From the Jump – James Arthur and Kelly Clarkson
Right from the jump I was addicted
I was hooked on you like July is to the sun
You're the one that I prayed for all my life
Then you arrived, it's amazing how the time flies by
Do you remember my baby
Take me back to the summer breeze
We were sleeping out by the willow tree
It was the first time you laid your head on my chest
It was a night I will never forget
That's when I saw you on a Friday night
You're always gonna have this heart of mine
Wherever we go, whatever we do
I just wanna spend forever with you
I know this sounds cliché
But I was in love with you from the first sight
Like a moth drawn to a flame
And I know even in another life
I would find you and hold you
Remember I told you I'd never let go baby
Take me back to the summer breeze
We were sleeping out by the willow tree
It was the first time you laid your head on my chest
It was a night I will never forget
That's when I saw you on a Friday night
You're always gonna have this heart of mine
Wherever we go, whatever we do
I just wanna spend forever with you
So get on your favourite dress
Let's drive back to the place we met
I knew I'd die for you, right from the jump
So take me back to the summer breeze
We were sleeping out by the willow tree
It was the first time you laid your head on my chest
It was a night I will never forget
That's when I saw you on a Friday night
You're always gonna have this heart of mine
Wherever we go, whatever we do
I just wanna spend forever with you
This was it. Today he would marry Penelope Featherington. And it appeared Lady Whistledown. Despite his anger at her keeping her secret identity from him and his envy at her success, he could not deny that he was in love with Penelope.
He flashed his family a smile to reassure them he was fine and hoped his was covering his conflicted feelings well. Then Penelope began to walk down the isle with her mother and his jaw dropped. He was not sure what he had been expecting but she looked incredible. Her wedding dress was a very pale shade of pink instead of white and yet it was so Penelope. She looked terrified though. A feeling he shared when she stopped.
Nodding to her, he hoped he conveyed that everything would be fine. Although he wasn't sure that either he or Pen knew who half the guests were. At least none of the Cowper's were in attendance, mainly because they had not been invited. Not that it had stopped Cressida from attending their engagement party. He was relieved when she smiled and nodded in return before continuing her journey towards him.
"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here in the sight of God and this congregation to join together this man and this woman in holy matrimony." He could not take his eyes off of her. It was a struggle to keep track of where the minister was in the ceremony. "Wilt thou have this woman to be thy wedded wife, to live together in the holy estate of matrimony? Wilt thou forsake all others, keeping thee only unto her so long as ye both shall live?"
"I, Colin Bridgerton… take thee, Penelope Featherington, to be my wedded wife to have and to hold." Especially the holding.
"I, Penelope Featherington, take thee, Colin Bridgerton, to be my wedded husband, to have and to hold." He wasn't sure what tugged at his heart more, the sincerity in her face as she spoke the words. Or the words themselves.
"With this ring, I thee wed." He was quite overcome with the emotions this was bringing forth. How he had ever thought Marina was the one, he would never know. He had never felt this way with Marina. Penelope was his other half.
"With my body, I thee worship." He was certainly planning to worship her body later.
"And by the joining of hands, I now pronounce that they be man and wife, together in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen." He leaned down to kiss his wife before turning to a cheering congregation. Blindly he reached for her hand and squeezed it to reassure her.
The wedding breakfast was a crowded affair and it appeared to Colin leaning more to Portia Featherington's taste than Penelope's. If he had noticed one thing this season about his wife, it was that she avoided citrus colours like the plague.
It was rather tiring thanking people for attending their wedding when he could not say why a lot of them had even been invited. He was certain that Penelope would have preferred less people. He suspected some of them attended only out of curiosity.
When Penelope glanced over at him, he excused himself and made his way towards her. She looked completely overwhelmed. Alas Hyacinth stopped him before he could get to his wife.
"It was the most beautiful wedding." He couldn't help thinking his sister had never been to a wedding she didn't enjoy.
"Thank you Hyacinth." Any thought he had that he could simple walk away from his youngest sister was foiled when she kept talking.
"And Penelope looked stunning." She did indeed. "Why do you look so vacant?" Because he could not tear his eyes away from his wife and was only half listening to his sister.
He finally got away from Hyacinth and other well wishers when Penelope walked up to him. "Could we…?"
"I…" When had they become so nervous around each other?
"Could we get away from here?" That sounded like a good idea. "I have spent so long clinging to walls like this. I… I do not wish to do that any longer." They had seemed to be on the outer edges of their own wedding breakfast.
"Where do you propose we go?" He wondered if it was too early to leave their guests and begin their honeymoon.
"Perhaps …. to the centre." After all, why shouldn't they be the centre of attention here of all places?
"I do not think I have it in me to greet any more guests." If he felt that way, he could only image how Penelope was feeling.
"Perhaps we could dance." It was an unusual request for a breakfast, though not unappealing.
"It is a wedding breakfast. The sun is still out." But if his wife wished to dance in the middle of the street, he would do so.
"I realise that. But I should like to dance with my husband in the light of day. We can dance in a church, why not here?" She had a point and he did love it when she called him her husband.
"Nodding, he held his hand out to her. "Very well." When he held her in his arms, no one else mattered. He was caught in her gaze and it was as if the two of them were completely alone. This was meant to be.