Ethan and I walked over to the cake and we waited for the photographer to record us and take pictures.
Ethan grabbed the knife and set it on top of the cake. I put my hands on top of his and put pressure as the knife dove into the cake. We cut a piece for him and a piece for me, then both took a handful of the cake and gently slapped it onto each other's faces. I shoved my fingers into his mouth to put some cake in there and accidentally caused him to gag.
"Shit!" I quickly removed my fingers.
He chuckled, his eyes growing teary. "You're a crazy woman, Ruby."
"Correction. I'm your crazy woman."
"Oh my," He dipped me and gave me a kiss.
We grabbed our plates full of cake and sat back down at our table. We grabbed our napkins and cleaned each other off.
"God, Ruby, I'm in love with you," He told me. "I love you so much, Ruby. I love you."
I kissed him hard. "You are the love of my life, Ethan."
Everything in that moment was pure bliss. It felt unreal and magical all at once. I was married again, but this time was my last time getting married. I knew it from the moment that I told Ethan that I loved him.
It was a couple weeks after he had told me that he loved me. I had taken Lorelai and Melissa to his house to go swimming during the summer. Ethan played with Melissa in the pool almost the whole time and then even offered to play with Lorelai. She, of course, said no. But she did get into the pool with us. I put my hair up into a bun because I didn't want to get chlorine in my hair. Ethan put Melissa's floatie back on her and let Lorelai hang out with her. He sat down next to me and asked me why I wasn't hanging out with everyone. I explained to him that I didn't want to get my hair wet. He picked me up-as if I weighed one pound-and threatened to throw me into the pool. Lorelai and Melissa cheered him on while I protested. Ethan took me onto the diving board and I knew that there was no going back. He jumped into the air and threw me while he jumped in, too. My hair ended up getting wet, but I didn't really care.
After the pool, we were all exhausted, so we ordered pizza and turned on a movie. Lorelai and Melissa both fell asleep on the couch, so Ethan and I took them up to our guest bedroom and put them down to sleep. Then we went into his bedroom and I looked at him for a long time, realizing all that he had done for our family (not just for me) and how much he loved us all. He was getting some clothes for me to wear as pajamas and then I shouted to him that I loved him. He stopped what he was doing and slowly looked up at me, so I slowly repeated it again. He told me that he loved me, too, and we just laid in each other's arms for a while enjoying the moment.
"What are you thinking about?" Ethan asked me.
"Oh, just thinking about the first time I told you that I loved you."
He smiled and I knew that he was thinking about it, too. "That was a wonderful day. We should go swimming after this."
"Ethan, you're an actual idiot. It is December 13. I'm actually cold right now."
He took off his blazer immediately after I said that and draped it around my shoulders, rubbing my arms right after.
"Is that better?" He asked me.
I was speechless. This man was so helpful towards me and just so selfless. He always thought about other people before he thought about himself. He wasn't one of those pretentious actors who were really entitled and let fame get the best of themselves. He was better than that.
"It's time for the bride and groom to share their first dance," Dave spoke into the microphone.
Ethan and I both looked at each other with the same expression planted onto our faces. We both had wide eyes, but we were smiling.
We got this, I told myself internally.
When we had practiced the dance for the first time, we did terrible. Actually, correction, I did terrible. I had no idea how to dance, but Ethan was just a pro at it. I was jealous and embarrassed at the same time. So he ended up teaching me how to dance and It was a really nice experience.
"Do you want your blazer?" I asked Ethan.
"No, you wear it. I have long sleeves on and you barely have any sleeves."
I put my arms through the holes then we stood up off of our chairs and walked towards the dance floor. In the middle of me walking, I tripped over my dress, and fell forward. I gasped and looked up, all eyes on me. I shook my head, but started to laugh out of embarrassment.
Ethan turned around after hearing everyone laugh and he smiled and walked backwards, but ended up falling, too.
I lost it.
I laughed uncontrollably, gripping my stomach and so was everyone else. I couldn't breathe.
Ethan stood up and held out his hand. "May I have this dance?"
I was still laughing really hard, mostly out of embarrassment. I put my hand in his and he helped me up, but I was about to fall backwards yet again, but he caught me.
"Dear God, woman," Ethan chuckled.
"I'm taking these fucking shoes off," I took off my shoes and put them on our table, then walked back onto the dance floor without tripping or falling this time.
Dave sat at the stage and started to play the opening chords of "Fade into you" by Mazzy Star. Then, he started to sing.
Ethan and I picked this song because when that song first came out, I didn't listen to it. It came out in 1993, but I had too much going on to even think about music at that point. The year after it came out, Dave wanted me to listen to it, but it was after Kurt's death and I didn't want to listen to music again because it reminded me of Kurt too much.
Ethan suggested the song and at first, I didn't want to do it. But then, I listened to it and I immediately felt in love with the song. I had goosebumps all over my body and my hairs were sticking up on my arms and legs. It was such a beautiful song and I wanted it to be our song.
I put my hands and wrapped them around Ethan's neck as he put his hands around my waist. We started to sway back and forth. I thought about what had just happened and started to laugh again. Ethan started to laugh again, too.
"That was so fucking ridiculous," I told him, wiping the tears from my eyes from laughing so hard. "You didn't actually fall, did you?"
"No, I faked it to make it less embarrassing for you."
I gasped. "You did that for me?"
"Ruby, I'd do anything for you. I'd embarrass myself for you-well, I already did just now. I'd sing for you. I'd take a bullet for you. I'd kill for you."
"Wow. You're being serious?"
"I'm being serious, Ruby."
I rested my head on his shoulder and started to softly tear up.
This didn't feel real. That moment did not feel real, but I knew that it was and I was so thankful that it was real. I loved Ethan so much that I could not possibly describe it in words. He made me happy again and he made me believe in love.
He didn't do drugs or overdose or try to kill himself. No, he helped everyone else around him. Even if he wanted to be suicidal, he wouldn't even have been able to because he was always so worried about everyone else-in a good way, not a bad way.
His chest started to rise and fall faster, so I looked at him and saw him softly crying.
"Are you crying?" He asked me.
"Shut up, you are too!" I chuckled and instead of dancing, we just hugged each other and swayed back and forth.
During the instrumental part of the song, Dave called all other couples up to dance. I looked at him, but I saw Tina was sitting right next to him and she was playing the guitar with him, too. She was harmonizing with him when he started to sing again.
I looked up at Ethan and wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him and he kissed me back. It wasn't a lustful kiss. No, it was a romantic kiss. We kissed each other slowly as we swayed back and forth in each other's embrace.
After the song was over, everyone clapped and Ethan and I wiped our tears away.
My father walked up to us. "Ruby, may I have this next dance?"
Ethan gave me a hug and I nodded at my dad.
Dave started to play an acoustic "Sweet Child O' Mine" and my dad and I started to dance.
"It still amazes me by how much you've grown," He told me.
"Really?"
"Ruby, I remember when you showed your mother and I Lorelai for the first time at the hospital."
"I remember that day, too," I smiled.
"Ethan is a very lucky man. If he ever does anything you-and I mean anything-you call me, alright? You don't even need to tell me what he did and I'll beat the shit out of him, okay?"
"Dad, Ethan would never do that."
"I know he wouldn't."
"Thank you so much for coming today."
"Are you kidding me? I wouldn't miss it for the world, Ruby. I already missed it once."
"You didn't miss it; you just weren't invited." That sounded worse out loud than in my head. "Sorry, I didn't mean it that way."
"It's alright. I knew what you meant."
"Are Lorelai and Melissa alright?"
"They're doing really good. Lorelai's been watching over Melissa the whole time. Well, I wouldn't consider it watching. They've been having a blast. Are you happy, Ruby?"
"What?"
"Are you happy?"
"Yes, I'm very happy."
"And you're happy with Ethan?"
I looked back at Ethan and saw him sitting down at the table. He waved at me.
"Yeah, Dad, I'm happy."
"I love you, Ruby. I don't ever want you to cut us out again. I know that I haven't really been involved in your life and I'm really regretting that now." He was crying at this point and so was I. "I just don't know how and I know it's no excuse, but my parents growing up were not affectionate. And I guess I never knew how to be and I've always been grumpy my whole life. But seeing Lorelai and Melissa and seeing how you raised them for who they are has changed me a lot and I'm going to be better, Ruby, I swear."
"Oh, I love you, Dad," I hugged him tightly and started to cry as I rested my head on his chest.
He was right. He was never really affectionate, but he wasn't a bad father. That was probably the closest that we had ever been to each other in our whole lives. My father and I weren't very close with each other, so this was a nice breath of fresh air.
We didn't talk for the rest of the dance, but that didn't bother me at all. It was actually nice. We just enjoyed each other's company and danced with each other.
After the dance, he gave me one last hug and we walked away as Ethan and his mother walked onto the dance floor.
A random song started playing-one that I didn't know-and they started swaying back and forth. His mother started crying immediately.
That was typically how it went: the females cried first. Ethan hugged her and I could see them talking to each other.
The way he treated his mother made me really happy. He always called her every once in a while to make sure that she was doing alright. Sometimes, he would take her out to eat lunch with him. The first time I met his parents, his dad didn't seem too pleased, but his mom was ecstatic. She hugged me right away and complemented me.
Ethan wasn't too fond of his dad. His dad was really hard on him and wasn't the kindest person, especially towards Ethan. So, he always warned me of that. That was another reason why we weren't having Melissa think that his parents were her grandparents.
His parents were very religious, and I didn't want them to force any of that onto her. I believed in God, but I wasn't as religious as them.
After the dance was over, Ethan gave his mother a hug and she walked away, but he still stayed on the dance floor.
"Ethan, are you ready?" Dave spoke into the microphone.
Ethan turned around to face him and nodded his head, running to the stage.
He took Dave's seat and grabbed the acoustic guitar from him.
"This next song is dedicated to my wife, Ruby Hawke," He smiled after saying my name. "I know how much you love this song."
"I hear the ticking of the clock," Ethan sung. "I'm lying here, the room's pitch dark."
I gasped as I realized what song he was singing.
Alone by Heart.
He knew how much I loved that song. I was considering that to be our wedding song, but then I heard "Fade into you" and thought that was way more beautiful.
But Ethan being Ethan payed attention to that and found a way to incorporate that beautiful song into our wedding-the best day of our lives.
Ethan was very good at singing. He had a wonderful singing voice. He showed me that on one of our first dates. We did karaoke, and I wasn't nervous because I thought that he would suck at singing and I sucked at singing, so we would be perfect together.
But, then he started singing and he was actually good. I froze and that was when I made a complete fool out of myself. I started singing, but I was out of tune and I was all over the place, still amazed that Ethan could fucking sing.
After the song was over, I got up and started to run over to Ethan, but quickly stopped moving.
I didn't want to trip again.
Ethan noticed that and started to laugh.
"Oh, I love you, baby!" He jumped off of the stage and hugged me, picking me up, spinning me around.
Everyone started to cheer and clinked their spoons against their cups.
"You know what that means," Ethan smirked at me.
"Bring it on."
He dipped me and kissed me.
That time it was hard.
He lifted me back up and everyone started to cheer again.
I took off his blazer and gave it back to him. I was starting to get sweaty. The dress made it very hot for me.
Dave walked over to me and handed me my bouquet.
"ALL THE LADIES GET ON THE DANCE FLOOR!" He practically screamed.
"I guess I should leave," Ethan quickly kissed me and walked away.
All of the girls stood behind me, so I stepped backwards a little bit, turned around, and threw the bouquet backwards as hard as I could.
I turned around and everyone started cheering.
Winona Ryder stepped forward, holding the bouquet.
I wasn't all star struck when I saw her because I had met her a couple of times before. Her and Ethan were in a movie together, so they were good friends. I was surprised that he chose me over her.
Matt Damon ran over to her and kissed her.
"I caught it," She chuckled, then walked over to me and gave me a hug. "Congratulations! You look absolutely beautiful!"
"Thank you so much, you do too," I smiled at her and then waved to Matt Damon.
"Congratulations," He said and walked away with her back to their table.
After all the ladies had walked off of the dance floor, Ethan appeared right in front of me.
"It's time for the garter toss," He smirked at me.
"Oh my," I smile.
"Killing me Softly" by the Fugees started to play and I grabbed a chair, then sat down on it.
I felt embarrassed knowing that my family was watching me.
Holy shit, my dad.
And Ethan's parents.
Oh dear God.
Ethan took off his blazer in a very sensual way and threw it at his best man, who caught it. Everyone started to cheer and one person even whistled.
I chuckled at him and he got onto his knees right in front of me.
My dress wasn't super poofy, so I was a little worried that everyone was going to see what he was doing. I made sure to put it up high, but not too high because I knew that his groomsmen were going to try and catch it.
He spread my legs apart, causing me to laugh and lifted up the bottom off my dress and I felt him put his teeth around it. His hand went up my other thigh and I started to laugh, but flinched a little at how cold his hands were.
He brought it down with his teeth very gracefully-he must've ben an expert at this. His face appeared out of my dress and he started to cough.
I covered my face in embarrassment as he slipped it off. "Did it smell bad?!"
He started to laugh hysterically and rested his head on my leg as he continued to laugh. "No. Ruby, there was just a lot of perfume that you put on there."
I laughed really hard, too. "That's because I didn't want it to smell bad."
"Well, don't worry," He lifted his head up and kissed me. "It didn't."
All of his groomsmen appeared behind him and he threw the garter at them. His best man caught it and Ethan yelled and gave him a hug.
I stood up and brought the chair back over to a random table as music started to play. Everyone walked onto the dance floor and started to dance.
"Ruby!" My mother called my name as she walked over to me. "Your girls want to do one dance and then we're going to take them home. Is that alright?"
"Oh, but Mom, that means that you'll have to leave, too."
"Ruby, I'm getting older which means I'm getting tired faster. I'm not going to be able to stay as long."
"Alright, Mom," I nodded my head at my girls and they ran to me and hugged me. I brought them over to Ethan and we all danced together.
After the song was over, I said goodbye to them and I hugged them.
"Thank you, Mom," I hugged her. "And not just for looking over them. I mean thank you for everything for the past couple of years-taking my kids from me when I wasn't healthy to be around. And thank you for helping us pay even though you really didn't need to."
"I love you, Ruby," She hugged me, crying. "I'm so happy for you. I really am."
"And thanks for letting the girls stay with you while Ethan and I go on our honeymoon."
"Of course, Ruby."
My dad walked up to me and smothered me with a hug. Ethan approached us and gave my mother a hug. My dad shook Ethan's hand.
"I'm really happy for you guys," My dad said.
"Thank you," I said as they walked away. "I LOVE YOU!"
"I LOVE YOU!" My parents shouted as they walked away with my kids.
"Ready to go dance?" Ethan pulled me onto the dance floor, not giving me a chance to even answer.
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Ethan and I arrived at the hotel that we were staying at. We didn't get there until late in the night, though.
We took a shower that night and then laid down in bed.
"This is the best night of my life," I told him. "I mean it. I really do. I am so happy that I get to spend the rest of my life with you, Ethan. Holy fuck, we're married!"
He kissed me, but then got on top of me. "You ready for round one?"
"Let me think about it," I smirked. "Yes."