Chapter Twelve
"Are you ready?" the presider, Granny, asked me as I gazed out the window.
"Oh, definitely," I replied as we walked from the room where I was preparing for the actual ceremony.
I walked onto the stage and saw all of the people we cared about sitting in rows in front of me. I nodded down at my mother who smiled at me.
The location of our wedding was easily decided on.
"Where do you wanna get married?"
"Same place we met," I said excitedly.
"Really? You sure?"
"Without a doubt or hesitation!"
"I'll call Robin to see if that's possible," Regina said and smiled. A little after that she came back into the room and said, "We are getting married at 'Granny's Rotten Apples'!"
I picked her up and twirled us around a few times from happiness.
You see, after the fight between me and Archie, he left the business and never came back. It was decided among the dancers that Robin should take it over and run it. He happily agreed to. Belle and Robin had begun to date after the incident. No one heard from Archie after that. And they all were glad.
When I initially approached him, we had a meeting. He basically said that they'd pull off anything we wanted as a totally free favor to us. I quickly shook his hand to seal the deal and Regina gave him a hug.
I can still remember when I called and told my parents that Regina and I were engaged.
"Mom, we're engaged!"
"That's great and old news," my Mom replies.
"What?"
"Well Regina called two days ago and asked for our blessing to ask you to marry her!"
"She did?" I ask as I look at Regina who cheekily smiled.
"Of course," Mom replies, "Congrats!"
So there I was, standing on the very stage that Ruby dragged me to that fateful night.
"Ruby, we're engaged," I excitedly scream into the phone.
"Engaged in what?"
"Um, marriage?"
"No fuckin' way," Ruby replies shocked.
"Yes, fuckin' way," Regina yells into the phone.
"Who bit the bullet," Ruby asks sarcastically.
"Well, I wouldn't call it a bullet, per se, but I did," Regina says happily.
"Nicely done," Ruby compliments.
"Why thank you," Regina says.
We decided not to have any other people in our wedding party. It was just us, just how we liked it.
So, once I was on stage, the sound system began loudly. I took a deep breath and looked to the aisle.
The ceiling strobe light illuminated a white light and it fell upon Regina. The DJ cued our song.
If tomorrow never comes
Will she know how much I loved her
Did I try in every way to show her every day
That she's my only one
And if my time on earth were through
And she must face this world without me
Is the love I gave her in the past
Gonna be enough to last
If tomorrow never comes
It took Regina two full repeats of the chorus for her to casually walk to where I stood, as she smiled the whole way.
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When I got to the stage, Emma leaned down and extended her hand to me. I grabbed it and she pulled me up onto it. The room applauded for us. We had a small gathering with her parents, Ruby, and Henry. For me, it was Belle, Robin, and the other dancers.
Anyway, the wedding ceremony went by quickly, too quickly if you ask me or Emma. In a blink of an eye, I was Regina Swan…proudly so.
I was married to the love of my life. She changed not only me, but changed the course of my life the moment our eyes locked onto each other that first night.
"I love you," she whispered right before she kissed me passionately at the end of the ceremony.
"I love you, too," I replied quickly before our lips crashed together.
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During the reception which was also held at the club, my wife showed my mother some routines for my father.
"I'm grossed out," I jokingly yelled at them. They just laughed.
I watched as my mother grabbed ahold of the pole and climbed up it with ease. I then watched as she held on with one hand and flipped herself upside down. The crowd went nuts for her.
"Wow, she's limber," I said as I watched in awe.
Regina looked at me from the stage and gave me a surprised expression.
I raised both of my hands and shrugged my shoulders in an "I have no idea!" gesture.
My father who was sitting in a chair was transfixed on my mother. I guessed it was great, ya know, after all these years, they still had the magic.
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After I showed my new mother who insisted I call her "Mom" some of my signature moves, I grabbed my wife and pulled her into room 2.
"The place were it all started," I said nostalgically.
"This room is where I began to fall for you," Emma said as she pulled me into her body. She immediately wrapped her arms around my waist and kissed my nose.
"I was so pompous…and full of myself," I said as I shuddered at the thought of the person I was.
I walked away from her to the other side of the room. I turned to face the couch as some of the images of what I had to do in that room, on that couch came back to me.
Emma noticed my gazing so she walked over to me, put her hand on my shoulder and said, "You were just confused. I mean people come in here for…and I didn't want that."
Since she was standing behind me and I was leaning against her body, I looked at her sideways and raised my eyebrows in suspicion at her.
"No, no, I wanted that, but more than you just rubbing your amazing body on me I wanted to get to know your amazing heart. I didn't know how to interact with you. If I just stood outside, like I did, without the initial intro first, I don't know if we'd be where we are today," Emma said honestly.
There was a question that I felt the overwhelming desire to ask. "Emma, why me?"
"Why you?"
"Yes," I asked quietly.
"Because I love you," Emma simply said.
"From the beginning," I asked not believing.
"Pretty much. But it truly began to take form when I learned about your childhood. I knew that I wanted to be the family you hadn't had for many years. It escalated when we kissed for the first time. The moment when I knew that I loved you was when we made love for the first time. I know that may sound cheesy or typical, but honest to God, Regina, that's the truth!"
I turned around and cupped her cheek in my hand. Emma leaned into the touch and smiled. I moved my face closer to hers a little. She immediately closed the gap and we kissed passionately for a very long time. We pushed back and forth against each other and moaned loudly. We knew that people were outside that room, but we didn't care because the music was louder.
As we kissed I moved her backwards to the couch. Emma had no choice, but to plop down onto it. As soon as she did, I pulled up my skirt a little and straddled her lap. As we kissed I pushed my body into hers. I felt her hands wrap around and massage my back. Her fingertips still left a tingling sensation behind.
"Emma," I moaned.
"Regina," I heard back. My hands were caressing her face lightly.
"I love you," Emma said between the kisses we were giving each other.
"I love you, too," I mumbled as my mouth captured hers again.
"I need you," she said as her hands wrapped around my behind and I felt her squeeze it. I giggled in the kiss.
"Emma, our family is outside," I said shocked.
She pouted and I kissed it.
"Later," I offered.
"It is so on later, Mrs. Swan!"
"You better believe it, Mrs. Swan," I said excitedly, "C'mon, I wanna dance with my new wife!"
I got off of her and pulled her up. Once she was standing, I yanked her out of that room and onto the dance floor, where we stayed until they closed the club.
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A year later…
"Congrats on the book. Could you sign it?"
"Sure, what's your name," I asked happily.
The fan gave me her name and I autographed my first novel for her. We even took a selfie together.
This all started six months after Regina and I were married.
"Baby, you're going to go nuts," I screams as I run into the living room with a piece of paper in my hands.
"What's up," she asks.
"I'm getting published!" I raise my hands in the air triumphantly.
She jumps out of her seat and into my open arms. "Emma, that's amazing! I love you," she says and kisses me passionately.
After a few blissful seconds of our shared kiss, she takes the paper from me to read. A second later, she says, "Em, they want you to go on a book signing trip."
"Oh," I say.
"Emma, did you even finish reading the letter?" She chuckles.
"No, uh, I was so excited that I just wanted to share my excitement with you."
She smiles warmly at me.
"So…"
"So, Em, this is awesome…Great, really!"
"Can I, uh, go?"
She pauses and looks at me with a smile. "Emma, of course, you don't have to ask me."
"But you're my wife…"
"Your very proud wife," she says with a smile.
"If I have to do this, what's gonna happen to us," I say with tears filling my eyes.
"Oh Em, absolutely nothing. We're too strong to break apart. You should know this," Regina says to me and looks a little hurt.
"Regina, please, I didn't want to make you upset or mad. This is the first time I've had this experience with anyone and it feels too good to be true. Please tell me we're okay," I plead with her. I am down on my knees in front of her.
She falls to her knees in front of me and grabbed my hands. The letter is on the table besides us.
"Em, we're okay. I just need to you understand that we are forever. Em, we're meant to be, okay…"
"Ok, I know this. I mean I knew this already, but now it is implanted in my head and heart. Can we do a LD marriage," I ask.
"Yes," she says as she penetrates my eyesight.
I'm looking at Regina, the love of my entire lifetime and beyond. And then I get an idea.
I smile brightly at her and she looks confused.
"Why you smilin'?"
"Cuz your wife has a brilliant idea…"
"Oh, yeah, what's that?" She chuckles.
"Come with me."
Regina's chuckles get caught in her throat and she coughs roughly.
I smile at her and grab the fallen paper. "Regina Swan, will you please go on my book signing adventure with me?" I hold out the paper.
"Yes!" she says and leans forward. I connect our lips in a heated kiss and soon we find ourselves making love on the floor.
It was Heavenly!
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As I watched my wife meet her small but devoted group of fans I have immense pride in my heart.
"Can I ask you a, um, personal question?"
"Sure," I heard Emma say.
"Is 'Regina' a real person," the fan asked shyly.
I quietly chuckled.
"Do you think she's real?" I heard Emma say.
"Honestly, yes and no…"
"Please explain…"
"Oh, uh, okay…so, like, your first meeting is typical and somewhat expected…the first 'fight' in the diner, yes, but the part about her parents abandoning her is the part I'm iffy about," the fan said. Even though she had a copy and read it several times she knew that she couldn't pass the opportunity to meet her literary hero.
Emma gives me a sideways glance. "You're iffy?"
"Yes, Mrs. Swan, uh, I am," the fan fumbled with the right words.
"Emma," she corrected.
"Emma," the shocked fan repeated.
"Well, Natalie, I can safely say that 'Regina' is in fact, very real," Emma said proudly.
"Are you two still together?"
Emma ended her book with different plot line than our real story.
Emma nodded and subtly motioned me over with her finger. I walked over to her and the fan.
"Natalie, please meet my wife, Regina!"
The fan blinked her eyes a few seconds from shock. Then she quickly extended her hand for a handshake.
"Hello, Natalie, thank you for your support of my wife!"
"She's a fantastic writer, one of my favorites. Wow!"
I chuckled lightly.
"Well, thank you, Emma for this tremendous opportunity. I'll never forget it. Highlight, really!" The fan smiled and went to move out of the way.
"Hey, Natalie," Emma yelled.
She looked at her with a questioning smile.
Emma rose from her seat and grabbed my hand. We walked around the table over to the shocked fan.
"Get out your phone," Emma kindly insisted.
Natalie opened her phone to the camera app while Emma flagged the bookstore assistant over. The assistant grabbed the phone and we all stood there. Natalie was shorter than us so she was in the middle. Emma and I stood on either side of her.
Click!
"Thank you so much. I'll Tweet you as soon as I get home," Natalie fangirled.
"Great!"
She walked away from us and looked like she was on cloud nine.
"That was amazing! I can't believe I have fans…"
"You can't?" I asked as I wrapped my arms around her.
"Nope!"
'Well, my dear, you're BIGGEST fan is hugging you right now!" I said as I kissed her cheek.
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THE END!
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"If Tomorrow Never Comes" by Ronan Keating
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Thank you for reading! I sincerely hope you enjoyed my story.