A Different Shade of Violet? (40 page)

Brige walks in wearing her white dress with a red sash around her waist and she looks beautiful.

“Oh Brige, you look stunning,” I say and she smiles happily swaying from side to side making her dress flare out.

“You look beautiful, Violet. Hudson’s going to love you so much more when he sees how pretty you look. Especially compared to the first time we met you when you were sick and wearing his pants and a massive jumper,” she says and I laugh. That seems like a lifetime ago now and so much has happened since that night.

“Thanks sis,” I say and she smiles as the door opens and Angel walks in wearing her red bridesmaids dress. Her hand shoots to her mouth when she spots me.

“Oh, Jesus, Violet,” she says and I instantly tense up.

“What’s wrong?” I ask and she shakes her head trying to fight back tears.

“It’s just… you look… spectacular,” she says and rushes over to me embracing me tightly as Brige giggles at us both.

“Well, Mum is waiting, so we better go,” Brige says and I nod my head as I step into my heels and we walk to the kitchen.

“Ready to go, ladies?” Fran asks.

“I’m beyond ready, take me to my future husband,” I reply and we all take our flowers and walk out the door to the waiting cars.

I quickly send off a text to Hudson.

Leaving now. Have a kiss ready for me. I’m dying to taste your lips. xoxo

We arrive at the gardens where we’re having the ceremony and all the excitement and joy I’m feeling is now heightened tenfold. I’m almost jumping with excitement as I get out of the car. Fran straightens my dress making sure the ruching is in the right spot for my pregnant belly.

“Thank you for making my Hudson so happy, Violet. Now enjoy yourself and I’ll see you after the ceremony. Good luck,” Fran says leaning in to kiss my cheek. I take her into an embrace and the photographer takes some snaps.

“Thanks Mum,” I say and she leans back squeezing my hand and then walks down toward where Hudson will be.

Angel comes across to fuss over my dress just like Fran did. “Are you ready, Boss?” she says and I smirk at her.

“I think that’s
your
name now, Angel,” I tease and she nods and chuckles.

“I guess it is. How am I ever going to fill your shoes?”

“You’ll be great, I just know it.”

“Are you ready yet?” Brige asks standing there looking bored.

I chuckle and nod. “Sure am Brige. Let’s go,” I say and she smiles and starts the walk toward the entrance of the garden.

“Angel,” I say gaining her attention before she walks off after Brige.

“Yeah?”

“Thank you, for being such a great friend and for being here with me today. It’s nice to know I have someone here,” I say suddenly feeling a little sad that my parents aren’t here to meet Hudson.

She walks back to me and hugs me tightly. “I wouldn’t be anywhere else. You’re family Violet and I will always be here for you… always,” she says pulling back and looking at me. “Now c’mon, beautiful bride, let’s get you to your man?”

Even though technically I don’t have any family left, it’s nice to know I have an adopted family in Angel and a real family in the Stones. Finally, I feel like I belong somewhere, and that’s wherever Hudson Stone is.

Angel starts the walk into the garden and I take a moment to be by myself and just think about what today means.

I am marrying Hudson, and I couldn’t be happier.

I look down at my swollen belly and smile brightly. “Ariel, I just want you to know that your mummy loves your daddy very much and we’re about to get married. I know you don’t know what that means, but I can tell you it means that Daddy is going to make Mummy very happy forever, and together we’re going to love you and care about you every second of every day… together… as a family. You, me and Daddy and I promise to love you and Daddy more than anything in this world because Ariel you are both my world. Daddy and I can’t wait to meet you.” I rub my stomach and she kicks slightly making it feel like butterflies are floating through my insides. “Let’s go make our family official, hey?” I say and she kicks again.

I smile and take a deep breath as I hear the music playing and I take my first steps toward Hudson and the rest of my life.

I’m standing at the top of the garden and all around me is lush greenery and beautiful flowers. I’ve never really liked flowers before, but everything seems so much more beautiful today. I can’t help but think of Vee right now, obviously that’s a good thing seeing as I’m waiting for her to walk down the aisle to marry me.

I think back to when I first laid eyes on the woman I’m about to spend the rest of my life with. Even in the dimly lit bar she lit up the room and even in her depressed state she was still the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. Her brown wavy hair flowing over her shoulders in that tight as fuck red dress. The shape of her body as she sat hunched over the bar drowning herself in Cosmopolitans. I think, at the moment I laid my eyes on her, I knew she would be mine. And fuck am I glad I had the balls to approach her. I hesitated for a while, just watching her in the shadows, like some bloody stalker. But she had a presence about her and even though I was never the type to just walk up to a nice lady and buy her a drink, I put all my bravado on and convinced myself that she was worth stepping out of my comfort zone for.

She wouldn’t have known how nervous I was. I was a detective and that profession made me a good actor, I had to be in my line of work. But I was shaking inside, whether it be from the pure energised pull I felt toward her or from the nerves I’m not sure, but either way I built up the courage to talk to her.

The only reason I was there was because it was Adam’s cousin who ran the bar. I had never met Adam’s cousin, Remme, but it was nice to get away from the stress at work and yet feel close to my best friend at the same time. Adam was long gone, but my memory of him wasn’t. So I went to the bar to drown my own sorrows that night, little did I know that night would change my life and my future.

Violet Dyson was and still is the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen and I am beyond lucky to have her, especially after everything we’ve been through. Me pushing her away was the biggest fucking mistake of my life and I will honestly never, ever forgive myself for leaving her when she needed me the most, or for going to Cassie to help drown my sorrows. I knew she still loved me and I just wanted to be comforted by something familiar. Don’t get me wrong I never slept with Cassie, or even kissed her. I mainly sat and cried while she held me and told me that I did the right thing. Which, of course, I didn’t. I’m just so glad that Vee was forgiving enough to take me back. It’s just a shame we both had to have a close to death experience for me to realise how much we needed to be together.

A love like ours knows no bounds, especially now with Ariel growing inside her. I love my girls more than anything. My connection to Vee is not only of attraction, but it’s a chemical need to be together. My body aches without her and I feel so desperately alone when she isn’t with me. I figure it’s our bodies way of saying we
need
to be together or we just won’t feel right. I need her near me all the time and I can’t stand being away from her. The chemical surge I feel whenever she’s around is majorly addictive and without sounding like a sappy shit – I am totally addicted to Violet. I can feel when she’s near, the hairs on my arm stand up and my heart starts to race, which is exactly what’s happening to me right now.

I shake my head slightly, being taken from my memories and being brought back into the present. I open my eyes wide to see Vee enter the garden.

My heart stops, thuds aggressively and then starts racing a million miles a second. She takes my breath away at the mere sight of her. I start to shake as Macca rests his hand on my shoulder and squeezes.

“She looks amazing, mate,” Macca whispers in my ear as I swallow a lump in my throat.

I can’t believe the beauty in front of me. I never thought Vee could look better than she does normally, but seeing her glowing, pregnant with Ariel and walking toward me is making it hard for me to function.

My eyes start to glaze over and I blink them quickly to stop the tears from falling down my face. I’m so happy, I just want to lunge forward and take her into my arms, but Macca’s firm grip on my shoulder is stopping me.

She looks up and smiles widely it hits me for a six. I feel like I need to take a step back to truly take in her brilliance. I’m in awe of her, and I can’t believe after everything we’ve been through we’re finally here, about to be married.

I see her gently wipe a falling tear from her cheek and the urge to run to her is getting stronger. Brige walks past me and smiles. I can see her out the corner of my eye, but my gaze is firmly on Violet. Angel walks past and giggles under her breath, but I ignore her too. I probably look like a love sick puppy, but I don’t care, I just want everyone to know how much I adore this woman walking toward me.

I can’t even take in the music. Everything around me blurs and the only thing I can see is the goddess walking toward me. If I could see auras, I’m sure hers would be shining brightly because right now she looks like an angel moving toward me, and my body is tingling all over waiting to touch her soft skin, to feel the warmth of her hands in mine as we say our vows. I wish we could skip forward to just saying, “I do,” and then get to the kissing part, because I vow right now to kiss Violet passionately every day, without exception. To hold her in an embrace and not let her go for at least five minutes, and to love her with every ounce of my being until I leave this world. And then I will repeat it all when we are joined in the afterlife. Of this, I am sure. I am going to spend eternity with the woman I love, the woman who is mere centimetres away from me right now.

I can’t restrain myself even if I wanted to. The energy I feel pulling me toward her is too strong and I step forward and take her in my arms tight giving her a warm embrace. She chuckles and hugs me back as our family and friends all laugh along at my display of affection. I lean back and bring my hand to her cheek and caress it as I look into her eyes. They’re watering and I know mine are too as I look at the woman I will spend forever with.

“I love you so fucking much,” I whisper to her and she smiles brightly and leans her soft, flushed, pink cheek into my hand.

“I love
you,
so fucking much,” she whispers back and I can’t restrain myself, I lean in and kiss her lips softly as my free hand moves from her back to her stomach. I just want to be in this moment with my family right now, just me, Vee and Ariel. Everything fades away as I kiss her and she kisses me back. I slide my tongue into her mouth and she moves in closer forcing our bodies to touch fully. A surge flows through me and I have to try my hardest, not to get a boner. Kissing Vee always gives me a high, a rush of emotion I’ve never felt before and I know one hundred percent for certain, that Violet is my forever.

I hear laughing and I’m finally pulled back into reality. I slowly pull myself from Vee and I gaze into her beautiful brown eyes and see nothing but pure love and devotion coming from them.

“Can we get started, now that you two have reacquainted yourselves with each other?” the celebrant says and I chuckle while continuing to gaze at the beauty that is my future wife.

“Sorry,” Vee says and takes my hand as we step up to the right spot as our family and friends continue to chuckle at our very public display of affection.

I turn to face her and we hold each other’s hands. I run my thumb along her silky skin and a calmness washes over me as well as the usual bolt of energy that surges through my entire being at touching her. I thought with time the electricity we share would dissipate, but right here at this moment it’s the strongest I’ve ever felt. And it is giving me such a rush that I feel like I am literally on cloud fucking nine. If there could be a cloud higher than that, I would be on it. Say cloud five hundred – that’s how I feel.

The celebrant starts to talk, but I don’t take any notice as I continue to stare at my beautiful Violet.

How the fuck did I land her?
I am one lucky mother fucker!

I lean in to get closer to her, I just need to be near her right now.

“You are breathtaking little firecracker,” I whisper and she smiles so brightly it makes me want to kiss her all over, which I plan on doing tonight.

She leans in and whispers in my ear, “You, my Rock, make my panties wet,” she says very quietly shocking me. My eyes widen so much I think people in the small crowd are giggling at our expense yet again, but I don’t care.
A
ll I care about is that this day hurries the fuck up so we can get to tonight. I want to be balls deep inside of her and have her scream my name as I blow my load hard inside her.

I continue to stare into her eyes and she’s staring straight back at me while I continue to caress her hands in mine. I am lost in her gaze when I hear my name.

“Hudson?”

I ignore it and keep staring at her, lost in her beauty.

“Hudson, it’s time,” the celebrant says and Vee laughs at me.

“Hudson, the vows?” Violet asks breaking me out of my dreamy state.

“Oh shit, yeah sorry,” I reply and everyone laughs at me again.

“Hudson, you may now say your vows to Violet,” the celebrant states and I take a deep breath and prepare to tell Violet what she means to me.

“From the day I walked into a bar and saw you sitting on that stool, I knew you would be mine. Many people spend their lives searching for their soul mate, their one true love. Some people are lucky to find the person they can truly call the better half of themselves. I am happy to count myself among the lucky ones because I found you.

“I love you, Violet. I know that you are the only one for me. My one true love. I’m happy and I am grateful that you came into my life that night and that I have found you. And now that I have found you, I shall never let you go. I promise you, Violet. That I shall hold you and cherish you and give you my heart, and that I shall support you and care for you faithfully. I shall always stand by your side with your hand in mine, regardless of what life will bring to us. I vow to look after you and our children for the rest of forever and to love you all, the best way a man can love his family. In you Violet, I now have a family to call my own, and I will love you every second of every day.

“I take you now as my wife, and I shall remain as your husband for the rest of my life. All that I have I share with you, and all that I am I give to you. You are my one true love, and I will spend every day proving that I love you,” I say honestly and she starts to cry.

I pull her to me and she nuzzles into my neck. I breathe in her aroma and she smells beautiful, I just want to cuddle into her and get lost in her for days.

“And now Violet, if you would like to say your vows to Hudson?” the celebrant asks.

Violet backs away from me and nods. I mourn the loss of contact with her body as I wipe the tears from her cheeks.

“The day I met you will be one I’ll never forget. I was lost, empty and I had nothing worth fighting for. But when you entered my life it brought a new purpose. Within you I found my way, the road I’m meant to take. I am now whole, and because of you I found my fight. I have something to live, fight, and love for.

“Every day I was searching for a life, a different life to the one I had. And you’ve given me a second chance at being the person I’m meant to be, but you make me even better than I was before. With you I can accomplish anything. I can be who I’m supposed to be, without judgment or fear of the outcome.

“You have given me the family I not only wanted, but needed, and I know our love for each other will extend and grow with the love of our children.”

I lean out and touch her stomach as she says the beautiful words to me.

“From the very moment I saw your freaky eyes, I knew you were the one for me. The one I would come home to every night and wake up to every morning. The one I would spend the rest of my life with. I have lived many lives in my years, but my life with you has been the most amazing and emotional one I’ve had, and that’s saying a lot. You have become not just my lover and a companion, but my best friend, and I want to grow old with you.

“I want to watch the wrinkles form on your face and every strand of hair turn white because to me you would still be the most handsome, even when you’re all wrinkled and grey. I want to watch our children grow up and have their own families and I want to watch it with you by my side.

“It’s not a matter of wanting to spend my life with you, I
need
to. Living without you is a world I can’t even comprehend. So to you I vow to give my life, my loyalty and my love, forever.”