Tears were glistening in her eyes as she said those words. Not just her tears brimmed in Artemis’s eyes, too, as he squeezed Caroline’s hand in his.
“Sarah, I just wanted to thank you for the gift.” Artemis paused, making a serious face. Everyone wondered what gift he was talking about, but Caroline knew that it was again going to say some cheesy lines, and then Artemis continued, “I’ve been wearing this smile ever since you gave it to me.” Everyone laughed at his words. “Sarah, my love, I didn’t know what I wanted. I wanted anyone in my life until I saw you. The night you walked into my life, you changed it instantly from the day one; you had been my knight saving me from the eyes of evil women,” Caroline giggled, hearing him.
“I will forever thank you for giving me a chance to love you, for making me feel wanted, and for giving new hope and meaning to my life. I will forever thank you for saving me from my old self… you indirectly gave me the direction of my life and let me out of the dark in which I was staying for a long time and didn’t want to come out of it. I love you very, very much, Caroline Sarah Haysbert Gosling. I promise to always be the man you fell in love with or better. I promise to take care of you like a queen forever and beyond.
Caroline smiled and cried at the same time, hearing his vows.
“I pronounce you husband and wife… you may now kiss the bride.”
Hearing it, Artemis lifted Caroline’s veil. His eyes were still brimming with tears, and there was so much love and tenderness on his face that Caroline cried as well. She was thanking herself for returning back, or she would have spoiled her life with her own hand.
He wiped her tears, “From now onwards, you will only be crying happy tears.” He said before leaning forward, and then he gave a gentle kiss on Caroline’s lips, sealing the promises and vows with the kiss. The gentle kiss from Artemis reminded Caroline of his first kiss when he had kissed her out of the blue.
‘I love you, Bolt.’ Shaba confessed.
‘I love you too, Mate.’ Bolt confessed, jumping happily.
When the kiss ended, Artemis leaned his forehead against her, taking a deep breath, filling his nose with Caroline’s scent. “Don’t ever leave me as this, OR I will die.”
“Never. I promise.”
He leaned forward again, and this time, he gave her a more passionate kiss. It seemed like they were in their own world. They heard everyone clapping and cheering around them. There were three people at the whole wedding who couldn’t understand this drama. Colton, Liara, and Steve. They wouldn’t have attended the wedding if it wouldn't have been Caroline’s wedding.
Artemis reluctantly broke the kiss and pulled himself away by placing a kiss on Caroline’s face and looked at their family members and friends with a smile.
*****
“I can’t believe that this day is really here,” Brandon muttered with a frown while dancing with Caroline. Caroline giggled and recalled that moment when she had said that she too wanted to get married, seeing the dance of her Aunt Rebecca with her father. She loved all the things weddings were about at that age. “You grew up really, very fast,” Brandon complained.
“I didn’t grow up fast, dad.” Caroline chuckled, taking a 360-degree turn. “I’m still thirty years younger than you.” She added and looked at her mother, who was dancing with Artemis at her reception party.
“Yeah!! But still…” Brandon muttered.
“Dad!! I observed that you have been busy with a lot of work recently. Does that mean you were planning something for me?” Caroline questioned, knowing her father very well.
“Noooooooo”
“I can smell lies!!” Caroline giggled, to which Brandon didn’t say anything.
After a while, Caroline changed her partner. She started dancing with Uncle Oli, then her brothers, her father-in-law, and then her husband. The dance was about to come to an end, and that was when the light of the hall was turned off, and a spotlight focused on Caroline and Artemis.
“This song is specially dedicated to Artemis.” Caroline heard her father’s voice and looked for him and found him in the dark.
“Look at the two of you dancin' that way
Lost in the moment and each other's face
So much in love, you're alone in this place
Like there's nobody else in the world.”
*
The second spotlight finally focused on Brandon, who moved on skating shoes toward Caroline and Artemis. Caroline always wished him to do something like the same what he did for her mother when he proposed to her, and here it was. After nineteen years.
*
“I was enough for her not long ago
I was her number one, she told me so
And she still means the world to me, just so you know
So be careful when you hold my girl
Time changes everything, life must go on
And I'm not gonna stand in your way”
*
Caroline smiled at her father, giving him a flying kiss. ‘I love you, dad.’
*
“But I loved her first, I held her first
And a place in my heart will always be hers
From the first breath she breathed
When she first smiled at me
I knew the love of a father runs deep
And I prayed that she'd find you someday
But it's still hard to give her away
I loved her first”
It was an indirect way for Brandon to show Artemis that he was her first and would always be her first, and she had a lot of her first with him and only first. Artemis laughed and respected his possessiveness over his daughter. Of course, he would always be her first, even her first love.
*
“How could that beautiful woman with you
Be the same freckle face kid that I knew
The one that I read all those fairytales to
And tucked into bed all those nights.”
*
He let Caroline go, who took a few seconds to wear her skating shoes and joined him in the dance.
*
And I knew the first time I saw you with her
It was only a matter of time
I loved her first, I held her first
And a place in my heart will always be hers
From the first breath she breathed
When she first smiled at me
I knew the love of a father runs deep
And I prayed that she'd find you someday
But it's still hard to give her away
I loved her first”
.
#TBC