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There are a lot of things that happen when you getyour friends and fa it yourself After Teren escorted uest room, he took me back to Ashley&039;s roo The two girls inside were sipping on glasses of cha last minute adjustments to their hair and makeup e opened the door

Tracey squealed when she saw Teren standing besidenuptials, and ad me for a quickie before the cere to explain what had just happened, we let her think that Plus, Teren was shirtless, since I earing his t-shirt (I couldn&039;t have walked into that room with a blood-soaked boob now, could I? Not without squeals of a different kind) And as Teren had felt the need to escorthe orried I&039;d get sick again, when really, I think he just needed the comfort of my presence, after the tension with Ben, sex was really our only cover story

Teren took the co about the absence ofthe true worry he felt over recent events, he kissed me softly on the head and toldhis lips had a way of et that a friend had discovered our secret That was, until he left and I was attacked by Tracey Having her fuss over me, while I discreetly slipped on a bra of Ashley&039;s (thank goodness ere nearly identical in er clueless Hot Ben As Tracey stripped off my clothes, I hoped Ben wouldn&039;t break Teren&039;s heart

The second thing about gettingfor yourself, is that you&039;re not allowed any freedoown, I may as well have secured eon True, it was the nicest dungeon on earth, but still, I wasn&039;t allowed to leave Ashley&039;s room A prisoner in white satin and a crystal tiara Only bathroo allowed, and even those were monitored and supervised, the hallway cleared of outsiders like nitary

I was allowed a few visitors to help me pass the time, mainly farowing festivities through theThrough my peephole into the real world, I could see one of the pastures near the front of the house, where Jack and Jack&039;s trusted hired hand, Peter Alton, were having guests park their cars So people did not looked pleased about walking through thetheir view of the ranch would change draot inside

The ti a little in my boredom, as I watched distant relatives and friends of friends walk through the aled , and how the forty year old ex of a far-off uncle had brought her twenty year old boyfriend I laughed with the candid photographs

Teren and I weren&039;t doing the traditional posed photos We&039;d rather have everyone looking natural and causal, so we could remember people how they really looked Like Teren had said, "Capture people in their natural environment" As my friends and I snapped at least three dozen "natural" photos, and a couple risque ones of me for Teren, it was finally ti s s Your friends becoht, as your body becomes so overwhelmed with love and terror and excite becohtly shaking, the closest people inme with their arms wrapped around my laced covered ones We sloalked down the hallway to a side door that led out back to the pool Out back to wherejust as anxiously as I was, only with every eye already on hiht of him all antsy out there I really hoped Hot Ben was still standing beside him

My nerves shot to near panic level when the door was opened and the sound of orchestral music, mixed with the s air wrapping aroundback the war e before me, I clasped on to my anchor, my lifeline - my mother

Once Ashley and Tracey had left me, andher upper arh me "Mom, I can&039;t do this"

She calently stroked my cheek with her thu"

A calh me He loved meand I loved him That&039;s all thatoverto her, to that last tie ofbehind, and felt the tears sting uely heard the uely heard my mother tearfully tell me that it was ti the strength from the contact Then she led me out those doors, and ledhat I noticed first I couldn&039;t really see rateful that Mo my side, as tears hazed over my vision I couldevery person in this world I cared about I felt the bodies standing around the outskirts of the tent, too many people inside to all fit well, and felt the heat of the outdoor la followed me wherever I went, and I could just eous", "wonderful" I tucked the praises away inthem away for later days, when I knew I&039;d need the positive reinforcement Then Mom and I were under the tent and ht the twinkling lights strung everywhere underneath the canvas and expanded the snowflakes The spectacular beauty of the reat to bear, and the heavy tears dropped to my cheeks As they did,I saw Teren was the only thing I saas positive more people were in the tent, I could still hear the whispering above the procession of the music, but I took no note of the, and with tears on his cheeks too as he saze asht me ever closer to him and my breath ca His slorious as he stood in his jet-black tuxedo, ether in front of hiht, the sharp tux, with a button collar instead of a tie, and a silver vest peaking out underneath the jacket, e about him

He wasperfect

As ed as well As his cool hand tookshift insidethat toldto be fine, because ere now in this together - for life I&039;d never worried about Teren straying on ers interlaced mine, a calm assurance filled me This man would love me, with the saainst a wall to protect me, until my very deathbed My looks,fro hi as if the rest of this ceremony wasn&039;t even necessary I completely understood what he&039;d meant when he told me once, that in his eyes, I was his the day I&039;d saved hiht We were already al docuruff voice of their friendly hired hand fill the space of the tent There were introductions and a poetic rendering on the h I never turned froined the leathery Jack Palance-like le Peter Alton led the crew that helped the fa else) and he was pure cowboy, rough and hard, and with a heart of gold Or so I had to believe, since I also believed he ell aware of the faot to the section about exchanging rings, Teren&039;s eyes finally pulled away from , a beaed face as he stood next to his son It was probably a little odd toup as his best uy, but that was just Teren&039;s family They were close As Teren turned back to h with relief Hot Ben was standing beside hi Teren cautiously I knew from his behavior that he still remembered what Teren was, and he&039;d decided to stand beside hiistering what I needed to do, I turned to Ashley standing beside antly beautiful, the elaborate curls on half of her head facing the direction of the crowd From their perspective, she&039;d look nearly nor, handing herTeren&039;s unadorned platinum band fro exceedingly hot in her skintight dress and intricate up-do, and then turned back to Teren

Opting for our oords instead of prepackaged ones (since nothing about our relationship was prepackaged), Teren began speaking to er I sed as silent tears ran down my cheeks

"Emma Taylor, I think I fell for you, the rinned and a soft laughter went around the tent, followed by a round of soft sniffling He tilted his head as he gazed at ly "I would have married you on that first day in the coffee shop, if you&039;d have had ers, once the ring was in place "I promise you that I will always love you, that I will always take care of you, and that I will never let any harm coot intensely serious at those words I understood the h, and even ers, he added, "I will be your husband until the day I die" With tears building in his eyes and falling down his cheeks, he softly said, "I will love you, for the rest ofthose words, at seeing the tears running down his cheeks, at understanding what he really s like that, they are assuether, and will each die within a relatively short amount of time of the other With most men, those sentences merely imply that &039;I will never love another while we are both alive, that I will never stray, and ill still be in love with each other on our deathbeds&039;

But when Teren says those things, he knoithout a shadow of a doubt, that I will die before him, quite possibly, centuries before hi, is that he will literally mourn me, miss me, and love mefor eternity That he will never move on from me, will never marry another I will always be his wife, no matter howad at his sentimentality, but really, only his family understood our true pain at those beautifully si a step, I reached up and kissed hihter and Peter coughed and said, "We&039;re not there yet," but I ignored theer response thanin front of hi hiether worth it I would give him the memories he could take with hi life

Finally we broke apart as the crowd openly laughed at us I sniffled and wiped y to Peter He s very debonair in his gray dress suit He indicated the ring I was still holding, and I turned back to Teren, to slip it on his finger

I said soht tears to Teren&039;s eyes andas what he&039;d said, although the crowd still sniffled, not realizing just how heart-wrenching Teren&039;s speech actually was While I couldn&039;t reed vows, the overall sentiment was - I love you more than words can express, and that will never stop

After that, we kissed again, and a laugh went over the crowd again until Peter finally gave up and sinored the thunderous applause and the sensation of several bodies standing and clapping; I already kneere husband and wife Teren and I kissed, sed Finally we tore our attention off of each other, long enough to take in the crowd of ishers

I didn&039;t know a lot of theh family stories my mom told, but some were familiar and I shtly - My mother, her eyes a red, watery mess Alanna, her eyes so pink from her pink tears, that she alen, as clapping at us and sing repeatedly I could tell she was forcing herself not to cry; vah that trait had faded away by the time it had diluted to Teren, it was still pretty obvious in the fifty percent vaen Beside her, her bare arhter, was Halina No tears were on the va back any, but her face beaen

After another , Teren took las floor above the pool Along the sides of the carpet, I could see the pool water glowing blue, lit from the bulbs beneath it Cohts above, the space ell lit, and no trace of a gloas in Teren&039;s eyes as he shook hands with low but a happy one, that is

The music shifted to a happy beat as Teren and I drifted over to the barbeque area of the patio, where the tables of food were being set up People congratulated us and gave ed soin front of rab theht that was pretty funny, since I didn&039;t even know the majority of the people&039;s na my sister shove some food in my mouth, so chairs were swished off the pool, and the red carpet rolled away As I noticed people starting to dance on the huge Plexiglas floor, I also noticed that the lights under the pool had started shifting to different colors in time to the music They pulsed red and then blue and then a really beautiful green I smiled around aAnd I hadn&039;t planned any of it really

I firmly embraced and thanked every in-law I could find after that With tears running down my cheeks, I even told Halina I loved her She smirked at that, raised an eyebrow to Teren, and then proceeded to burind a couple of my cousins on the dance floor, her super short, strapless dress, riding even higher up her toned thighs

I pulled Teren out to that dance floor, andPeople were so entertained by the environment and the food and the e hot tub that a few brave souls jumped in, that no one really noticed that we skipped over the cake cutting, just serving the slices instead, and no one gave any chane toasts, we didn&039;t need theet me off the floor several tinored her, only hugging Teren tighter as he twirledher we&039;d do it later Of course, I had no intention of doing that, as my husband couldn&039;t eat or drink, and I was not about to subject hiht I hadplans for hi with that by keeping her occupied on the floor with her and Ashley When it was horribly late at night, the revelers finally started dispersing I cried and hugged each one, telling ether soon, even though we&039;d never hung out before and I wasn&039;t even sure of her last name

When just a handful were left, and Teren and I were sleepily slow dancing, Hot Ben and Tracey came up to us Teren stopped our movement and we broke apart, both of our eyes on Ben Tracey, oblivious and slightly tipsy, congratulated us both and gave us each long hugs and sloppy kisses on the cheeks After pulling apart from Teren, whichcold out here" With a grin she added, "You should go upstairs before Teren turns into a Popsicle"

I giggled at that, but stopped when I noticed the pale look on Ben&039;s face Teren extended a hand out to the side of the pool and asked Ben to talk to hi around at all the huhed at his reluctance to be alone with hi, which I was, I turned to Tracey, whothe cere, "You&039;d think he was getting led self-consciously as Tracey frowned at her seely reluctant to commit boyfriend I was pretty sure that that wasn&039;t the case, since Ben adored Tracey, but I couldn&039;t really explain the reason for Ben&039;s nerves to her, so I didn&039;t co Ashley joined us

"We&039;re gonna take off, sis," Ashley said brightly

I cocked onna stay until toled "No e don&039;t want to be anywhere near you on your big night"

I flushed furiously and smacked her aroodness sake" I wasn&039;t worried about their ears hearing us anyway

She and Tracey exchanged a look and then they laughed again "Yeah, we know" I co about, over their fresh bout of giggles, but figured Teren would tell hed and sain before they went off to pack their stuff As they walked away, Teren and Hot Ben caht soodbye, I watched Teren over his shoulder He cocked his dark head, listening, and thento his faine which one As Ben and I broke apart, I looked over to the other end of the dance floor Halina was staring at us unabashedly, her eyes narrowed in disapproval as she stood still aaze and looked at her too He sucked in a quick breath as he caught her glaring at hihtest od, did she hear Teren and ? Does she know that I know?"

I didn&039;t need to answer him, for Halina, several feet away from where he&039;d whispered that, nodded, slowly and deliberately There was no question that she was answering hiasped and backed up into Teren Teren put a hand out to steady him and Ben looked back, a little unsure about his closeness Teren kept his eyes on Halina, as he firmly said, "You won&039;t be bothered, Ben You&039;re free to go hoaze to Teren, clearly not happy about that, but ree with his decree Ben took Halina&039;s distraction as a chance to scrahed as I turned to watch hirateful that he&039;d chosen to remember, and sad that he wasn&039;t as instantly okay with it as I had been Although, when it came to Halina, even I had needed a minute to adjust Teren&039;s eyes still on Halina, I heard him mutter, "We&039;ll talk about this later"