Jake was long gone when Lauren and Kaitlin burst into the master bedroom to wake Heather on the morning of her wedding day. They weren't surprised to see her already awake, sitting on the window seat.
Lauren couldn't stop the tears in her eyes when she saw the dress she had worn almost forty years ago. They had altered it to suit Heather's style, cutting a bit out of the front and lowering the neckline, but it was the same dress and she looked too beautiful for words.
Neither one of them had been nervous, Heather was nervous about falling up the aisle, but Phil held his daughter a little tighter when he realised she really was marrying Jake.
Heather, and Jake, had been a mess throughout the vows and the majority of the ceremony.
Juliet had watched on with the biggest smile on her face. Sitting proudly on Abby's lap as she watched her mother and father.
"We can now say that, we have a true feeling of certainty and fulfillment in both of you. We have the feeling that this is so very right for you, and we have the hope that the two of you will continue to find fulfillment, joy and happiness as you walk, through the days and the nights of the years which we pray that God will offer to you...with health and strength and with the appreciation of life which can be yours," the priest said, looking between the couple.
Ever since Jake and Heather had exchanged rings, they hadn't let go of each other's hands. Jake had released the biggest sigh of relief when they exchanged rings, it was a weight off his chest knowing she was here, with him, and she wasn't leaving anymore.
"If you did not break a piece of glass, there are people who would say, "They're not really married." What this glass symbolizes is that life is fragile, marriage is fragile. You have to coddle it and protect it as I have coddled and protected this glass. I pray that you will be happy with each other, and that you will be good to each other. May you always drink from the full and the empty will crush beneath you. In accordance with the ancient tradition, we wish that the years of your marriage be no less than the time that would take to fit the fragments together," the Rabbi explained, looking between the couple.
Jake shifted his eyes to Heather, smiling softly when she looked back at him and squeezed his hand. He couldn't be more excited to have her to himself forever.
"Now that Jake and Heather have given themselves to each other by solemn vows, with the joining of hands and the giving and receiving of rings, we pronounce you Husband and Wife. My dear friends, on behalf of Rabbi Meir and myself it is my pleasure to introduce you to Mr and Mrs. Tapper," the priest smiled, standing back while the Rabbi stepped forward with the glass.
"And so, break the glass, and when you do we will all say mazel tov," The Rabbi said, placing it on the floor.
Heather looked to her husband, smiling as he stepped up and crushed the glass with his right foot. She barely had time to blink, and Jake's hands were on her cheeks, cupping her face and meeting her lips with his.
A chorus of 'mazel tov' surrounded the couple as they kissed. Jake was a little too reluctant to leave his wife go.
***
Though it was fast, not the wedding either of them envisioned in their future, and it didn't have as many people as they would've liked, Jake and Heather couldn't have been happier.
As Heather stood to the side, lost in a conversation with her friends, she couldn't believe how fast the day had gone. The dinner had already happened, the partying and drinking was in full swing; her mother wasn't lying when she said the day would go by in the blink of an eye.
