She didn't leave you to the mercy of the world, hoping it would get rid of you. That's what they did to me. They didn't even give me to my mother. No. They wanted me out of the picture completely. They wanted me to suffer something I didn't do."
I almost cried, but held back the tears. Jasper squeezed my hand. "They'll never hurt you again."
"And I won't let Heidi hurt you. If she oversteps, she'll have me to deal with."
"I love you," he said with a kiss to my lips as a camera flashed somewhere. I didn't care. I was too busy kissing him back, much to cheers and applause.
We shared our first dance. We cut our cake. I smashed Jasper's piece in his face and took off, much to everyone's laughter. He caught up with me and smashed mine in my face. More pictures. Tanya and I danced. Jake and Jasper danced. Jasper was laughing his ass off the whole time. He didn't take Jake seriously when he held out his hand and asked him to dance. When he pulled out of his seat, Jasper was still laughing and he continued to right through. I twirled Esme around the room in a waltz I asked to have included since we had never danced together. She broke down in tears on my shoulder when it was over. I danced with my sister while giving her boyfriend threatening looks over her head. His eyes were bugged out the whole time. Carlisle and Heidi danced while Esme and Jasper's dad danced.
We took numerous photos. I swear everyone wanted me blind. Mercy had to rest so the assistant continued to record the event for her to watch later. As soon as we got back from our honeymoon, Jasper and I were going to work out a permanent situation for Mercy to remain with us. We had agreed. Officially at least, since I had already lied to the hospital about her being family the night of her incident.
Jasper had just gotten back from talking to a couple of his coworkers from school. Grandpa, as I was now supposed to call Jasper's granddad, was off chatting with a few members of the board from Masen.
Jasper kissed my neck. "Did I tell you how handsome you looked today?"
"No." I pretended to pout while offering my neck for more of his languid kisses along it.
"Well, I should rectify that then."
"You should." I closed my eyes and moaned. My suddenly heavy head fell back on his shoulder while he gently kissed and nipped my neck.
"Keep that up and you're going give me hickeys."
"I'm going to do more than that to you."
My cock stirred at his promise.
"Anyways, you are the most handsome man I have ever seen. I'm ecstatic that you're mine, Mr. Masen-Whitlock."
"I love you, Mr. Masen-Whitlock."
"I love you too."
I offered him my lips and he took full advantage. Jasper's kisses would be the absolute death of me one day.
