Cupid's Assistant {Completed}

Christmas 2015 Special

I married Ashton Williams two days before Christmas.

I'd never understood the big deal about weddings. I knew they were meant to signify the importance of finding your one true love and joining in holy matrimony, but I'd always figured if the love you both shared was truly the kind of love you shared once in a lifetime, nothing as trivial as diamond rings and ceremonies would change that. Who cared if the world knew, so long as you both got to share in it?

But as the wedding drew closer and the gown fittings came and we tested cake flavors and venues, I realized what it was that made the whole affair so special.

It joined you. You were together, and you were bonded, but when you were together, sharing in the excitement of marital bliss, you were together on a whole new level. And there were no words to describe what that felt like.

I'd never figured myself the kind of girl to get married, but when Ashton proposed Christmas night a year earlier, those brown eyes wide and loving and so sincere it could've melted the ice we stood in, I was powerless to say no. Because maybe I thought it was silly and childish, but Ash didn't. And so of course I'd do it.

And then I began to love it, too.

It had been the night of Christmas when we were twenty-two. We stood sipping hot cider in the snow, laughing at the children across the street and their crude snowmen drawn in the snow. And all of the Christmas lights were on and we could hear laughing and carolling in the distance, and something seemed so cute and festive and incredible. Maybe the cider was too hot and the snowflakes were soaking into my coat and the ice was seeping through my boots, but nothing in that moment could have made it any more perfect. 

"This is beautiful," I'd whispered, my eyes roaming the star-studded sky and the crunchy white snow and the twinkling fairy lights. 

"Yeah, it is," he whispered. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me in, pressing a long kiss to the top of my head. "Just like you."

"You are such a cheeseball," I replied, laughing. I turned and looked up at him, feeling my heart clench at the familiar sight of that handsome face. "But I love it."

"I love you, too," he told me.

"I don't think this moment could get anymore perfect," I whispered, curling my hands tighter around the warm mug.

"I do," he replied.

"And how's that?" I wondered.

"If you made me the happiest man on earth." 

"I thought you became that when you met me," I joked, frowning. "How would one do that?"

"When I met you, I thought I was the happiest guy in the world," he told me earnestly. "And when we finally ended up together and I knew I could have you, I found I could be even happier. But I think there's still one more level."

"And what level is that?" I asked, cocking my head to the side. Maybe I had brain-freeze, but it hadn't clicked to me quite yet.

He dropped to one knee and produced a velvet box, and I felt a gasp escape my numb lips. "Ash! Oh, my God!"

"Marry me, and I really will be the happiest guy on this earth."

Of course, there was no over-thinking or second-guessing. I could feel a warmth spreading through the pit of my stomach, and knew there really was only one answer to that question.

"Yes! Yes!"

He laughed and stood up, and I dove into his arms and pulled him in for a long kiss. I couldn't believe that I, Mia Elizabeth Starr, was officially engaged to the man of my dreams. And the ring looked pretty and wasn't as gaudy as I'd always thought wedding rings were, and there was something so incredible and perfect about the thought of putting on that dress and marrying Ashton in front of the people I loved. And I suddenly found that I didn't want anything more.

So we'd booked the wedding to be in the winter, just like our parents' had been. Two days before Christmas, when the snow was high and the wedding could be as unique as our relationship was. I wore a dress with lace sleeves down to the elbows and a figure-hugging bodice, and he wore a fitted tux, and looked so gorgeous it took my breath away as I walked down the aisle towards my future. My father gave me away, Mike and Hunter were the groomsmen, and Charlie and Harper were my bridesmaids. Henry and my mother stood in the front row with matching grins on their faces, and everything was exactly how I wanted it.

And in that moment, I knew exactly what happiness was.

And I knew I'd found it with Ashton Williams.

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Merry Christmas, everyone! Hope you all enjoy this little update! I was in the Christmas spirit and wanted to give something back to you guys!

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Stay happy and spread the joy!

Forever Love xx