Deceit in their silence - Completed

Forty Eight.

Jaxson rested his head on mine as we stood behind the double doors like we had last May at our engagement party. Neither of us could stop smiling. The pictures we had been taking for the past hour just felt like the two of us reliving our past history. Dancing in empty rooms, secret kisses in the gardens, running down these hallways. 

"I love you." I smiled and scrunched my face up. 

"I love you too." We turned as the doors opened and we walked down the stairs into the room that was now littered with tables for our wedding meal. 

We sat down at the longest table in the room, surrounded by our closest friends and families. Roman on my right, Jaxson on my left. Daisy and Sonny sat in front of me and Jaxson with the other girls on either side of them. That's all that mattered to me. My girls, my brother and my husband. 

It wasn't long before waiters started bringing food and I slowly drunk one single glass of champagne.  I listened as everyone told stories about us as kids, resting my head on Jax whilst we laughed between courses. 

Our legs stayed entwined under the table like they usually did in bed. I got to be with him forever now. He was mine. He kept his promise. He promised I'd be his wife, promised he'd keep me safe, promised he wouldn't hurt me again. 

The desert course started being cleared and I laid my head back on Jax as his dad stood beside him, taking the microphone and starting his speech. 

I couldn't focus on what he was saying. I was lost in the moment. My hands were wrapped in Jaxson's and I was as close to him as I could possibly be without sitting in his lap. He laughed at some joke his dad did and I followed so people would think I was in the room and my head wasn't in the clouds. 

My dad would have made a speech. He would have spoken about how I was his princess and as a kid I had spoken about how my wedding day would look just like this. How I'd play dress up in my white bed sheets and pretend it was a wedding dress and I'd kiss him as if he was my husband. He'd talk about how I'd made Roman catch my bouquet, or a teddy bear, over and over again. How I would run around the garden collecting wildflowers and put them in my hair like a princess. 

He'd tell me I was Jaxson's princess now and soon enough we would be king and queen of his empire. And we'd live out my childhood dreams of being with the man I loved forever and ever. He'd tell me he loved me, that I'd always be his baby girl, that he was proud of the young woman I had grown into. I knew he was. I knew that's what he would say. That's what was in his letter he left to me. He wrote it when I left for Italy just in case. With instructions for me to open it the day before my wedding day if he wasn't there. 

I'd read it alone in our office, in silent tears that turned into sobs that he wouldn't be here. I'd ended up on the floor in the corner clutching a pillow when Roman walked in and soothed me. Holding me whilst I cried like he always did. Running his hands down my hair, telling me everything was going to be okay. I felt him stand beside me and I was pulled from my head. I turned in my seat to watch him. I cared about what he had to say. Jaxson leaned across the table as Carlos whispered in his ear and excused himself, standing from his chair and quickly walking towards the bathroom.

"So Dad had a whole thing he wanted me to read to you Lennox but I didn't want to make you cry today so I gave you his speech yesterday. I wanted to tell everyone here about the first time I knew you and Jaxson were meant to be together." 

"It was summer when you two started dating. I remember standing in my bedroom window and watching him sneak out of your bedroom window at 1am. The next morning I asked you what you did the night before. You still had this innocence on your face and it flushed bright red. You looked down into your cereal and pulled your hair over your face hoping I couldn't see it but I did. You told me you watched some films but couldn't sleep so you had ended up dancing around the room for most of the night. I know you had I'd heard the music. You were completely head over heels in love and I knew it in that very moment. "

"A few days later you were both in the gym boxing. You were sat on his back with a cup of coffee in hand smiling. I closed the door quietly and watched you both from the corner of the room. You never knew I was there. It turned into play fighting real quick. That was when I saw the way he looked at you when you won. He wasn't angry like the other boys had been. He looked like he had met his match. Don't worry Jaxson I've fought her too I know it's not easy." The crowd laughed as did we. I smiled up at Roman urging him to carry on. 

"Then there was when he broke your heart. You spent days sleeping and nights crying and training in the gym. Dad had to keep telling me to stay out of it because god did I want to kill you Jaxson. Dad said you were meant to be together and just give it time. That fate would bring you both together when the time was right. That you were to Lennox as Mom was to him. His soulmate, other half, whatever you want to call it. You two were meant to be together. So we let fate take control, with a few minor pushes along the way. But despite all of that here we are today on the happiest day of your lives." 

"I want to raise a toast, to my baby sister and her new husband. May you be eternally happy, forever powerful and produce strong heirs." He raised his glass and I sat up, holding mine up with him. 

"To Lennox and Jaxson." I looked around the table and saw Sonny's face drop as he dropped his glass onto the table. 

"ROMAN." 

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