With and Without You (A Jordan Knight Fanfiction)

12

They planned on getting married in three months. At Carson's Beach in Boston. The place they first met.

A couple nights after getting back from New York they made plans to go to her dad's for dinner. Angie and Donnie were going to be there with little Izzy. Vivian couldn't wait to meet her. She was really excited to see Angie too. But when she arrived she barely spoke to Vivian. She was pleasant enough, but didn't make any effort to reconnect with her. It hurt Vivian, but she guessed she had some explaining to do. Jordan hadn't been the only one she'd left behind when she took off.

"Hey Ang, will you come talk to me for a minute? Alone. "

"Yeah sure. Let's go to my old room."

Vivian told her everything. About finding out that she was pregnant, the fight with Jordan, going back to Texas and the abortion. She explained her reasoning behind what she did. She told her about transferring schools, California, working at Rolling Stone and then finally she told her about Jason, Angie knew about her marriage to him, but Vivian told her everything. She showed her the scars, told her about little baby boy she lost. She told her about being unable to have kids now. And she told her about the trial and him being in prison now. They were both crying and hugging when she finished. Vivian begged Angie to never tell Diane or her Dad. Angie promised.

Angie having a better understanding of why Vivian had disappeared and stayed away like she had, she welcomed Vivian back with open arms. They were still hugging and crying when they heard a knock at the door. When the door opened it was Jordan. He had a concerned look on his face.

"Everything okay in here?"

Vivian smiled at him, "Yes Jordan, we're great. I was just filling Ang in on the last nine years."

"You told her everything? Like everything, everything?" Jordan seemed surprised she opened up about everything to Angie. But he was glad she had.

"Yes babe, I told her it all. She knows I don't want our folks to know." She felt a sense of relief having shared her secrets with her sister.

Jordan crossed the room and embraced Vivian. He kissed her lips gingerly. "Well I'm glad you two are better and got a chance to talk."

Angie and Vivian both say, "Me, too." They both laugh.

"Alright dinners ready so let's go eat."

Dinner was wonderful. Vivian was overjoyed to be sitting with her family and laughing and talking. It was so good to feel so much love from so many people. "Hey guys, Jordan and I have an announcement to make." They both stand up and hold hands. "We're getting married!"

Everyone started talking at once, saying their congratulations and giving their warm wishes. "Have you decided on a date?"

"Yes, April seventeenth at Carson's Beach!"

"That's just three months from now. That doesn't give you much time to plan." Angie said.

"That's why I am going to need your help. We just want something very small and personal. Just family and close friends. Do you think you can help us Angie?"

"I'd love that, sister"

Three months later....

Jordan and Donnie stand in the front of the chairs that are set up for the guests. Jordan is feeling a little nervous. Not because he has any doubts or fears about marrying Vivian. He's just ready, ready to finally be married to her. After years of loving her and waiting for her, the wait is over.

Once everyone sits down, music begins to play, Jordan hears his own voice, unedited, natural, it's the raw recording he'd made for her while she was still in high school of him singing I'll Be Lovin You Forever. He smiles. Then her father steps out from behind the divider that hid her from his view until the precise moment he was supposed to see her.

Vivian takes her father's hand and steps out into Jordan's view. She's more beautiful than ever, he can't take his eyes off her. She's wearing a strapless dress, that's fits her body perfectly  hugging every curve. Its cut just above her knees in the front and long in the back. He thinks back to her talking about loving the wedding dress in the music video November Rain back when they first met. The memory of that conversation and the way she looked brought tears to his eyes. He couldn't believe he was going to spend the rest of his life with the only woman he ever loved.

She was finally standing right in front of him. They never take their eyes off each other. He reaches for her hand, her dad slaps his hand away, "Patience Jordan, not yet." The music stops. The pastor tells everyone to sit. And he asks, "Who gives this woman in marriage?" Vivian's dad says. "Her mother and I do." And then he places her hand in Jordan's hand. Her dad kisses her cheek and takes his seat.

The pastor says a prayer, speaks about love and marriage. Then he says that the bride and groom have chosen to write their own vows. He gives Jordan the floor to say his vows to Vivian.

"Vivian, today I promise to always love you. I promise to stand by you and encourage you. I promise to protect you and keep all harm from you. I promise to listen to you and be patient with you.

You are the strongest, kindest, most amazing woman I've ever known. You are loving and compassionate.

You are the only woman I've ever loved
I gave you my heart back in 1988, right here on this very beach. I've loved you every day since that day. I love you more today than I did yesterday. And I'll love it more tomorrow than I do today.

Today you make me the happiest man in the world. Thank you my one and only love."

The pastor tells Vivian it's her turn.

"Jordan, I knew I was going to marry you the first week I met you. There was no doubt in my mind, you were it for me. And even though circumstances took us away from each other for nine years, I never stopped believing you were it for me.

I can categorize my life into two parts. With and without you.

With you I am whole. In your arms I am home. With you I am who I'm meant to be. With you I see my path clearly in front of me.

Without you, I am incomplete. I was lost for nine years, I couldn't see my path. I wasn't me without you.

Jordan, you are everything I will ever need. You are my soulmate, my better half, the man of my dreams, the love of my life. You are my savior, my protector, my strength and my comfort. You are my heart and my home.

Jordan, thank you for loving me, for believing in me, for supporting me, for saving me, for being patient with me and waiting for me to find my way back to you. I promise to love you everyday, for the rest of my life."

They were both crying and all he wanted to do was pull her into his arms and hold her. He took his handkerchief out of his pocket and touched her tears, careful not to mess her makeup.

They exchanged rings and said their "I do's". And finally the pastor told Jordan he could kiss his bride. His hands went to her face and when his lips touched hers everyone else disappeared. Their kiss was perfect. They were husband and wife. 

Life was exactly how it was always supposed to be.