Dear Diary: March 6, 2014
I am in 7th heaven. Keith and I just got back from our honeymoon in England and it was truly a trip of a lifetime. I know Alice wrote about the actual wedding in here last time. Our honeymoon was planned spectacularly. So let me tell you all about it starting from the very beginning. For starters, I am no longer embarrassed to admit just how much I'm in love with my husband. Husband.....I have a husband! And I'm a wife and not just anyone's wife; I'm Keith's wife! I'm no longer Leah Clearwater. I am now officially Mrs. Keith Clark or Mrs. Leah Clark. God, that sounds so amazing; like someone just pumped warm sunshine into my soul. My heart had never felt such warmth and love before. Not even when I first imprinted on Keith; this is so different. It's like once we were officially married; the puzzle that was my life was finally complete. I was no longer running around like hamster in a wheel indefinitely in circles or around some maze without a beginning or an end.
So our flight was just as Alice said, at 2am in Seattle to go to England. We only had one layover in NYC but we didn't even have to get off the plane if we didn't want to, it was just being refueled and picked up more passengers who were flying onward to Heathrow. To tell you the truth, I was so hyped up I didn't even fall asleep until we landed in NY and then I slept through the whole transatlantic flight. I think Keith did too or most of it. I had no idea where in England we were even going. But as soon as we landed in Heathrow and got our luggage we left the airport and poofed. That's right, we weren't getting a cab. Turned out that our very first stop wasn't in London as one might have thought but in Liverpool because that's where Keith's ancestors were all originally from. So that's where we spent our first official night together; that and Keith didn't want to take a cab or rent a car for that would take hours to drive there from Heathrow. He had had it with the slow plane as I giggled at him. We were staying in Liverpool for 3 days and the whole trip were staying at Hilton hotels so in this case it was the Hilton Liverpool hotel that we arrived in front of.
We had the executive suite for our stay and Keith told me that we were staying in an executive suite in London as well. Talk about traveling first class. Once we got to our room and looked around I thought I was dreaming. The hotel room was very modern looking and consisted of a huge king sized bed which I was kind of avoiding looking at otherwise, I'd start blushing. Then we had a sitting area with enough room for more than two people to sleep in it, that's for sure. The bathroom was huge too. It had a shower and a bathtub. As I was looking around, Keith was unpacking his suitcase so then I followed suit; trying very hard to avoid the bed.
Oh come on! Who was I kidding? I've never been intimate with a man before! This wasn't a secret. Hell, I was even surprised that would ever happen to me. Even when I was with Sam, when I thought we were going to get married that part never even really entered my mind. I was just too afraid to ever think of it. And now here it was staring me in the face with its king sized bed glory! Kissing was one thing, but this? Hell no! This was a whole level of uncomfortable that I wasn't sure I was ready to face! On the plus side, I had an extremely long talk with Bella on the subject as on her wedding night, she was in the same boat. She told me that unlike Edward, chances were that Keith wasn't a virgin (which I knew was the case as he had mentioned having other girlfriends over the centuries but nothing marriage material serious ever came out of it, obviously) and he would know what to do.
Also, she told me to relax and let nature take over. Our bodies and brains were kind of programmed to know what to do. To not over think and worry. Just let everything happen that's supposed to happen. I also knew that if I wasn't ready, Keith would never pressure me into anything I wasn't ready for. He'd wait as long as needed. Though to be perfectly honest, by the time we were ready to get married, I was ready to explode. I tried really hard not to let that on but having a Watcher for a husband with mind reading ability, which was sometimes easier, said than done. Bella even took it upon herself to take me to the Victoria Secret store before the wedding so I could pick out some things that I felt comfortable in as opposed to having Alice do it for me like she had for Bella—God forbid, I'd shoot myself first—with Rogue tagging along. The three women hating shopping the most went shopping. Rogue was also surprisingly helpful because it turns out that she too was a virgin on her wedding night eons ago with Alexander so she knew that "holy shit" feeling all too well and even smiled at the memory. So I was in good company with these ladies. I ended up picking out three different outfits or lingerie as they're called. Oh brother. I thought that for the first night, a white little silk knee length nightie would be appropriate and the other two agreed. It wasn't see-through as I was just not ready for that yet. The other two one was black and the other beige. I was just not ready for anything crazy out there. They didn't look the same but had more or less the same idea. Sexy and yet elegant. We agreed for me that would be perfect. Rogue got herself a sapphire number that I thought I would have to be married for a century just to get comfortable wearing; I said as much to her and the other two laughed.
I was thinking all of this as I had finished unpacking, it was getting late and I knew I had to face the inevitable sooner or later, so I got my little overnight bag and headed into the bathroom my face was probably already a healthy shade of red as Keith watched me with a small smile on his face. It was a kind smile not a flirty inappropriate smile. I took a shower, blew out my hair, brushed my teeth, and shaved everything a woman is supposed to shave. Then I put my white nightie on; it felt so cool and soothing against my skin. I then put on some lip gloss and dabbed a bit of perfume on. Ok it was now or never! I squared my shoulders, took a last look at my wide eyed terrified self in the mirror and walked out of the bathroom. Keith was standing by the window looking at the city at night; it was a beautiful sight and I wasn't thinking about the city. He was bare chested and bare footed, just had his jeans on. GULP.....he had heard me come out and turned to face me. His eyes were shining as he slowly approached me. As he came to a halt in front of me he said:
"You know we really don't have to do anything if you don't want to. I can sleep on the couch. It's big enough for me." He smiled kindly as I looked at the couch.
"Don't be silly. I'm ready." I all but whispered. His sleeping on the couch on our wedding night was the last thing I was thinking of even though I was nervous.
"Are you sure?" He asked gently. I had to be brave and remembering what Bella had told me, said:
"Yes." I raised my face up to him and smiled shyly into his eyes.
He then took me by the hand and led me toward the bed which was right by that window he was standing near when I first came out. I looked out and just shook my head; Liverpool was gorgeous at night. The shimmering lights, the full moon, the stars; everything was just stunning. Keith was standing next to me and he said:
"It's nowhere near as stunning as you right now. You look like an angel in white; my angel in white." I blushed.
"You mind reading Watchers. Sheesh!" I muttered trying to lighten the mood. Yes laughing was good. Laughing was very good indeed. Keith laughed too.
"Yes I do rock at mind reading if I do say so myself." He said with mock cockiness in his voice. I raised my hand and poked him in the stomach as I rolled my eyes and he laughed again.
It's at that point that we were staring at each other and at the city below that he kissed me. When he kisses me and this happens on a regular basis, I don't remember where I am or what I was saying. Hell, half of the time I have to remember to remind myself to breathe! Kissing was amazing, I knew how to kiss. That's when he pulled away and said:
"One thing at a time, we'll take it slow. Stop me if at any time you don't feel comfortable."
"Oh just shut up and kiss me." I said gruffly. I was after all a married woman now and I liked to take charge and so I was taking charge of my own fear and we were going to do this regardless of how much of a novice I was!
And we did! Boy did we ever. He slowly lowered me on the very comfortable bed and very slowly while still kissing we ended up underneath the covers. He removed his own jeans; that's when I found out my man liked going commando and how sexy was that? I was a little nervous about looking at all of him now but we took it slowly and eventually I did. This wasn't a man from a magazine; this was a real man with real man parts. This was my man. We were still kissing when he removed my little nightie and after that I just remember feeling very loved and honored. There wasn't any pain just a bit of pressure when we were finally ready to consummate our marriage. It was the most amazing experience I've ever felt and afterwards even felt a bit foolish for being so nervous. It was magical and wonderful. Now I was part of the married women group for real. Sweet!
We made love about 3 or 4 times that night before we finally fell asleep just before dawn in each other's arms. By the time I woke up and turned around, he wasn't anywhere near me but instead was coming toward me with a platter of food that he had ordered from room service. We ate breakfast and chatted about what we were going to be doing that day; our full first day in England. He wanted to show me where his family lived including the cemetery where his parents were buried. I know that may sound as a morbid thing to do on a honeymoon but when you live an immortal life, it's kind of par for the course.
We left the hotel after 1pm and walked around downtown taking pictures, and then we went on a boat ride around the harbor. After which we visited the cemetery where his parents and other family members were buried. Keith explained that though his parents had passed away in America, they wanted to be buried with the rest of their clan here in Liverpool. As I walked around the cemetery I realized that nearly 80% of it consisted of the Clark family. We left the cemetery and went for a walk in the park as Keith told me more about his background and family tree.
After that we found a little café to have lunch in and went back to our hotel. We spent the next two days exploring the darling city of Liverpool and Keith's history as well as spending plenty of time in our wonderful hotel suite. This was a honeymoon after all. Finally it was time to go to London. We checked out and poofed out. We arrived at our very tall and beautiful hotel in London 30 seconds later. All of the pictures of our gorgeous honeymoon and hotels are below and in the album. We got settled in and went down to the front desk. We wanted to see what London had to offer but also take some day trips as well. One of the day trips was somewhere I've always wanted to go and that was to Stonehenge. So we went to a town called Bath and then onto Stonehenge. It was one of the most peaceful and serene places ever! Our tour guide was weird but funny. He definitely made the multi hour bus ride go by faster even for my bored stiff husband. But he knew I wanted the whole experience so we took the bus. Ha!
We had a lovely day and got back to our hotel in late afternoon; it was raining so we decided to just order room service for dinner and stay in as we were both pretty tuckered out. Oooo listen to me.....I'm starting to sound British! The following day we just walked around London, went to see the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace and the surrounding opulence. London is a huge sprawling city. Our next day trip was to Dublin. This time we didn't stay at a hotel but just poofed in and out. Ireland was green. I had never seen that much green in my life. But it was also quite beautiful. Only bad part about that trip was my camera malfunctioned so I didn't have any Dublin photos but I have a feeling it's not my last time there.
For the rest of the trip we went shopping on Carnaby Street, went for walks around Big Ben (now I knew why it's called Big.....damn that's one tall ass clock!), went to Kensington Park and saw the memorial to Princess Diana as well as the street where she used to live. Another day was spent on walking to Trafalgar Square and going on a ride of the Eye of London. We did the champagne tour which meant we were only with about 5 other people in the capsule and obviously there was champagne. We had dinner at a really nice restaurant on our last night. We got back to our hotel via a double decker bus which was really cool. Packing to head home was bittersweet. This was my first trip overseas and I had a wonderful time with my new husband. Now it was time to head home and begin our life together as husband and wife. We flew back the same way we came; British Airways first class. I don't think I'll ever be able to fly economy again.
And here I am in my new home with my husband, sitting on the couch writing this and thinking of the magnificent honeymoon we just had; Keith is visiting Peter in the meantime. I can't wait for our next trip together. I have never been happier or more content in my life. And this time, I may even buy a green version of that little number Rogue got in VS. Guess I've really grown in a pretty short time, huh?
~Leah
~Carlisle Cullen