A/N: Hello everyone! Sorry for the long wait on this next installment. It's been scorching hot here in my slice of heaven that writing has been difficult. I intended to finish this bonus material by the end of July but if the weather continues in this direction, it's going to be a bit challenging. But we shall persevere! 

Anyway, this newest journal covers the rest of Chapter 12 and part of Chapter 13 in TMMM. I hope you like the little something about their wedding that I threw in here. 

This post is also dedicated to shanoni here in Wattpad who'd created the book trailer I featured with this entry. Such talent! I love it! Thank you, shanoni!

***

It wasn't even ten in the morning when Jake handed me a drink on my wedding day.

He told me I was making him nervous with all my pacing. I hadn't even been aware I was pacing.

I woke up this morning with my head perfectly clear on what was about to happen.

I was marrying Charlotte. 

Or she was marrying me. 

Either way, we'd belong to each other in front of God and man.

Jake asked if I was having second thoughts. Actually, he didn't ask. He more or less warned me that I better not be having second thoughts—not if I'm marrying the most perfect girl fate could find for me.

I told him I wasn't having second thoughts. The pacing wasn't because I was nervous. It was because I was impatient.

I'm not entirely sure what Jake got out of that admission but he studied me for too long a moment as if his brain was having trouble catching up with reality.

We were at my office, slowly drinking the single glass of scotch we were each to have before the ceremony, and probably coming to some kind of epiphany as grown men who were just about to realize they could still grow further and be more than they ever gave thought to.

It both hit us that we're at that point in our lives when we could be husbands. Fathers, too.

I expected Jake to mutter or curse and loudly claim that no, he won't be having any of that till he's well and ready. He'd said the same thing before the few times we'd mentioned it when one of our friends were getting married or expecting a child. I enjoyed my eventful bachelor years but I didn't cling to it as much as Jake did to his—at least not until I met Charlotte anyway. Given, I probably never had my bachelorhood feel like it was being dragged away from me at a chokehold until Charlotte but still.

But Jake did none of that. He just rubbed his chin and asked if I ever saw it coming, this soon or this late in my life, depending on how you look at it.

I told him flat out that no, I didn't. I joked that at Charlotte's size, it's very possible it was well on its way toward me and I just didn't see until I was knocked off my feet and left sprawling in my ass at the impact. She's terribly cute, my Charlotte. But she's a formidable force of nature—all stubborn, unconfined energy the size of an atom but with the devastation of an atomic bomb. I'm quite romantic, I know.

Then Jake asked me if it scared me.

It was a valid question.

Jake knows how I liked to live my life in an organized, well-planned manner. I never liked surprises and I never handled them well. Until Dad sprung his ultimatum on me, every single thing in my life was practically running like clockwork.

After meeting Charlotte, yes, it's become pure chaos inside me—this instinct to possess and protect and this sometimes irrational urge to strip away all the restraints of order I'd carefully strapped around my daily existence so I could be free to wander away with Charlotte and laugh as much as I want with her. Yet amidst all this chaos I can't deny finding this new kind of peace and quiet I could never pin down in the past twenty-nine years of my life, no matter how much I tried to box everything up in their own little space so that nothing was out of place. And that peace and quiet sometimes comes in the most unexpected, even absurd moments, like when Charlotte's laughing so hard, or when we're debating something silly, or when I'm sometimes just sitting there listening to her babble on about anything.

So yes, I told him it's scary which I don't think he appreciated considering the disbelieving scowl he gave me. I just smiled, shook my head and told him to try it one day. It's the only way he's going to know exactly how it feels.

I was sitting in the car with Charlotte's red sneakers on my lap when I got the message from Gilles that Francis had visited Charlotte while she'd been getting ready.

A combination of anger and panic coursed through me at the news which could've been two hours too late. If that damned devil had managed to persuade Charlotte to abandon her course with a few, well-phrased accusations about me, she could've been long gone at that point.

I had to remind myself that if there was anyone less prone to being even suggested what to do, it would be Charlotte so Francis would be shit out of luck. Still, the fact that he was close enough to Charlotte when I'm sure that he only sees her as a means to get to me clawed at me from within. I don't know what happened to Francis over the years as we grew older but there's only one thing I know for sure about him right now—he can hurt people, even those he should be devoting his life to. I can't trust him not to hurt her.

Fortunately, I'm a man lucky enough to have a woman who could hurt him back if he so much as disturbed the air she breathed in a way she didn't like. But in order for her to have her defenses up, Charlotte needs to see Francis as the threat that he is, which knowing Charlotte, isn't going to come easily because she likes to see the bright side in people.

But she assured me, with much impatience, that Francis is harmless and that she's not changing her mind. I was going to argue until I was absolutely certain that Francis had no sway on her whatsoever when she told me that she was already in her wedding gown.

My mind went blank for the briefest moment before it was replaced by the picture of her in this elaborate white gown, glowing and smiling happily like she did in the many times I'd imagined her this way.

All I could think of that second was that this was real. This was happening and nothing and no one—not even Francis—was going to stop it.

So I returned to my restless pacing when we arrived at the church because I was impatient all over again. There was a good half hour before the wedding started and Jake talked me into walking over to the barn just behind the church where the reception was going to be so that I wouldn't keep walking around with my wife's red sneakers stuffed into my suit jacket's pockets.

Wife.

Yes, Jake used the W word and it sounded natural to me I didn't even realize he'd said it until he laughed and punched me in the arm, calling me a hopeless cause because I hadn't even flinched at the reference. Jake really needs to fucking grow up. Sometimes, you know... Friends you've known too damn long.

The barn wasn't what I'd imagined a barn to look like inside but I'd left it to Charlotte and the wedding planner when they promised it would be transformed into this charmingly rustic space. I was happy to learn that it turned out exactly as promised because this day had to be perfect for Charlotte. I don't care what led up to this moment but it was the moment that Charlotte and I would be bound for life—an initial dilemma that turned out to be the one thing in my life that I would give anything to have.

And when I first spied her at the church door, silhouetted by the golden halo of the afternoon sun, I wondered if I'd sold my soul to either God or the devil because Charlotte was heading my way, straight into my arms and into my life.

How appropriate that Dad was walking her down the aisle—he's as much of a father to her as he is to me and without his mad idea to throw us together, Charlotte and I would've existed in our separate lives never knowing that we could find something like this with each other.

From behind the wispy veil, I could see her crooked grin and I couldn't help but grin back. With all the white lace floating around her smiling face and those bright blue-green eyes sparkling with the kind of inner happiness I suspected no one could ever steal away from her, she looked like an angel having a ton of fun with us mere mortals. Who knows? Maybe she is.

The moment she took my hand and fell in place beside me facing the altar, I leaned closed to her ear and asked her if she was ready—and I didn't mean just the ceremony.

Charlotte being Charlotte just winked at me and mumbled 'As long as you stay with me, I'm ready for anything.' I'd like to think she also didn't mean just the ceremony.

Maybe I just have really good memory, or maybe the words were seared into my heart as irrevocably as my commitment to Charlotte is but I remembered every word of our vows—hers and mine.

And no matter the circumstances that brought us here, I don't doubt that we meant every word, cautious as we might be at becoming more than we ever were when we first began and whether we knew the honesty of the other's promises.

I, Charlotte Alexandra Samuels, take you, Brandon Christopher Maxfield, as my lawfully wedded husband—and as my dearest friend, my steadiest rock, my version of sunshine through the rain.

I promise to spend my days making sure you smile through yours.

I promise, for as long as we're bound, to wear the rose-colored glasses with you, to smell the roses, to wish on stars, to laugh together, and to learn the kind of love only us lucky ones ever find in this lifetime.

I promise to be your most devoted wife, your steadiest rock, your version of sunshine through the rain.

From this day forward, you will no longer walk this path alone. I'll hold your hand when you need me to, give you wide berth if necessary, but I will always be with you.

Charlotte punctuated the soft burst of chuckles from the crowd with a giggle of her own and a nibble on her lower lip that showed her complete lack of remorse for her mischief.

She had no idea how my heart stuttered, stopped and started at her every word, how my arms ached to draw her close and hold her. But I fought the pull because it was finally my turn to tell her what was in my heart and pray to God that she would believe all of it.

I, Brandon Christopher Maxfield, take you, Charlotte Alexandra Samuels, as my lawfully wedded wife—to protect and respect, to love and cherish as you deserve.

I vow to earn every single day you fill my life with smiles and beauty.

I vow to hold your hand and keep you in my arms as close as I keep you in my heart.

I vow to show you what happiness is like, as you have shown me, and the strength you lend me in times when happiness seems far out of reach.

I may not shine like the bright star that you are but I vow to be the solid earth you call home where you can rest your head when you're weary and to seek refuge from when you're afraid.

I vow to devote my life to loving you in the way I only discovered myself capable of when I met you.

In this day, you take not only my ring and my name, but my heart and my love for always.

I promptly acted on my first husbandly duty to kiss my bride in front of everyone, maybe slightly more scandalously than what was typical but I didn't give a damn.

Thankfully, Charlotte was too dazed from the kiss to smack me in the head. I briefly wondered if I could keep her guard down the whole year by kissing her senseless nonstop. The idea has merit, you know?

Anyway, like a good husband, I kept my wife close all throughout the evening. I'd say it was because her injuries wore her down quickly and I needed to be there to keep her steady. But there's also that sense of possessiveness that grew fiercer after we'd just bound ourselves to each other. If not for the fact that I wanted Charlotte surrounded by family and friends, I would've opted out of the reception and dragged her to the jet so I could take her away to Paris where I planned to woo her during our honeymoon.

But no, there was the long reception.

And the wedding night.

I tried not to think about it, knowing that Charlotte wouldn't be ready. I wouldn't ask for her body before I can ask for her heart. She wasn't just some random woman to warm me through the night. She's my wife—the woman I'll spend my life with, the woman who'll be mother to our children.

Jake was right, you know, when he said that Charlotte's the rare treasure I found when I least expected it. I'm never going to take that fact for granted—not as long as I live. If I have to wait far longer than my body could endure, so be it, because in the end, having her heart as well as her body would be worth my suffering.

I just wish she made it easier on me.

A sober Charlotte is a handful.

A tipsy Charlotte is sheer havoc.

I hurried her home because she was tired and weak and too damn provocative for her own good. But the trip home was both too long and too short—it would only make sense to you if you happen to marry a girl who's sweetly innocent while being an artless tease.

With the way she was shuffling and shifting on my lap, both curious and anxious at the same time by the undeniable proof of just how much I wanted her, I was pretty sure she was going to permanently unman me.

She was afraid—of far more than just our intimacy—and I get that. And as frustrating as that might be, I wasn't going to pressure her. I want her to come to me on her own, to make the choice to stay, and to trust her own decision to do so.

I'm not always a patient man but I've been pushing my limits since I met Charlotte.

The fact that this was her pushing me to lose control when the last thing either of us wants is to go down this road too fast—she's a virgin, for god's sake—is going to require herculean effort but what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right?

I can only hope so.

After all, today's just the beginning of what I plan to be the rest of our lives.

- B

***

So, what do you think? Do you love reading/listening to wedding vows as well? 

I hope you also enjoyed the book trailer. If I had any talent to do this myself, I would but I don't so I leave it to the pros.

For info on the casting, see below:

Brandon - Nick Bateman (he actually really looks like he could be Brandon!)

Charlotte - Candice Accola (I actually adore her as Caroline)

Martin - Martin Scorsese (LOL!)

Anna - Amanda Seyfried

Tessa - Lily Collins

Felicity - Ashley tisdale

Jake - Ryan Gosling 

XOXO!

-Ninya