This Kiss

Chapter 85

Olivia stood in her suite at The Beacon starring out the window. Her hair and makeup were done, but there was still an hour before she needed to put on her dress. Ava had gone to wake Emma from the nap Olivia made her take due to the late hour of the wedding ceremony. As she gazed out the window at the town she called home, her thoughts drifted to the events of that morning and a wide smile spread across her face.

Olivia and Natalia stood before an older gentleman. He had a warm smile as he looked at the family before him. Olivia in a tailored white pant suit with a pale-yellow camisole, Natalia in a simple knee length white dress. Ava, Emma, and Rafe all in what they called 'church clothes.' The judge smiled as he watched the two women stare at each other with such love in their eyes. Before he began he allowed them to drink one another in and thought to himself, 'this is why I do this. This love these two women have radiates off of them and their children. This is why I love this job.' He brought himself out of his thoughts and asked Olivia and Natalia to join hands facing each other. The two compiled, smiling like fools as they turned to fully face one another. Rafe stood beside his Ma, with Ava and Emma standing beside their mom. The traditional wedding vows were exchanged and they used Natalia's engagement ring and the matching one Olivia had bought for herself to exchange at that time. They wanted to use their actual wedding bands at what they considered their real wedding, the one with their friends and family. After the rings were placed on their fingers, the judge announced them wed and gave them permission to seal it with a kiss. He signed the marriage license as well as each woman then sent them down to file it on the first floor of the courthouse. Both women thanked the man and strode out of the courtroom hand in hand with their children following close behind, all five of them grinning from ear to ear.

"Mommy, is it time, is it time for the real wedding?" Emma interrupted her musings as she excitedly came bounding into the room with Ava close behind.

"Just about Jellybean. I have to get into my dress still and we have to wait for Aunt Doris to come and take us to where we are having the ceremony."

"Where is the cere, cere, wedding going to be?" The young girl asked.

"I don't know, Aunt Doris and Aunt Blake have kept it a secret."

"Oh, okay. Well hurry and get dressed, I can't wait anymore."

"I feel the same way my beautiful girl. I am more than ready to marry your Ma."

"But you did this morning, why is this one different."

Olivia walked to the bed and sat down, gesturing for Emma to come and sit with her. "Well, this one is different because it's in front of the people we care about. I am going to stand in front of everyone I know and make it known that my heart belongs to Natalia. In just a little while, I'm going to marry the person I love more than anybody in the world except for you and Ava and Rafe."

"But why did you need two weddings? Buzz and Lillian didn't, and Billy and Vanessa didn't, and you never had two weddings when you got married before. Why do you have to now?"

"Do you remember when Natalia and I talked to you about how some people don't like for two girls or two boys to be in love?"

"Yeah. Rafe used to be one of those people, but you and Ma changed his mind cause you love each other so much."

"Yup, we did. Well, some states don't think it's okay for two girls or two boys to get married. That's why we had to go to Iowa and get married. That wedding is a legal wedding, it means mommy and Ma are married in the eyes of the law. Illinois is a state that doesn't allow two girls to get married. But we can have a ceremony here. That's what tonight is. Natalia and I are having a commitment ceremony. That's where we tell each other how we feel about each other, and that we want to be with only each other forever in front of the people that matter to us. Do you understand?"