Faces (Lannan Eacott) *Under Editing*

41

Four years later...

"You look beautiful." I heard from behind me. Looking up into the mirror I noticed my father standing in the doorway dressed in his Sunday best. "You look just like your mother." A smile crept onto my face as I turned around to face him. The white lace and satin clinging tightly to my body. "Lannan is a lucky guy." He reached out towards me with his elbow. "Ready?" I nodded.

"As I'll ever be." We began to walk down the hall and I could already hear my father sniffling. "Daddy." I said softly and he looked down at me. "I'll always be your little girl." He gave me a smile as we stopped in front of the double doors.

"This is it. I can be a distraction if you want to make a run for it." I shook my head laughing.

"I waited my whole life for this." He patted my hand.

"I know." The sweet notes of the piano began to fill the air and my heart started to best faster. The doors opened and I was met with hundreds of eyes on me. "Let's go, sweetheart." We began to move down the isle but my eyes were locked on him. He had tears in his eyes and a wide smile etched onto his face. Once we were close enough he reached out his hand and my father looked over at me. "Go on. I protected you my entire life, it's someone else's turn now." He said his voice shaking. I took Lannan's hand and stood in front of him. The priest began speaking but all I could see was Lannan. Stray tears fell from his eyes and I smiled up at him.

"Samantha has prepared her own vows." The priest nodded towards me and I took a shaky breath.

      "Lannan," I said looking deeply into his eyes. "When I met you, I wasn't quite sure what love was. I had been so mistreated that I was used to being in dirty hands. You came into my life and lit a fire. Everything that was dark was finally being shown in a light I had never seen before. You taught me that people can and will love you for all your weird quirks and habits. That no matter the distance or time spent apart love that is true will always prosper. You introduced me to a life I didn't know existed." I paused trying to compose myself. "I waited my whole life for you and now I'll spend every day appreciating you. I love you is such a small thing to say when the feelings I have for you are so deeply rooted. I hope for now they are satisfactory. You are my yesterday, my today, and hopefully my forever. I love you." I said softly. The priest looked over at Lannan.

      "Lannan has prepared his own as well." Lannan took a breath before removing his hands from mind and pulling a piece of paper from his pocket. I giggled at the motion.

      "I still remember the day I first met you. You were sitting on the beach doing something on your phone. I had to beg Marcus to kick that ball in your direction so I had an excuse to talk to you. The second I saw you I knew I had to have you. You saved me from the darkest parts of myself and I will forever be grateful. You might not know this but when you went back to college for your junior year I already had a ring picked out. I knew I wanted you in my life forever. People used to joke and say my first true love was YouTube but that all changed when I met you. They saw how much you love me and how much I love you. I will spend every day of my life proving how much I love you. Through sickness. Through sadness. I'll be there. I love you so much." I felt tears threatening to spill from my eyes.

"With that being said, do you Samantha take Lannan to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

"I do." I said softly squeezing his hand.

"Do you Lannan take Samantha to be your lawfully wedded wife?" Lannan sniffled.

"I do." The priest nodded before closing the book he was holding.

"With the power invested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride." Lannan took no time to lightly take my face in his hands and press his lips against mine. I could feel him smiling into the kiss as applause filled the room. He pulled away and we walked down the isle. We made our way to car waiting for us outside and waited for everyone else to pile out to their vehicles.

"I love you so much, Sam." He said softly rubbing my knuckles. I lifted our hands and pressed a gentle kiss to the back of his.

"I love you too." We arrived to the reception building not long after our guests. We waited outside the doors for our cue to go in and after a moment of waiting we were walking through the doors. We sat through the many speeches and many dances. Finally everyone was filing out to wait for our final walk out to the car. "I Get To Love You" began to play through the speakers and Lannan grabbed my hand walking me to the middle of the dance floor.

"Today was perfect." He said softly as we danced one last private dance before the rest of our lives began. I nuzzled my head into his chest as we swayed to the music. Lannan hummed to the song as he held me close. "I get to love you for the rest of my life." He said softly pressing his lips to the top of my head. The song soon ended and we pulled away from one another. "Ready to go live the rest of our lives Mrs. Eacott?" I smiled at his words.

"As I'll ever be, Mr. Eacott."

La fin

Thank you so much for reading this story! I hate to see it end so soon but it wasn't getting many readers anymore and I didn't want to leave the few of you who enjoyed this story with no ending. I hope this ending is satisfactory for the few of you who stuck with me for this long. ❤️❤️