A helicopter landed on the beach of an island and Erica and Arnold got down from it. Erica had saw the beautiful sunset when she was in the helicopter, and she still looking at it after she got down. She walked near to the wave and took her time to memorize this breathtaking scenery.
Arnold watched her from the side, he entered his hands in to his white short pant's pocket. It's nice to see her enjoyed herself like this, because she hardly let herself be a priority. Today was their wedding's first anniversary, though this whole year had been a torture and full of heartache, they still want to cherish it and had decided to celebrate with just the two of them. Arnold also took this chance for them to have their long over due honeymoon. So he persuaded her to take a month off and they would spend the entire month on his private island. That's how they were here now and enjoying this beautiful sunset.
Erica's white long skirt flew with the wind and Arnold thought in his mind, there was nothing else more beautiful than his wife, even the sunset was dimmed in front of her. He walked toward her slowly and hugged her waist front the behind.
"Hey, beautiful!" Arnold whispered at her ear.
Erica put her hand on his and turned her head to the side, she smiled at him, "Hello, handsome!"
He put his chin on her shoulder, "Thank you!"
"Why did you thank me? I am the one who should thank you for bringing me here!" she laughed and put her hand on his head.
His hug tightened, "Thank you for giving me this last chance!"
Erica smiled at his word, "You are welcome!" she gently knocked their head together.
He turned her around to face him. She tilted her head while putting her hands around his neck, her smile never left her face.
He took a box out of his pocket and gave it to her. She let go of her hands and accepted it with a big smile, she was curious what would he give her as their anniversary present. She was shocked when she finally opened it, lied inside were a pair of blue Sapphire filigree wedding rings which made from white gold.
While she was speechless, Arnold took out the woman wedding band, "I am sorry that my wedding vow at the church was insincere, that's why I want to take this chance to make it up to you. Even though, nobody else present at here, but I want to make this vow only to you under the witness of the God. "
Erica was a crying mess already. Arnold took the box back and put it in to his pocket. She used one hand to covered her sob while he took the other one. "Erica Amber Ferguston, I hereby take you as my wife, in law and in soul. I am sorry for letting you lived in hell for a long time. I apologize for every harsh word I had ever said to you. I know I had broken your heart for many times, and I will never forgive myself for that. Thank you for still choosing to be with me, I had never been more relieve than when you said you believe me and you wanted to stay as my wife after you tear those divorce papers. With this ring, I promise to love you, protect you, spoil you, and cherish you. In sickness, in health, in good time, in bad time, in rich, or in poor, I will use every single day of my life to love you more than you love me, till death do us part!" he put the ring on Erica's finger. He then brought it up to his lips, and landed a kiss on the ring.
Erica smiled at him with tears kept pouring down from her eyes.
He eyed his tearful wife, and said with a playful smile after he pulled out the ring box again, "It's your turn, Love!"
She smiled and then whined playfully, "It's not fair! You got the chance to work on your vow!" she slapped his arm lightly before taking the one remaining ring in the box.
He chuckled and winked at her, "A simple 'I love you' would be enough for me."
"We didn't make our own vow at our wedding ceremony, all I said that time was just 'I do', and I always wanted to say a vow of my own." she said with a lot of emotion in her eyes and held his left hand.
Arnold drowned in the love in her eyes and he kept his gaze there.
"Arnold Gilbert Binder, I hereby take you as my husband, in law and in soul. When I first met you, I immediately knew you are my soulmate, my missing puzzle piece, my one and only love. Our beginning was hard on me, but I am glad that I made it through and gain your love at the end. From here on, it will be the starting line of our happy life together. With this ring, I promise to respect you, take care of you and love you. In sickness, in health, in good time, in bad time, in rich, or in poor, I will let you love me more than I do, till death do us part!" Despite the shade of tears on her eyes, Erica managed to put the ring on Arnold's ring finger.
He cupped her cheek and wiped her tears using his thumbs. He bent his back and touched her lips with his own. Her tears continued to flow down. The kiss was beautiful and she could feel his heart was calling out to hers. It's like what he had promised, right now her heart felt so full that it hurt and no matter what she couldn't stop the tears.
********
Next morning...
Erica woke up in the bed with Arnold by her side, with his shoulder as her pillow and his other hand on her waist. She raised her head to look at his face, and he looked so peaceful.
Her cheek colored red when she remembered both of them didn't have any clothes on their body under this bed cover. Last night was actually their first night together. Even though, a month ago they had conveyed each other feeling, they hadn't done the deed. For entire month they went to date everyday and kissing was as far as they had done.
Last night every thing was so perfect and both of them knew it was the right moment. And their union had been as beautiful as they had imagined.
Even up till this moment, Erica felt it was hard to believe that this amazing guy had fallen for her. Despite his bitterness, he never stopped to care about people around him. Such a great man, and he loved her, it felt so surreal. And she was scared that one day he would realize he deserve someone better than her. She was very afraid but she also knew when that time come, she would without second thought choose to let go and go away. It would be hard to stay near him after she had tasted how it felt to have his love.
Unconsciously tears had poured down her face and she tried to suppress her sob, but failed miserably, instead.
Arnold's eyelids moved and she immediately noticed it. She turned around and let her back faced him. She covered her mouth with both hands. The emotion was too intense that she was not able to push it down and her shoulder was shaking from the crying.
Arnold opened his eyes, and he pulled the person in his arm closer. But, when he heard her soft sob, he froze. He immediately sat up, "Baby, what's wrong? Are you okay?" he tried to turned her around but, she won't budged. He didn't want to use force and yanked her too hard. "Erica! Sweetheart, please talk to me! Did I hurt you? Did it hurt so much? I am sorry, I should have restrained myself." he panicked and started blaming himself.
Erica turned to faced him, she was still lying down. She touched his arm, "No! L-last, last night was, was beautiful! There is nothing wrong" she said between sob.
"Then, why are you crying?" he wiped her tears and then put strands of her hair behind her ear.
Erica turned her face away, "I, I... I just..."
Arnold grabbed her chin and turned her head to face him. He put his other hand on the bed at the side of her head and lowered his body till their faces just an inch away. "Please, talk to me! I haven't got to the point where I can read your mind just by looking in to your eyes like you did. So, I need you to voice it out!" he plead with his eyes and touched her forehead with his.
Erica touched his cheek with her cold hand and caressed it, "I just scared one day you will stop loving me."
Arnold raised his body to look at her with bewilderment, then his face darkened. His eyes narrowed with dangerous glint.
Erica noticed his change of mood, but before she could say anything, he covered her lips with his. He pushed his tongue in to her slightly opened mouth and deepened the kiss. Her eyes went wide with shock. He had never kissed her with so much passion. Even during their most intimate moment last night, his kiss was still gentle, not as demanding and hot like this. She let him do as he want without having the strength to fight and she also didn't want to fight either. Finally she closed her eyes and let him lead her on.
After a couple of minutes, Arnold finally let her go. Her tears had long ago stopped. The kiss left her in daze and she stared at him with unfocused gaze. He smirked at her cute reaction to his kiss. He leant down again to whisper on her ear, "Doubt me again and I will do worse than that!"
*End
#########
Author's Note!!
You guys maybe felt Erica is too weak and pessimistic. But that's how I always picture her. There will be time she will doubt herself again, and Arnold would be there to become her rock and steady her again, again and again.
Anyway, that wedding vow was a headache. Hopefully, you all thought it as beautiful as I did.
The one that inspired me to write this novel is a yaoi manga titled Royal Fiance😘. The ending was just too beautiful. And this chapter was like me reliving the scenes with my own characters. So touching and beautiful.
I had read many novel with similar setting before I finally decided to write my own version. That's how Alone in Marriage came to my mind. It's my only story that had a clear draft and that really helped me a lot in writing it.