Chapter 67

*Sunset Hearts, Wedding Venue
12:25 pm*

**It was 5** minutes before I had to walk down the Aisle. The girls were standing in front of me next to their dates, the groomsmen.

Since Silva was walking me down the aisle Grace couldn't be my maid of honour because Silva said he would kill anyone if they touched her. Grace just laugh and said she would rather sit in the front row and watch me walk down the aisle.

Because of that, Olivia was my Maid of Honour and she was on the arm of Dimitri, Nikolai's Best man. Behind her was Abby on the arm of Caesar, Bea on the arm of Dale, Sonya on the arm of Gabe and Rose on the arm of Kade.

The door opened and my brides maids and the groomsmen walked down the aisle just like Grace had shown them. After them, Rose's younger sisters Lea and Lacy walked down throwing red and white rose petals down the aisle.

Finally, my cue came when the song "From the Ground Up" by Dan + Shay started. I looked down the aisle. It was quite a long one and if I walked at just the right pace I would arrive at the front when the song hits its middle.

*‘Grandma and grandpa painted a picture of
Sixty-five years
And one little house
More than a memory
More than saying I do
Kiss you goodnights and I love you's"
"Me and you baby, walk in the footsteps
Build our own family
One day at a time
Ten little toes, a painted pink room
Our beautiful baby looks just like you’*

I looked around at the room and all the people that stood were looking at Silva and me. My eyes connected with Nikolai and I sucked in a breath. He was looking amazing in his black and white suit with a black tie.

*‘And we'll build this love from the ground up
Now 'til forever it's all of me, all of you
Just take my hand
And I'll be the man your dad hoped that I'd be
And we'll build this love from the ground up
For worse or for better
And I will be all you need
Beside you I'll stand though the good and the bad
We'll give all that we have
And we'll build this love from the ground up’*

I was just a few steps away from Nikolai and I could see the happiness and tears in his eyes. He quickly wiped them away.

‘This life will go by
In the blink of an eye
but I wouldn't wanna spend it without you by my side’

Nikolai walked down the 3 steps and Silva stopped. He turned to me and lifted my veil. "You look beautiful Tatia, I'm proud of you." Silva gave my hand over to Nikolai and we walked up the steps.

‘The clouds are gonna roll
The earth's gonna shake
But I'll be your shelter through the wind and the rain’

The music stopped when Nikolai and I reached the altar. The priest nodded and smiled at us. He then looked up at the crowd and started speaking

"Friends and Family of the Bride and Groom. Welcome and thank you for being here on this important day. We are gathered together to celebrate the very special love between 2 people by joining them in marriage."

The priest instructed us to turn to each other and look in each other's eyes. He began speaking again but I wasn't really listening until I heard uproar from the crowd I quickly look down the aisle and saw a drunken Ava stumbling into the church and I sighed. "Wait, I object! He can't marry her because I love him and he loves me."

Nikolai chuckled and I spun my head to him to glare. "What's a wedding without some drama?" I grinned and looked at Silva. I quickly nodded when he raised an eyebrow at me. He stood up and Ace followed, they carried a kicking and screaming Ava out the church and the priest looked at us.

Nikolai and I chuckled before he whispered, asking if he should continue. There was a sound from the door shutting- Ace and Silva walked back and took their seats again. The priest cleared his throat and then continued.

"The bride and groom have prepared their own vows so Nikolai, you may begin." Nikolai cleared his throat suddenly looking nervous. I waited patiently and started to listen when Nikolai started his vows. He looked back at me and took a deep breath.

"The world would be worth fighting against when we are sharing our lives together, standing together hand-in-hand. I could only succeed in this life while you are my strength and courage when you have patience with me and all my little things. You are my best friend, my first love and my only love. You are beyond amazing and indescribable. I'm thrilled you want to spend the rest of your life with me. I love you to the moon and back and with each beat of my heart. I will be with you no matter what happens, I choose you for life. I promise you my deepest love and my fullest devotion, my tender care. I promise to be faithful to you, I promise to love you, to commit to you and support you. I knew from the moment you said yes to my proposal, that all my prayers have been answered. I promise to be here forever and always. My heart will be your shelter and my arms shall be your home for as long as you will have me."

I listened to every promise he makes and the sincerity in his eyes. I see the love that flashes in his eyes every time I smile. I quickly wiped a tear away and whispered: "I love you." He had seemed to hear me since he smiled and whispered it back. The priest nodded at me and I started my vows.

"I choose you, to be no other than yourself. Loving what I know of you and trusting who you will become. I will respect and honour you always and in all ways. I take you to be my husband to have and to hold in tears and laughter, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish from this day forward; in this world and the next. I take you to be my partner in life, my one true love. I will cherish our friendship. I will love you today, tomorrow and forever. I will laugh with you and I will cry with you. As I have given you my hand to hold, so do I give you my life to keep. May you never steal, lie or cheat; and if you must steal; steal my sorrows. If you must lie; lie with me all the nights of my life and if you must cheat; cheat death because I wouldn't be able to live without you."

The crowd cheer and Nikolai winked at me. The priest then spoke, "Can the ring-barrier please come forward." The ring boy, Danny was Olivia's 15-year-old younger brother and we had asked him if he would do the ring honours. Danny gave Nikolai's ring to me and my ring to him.

"Nikolai Moretti, do you take Tatiana Aksakor as your wife now and forever?" Nikolai winked again and said "I Do," He then slipped the ring on my finger. I stared down in amazement at the ring he gave me. It was my proposal ring but it never seemed to stop amazing me by its beauty, with it there was now a wedding band.

The ring itself was silver with a large diamond in the middle. Next to it was a smaller diamond on each side held together with 2 plain silver loops. Forming the ring were 8 small diamonds on each side of the silver loops.

"Tatiana Aksakor, do you take Nikolai Moretti as your husband now and forever?" I hummed "Let me think about it... I do." I chuckled as I slipped his black and silver ring onto his ring finger. On the inside, there was an engraving saying 'Your love is a mystery, my Mystery'.

Nikolai wiped a fake sweat from his forehead and then chuckled.

"I now pronouns you Husband and Wife. Well, Nikolai, you may kiss your bride." Nikolai kissed me with so much fierceness and passion, as the crowd cheered and applauded.

"Ladies and Gentlemen I give you for the very first time, Mr. and Mrs. Aksakor Moretti." Yeah, you heard that right we had decided to keep both our surnames and use them together because my last name had significance to the gang and I would need it one day.

« • x • x • x • »

Silva stood up and held his glass in his hand. "I would like to propose a toast to the bride and groom." I looked up at Silva and squeezed Nikolai's hand a bit tighter.

"Nikolai...Tatiana, you are an amazing couple. You took something I thought would never happen and made it happen. Nikolai, you wormed your way into my daughter's heart and found a spot that was just for you. Tatiana, you made me proud. I have always been proud of you but to see how you fall in love and give Nikolai a chance, warmed my heart beyond belief. May the two of you stay strong together, may you two fight everything that fate and live throws at you and may you two come out stronger on the other side. To Nikolai and Tatiana."

"To Nikolai and Tatiana," Everybody applauds and Silva sat down, he smiled looking happy. Nikolai's mother stood up and placed her hand on his shoulder.

"I would like to do a toast as well. In the beginning, I wasn't very happy about this relationship because of what I have seen in this world. I didn't want my son dragged into the evil things of this world. Well, I'm glad you didn't listen to a word I said. I am glad you two stood together and made it work. Tatiana, after spending time with you and getting to know your life I saw that you were perfect for my son. I love you both. May you two stay together forever and be happy." Maria wiped the tear away and kissed Nikolai on the cheek before sitting down.

After Maria a few more people made toasts and we all had a good laugh. Finally, after about an hour of toasts, the DJ started talking. "I would like to invite the Bride and her father to the floor for their Father-Daughters dance."

Silva and I danced as he did all these fun tricks that made me laugh before we started dancing to the real song. As soon as the song ended Nikolai took my hand and we started dancing again. Not long after that other people started dancing as well.

We swayed the whole room until it was almost 6 pm. We walked hand in hand to the Cake stand. We had eaten about an hour ago and now it was time for the cake because a few guests had to start leaving.

I placed my hand on the knife and Nikolai covered my hand with his warm strong one. His other hand was holding my waist tightly. I started moving the knife down when Nikolai pressed into me and I could feel him. Feel all of him.

My hand stopped moving as a shiver went down my spine. Nikolai chuckled softly before cutting the rest of the piece. I couldn't think straight as I was now suddenly turned on. Nikolai whispered into my ear. "Smile," I quickly swallowed and smiled at the photographer as she took our photos.

**Copyright © 2018 by Grace Write**