[ SIX YEARS LATER ]
—
A MODERN-DAY
ROMEO AND JULIET:
Son of ex-CEO of King Inc., David King, and daughter of actress, Anastasia James, and CEO of Ricci Industries, Vincent Ricci, are spotted at the Ricci family home in Italy, welcoming guests as they arrive for their wedding this weekend.
[ Ricci and King pictured on Ricci's Instagram. Captioned: Weekends with You <3 ]
Adina Ricci and Vaughn King have been publicly dating for five years. They were rumoured to have gotten engaged last year when Ricci was spotted wearing an engagement ring after a family trip to the Maldives.
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—
GREEN EYES look at me, their love filling me with joy as the mouth below says 'I do'. Butterflies erupt in my stomach as my Dad turns to me and says;
"Repeat after me. I, Adina, take you, Vaughn..."
"I, Adina, take you, Vaughn..."
"To be my Husband..."
"To be my Husband," I smile at that.
I've dreamt of this day for so long, even before I met Vaughn, and it's finally happening.
All of our friends, and most of our family, are here celebrating this day with us.
We got engaged just over a year ago when Vaughn had taken my Dad, his Mom, and all of our siblings and their significant others on a trip to the Maldives.
It was the second last day that we were there, after having been there for two weeks, and V wanted to go to this secluded beach that someone from the hotel had apparently suggested.
It was my dream proposal. Private, besides the one photographer Vaughn had hired to capture the moment, and so thoughtful.
He led me to a picnic blanket, reminding me of our first date. I thought it was so romantic how he had planned a lunch date on the beach. Little did I know.
He proposed with my mother's engagement ring, which my Dad had given to him six months before.
Even though she's not here for this day, I will always have a reminder of her with me; my tattoo and her ring.
Glancing around the venue, my grandparent's garden, I appreciate the pink and green accents that Vaughn and I picked out months ago.
My bridesmaids, consisting of my maid-of-honor, Arden, and the five girls who have been there for me through everything in the few years I've known them.
Arden is behind me, my flowers in her hands, standing with a beaming smile. Since graduating from high school, she's been expanding her career, gaining millions of fans on YouTube as a fashion influencer. We work a lot together, through my clothing brand — Anastasia & Co.
Behind her is Sawyer, my former roommate at boarding school and my brother's girlfriend.
She went to NYU, along with my brother, before graduating with a degree in Biology. She's now about to get her doctorate in Physical Therapy.
Following her is Summer, who is a dedicated member of my faculty. She's the head of the Sampling department, but she also helps in the Design department. Next to her is Eris, who is now one of the highest-paid models of this year. I always get her to start or end my shows during fashion week. She also now lives with Summer in Manhattan.
After them is Teagan, who's engaged to her childhood sweetheart, Chase. She also works for me at my fashion company, being head of the Design department.
And then there's Beatrice, who is currently studying to become a lawyer at Harvard Law School. She's still with Caspian after all these years, and they still act like the love-sick teenagers I first met them as.
They're all dressed in sage green dress, but each girl is in a different style or cut. Something I was adamant about when we went dress shopping almost six months ago.
I look around my grandparent's garden, which they happily allowed me to borrow for my dream wedding.
In the first pew is where my Dad, all of mine and Vaughn's grandparents, Antonio, and Juliette are sat.
V and I wanted everyone in our family to be involved in the wedding in some way.
Dad walked me down the aisle, as father of the bride. Antonio is our ring bearer. And Jules is a flower girl.
On Vaughn's side, his groomsmen line up behind him.
Caspian is next to him, as his best man and oldest friend. As well as his colleague.
After both graduating from NYU in business and marketing, they decided to start up their own company.
MentallyStrong is the name of the company. When Vaughn was going through everything with his Dad during his teens, he later said that he always wanted to tell someone, he just didn't know who.
So, when Vaughn and Caspian were coming up with something they were passionate about this concept was thought about and expanded on the most.
MentallyStrong is a website and app where young people between the ages of 12-18 can either talk to a therapist or, in extreme cases, the authorities.
When contacting the authorities through the company, they keep track of all the incidents in the household and who has reported them.
In the beginning, the company consisted of those two idiots, a contact with the local police station, and one therapist.
That was nearly two years ago. Now, they have contacts in almost all of the stations on the east coast, and over 1,500 therapists on their payroll.
The next aspect of the business they want to expand in the next year is getting the rest of the country to join.
After everything that happened with Vaughn's Dad, it was hard, especially for Cassandra.
Although she knew his abuse was going to destroy their family and that getting away from him was for the better, she didn't know any differently.
They had grown up together and had known each other since middle school, and she had a hard time adjusting to life without a controlling figure in her life.
And after Vaughn and I got back together, Dad decided that he couldn't let David's abuse take hold of this family anymore.
So a few weeks later, Cassandra, Jules, and Vaughn moved into the apartment below ours.
Dad and Cassandra had company, having both lost their spouses, although in different ways. They slowly started to become best friends again.
The next in line is Xavier, who went to Berkeley to study Economics and Marketing. After graduating, he spent a year staying in California before moving back just a few months ago. He now works at MentallyStrong as the CFO of the company.
It's been a tough year for both him and Summer. After not seeing each other since their abrupt and shocking break up at the end of our senior year, they have just about started to tolerate each other.
Well, Summer has. I think Xavier has always loved her, even when she hated him. But that's another story.
Next is Blaise, who did an apprenticeship in Computer Science. He's now the Head Software Developer of MentallyStrong.
He and Darius are still going strong. They have a cute apartment together in the city and have their hands full with their Dachshund puppy, Quinton.
Behind Blaise comes Chase, who hasn't changed a bit since I first met him in High School. Chase is one of the Researchers at MentallyStrong.
Teagan and he are also still together, but who can be surprised? They're engaged and have been since January.
Then there's Adrian. Still the same old annoying older brother, but he's finally gotten used to me and Vaughn being together and is even one of his best friends.
He's followed in Dad's footsteps and is preparing to take over the company whenever Dad is ready to step down.
He says that won't be for a long time, at least not until Antonio is eighteen. Which will be a while yet.
Adrian is also still with his childhood sweetheart, Sawyer, who has moved in with him after a few years of convincing on his part.
And finally, there's Darius. After our parents gave us their permission to officially start dating, Vaughn made it his mission to get close to my New York family. Which included Arden and Darius.
It also doesn't hurt that one of his best friends is going out with the latter.
Darius is the Head of Marketing at Anastasia & Co. after graduating from Brown last year. He's been doing an amazing job and I couldn't imagine working without my best friends by my side.
"To have and to hold from this day forward..." I repeat, "For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish..."
"...To love and to cherish..."
"Till death do us part..."
"Till death do us part."
Cassandra grins, looking between me and her son as she says, "Could we please have the rings."
We all simultaneously turn to look at Antonio, now an almost 11-year-old boy, dutifully brings the rings over, doing his job as ring bearer. Juliette is off to the side as well, where Tony was just stood.
After they got out of the house, it took a while for her to get used to not being scared of everything in the world. She later talked to someone about her feelings, things she didn't want to worry everyone else with, and in these past few years we have seen a real improvement in how she is with strangers.
She's now nineteen, taking a year out from school to travel before going to Columbia next year for engineering. Cassandra is so proud.
"Vaughn, please place the ring on Adina's finger and repeat after me."
Vaughn retrieves my ring from the pillow, fussing with Antonio's hair playfully, annoying the boy, before taking my hand and slowly placing the ring on my wedding finger.
"I give you this ring as a token and pledge of our constant faith and abiding love." He says.
When it's my turn I do the same; "I give you this ring as a token and pledge of our constant faith and abiding love." I say, placing the ring on his finger.
"By virtue of the authority vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife," Cassandra, my new mother-in-law, declares. "You may kiss the bride."
Vaughn gives me an earth-shattering smile, and I know right then that he feels it too, the start of our life together officially begins today. And he kisses me.
I couldn't be happier.
❀ ❀ ❀
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PHOTOGRAPHS FROM
ADINA RICCI & VAUGHN KING'S
TUSCAN WEDDING
Source: Vogue
Source: Ricci's Photographer
Source: Vogue
Source: Vogue
Source: Vogue
Source: Arden Holloway's, Ricci's Best Friend, Instagram
Source: Vogue