Love me 'Til it Hurts

Chapter 75 - You're Still the One!

Two Months Later...
Rayne Saunders...

Life had slowly gone back to normal once we got Juliette back. Or as normal as things can be, Cal told me that Juliette still has nightmares, often waking in the middle of the night caked in sweat and panting out of control. I knew how difficult it was for Cal to watch his woman going through what she was because it was ingrained in Cal's very DNA to help people and he was never more protective of the people he loved and cared for.

We were all there for Juliette and while she never talked to me or Jensen about what happened, I know she had talked it through with her men and that was all I could ask for. At least she had unloaded as much as she felt like she needed too.

Angela had been found guilty of abduction and endangering another person's wellbeing, not to mention assault - with the help of both Juliette and Cal, the girl was now locked up in a mental institution where she was hopefully getting the help she needed. I don't know that I could have been as understanding as my friends - after what she did, I feared that I would have pushed for the maximum sentence in a real jail, but it was Cal and mostly Juliette's decision to make.

"You ready, pumpkin?" My dad asked as I stood in the kitchen of the cabin where my friends lived together.

After the abduction, Cal and Jeremy wanted Juliette to move in with them and she had agreed. So, she and I sat down and hashed out a solution to our problem - finally agreeing to rent out our house, which would give us an income that we agreed to split down the middle. It was the best outcome that we could have hoped to agree on.

"One more drink for the road?" I asked my dad who smiled and nodded his head, grabbing the bottle of Jack Daniels and the accompanying cola that Juliette had left on the island for me.

Today I was going to marry Jensen.

I was about to become his wife.

There was nothing in this world that would ever stop me from doing this. I have never loved anyone the way I love my husband-to-be. Even when we were apart, I loved him as much as I loved him as when we had been together.

I tried to bury what I felt - but looking back on it now, I knew that I hadn't been as successful as I had thought I was. The fact that none of my other relationships lasted was a testament to that fact.

Now here we were - a beautiful sunset streaked the sky in a beautiful smudge of purples and pinks blending together bathing the area in a beautiful warm glow that was only illuminated by the hundreds of fairy-lights that Juliette had placed around the area we had picked for the ceremony. The scent of the Lillie's she had ordered coated the air, even, in here I could smell their wild plumes as if they were settling around me in a giant hug.

Looking out the window to see Jensen stood at the altar with Jeremy at his side, the officiant stood dead centre, two of my three bridesmaids stood on the opposite side of the altar - the purple dresses blending with the sky and the glow of the space in a way I never could have predicted and the guests all seated, ready for the wedding to commence.

Jensen looked beyond handsome - a black three-piece suit with a purple shirt fitted around his muscles like a second skin, highlighting the true definition of his muscles. His chocolate brown hair was swept back from his face which only drew my eyes to his - the almost jade-colour of them burned with intensity, his nose drew my attention to those magnificently beautiful, plump natural red lips that were moving as he talked to Jeremy at his side.

Juliette was standing just outside on the decking waiting for me to be ready, her own dress a little deeper in colour than the other two bridesmaids, a slight difference in style of dress showcased that she was indeed my maid-of-honour.