Marrying a Boxer | H.S.

Chapter 68

My mother fixes the veil on my head, smiling and with watery eyes.

"Oh, honey. You look absolutely beautiful," she sniffles. "I know I have not been the greatest mother and I've made many, many mistakes. I realize that now and I want you to know I'm sorry. I've hurt you so much over the years and I will not be able to forgive myself for that. I acted careless and indifferent towards you and things that have happened to you. I've been the worst, I know." I reach over and wipe away the tears rolling down her cheeks. The knot in my throat appears and I force myself to hold back the tears that threaten to fall. "I've never been good with apologies and I had so many things I wanted to say to you, but now I cannot remember any. I just want to tell you that I will change. I know that I cannot bring back all the years we've lost, but from now on, I promise you I will be the mother you've needed. The mother I should've been. I love you so much, honey."

She wraps her arms around me and I cannot hold back the tears anymore. I don't think she's hugged me, sincerely, in about 15 years. "Oh, mummy," I sob into her shoulder, "you have no idea how much I've needed you."

"I know, sweetie, I'm so sorry."

I hear the door open and we break the hug, turning to see Anne poking her head inside. "I'm sorry to interrupt, dear. I just wanted to let you know that everything is ready downstairs."

I grab a tissue and carefully dry my tears, trying to not mess up my makeup. "Thank you, Anne. I'll be down in a couple of minutes." Anne nods and closes the door gently.

"Are you ready, dear?"

I take a deep breath, looking in the full-length mirror. I can't help but to compare how I'm feeling today to how I felt when Harry and I first got married. Back then I felt miserable, angry, and maybe even a little scared. Now, I feel ready, excited, and above all else, happy. It truly feels like we are about to leave all the negativity behind and start a whole new chapter in our lives. This time, it feels right.

"I'm ready," I smile. My mother hands me my flower bouquet, kisses my cheek and we walk out of the room, making our way to the door that leads to the garden.

My mother takes my arm and smiles at me. "I am very proud of you, Scarlet. You are a great person."

"You're going to make me cry again, mum," I smile, swallowing the knot in my throat.

"Let's get you to the altar, Darling."

The string quartet start playing and my mother walks me down the aisle, slowly. I keep my eyes down making sure my shoes don't get caught in my dress and I fall on my face.

Oh, my God, it's happening. After all these months, we're finally doing this. Don't be nervous! It's a new, fresh start.

Slowly, I raise my eyes and see Harry at the altar, waiting for me, in a Gucci tuxedo, as promised.

Harry places his right hand over his mouth when his eyes fall on me. I can see that he's trying to blink back tears, but when I stand in front of him and my mother gives him my hand, a tear rolls down his cheek. I reach over and 'wipe it off. "Hey, Sweetheart," he smiles.

"Hey, Curly." He kisses my knuckles and we turn to the priest.

The priest begins the ceremony and even though it's my wedding, I stop paying attention to his words. I've never liked religious ceremonies where you have to listen to a whole sermon.

I look over at Harry and see that he's trying to keep his eyes open, I giggle quietly and he turns to me.

"He's so boring," he mouths and makes a funny face, I have to cover my laugh with a cough.

We  pretend to listen to the priest's words for about twenty more minutes, until he tells us that it's time for the exchange of our vows.

Harry and I talked about this before, how we wanted to keep the ceremony short and we also wanted to exchange our vows privately. We decided on writing them on a piece of paper and giving it to each other later.

"Father, we can skip this step," Harry says.

The priest nods and carries on. "Let us now move on to the symbol of union of this man and woman." Monique and Marcus come up to us with the rings. Harry takes one of the wedding bands, and repeating the priest's words, slides the cold ring onto my finger. With tears in my eyes, I take the other wedding band slide it onto his finger, repeating the holy words that are binding us together.

"Harry," the priest says, "do you take Scarlet as your wife? Do you promise to be true to her in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, to love her and honour her all the days of your life?"

Harry looks deeply into my eyes, a boyish smile illuminating his face. "I do," he says without hesitation, bringing my knuckles up to his lips and pressing a tender kiss on each hand.

The priest turns to me. "Scarlet, do you take Harry to be your husband? Do you promise to be true to him in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, to love him and honour him all the days of your life?"

I take a deep, shaky breath, and looking into Harry's eyes, I say, "I do."

The priest tells Harry he may kiss me now, followed by, "Family and friends, I present to you, Mr. and Mrs. Styles." Our guests applaud and cheer loudly. Harry's lips are soft against mine, I taste the salt as my tears mix into the kiss.

We pull away and turn to our guests, smiling and feeling like a new era is about to begin. I take a deep breath and the air smells different. It smells fresher, like all the negativity is gone and all the suffering from the past will not follow into this new chapter in our lives.

Chairs and tables are rearranged and the reception begins. Everyone congratulates us and shower us with hugs and kisses. Harry keeps an arm wrapped around my waist, not wanting me to be an inch away from him.

Dinner is served, there's dancing, we cut the cake, and there's more dancing. I can tell our guests are having a good time and so are we. Harry and I are in the middle of the dance floor, surrounded by the dancing guests. The song "Us" by James Bay is playing, our foreheads are pressed together.

"Tell me when the light goes down, that even in the dark we will find a way out. Tell me now, cause I believe in something, I believe in us." Harry sings softly, swaying our bodies to the rhythm of the song. I can feel his breath on my face, a mixture of mint and whiskey, that intoxicates every cell in my body.

I place my hand on his cheek and caress his cheekbone with my thumb as he continues singing the rest of the song. At this very moment, I can honestly say my heart is full of happiness. I've shared moments with him where I had felt like I couldn't be happier, but right now, this second, I feel like the Universe has aligned itself to make everything right. To make everything perfect. To wash away all the bad memories from my head and reassure me that from now on, I will not suffer again.
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A/N: I'm baaaaaaaaaaack

My lovelies, I'm SOOOOO sorry about not updating literally for months. I know y'all hate me, but thank you so much for your patience.

I'm finally out on break, college is a cunt, tbh. This semester I had two reading intensive classes and I had to read from the moment I woke up, to the moment I went to bed. I barely even had time to breathe.

How have y'all been!?

Did y'all get tickets for the Love On Tour? If yes, where are y'all going? (I'll be seeing him in Dallas on August 13 😭❤️)

What's your favourite song from Fine Line? (Mine is definitely She)

Merry Christmas and happy New Years, in case I don't update before that.

Thank you guys for reading and voting. It means the world to me.

I love y'all so much.

Stay beautiful.

Kissy,

~Amy 🌺