Beautiful Perfection (Beautifully Unbroken Book 2) (7 page)

“Where is she?” I asked as I stood to greet him.

“Dude,” Alex sighed before placing his hand to my shoulder.

“What is it?”

“She changed her mind Blake, she’s not coming.”

“What?” I asked loudly causing everyone in the church to turn and look at me. Alex was amused by himself as he laughed and slapped me on the cheek before walking past me taking his place beside the altar. “She’s right outside dude; the car broke down on the way here.” Alex continued to laugh at himself as I struggled to breathe at the thought of Jo changing her mind. “Your face,” he laughed.

“That was not funny,” I cursed. “If we weren’t in the Lord’s house right now I would kick your ass all the way back to New York.”

“You got to admit dude, it was kind of funny,” He laughed. “I should have taken a snapshot because your face was priceless.”

“It was not funny or priceless, you tripping over and breaking your neck on the way back to me? Now that would have been funny,” I replied sarcastically just as my eyes focused on the vicar who had stepped to the front of the altar.

“The rings,” I said quickly, “do you have the rings?” Alex stopped laughing suddenly and began searching his pockets frantically.

“Please Alex, please tell me you have the rings,” I said through gritted teeth.

Alex laughed once more as he held the rings up in front of me, “too easy dude, you are just too damn easy.”

I breathed a sigh of relief yet again, “karma is a bitch you know. I look forward to introducing you to it sometime soon.” I narrowed my eyes at Alex quickly just as the song that had become mine and Jo’s signature tune began to echo around the church. Ellie Goulding’s ‘How Long Will I Love You’ had been playing the night that Jo and I finally became an item and also the night that I proposed to her, having Jo walking down the aisle to what had become our song seemed very fitting.

*~*~*

I felt a cold breeze blow in as the doors to the church opened prompting me to turn and look; Jasmine and Fraser were the first to enter as slowly they made their way towards me. Fraser was as cute as ever as he asked Jasmine over and over again why everyone was smiling at him; Jasmine being the experienced mom that she is, just told him over and over again to simply smile back and keep quiet.

Casey and Jemma were next to enter the church, I heard Alex sigh happily as they approached whilst Casey mouthed the words ‘I love you so much,’ to him. My eyes were then drawn back to the church doors where the most beautiful sight that I have ever seen stood smiling happily at me as she clung to Anthony’s arm as if he was her lifeline. Her nerves were evident; I had seen it enough times over recent months to know that she was happy but still held on to a tiny bit of fear. Through her dress I could see our baby bump which made me realize that even though our son and daughter weren’t here in person; they were still here, to celebrate their mommy and daddy becoming husband and wife. Anthony whispered something closely into Jo’s ear; she nodded quickly before they started to make their descent down what seemed like a mile long walk towards me. Jo’s eyes stayed focused on me the whole time until my wife to be was stood next to me. She passed her bouquet to Jemma before turning her full attention to me.

“I’m sorry I’m late,” she whispered.

“I’m sorry that the car broke down,” I replied.

“We were overdue a bit of drama, don’t you think?” She smiled happily at me.

“You look so beautiful, I can’t even tell you how much I love you right now,” I whispered back, choking back my emotion. “When we walk out of here, you are going to be my wife, I love you,” I whispered.

“I love you too, husband to be.”

The music stopped and the guests took their seats just as Jo and I turned to face the vicar. I felt Jo’s hand wrap around mine as she gave me a gentle squeeze. I turned to look at her; she was smiling happily, as the vicar began our service.

“In the presence of God, and before this congregation, Blake and Josephine have given their consent and made their marriage vows to each other. They have declared their marriage by the joining of hands and by the giving and receiving of rings. I therefore proclaim that they are husband and wife. Those whom God has joined together let no one put asunder.”

The congregation roared and cheered as finally we were announced to them as husband and wife. I took the opportunity to kiss my wife for the first time, placing my lips firmly against hers and showing her through that kiss alone just how much this meant to me. We were married; finally, we were Mr. and Mrs. Mackenzie. It was what I had longed for since the first night that I joked to Jo about marrying her -right now if I thought she would say yes-, and now, on New Year’s Eve, we had done it.

I refused to take my lips away from my wife’s for the duration of the clapping and cheering, I had been addicted to Jo since the day I met her and today I felt no less love for her than I did then, but I did feel for her more love than I thought was humanly possible.

We were caught up in a whirlwind from the second that we became husband and wife. We had signed the register and had at least a million photos taken and I was confident that I was about to experience lock jaw. We had then greeted every single guest on our way out of the church, Jo’s smile hadn’t faltered once since she had stood at the church doors before our wedding, if there was ever one thing that made me happy, it was the fact that Jo was happy, it was my lifetime ambition to keep her happy.

The guests had all filled into cars and were heading back to the house for our reception while Jo and I were finishing off having a final few photos taken before our wedding car would take us back too. We thanked the vicar for marrying us at such short notice and promised him again that we would be here for Sunday service as soon as we got back to the UK in the spring/summer, we would also be arranging our babies’ christenings here too. After helping Jo into the car, I walked around to the other side and climbed in next to her; she was still smiling happily.

“Hello husband,” she said as I closed the door.

“Mrs. Mackenzie,” I smirked, “how lovely to see you.”

Jo gave me a curt nod, “You are so getting laid tonight by the way.” I saw her smile widen and her cheeks flush as she turned her attention to the outside world.

I shuffled closer to her and whispered in her ear, “So are you, by the way.”

She gasped as I took her earlobe between my teeth and tugged gently. “We finally get the house to ourselves tonight, no mothers walking in on us, no family and friends on the other side of the walls, no toddler tantrums at bedtime,  no crying puppy who wants to go pee in the middle of the night, just us; me and my wife.” Jo turned her head quickly and looked at me with a serious expression on her face.

“Blake,” she said sternly, “if you think for one second that I can wait until after the fireworks at midnight, all of the drunk guests to disperse and the staff to finish clearing up then you are very much mistaken,” she leaned into me and whispered quietly, “I have been waiting since dinnertime when you almost…. You know?” She moved away and looked back out of the window. “So, just a heads up; you need to sort something out, soon, somewhere that we won’t be interrupted, where we can actually do….. The thing…. Okay?”

“My wife is bossy,” I teased. “I like it.”

“Why isn’t the car moving yet?” Jo asked suddenly. “We have been sat here now for at least ten minutes, our guests are going to be wondering where we are.”

“Again,” I replied dryly.

Just as Jo cut her eyes at me the driver replied, “I’m afraid we have a slight problem again Mr. and Mrs. Mackenzie.”

“Well you can sort it out again can’t you? Just as you did on the way down here,” Jo stated.

“Erm, I’m not confident that we can this time. There seems to be a problem with the choke.”

“The what?” Jo asked confused.

The driver laughed once before noticing the angry snarl that Jo was giving him. He cleared his throat before continuing, “I’m afraid the choke is well and truly stuck, I was surprised that we managed to get it working when we broke down on the way here but because we did, I assumed that it would see us back up to the reception at least,” he said carefully.

“So you basically knew that this could happen while we were in the church and yet you did nothing about it?” Jo’s voice began to rise as her anger became visible.

“I’m a driver sweetheart, not a mechanic.”

Jo gasped loudly in shock, he had succeeded in fully angering her, did he not notice that she was pregnant? One thing that I had learned in the past six months was that a pregnant angry lady made a standard angry lady look like a kitten.

“Firstly; do not call me sweetheart, you prat. And secondly; what the hell is a choke anyway?” Jo’s voice had gone up an octave; she was getting herself really worked up, just minutes into our married life.

“Is there any hope that the car may start?” I asked calmly.

“I’m sorry Mr. Mackenzie but it’s looking highly unlikely,” he replied apologetically.

“I don’t believe this,” Jo whined. “It’s my wedding day, My.Wedding. Day.” She repeated sadly. “We have a house full of guests waiting to celebrate with us, this is just a disaster.” Jo began picking at the petals from her bouquet as her eye brows drew together in sadness. “The pain that follows the happiness, it came back.”

“It’s just a car Jo; this is not going to ruin our day. I won’t allow it to ruin our day.”

Jo lifted her eyes to me, “call the house, have someone come down and collect us, it’s not how I imaged getting to my wedding reception but it will have to do.”

I sighed, “I don’t have my phone, Alex was calling you all to see where you were, and because he doesn’t have Anthony’s number or Jemma’s, he used my phone and then never gave it back to me.” Jo looked at me with disbelief before turning to the driver.

“Can we use your phone please?”

“Of course, here,” the driver took his phone from his pocket and handed it to Jo. After a few seconds Jo sighed heavily and handed it back to him.

“It may be a good idea to charge your phone, that way if your old banger ever breaks down then you can call somebody to come and rescue you maybe.” Her sarcasm was evident.

“You will have to go back into the church Blake, there’s no other alternative.”

“Reverend Matthews left the church after the service Jo,” I replied carefully.

“Great.” she snapped. “So were stuck here, no houses, no ‘phone boxes, absolutely no way to communicate with anyone, how ridiculous!” she yelled.

We sat in silence for a moment as I thought hard about how we were going to get home and then I did the only thing that I could think of; I climbed out of the car and walked around to Jo’s door and opened it. Still, her eyes stayed down as she picked a petal from one of the roses and crushed it between her fingers. I crouched down to her level and turned her face gently to face me, she was trying desperately to hold back the tears that had pooled in her eyes.

“Hey, wife,” I said gently, a small smile tugged on her lips. “It’s just a car; it is not going to spoil the best day of our lives.” I stood and held my hand out to Jo.

“What are you doing?” She asked curiously.

“Well the car isn’t going anywhere so we have no choice, out you come.” I said as I beckoned her with my fingers.

Jo burst into laughter, “If you think for one second that I am walking home dressed like this with these stupid shoes on, in snow, might I add, then you are very much mistaken.”

“Just get out of the car,” I sighed. We continued to hold each other’s glare for a few minutes, both of us too stubborn to give in, until eventually Jo gave in first and huffed out of the car.

“Fine,” she snapped. “I will greet my guests looking like a bloody tramp.” I couldn’t help but laugh at her as I removed my coat and placed it around her shoulders.

“Do you seriously think that I would make my pregnant wife walk home, in this weather?” Jo looked at me confused before I leaned down and took her into my arms. Jo let out a little squeal as her feet left the floor. Her expression softened and she smiled at me lovingly.

“You are going to carry me all the way home?” She asked.

“Yep, I am going to carry you all the way home beautiful. Now let’s get going, we have a party to attend.”

“Are you going to be okay?” Jo asked the driver in a much softer tone than she had a couple of minutes ago.

“Absolutely fine,” he smiled back. “Now go enjoy your wedding reception, and again, I’m sorry about the car.”

“Thank you,” I replied before turning and beginning the walk up to our house.

“You really are my fixer upper aren’t you?” Jo smiled before resting her head onto my chest.

“Your fixer upper?” I replied slightly amused.

“Yes, you are like Christoff from Frozen.” I felt Jo’s smile grow against my chest.

“You are comparing me to a Disney character now?” I laughed.

“Well Disney did invent prince charming, happy ever after’s, fairytale’s and Christoff from Frozen and I have all of those right here; my very own Disney film.” Jo tightened her grip on me.

“So that makes you my Disney princess doesn’t it?”

“Hhmm, which one am I?”

“Mary Poppins aren’t you?” I laughed. “Practically perfect in every way.”

“Is Mary Poppins even a princess?”

“She is in my eyes,” I smirked.

“Now I know you are just humoring me,” Jo laughed. “Will you always be my fixer upper slash prince charming?”

“Until death us do part Jo, and that’s a promise.”

*~*~*

The hill up to where our house sat seemed a lot steeper and longer than I imagined it to be. Jo had kept the conversation going for most of the way and had finally seemed to have forgotten about the car disaster as she chatted happily about the impending party. The roads were quiet thankfully and the pitch darkness of the countryside helped to keep us as anonymous as possible to passersby. I was sure however that at some point, our picture would appear somewhere online. So far this week we had managed to secure our privacy with everyone that was involved in the wedding, but nothing had prepared us for having to walk home. I smiled to myself when I realized however, that a photo of us walking home in the snow would be a great memento. I secretly hoped to myself that someone would have taken one without our knowing so.