It was the end of summer and it all went by too fast for Ada's liking. Planning a wedding with her mother, even a simple one, had kept her occupied; too busy to pay mind to the whispers and judgement of the townspeople.

News of her relationship with Tom spread not long after her graduation party, but it wasn't as bad as she'd expected. Tom dealt with far more than she did, but he took it in stride until the small remarks and stares subsided.

As her father had promised, Tom worked the summer in the shop, taking over most of the shifts her father and grandmother had once occupied. On the weekends he played with her father's band and at night he would work on freelance editing jobs. Tom kept busy, yet always made time to spend with her.

After speaking to her, Tom decided that he would wait a year, then apply to teaching jobs at all the surrounding high schools. Far enough for them to have a new start, but close enough to where she could still go home whenever her family needed her. He was even taking courses online to get his master's degree so he could also teach college.

Until that time came, Ada would move in with him in two weeks. Most of her things were already there, only leaving a few essentials and childhood memories back at home. She expected her mother to cry or her father to pitch a fit when they told them, but they agreed on the condition Peter could stay with them on their honeymoon and during the other times they traveled.

Her mom decided she wanted to see the world, and her father seemed ready and willing to give her anything her heart desired. Their lives seemed to all fall into place and today was the day her parents would, after twenty-five years, become husband and wife.

Stevie had asked her to take the Huntington's test with her, but Ada declined. The way she saw it, the only thing it would do would force her to live life how she wanted, no apologies and no regrets. She no longer felt the weight of it because no matter what the answer was, she had the life she wanted.

Tom had made it very clear that if she decided to take it and it turned out positive, he wasn't going anywhere. She could freak out and break up with him to spare him some pain, but he told her that no amount of fear would chase him away. He would still stand by her and suffer the pain with her either way, but would only suffer more if she kept him at arm's length.

So they would go into the future not knowing what was to become of it, leaving their lives to chance like the rest of the world, because nothing was certain either way. Life made no promises, so all Ada could do was live it.

Tom walked in wearing a white button-up shirt and tan pants. He was standing up as a groomsman. But her parents were keeping things simple. No tuxes, no expensive wedding dresses or extravagant centerpieces. Just a quiet, relaxed ceremony in their backyard.

Today would be the day where they made the promises they'd already stayed true to for half their lives.

"Every time I see you feels like the first time," Tom spoke as he stepped further in to her now sparsely furnished bedroom.

And she felt every bit the same. Any time he walked into the room she was in, he still took her breath away and her heart skipped a beat. Every time they slept together was filled with passion, and every time she woke up next to him felt like bliss.

Ada smiled at him and clasped the necklace he'd given her around her neck. "Aren't you supposed to be making sure my dad stays away from my mom before the ceremony?"

Tom rubbed his shaved face and came around behind her so he could wrap his arms around her body as she finished with the last touches of her makeup. "Like I could make that happen. Pretty sure your mom's going to have to get ready all over again."

Her parents had been acting like newlyweds ever since her father's proposal. It was a good thing Ada had sent Peter to summer camp as promised or he would have been thoroughly traumatized this summer.

"They do know the wedding starts in an hour, don't they?"

Tom nuzzled into her neck. "They know, they just don't give a shit." Tom's hand moved her hair to the side so he could kiss her earlobe. "It's their day, Ada. Let 'em enjoy it. I know I won't be able to stay away from you on our wedding day."

Ada turned around in his arms. This was the fifth time he'd brought up marriage since they became an item. Following in her father's footsteps, he asked her to marry him on their first date. And following in her mother's, she gave him a solid 'no'.

But unlike her parents, Tom let her know that he was going to ask far more than her father had. He said that since it took her mom twenty-five years to say 'yes', with her dad asking every couple of years, he'd ask constantly to cut the time down.

"Well you better," Ada warned him. "I'm a classy and traditional girl, dammit."

"You are a great many things, Ada, but classy is in a very gray area and there is nothing that's traditional about us," Tom spoke against her collarbone before placing a light kiss on her skin. "So, does that mean you're gonna marry me?"

He'd phrased it in a new way every time, turning it into a game of sorts. "And why would I want to do a stupid thing like that? I can already fuck you whenever I damn well please."

Tom's eyebrow raised, but a smile tugged at the corner of his lips. "Language, Mrs. Bennet."

Ada shook her head and snickered at his subtle comment. "And what would you do if I said 'yes', Mr. Bennet? What if I said 'yes' right here and right now?"

Tom shrugged. "Pretend you didn't and keep asking."

"Well," Ada began, "When you propose and mean it, let me know so I can let you down more gently."

His smile grew a bit. "When I mean it, you won't be able to turn me down. I'll be too charming that day to resist. Besides, I think you like the idea of being married to me someday down the line."

She couldn't deny that one. Truth was that a part of her wanted to say 'yes' the first time he asked. Ada had loved Tom from the first moment he noticed her, when he saw her crying in an empty stairwell on her very first day of freshman year, and that love had strengthened every day since.

Though Ada didn't know how limited her time would be, so long as she was spending it with him, she was spending it the way she wanted to. It didn't matter if they married a year from now or ten years from now. They were still together, right here and right now.

"Someday," Ada conceited, "but not any time soon."

The door at the top of the staircase opened. "Britt and her mom just pulled up!"

Ada gave him a quick kiss and ran up the stairs while Tom followed at a slower pace.

Britt had been in the hospital for a month and Ada spent every weekend there until they released her, including her nineteenth birthday, which everyone came up to the city for. She still had to go back to the city three times a week for rehabilitation and would be in a wheelchair for the rest of her life. But her best friend was alive and didn't want to miss this wedding for the world.

Tom and her dad had spent that month where she was in the hospital making her house wheelchair friendly, then the next month doing the same at her grandparents.

"Tom, go help with the chair," Ada called out just before Tom passed her.

"On it."

Her father came down the steps and followed him out while her mother stood at the top in her wedding dress. "In forty-five minutes you two won't be bastards anymore!"

"That's not how that works, mom," Stevie informed her. "We were still born out of wedlock, so we're still bastards." Stevie turned back to Ada. "Speaking of bastards, when are you and Tom heading down the aisle?"

Ada laughed, but felt her cheeks flush at the comment. "He's following in dad's footsteps just in case I'm like mom. Someday I'm sure I'll say yes, but not anytime soon. And you know you love Tom."

"I know I would enjoy seeing him naked, but he's too much of a pussy for my taste. As your boyfriend? I admit, I was skeptical. Probably even mean. Hell, I still am. But he's good peeps."

"That 'someday' better be very far, far, far away," her mom warned. "He's still on probation."

Not actual probation, just with her. Nothing legal came out of their relationship. While her mother had warmed up to him, asking Ada to move in with him set him back again a bit.

Her father, on the other hand, still had an unusual bromance with him. They'd hang out every night after work, drinking beer and playing guitar. He'd kicked the newbie guitarist out of the band so Tom could take his spot. He trusted him at the shop. They'd even gone fishing with Peter when he got back from camp.

He did, however, finally get to hit Tom in the balls when Tom asked him about Ada moving in. He didn't kick him, just a good sucker punch. Then just said 'sure' and left the room.

"Why don't you girls make yourselves useful and come do my hair?"

Ada hadn't known that this was one of those moments she'd waited her entire life for. It was the mother who doted on her daughters on their wedding days, but they could dote on their mother on her wedding day to her father.

Life was a ridiculous and magical thing.

****************

Her mother walked down the aisle on her own, keeping her eyes on the love of her life while all other eyes laid upon her. She was the loveliest bride Ada had ever seen in her simple off-white lace dress. Her elegance was simple and timeless, just as time hadn't erased a single ounce of her beauty after all these years.

When the minister spoke, everyone sat in their chairs while Crystal, Stevie and Ada stood on their mother's side and Tom, Peter and her father's childhood best friend who he stole their mother from stood next to her dad. When they shared their vows, Tom's gray-blue eyes remained fixated on hers, mouthing the vows to her with a playful smile on his face.

He would never let up, and she didn't want him to.

Ada intended on spending the rest of her life with him, however long or brief. Tom captured her heart at fourteen and never gave it back. And now, whether by some stroke of luck or good old fashion fate, Ada had his.

When he decided to give her a genuine proposal a year or two down the road, she knew she would accept.

Ada was done living life with hesitation and with her future being so unknown, she didn't want any regrets. It was why when Tom asked her to move in after only a month in a half, she agreed.

Like Tom, so long as they spent their lives together, Ada would look back on their journey when the end approached and wouldn't do a damn thing differently.

Author's Final Notes:

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