CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
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Stepping into the field where Gemma has obviously worked everyone hard my breath catches in my throat. Jax is standing with Donna and the Chief under a white arch wrapped with purple ribbons, long hanging bouquets of a mixture of flowers hanging behind the Chief, from where I'm standing I can smell the orchids and roses that are gathered in tall standing vases at the end of every 3 rows of chairs. Each of the chairs has been covered in a white cover with a purple ribbon, glancing at one of them I stifle a giggle when I realise that the centre of each ribbon has an Anarchy symbol pinned to the bow.
Clay follows my gaze and shrugs "She went all out for this." He says quietly.
Walking down the aisle I'm amazed at how Gemma managed to combine things from me and Jax. The aisle is typical of any SAMCRO wedding, the first part of it that we walk down is bikes face to face every part of them gleaming silver and blackest black until we reach the chairs, out of the 30 bikes we walk past I can only identify those belonging to the Redwood members, their 10 bikes the pairs that we walk past last, Clay and Jax's across from each other with Opie and Hap's the next row back.
Looking up at Jax I smile, completely missing the faces of everyone that I'm walking past. Clay taps my fingers lightly as we reach the first row. Gemma's holding Abel with Doj sitting at her side, an empty chair for Clay on her other side with 2 men I don't recognise beside it, I smile at her and then let my eyes pass over the men, the smile still on my face even though I don't know who they are. Clay and Opie both hug Jax and I tightly, slapping him on the back before Clay backs to his seat and Opie moves to stand beside Jax.
Jax reaches over and grabs my hands pulling me to stand in front of him, my heels bringing me so I can look in his eyes without having to tilt my head back too far. Smiling at him I squeeze his fingers and turn my head to look at the Chief.
The Chief looks over us both and chuckles "Who gives this woman to this man."
I narrow my eyes when every single Redwood Son and Gemma all calls "We Do!" in unison. Doj barks happily once at the noise, running in a circle before sitting down again, his tail smacking the back of Gemma's chair with each wag.
Jax pulls me closer to him, sliding his arms around my waist and resting his linked hands over the base of my spine "That's okay babe, I'll take you, and all your baking too."
Happy, Tig and Clay all groan and I giggle stretching up and kissing Jax lightly.
The Chief clears his throat "Not to interrupt, but I believe I was speaking."
"Sorry sir." I say quietly.
He snickers "Thought I already told you, no calling me sir." Clearing his throat he looks out over the gathered people "Brothers and sisters, we come together today under the all seeing eye of nature to witness the reaffirmation of the blessed joining of Jackson and Sarah. I'd like to share a blessing of the Apache with you. Now you will feel no rain, for each of you will be shelter for the other. Now you will feel no cold; for each of you will always be warmth for the other. Now you will feel no loneliness for you will always be each other's companion. Now you are two persons with only one life before you. May beauty and peace surround you both through your journey ahead and through all the years to come. I believe you've prepared your own words as well?"
Snorting lightly I squeeze Jax's hand and beg him to realise I need him to go first. Clearing his throat he looks down at me and smiles "I've loved you for longer then I realised, I loved you before I knew what love was. I promise to love you for the rest of my days, to protect you and Abel with every breath I have and every beat of my heart."
Opie clears his throat "What else?"
"I promise to treat you as good as my leather, and ride you as much as my Harley." He says with a chuckle as everyone echoes his words.
Jax leans down and kisses my lips slowly. Turning to look at the crowd I shrug "Forgive me if this isn't very eloquent, I was only informed about two minutes ago I had to say something."
"Oops, sorry baby." Gemma calls from her seat, laughing at my glare.
Lifting my hands to his chest I rest my left palm over the centre of his breastbone where his heart is beating, the other I deliberately set over the Redwood patch on his kutte, my finger lightly tracing over the word "I love you Jax. I've loved you since the second I met you, bad attitude and all. I loved you when you were dreaming about Harley's and Kuttes, I loved you when you finally got your first Harley. I loved you when you got your prospect patch and when the full patch took it's place. I love you for the boy you were and the man you became. I love you for the Son, brother, uncle, father that you are and I will love you as the husband you now are for the rest of my life."
Swiping at the random tear that welled in the corner of my eyes I swallow tightly, glad I managed to figure out what I wanted to say with such short notice.
The Chief smiles at us both "I know that the rings are already on the fingers so I won't ask about that. I also know that there's no need for me to pronounce you man and wife so all I'll say is have at it."
Jax grins a split second before pulling me closer to his chest and pressing his mouth to mine, his hands sliding up my back to cup my cheeks. Kissing me slowly he steals the breath from my lungs, pulling away from him Gemma is the first one to get up, coming over to hug us both. Lifting Abel out of her arms I hold her hand and squeeze her fingers before she can move. Doj sticks his wet nose under our joined hands making us both laugh. Looking down at him I giggle "Sit."
Jax and I stay where we are with Abel and Doj while everyone that's decided they are important enough comes up and shakes Jax's hand, some attempting one armed hugs, which is the exact reason I nabbed Abel. Most of these people I don't know well enough to want them to touch me, the only ones that hug both me and Abel are the Redwood Sons and my girls, each of them offering to take Abel which ends with me shaking my head and Jax laughing. Clay holds back with the unfamiliar men and when we have a slight gap between people I turn to Jax "Those are the Kings aren't they?"
Jax nods, pulling me closer to his side and kissing my hair, whispering very quietly into my ear "Yeah. They're here to talk about the modifications of the gun distribution. Sorry that this is happening today babe."
Shrugging I accept the thanks of some of the out of town members, Jax greeting them with back slapping man-hugs. "It's okay, I'm happy this is happening I don't care if it's here or not. The sooner it's agreed the better."
The ceremony that Gemma organised was so short that by 730pm the whole place looks different, the chairs are all still there but the giant vases have been moved to the edges and tables have been set up around the wooden flooring that had been put down. Three huge buffet tables have been brought in and there's a crowd of people walking between them and some catering trucks that pulled into the field just after 7. 745 Gemma jumps up onto the stage and grabs the microphone attached to a stand, gesturing to Tig who whistles loudly.
"Thanks Tiggie. Food's about to be served; now I know you all have been enjoying the open bar so enjoy the food as well. Remember, if you haven't already dropped it the gift table is the one right beside me covered in presents." Gemma aims her last comment at Clay who starts patting his pockets, pulling an envelope from it and chuckling as he tosses it into a huge basket that's already layered with similar looking things.
Pulling my hand from Jax's I dart up to Gemma's side and pull the mike from her hand smiling at her "If everyone doesn't mind I'd like to stay a few things?"
Clay nods and in reality he was the only one whose opinion I was asking. If he'd approved me speaking everyone will listen.
"Thanks Uncle Clay. First, please don't feed the dog. He'll pretend he's starving and look at you with huge brown eyes begging for any tit bits." True to my words everyone looks over where I've gestured to see that Doj is sitting at the end of one of the buffet tables, his chin 2 inches away from resting on the edge of the table cloth. "I'm the one that will have to deal with him when he has a sore stomach. Before anyone worries, he's got a huge beef bone and a carrot the size of my arm that he's dragged behind the stage to chew on so he's got his wedding meal, he just thinks everything that humans eat he should be allowed to have too. Now, on to happier things. I wanted to thank you all for coming to start with. I know a lot of you have travelled a long way to get here and it makes me happy to see that all of Jax's very extended family is here to support him." The crowd chuckles and I can see the Irishmen nodding from where they're sitting just by the stage. "Gemma organised this after Jax and I ran away to New York to get married. In fairness though, it was all his fault."
Turning to Gemma I hug her again "I want to give the biggest thanks to you though Gem. You've gone out of your way to organise all of this for us and it's absolutely stunning. I want to thank you for everything you've done for me from the second you took me under your wing as the strange girl who latched onto your husband when I was 12 years old. You're the Matriarch of the Sons; you're my Aunt, the mother figure that helped mould me into who I am today. You're the iron in my will, the attitude in my blood and the steel in my spine." Gemma swipes at her eyes and I laugh "Now don't go crying on me, I'm almost done. You're the mother to my husband and the grandmother to my son and the woman I will always look to for guidance. I wouldn't be who I am, where I am today without you." Gemma hugs me tightly, my last words whispered just for her "I love you Mom, for your son, for your family, for everything."