thirty five

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Briar

It was finally our wedding day. It also happened to be, as Phoebe from friends called it, Christmas eve eve.

In the end, Vaughn and I just had a quaint ceremony and exchanging of vows. And then right after the ceremony, we had a massive reception on the estate. There were several large white heated tents filled to the brim with food, alcohol, and tons of people, most of whom I'd never met before.

And that included Vaughn's mother, Isabella. 

To say she was completely different than what I was expecting, would be an understatement.

For some reason, I thought she would be kind of cool. I personally thought she pulled a total girl boss move when she made the decision to travel across the world with a new flavor of the week after her godawful husband was murdered. 

But then Vaughn informed me she was traveling with different men who were usually younger than him, and that she still did in fact abandoned a fourteen year old Vaughn right after he had to kill his own father. I instantly had a bad taste in my mouth.

But disregardless, she was still Vaughn's mother. I went into the conversation with her with the intention to at least try and be cordial, and I figured she would try and be the same.

I was wrong.

She didn't even introduce herself to me. Just completely skipped me, over and tried speaking to Vaughn about something completely irrelevant to our wedding, while standing in the middle of our literal wedding. Then, once Vaughn skipped over her pointless statements, he introduced me to his mother.

"Briar, this is my mother, Isabella. Ma, this is my wife." He introduced us, and I greeted her back, "Hi, nice to meet you." While flashing her a warm smile, to both of which she didn't respond. So then of course as you would have it, in addition to being a bitch, she was a total nut.

Literal seconds after she was forced to talk to me, she asked me about what natural cleaning products I used to clean the estate, and what organic, natural diet I made sure Vaughn was on.

And newsflash, she did neither when Vaughn was growing up.

So when I told her I neither cooked nor cleaned, I'd never seen someone so look taken aback in my life.

"You don't cook, you don't clean, you have no children." She threw the last insult into an already sensitive wound, making my stomach plummet, "So then you do what all day?" She inquired, a hand placed on her chest like she was flabbergasted at the news, and I let out an uncomfortable chuckle.

My initial reaction was to tell her that I bent over when requested, and sucked the literal soul out of her son on a daily basis, but I held my comments back, letting her know that I attended college, but did have to take a semester off.

Once she scoffed, I itched to tell her it wasn't an involuntary break, that I was previously a full time, straight A student until her son had me abducted and wouldn't let me attend school, and now because of that I probably have Stockholm syndrome- Wait just a minute, do I have Stockholm syndrome?!

I quickly cleared away those thoughts, deciding I could analyze my probable Stockholm syndrome later. Even so, it did bother me that his mother was acting like I was a money pinching whore, but it was even worse when I saw she was eyeing my hearing aid, but Vaughn shut that down immediately.

"Oh dear, what is that thing? In your ear?" She asked with a disgusted looking frown, reaching out to touch my hearing aid. Vaughn caught her hand mid-motion before she could touch me, stopping her in her tracks.

"It's Briars hearing aid, and you do not touch it." He told her in his stern voice he usually used when working, and I could tell she wanted to make another comment, but she knew Vaughn would shut her down again. So it did make me just a teensy, tiny bit happy that she only ended up staying for an hour, because she claimed she had a stomach ache.

Vaughn also seemed relived she had left, and we still made the most of our special night. Vaughn and I had our first dance, did the cutting of the cake, and listened as Miles and Gia gave their matron of honor and best man speeches.

And right around midway through the reception, Vaughn pulled me off into the secluded pool house. At first I thought it was so we could get down and dirty for the first time as a married couple, but it turned out to be a much better surprise.

"Wow, you couldn't even wait until our guests go home, ya horn dog?" I teased, as I tugged at the sides of his pristine suit jacket, pulling him closer to me.

He let out a small chuckle, "I wouldn't mind a quickie, my little bride, but that is not the reason." He told me, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear, "I wanted to give you your wedding gift." He told me, and I tilted my head in confusion as he handed me a folded piece of paper, "A piece of paper, wow Vaughn you really shouldn't have." I teased him, and he mockingly rolled his eyes, "Read the paper, smart ass."

I read the first line of the paper out loud, "The Briar James foundation."

I furrowed my brows, not expecting those words. Like, at all.

I looked back up to Vaughn to see the knowing smile on his handsome face, "What is this?" I asked, and I almost peed myself at his words.

"It's a foundation that I started in your honor," He told me, and I looked back down toward the paper to read further, and I felt tears come to my eyes.

"The Briar James foundation assists low income families with housing, daycare expenses, bills, school supplies and medical expenses for children and young adults in disadvantaged homes. The children themselves, or a parent, guardian, teacher and/or family friend can report anyone under the age of eighteen to the Briar James foundation and get the care they need."

I re-read the rest of the paper three times, and after I fully digested the information in front of me, I held the paper to my chest and let out a sob, "I can't even," I struggled taking in a deep breath, "What?!"

I took a second to try and calm myself, and I thickly swallowed, "This is the best thing I could've ever asked for Vaughn, seriously, thank you!" I gushed, as thick tears were rolling down my cheeks. As I continued to blubber, I heard Vaughan's deep, soothing voice, "I know how hard it was for you growing up, and when I was deciding on what to get you as your wedding present, I knew I wanted to do something special for you." He explained, "And I figured I could buy you anything you wanted anyhow, so I tried to think outside of the box and do something that I really thought you'd like to see. I want you to be able to help kids who were like you." He told me, "There's still some odds and ends to sort through, but you already have several investors, and a few children even in the program now."

My heart felt like it was going to explode at his words, and it made me feel a deeper connection to Vaughn. He not only truly listened to me when I told him about the strains of my childhood, but actively figured out a way to help me prevent it from happening to other children. He took it upon himself to do what he could to help heal my childhood trauma.

It was almost like he really loved me or something.

This feeling was almost better than an orgasm.

Almost, I corrected mentally.

"You totally deserve like, a blowjob for this." I cried, and he let out a handsome smile, "Thats not why I did this baby." He comforted me, "And I'm sorry about my mother." He said, and I frowned, "She's always been that way?" I questioned, and he nodded, "That's why I didn't want to invite her."

I scowled. "I'm sorry you had to live with that." I told him, as I felt tears come to my eyes, and he ran his thumb over my fallen tears, "No crying on our wedding day." He chastised me, and when I leaned up to give my husband a kiss, I felt a searing pain tear through my arm.

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