My Lifeline

by RP Fischer

  Bree glides down in her gold New Year’s inspired bridesmaid dress that I have no clue how to describe except that it’s shiny, and she’s already crying.

  My sister is doing a poor show of trying to walk in her long silver gown and not cry at the same time. When she reaches me at the altar, she stops and gives me a hug.

  “I’m so happy for you, Ace.”

  I kiss her cheek and wipe away a tear that got away. “Thanks, baby sis.”

  She goes to stand a few paces away and winks at her husband.

  The wedding march begins, and I stand my ground at the head of the altar, more than ready for Kylie.

  A glowing angel appears before me.

  That’s seriously the only explanation I can come up with. She floats down the tree-lined aisle to the large gazebo. Her dad kisses her cheek and moves to stand next to Mrs. Mitchell.

  In another life, I would’ve said if this is a dream, I don’t want to wake up, but I know this isn’t a dream.

  Her standing here before me, ready to commit to each other for the rest of our lives in front of our closest friends and family, is me waking up from the dreams I’ve had for the last ten years.

  After she hands her bouquet to my sister, I manage to get out, “You are breathtaking, Kylie.”

  Kylie gives me a watery smile. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a handsome sight in my entire life.”

  I bring her knuckles to my lips and kiss them. Holding her hands tightly in my own, we listen to the judge make his formal speech.

  “I’m going to keep this brief as Aaron and Kylie have their own vows they’d like to share with each other in front of all of you. The love and bond these two share is one that many of us only dream about, and some of us are lucky to find for ourselves. It’s more than my honor and pleasure to be able to join these two for the rest of their lives.”

  The sniffles and soft sobs can be heard amongst the whole group.

  “Kylie, would you like to go first?”

  She simply nods.

  “Aaron, before I knew what I wanted in most parts of my life, there was one thing I was always a million percent sure about. That was you. I knew with every part of my being that I loved you. When things were happy, I wanted to share them with you. When things were unbearably sad, my heart called for you. When you were gone, a part of me was gone, too. You made me promises that you kept. Now my promises to you.” Tears flow freely from her cheeks and my own start to course down my face. I wipe hers away before slowing down my own.

  “My promises to you, Aaron Hanston, I promise to keep taking trips with you where we can experience all the best parts of life together. I promise to be a constant source of pizza after a long shift. I promise to keep you from kidnapping your sister’s dog for your own safety. I promise to fight with you during the nightmares and hardships. But most importantly, I promise to stay your lifeline until my last breath and even beyond that. I love you.”

  I kiss her hands again. I really like to do that and take a few shaky breaths of my own.

  “Kylie Mitchell, you came into my life when I was only eight-years-old, and I watched you grow into the woman who owns my heart and soul. I fell in love with you when we both weren’t ready to let that love conquer all, but through the hardships, we have formed the bond that can’t be broken. With you by my side, in every small or major event in my life, good and bad, I know that how I feel about you is what makes me whole. At the end of the day, my heart only beats with every breath you take. My vows to you are to weather any storm brought on us. I will keep you safe and loved with every fiber of my being. The only promise I will ever break is the one where you cry. Because if you cry tears of joy, then I’m okay with that. Our hearts beat stronger when we are one. From this day forward, my lifeline is an understatement to how I will always feel. I love you, Kylie.”

  Everyone around us is full on sobbing now. Kylie’s tears run faster, and the only thing I want to do is kiss her.

  I barely get far enough to her face when the judge shoves me back into my place.

  “Hold your horses, Hanston. Let me finish.”

  I stand up straight as Kylie giggles through her tears.

  “By the power vested in me, by the state of California, I now pronounce you husband and wife.” He slaps me on the back. “You may kiss your wife now.”

  I don’t waste any time gathering Kylie into my arms and planting the biggest kiss of our lives on her. I ignore the clapping, the cheers, and only focus on my wife.

  I kiss her with everything that I am, every part of me is fully connected with her.

  To say I’m overjoyed and elated is a complete understatement. I’m officially Kylie Hanston. My heart is literally bursting with love right now as his lips connect with mine.

  We finally break away from our kiss to a round of hugs from everyone.

  Tears are soaking my shoulders, and I know my own are seeping into whoever I come in contact with.

  After being passed around for what feels like an eternity, I feel Aaron grab me into his arms.

  “Alright. Alright, everyone, let her be. It’s time for a little alone time for us. We’ll see you all at dinner.”

  We get another round of quick hugs before I’m whisked away from the gazebo.

  “Aaron, slow down. I’m still in heels you know.”

  He stops and places his hands on my hips. He gives me a wicked smile.

  “I can fix that, babe.”

  I’m lifted up into his arms as he jogs the rest of the way to the bed and breakfast. The front desk lady laughs at us bursting through the door. As Aaron’s carrying me up the stairs, I can hear her shout, “Congratulations!”

  He jogs up the stairs two by two, and only sets me down for a second to push the card into the slot before I’m in the air again as he crosses the threshold.

  When my feet hit the ground, my lips are sealed to his before I can even utter a word. I grab onto his tie to keep him as close to me as possible so that I don’t fall down in my heels, but instead, I start to loosen it on accident.

  I pull away from Aaron’s kiss to take the tie off. The look in his eye has me turned on beyond imaginable. I push his jacket off of his shoulders, and he tosses it onto the nearby dresser. He undoes the buttons of his shirt as I un-tuck it from his pants. He quickly takes his cufflinks off, and his shirt joins the jacket.

  He softly trails his fingers from my neck down to my shoulder and spins me around. With ease, he pulls the zipper of my dress lower until it stops at my lower back. I grab onto the edges by my shoulders and slip my arms through the three-quarter sleeves, and the dress pools around my feet. I can hear him kick his shoes to the side as I turn back around.

  Aaron extends his hand to me to help me step out of the dress while I’m still clad in my wedges from earlier.

  We both stand there, his chest heaving and hands fisted at his sides as he appraises me in my white lace strapless bra and cheeky panties. He stalks toward me, his tattoos in full color against his warm tan skin.

  Despite my lack of clothed appearance, I make him stop.

  “What’s on your chest?”

  He looks down at the new tattoo that’s elegantly scrawled across his pecks.

  “Where there is love, there is life.”

  Underneath the quote is my initials with our rings encircling the “H”. I love all of his tattoos. I stopped at my tattoo for my brother, but maybe someday I’ll add another one. I know I’m going to be so picky, but I might just copy Aaron’s.

  I trace my finger along the letters.

  “Aaron, this is so beautiful. How did I not notice this?”

  He captures my hand in his. “I got it a few days ago and we’ve been sleeping apart, so there’s been no time for me to enjoy this delectable body of yours, which is in need of my exploration.”

  He leans down to kiss me, still holding my hands in his, but I get them free to wrap my arms around his neck, and he lifts me up to walk us toward the bed.

 
He gently lays me down and pulls my shoes from my feet. He kisses his way up my legs, little by little. Each kiss sends another burst of pleasure through my skin.

  When Aaron climbs up my body with his lips, I go to his belt buckle and try to get it undone with my shaky hands. I pull down his zipper and push all the clothes on his lower half as far down as I can get. After he kicks off the fabric, he comes back to me, lifting my back off the bed to rid me of my bra.

  His lips touch a part of my chest, down my stomach, and to the top of my panties. He hooks his fingers to the sides and pulls them off of me. He’s barely taken his eyes off of me with every move he makes. No words need to be spoken. Our bodies are doing the talking for all of our emotions.

  I scrape my fingers through his short dark hair and when he moans, I take advantage to pull him up to me so I can kiss him. I bring his body as close to mine as humanly possible and feel the tip of him trying to gain entrance.

  He leans his hips back and drives himself home. I shout out as pleasure rolls through me.

  “Oh god, Kylie. This is the best fucking feeling in the whole world being connected to you.”

  I arch into his embrace, and he stretches me more than I thought he ever could. Our moans fill the room, echoing off the walls, and the smell of Aaron’s cologne invading my senses as he moves his head closer to mine to kisses my neck or cheek.

  “Aaron, I’m so close.”

  His thrusts slow down, and he brings one of his hands to my chest and alternates playing with my hard nipples.

  Gasping at the sensations, I can’t hold it in any longer.

  “It feels too good, Aaron! I’m coming!”

  His pace quickens, and my juices flow down his shaft as I feel his release shoot inside of me. His breaths cool me down through my heated euphoria, and his movements slow down.

  “Ooohh, Kylie. My beautiful wife.”

  He kisses me hard, and we spend a good hour snuggling until the timer from his phone goes off to get ready for our mini-reception dinner.

  Aaron forgoes the jacket and tie, opting to wear a button-down shirt with the top buttons open, and I can see hints of his new tattoo through his shirt. Good heavens, he’s delicious.

  I slip my dress on and reluctantly put my wedges back on. I would really love to wear flats instead of wedges. I’m so short next to Aaron without my heels, but that’s why he has big strong police muscles to carry me. However, the second we sit down to eat, the heels are coming off.

  When we walk into the dining ballroom, a few more million rounds of hugs are given and gotten by our families. The photographer takes a bunch of pictures of our dinner before we make him sit down and eat with us.

  The laughter is plenty, the smiles are bright, and the hours fly by. The clock starts to stroll down to midnight, ready to bring in the New Year.

  Having to wait to take our honeymoon makes it more like a vacation, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. We got to spend the weekend of our wedding in Charleston, and we christened every inch of our hotel room.

  When we got back, we got to move the rest of her stuff in and move Bree back to her grandfather’s house.

  All we had to focus on after that was my sister’s opening of Rose’s Corner. Lines were forming out the door, and she has been busy ever since turning on the open sign.

  As for Kylie and I, we don’t have to rush to do everything, and I fucking love it. I can enjoy my wife whenever, we aren’t working, and start building our lives together.

  I think back to when I told the guys at the station that I was getting married. Their first reactions were “Finally!” and “Damn man, slapping on an old ball and chain!”

  Then some of them actually asked how it happened. We have our chick moments, but some of them are genuinely interested because they know of Kylie’s and my history; like my partner, Zander. I have absolutely no shame in telling any of them that Kylie proposed to me first. Some of them rib me for it, but I don’t give a fuck. I was over the fucking moon she said she wanted to marry me. It meant she wanted the same thing I did.

  A future.

  Our future together started a long time ago, but now that we are officially married, it can truly begin. Now that she’s moved in, we started looking at houses. We put some feelers out and hopefully we will find out about some of the prospects when we get back from our trip.

  My truck is packed and ready to go. Two weeks of uninterrupted Kylie time at a kick ass cabin.

  I load my wife into the truck since she’s still half asleep.

  She mumbles, “This is super early, Aaron. You’re lucky I love you and can’t wait for this honeymoon.”

  I push her hair out of her face and kiss her forehead. “You get up this early for work everyday, babe.”

  She snuggles into her seat with her favorite travel blanket. “Doesn’t mean I like it, Officer Hanston. Now close this door and get to driving. The earlier we get there, the earlier you can have your way with me.”

  I fake tip my hat to her. “With every pleasure, ma’am.”

  A little bit into the trip, the sun starts to rise. I glance over to watch my beautiful wife, who finally woke up, stare out the window as the purples turn to orange and the morning light peeks over the trees. Her hand floats through the open window, both of her bracelets resting on her wrist, which means the world to me that she has kept them close to her.

  I grab her other hand and bring her rings up to my lips and kiss them as the light bounces off, giving them an angelic glow.

  “I love this,” she says.

  I grasp her hand tighter and continue to bask in all the glory that is having Kylie as my wife.

  The song, “My Girl”, by Dylan Scott comes on the sound system. I keep taking quick looks at her as the lyrics remind me so much of her. She’s glowing, and I hope to keep that look on her face for the rest of our lives.

  Our honeymoon is two weeks of fucking perfect. And I do mean that literally and figuratively. We ran into a few other couples celebrating Valentine’s vacations and even had dinner in town with one of them, but mostly kept to ourselves. When we weren’t out exploring, we were talking about our goals for the future: how we wanted to decorate our future house, get more pets to give Waffles some company, and ultimately, just sharing our love with each other.

  At one point while Kylie was sleeping, I left her a note and took a small walk from our cabin.

  Usually, I would have this kind of talk with Bryce at the cemetery, but out here in nature, I can’t resist bragging just a little bit.

  “Well, Bryce, my best friend. We did it. Kylie and I are on our honeymoon. Thank you for always being there for her and guiding her even when she didn’t realize she needed it. I know you always will, and I miss the ever-loving hell out of you, man. I promise to take the best care of her.”

  When I got back to the cabin, Kylie was sitting by the fire, a blanket draped across her lap, and she’s holding a mug close to her body. I stand there, in the doorway, and watch as the embers from the fire cast a heavenly shadow on her.

  The blonde in her hair casts a honey glow against the flames. Her dark hair a few years ago used to give her a Snow White appearance, but the blonde has that angelic pull.

  I’m the luckiest fucking guy in the world to be married to her.

  She turns around as if she senses me and pats the cushion next to her. I sit next to her and wrap my arm around her.

  She snuggles into me and her voice soothes my ears. “I missed you when I woke up.”

  I kiss the top of her head. “I went for a quick walk in the woods.”

  “Was it an enlightening walk?”

  I squeeze her closer to me. “Just thinking about how this is all real. You and me finally married, and I can’t wait for our life together.”

  She pokes me in the stomach. “I could’ve told you that, you dork.” She sits and gives me her puppy dog face. “Do we have to go back to the real world, though?”

  I flip her around so she’s under me, and I
grind my hips into hers. “We don’t have to do anything for another few days except enjoy this honeymoon and let me make love to you.”

  Sooner or later, Kylie and I had to come back to the real world. We’re back on our work rotations in between looking for houses. The hours are long whenever one of us is at work because we just want to enjoy each other as much as possible.

  We’re spending the day at the community center, but doing our own things even though we’d love to be inseparable.

  I push myself farther and farther today for my workout. I run until my lungs give out on me, and I lift until my muscles scream to stop. The music in my ears pumps me to finish my set, and I sit up on the bench with sweat dripping down my face.

  My headphones are pulled from my head. I look up to see my buddy and usual patrol partner, Zander’s, angry face staring back at me. His serious stance and uniform tell me he’s not here for a social visit.

  “What the fuck’s with the face, Zander? I’m in the middle of a workout. I could’ve hurt you or myself. Why are you here?”

  He tosses my headphones in my lap before he has his cop voice on. I recognize the tone because I use it, too. “We need to talk, and you weren’t answering your phone. It’s really important, and you’re not gonna like it a damn bit.”

  I jump up and almost step on my headphones and water bottle. “Is my family okay? Are the Mitchells’ okay?”

  He stops me before I run out of the gym. “They’re fine. It actually concerns them, but they’re fine. Just….come outside, man, so we can talk.”

  We walk outside to the side of the building where Zander parked his cruiser, and he leans against the hood of the car. The pit in my stomach grows larger as he hands me a slip of paper that has the official State of South Carolina letterhead. It’s from the state prison.

  While I’m reading the official notice, Zander tells me solemnly, “He’s up for parole.”

  I crumple the paper and throw it as far as I can.

  “Why the fuck is he even a getting a possibility of leaving? It’s only been five years! Did he suck a judge’s dick or something? He murdered my best friend for fuck’s sake!”