by K. B. Webb
The short walk to Jason’s office feels like it takes forever. I know Jason knows I love his sister, but I’m still scared shitless.
I knock on the door before I enter and hear him say come in. When I walk into his office he’s on the phone with someone arguing over flowers, I think.
After a few minutes he hangs up on whoever he is talking to and turns to face me.
“Sorry about that. Fucking florist. Don’t ever get married Ryan. Weddings are a pain in the ass.”
“Funny you’d say that because I have been thinking about a wedding lately, well, today at least.”
“Where are you going with this?” Jason looks at me like I’ve grown an extra head and he wants to punch both.
“I want to ask Jasmine to marry me.”
“Marry you? Have you even been with her long enough to know for certain you want to marry her?”
“Jason, I understand your concerns, but I want to spend the rest of my life with her, and I just want to start as soon as possible. If it makes you feel better, I’ll sign one of those things that says I don’t want her money.”
He sits back in his chair and crosses his arms across his chest, “You’d sign a prenup?”
“Yea I would. I’ll do whatever I have to do to make you see I want Jasmine, not her money.”
“When would you want to get married?”
I nervously wring my hands, “Tomorrow.”
“Is she fucking pregnant?”
I shake my head and laugh a little, “No dude, I swear she’s not pregnant. We just both want to get married as soon as we can and Jasmine doesn’t want a big wedding. And well, I want what Jasmine wants.”
“Just, give me a minute.” Jason stands up and leaves his office, shutting the door behind him.
I stand up nervously pacing the room. I see pictures on his bookshelf and step closer to get a better look. There are photos of him and Jasmine on every one. Some when they’re younger, some with their parents, his high school and college graduation, her high school and college graduation, a few that you can tell were taken out at clubs, a few with Todd. But in every single picture they are together. They are a team. I never thought about how marrying Jasmine would affect Jason. I know Jasmine had a hard time in the beginning sharing Jason with Todd, and I never considered that Jason may have the same issue sharing Jasmine with me. I just hope that he knows me enough to know that I love her and I never want to take her away from him or replace him.
The door creaks open and Jason walks in. He sees me looking at the pictures and walks over to stand beside me.
“She’s my whole fucking life Ryan. I am overprotective and too hard on her, but it’s because she’s all I have left. I love very few people, and by very few I mean Jasmine, Todd, and Dani, but no one has ever come close to the love I have for Jasmine. The idea of trusting her with you fucking terrifies me. The thought of you even hurting her slightly makes me want to kick your ass.”
“I get it, I really do. But Jason, I don’t love many people either, my parents, Wynee, Molly, Molly’s daughter, and well, Jasmine. And out of all of the people I’ve loved, no one has even come close to how I feel about Jasmine. The idea of me hurting her makes me want to kick my own ass. I know you don’t want to trust me with her and I know why, but I need you to. I I need you to get that I love your sister, more than anything or anyone, I love her and she loves me.”
He takes a deep breath and pulls a box out of his pocket and hands it to me. I open it and see a gorgeous three stone diamond ring and matching band. I look up at him with confusion, “What’s this?”
“Well, I assumed you didn’t have a ring since this whole marriage thing was so sudden. This,” he motions towards the ring in my hand, “is my mother’s engagement ring and wedding band. My parents weren’t big ring people. My dad never wore his and my mom rarely wore hers. When she did she wore a small band. In their will my dad left me his ring and my mom left Jasmine hers with instructions to only give it to the man that was really meant for her.” He points to a picture of him and Jasmine with their parents. It’s Christmas and they are all piled in front of a tree. “This was our last Christmas together. My mom loved everything about Christmas. She would decorate the whole house the day after Thanksgiving. It was a whole event that we all took part in. Jasmine hung the ornaments while mom decorated the inside of the house, and dad and I did the outside. We still do that. Jasmine shows up here at the ass crack of dawn the day after Thanksgiving and we spend all day setting everything up. I have tried for years to pay someone to do it but she won’t let me. I need to know that I can still have that with her. I act like I hate it and it’s a pain in my ass, but it’s not. That one day a year I feel like we’re just two kids excited about Christmas, not two adults who lost their parents too young and had to grow up before we were ready.” I can see a tear roll from Jason’s eye but I see him swipe it away and his face quickly returns to its usual serious expression before he turns to face me, “I give you my blessing to marry my sister tomorrow. Just know that if you ever fuck her over, I will fucking kill you. I know enough people to make sure that you disappear and no one will ever found you. Understand?”
“Yea man, I understand completely. I’ll have Jasmine call you later and tell you what time to be there tomorrow. I know my parents are coming, and I know she will want Dani there and I will want Wynee and Molly there.”
“Well, you just let me know what time I need to be there. I know she will probably want Todd there early to help her get ready. He is going to flip shit over this.”
Jason and I walk out of his office and find Todd pacing in the kitchen, “Did you say yes?”
“Yes Todd, Ryan is marrying my sister. Tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow!” Todd’s look of happiness quickly turns to horror. “Why tomorrow? Where are you getting married? What are y’all going to wear? This is not enough time for me to plan everything!”
“Todd, chill. We’re getting married in Arkansas at a court house, don’t know which one yet. Jasmine can wear whatever she wants to, I just want to marry her, and I’ll find something. I do have something you could help me with though, but you have to keep it a secret from Jasmine.”
His expression changes to excitement once again, “I love surprises!”
I’m all dressed for dinner and dancing around the kitchen when Ryan finally makes it home.
“Hey baby,” I walk over and kiss him. “Where’d you go?”
“Well I had told you I had to handle some things. I do have a surprise though.”
I cross my arms and raise an eyebrow at him, “You know I don’t like surprises.”
“You’ll love this one I swear. Close your eyes,” I don’t believe him but he’s got adorable puppy dog eyes and he looks really fucking sexy when he begs so I give in and close my eyes.
There’s some shuffling, but finally he says I can open my eyes.
The sight of Ryan on one knee instantly brings tears to my eyes, but when I see the ring he’s holding, I completely lose it.
“Where did you get that?” He’s holding my mom’s ring in his hand.
“Jason gave it to me. Can I ask the questions right now?”
I laugh through my tears, “Yes. I’m sorry.”
He takes a deep breath and looks at me with so much love in his eyes.
“Jasmine, I love you. I can’t even begin to imagine a day without you and I never plan on having to. I know to the outside world we be seem completely crazy, but I really don’t give a shit what the outside world thinks. All I care about is what you think. So, what would you think about spending the rest of your life with me?”
“I think that sounds fucking perfect.”
He slips the ring on my finger and stands quickly to kiss me and wrap me in his arms.
“You still wanna marry me tomorrow?”
“Hell yea. I can’t wait to be Mrs. Jasmine Davis!”
“Mrs. Davis, I like the sound of that.”
I wink at him, “
Mr. Davis’ wife.”
He closes his eyes and growls, “That sounds so fucking sexy. You’ll be my wife.”
“And you’ll be my husband.”
He wraps his hands around my face and looks into my eyes, “I can’t fucking wait.”
“Are you sure I look OK?” I run my hands over the dress I’m wearing and check myself in the mirror for the tenth time.
It’s my something old and my something blue. It’s a knee length sundress that is pale blue and it was my mothers.
After my parents died Jason donated all of their clothes, but apparently he decided to keep this dress. He said he knew I loved it but he never found an occasion to give it to me, until now. I had no desire to wear white so when Jason showed up last night and gave me the dress it was perfect. I cried, he cried, and we both said how much we wished mom and dad could be here.
“Jas, shut up. You look fucking awesome!” Dani stands beside me reassuring me again that I look OK.
“You have to say that, you’re my best friend.”
“Well, I’m not your best friend and I think you look great if that helps any,” Molly smiles at me.
“Yep, you look fucking hot. Ryan is one lucky man,” Wynee chimes in from her spot next to Molly.
It means so much to me that they are here. Molly and I have had our fair share of problems and I really worried that she wouldn’t be supportive of Ryan and I getting married, but when we called and told her she was so excited. When we told her that we were getting married so soon, she said she had to be there and Wynee said the same. Now, we are all standing in the bathroom of the courthouse in El Dorado, Arkansas waiting for Ryan and me to get married.
“Jasmine sweetie, they’re ready for you,” Ryan’s mom sticks her head into the bathroom. I am so happy that Ryan’s parents are here to support him. I worried that they, like everyone one else, would think we were rushing things. Despite all the fear and worry I had about how everyone around us would feel about our decision, they have all been so supportive. If I ever doubted how amazing our friends and family were, they proved it today.
I walk out of the bathroom and see Jason standing there. Everyone else walks down the stairs to the first floor where we will be married leaving Jason and I alone.
“Wow, you look so grown up. When the hell did that happen?”
I laugh at him and link my arm with his, “Jason, you know I’ll always be your little sister, right? I’ll always be Jazzy to you.”
“Yea, but now you’ll be Jazzy Davis not Jazzy Slade.”
“Well, I think I’ll hyphenate it, Jazzy Slade-Davis. I don’t want to lose the Slade name completely. It’s who I am.”
“I think mom and dad would really love that. I also think they would love Ryan. I know they’re so happy for you.”
I smile and try to hold back tears as Jason walks me into a small room with white walls and filling cabinets in the corner.
Ryan is standing there looking so damn sexy. He’s got on dress pants and a pearl snap button up. Jason tried to get him to wear a tux but I said no. I wanted him to look like the Ryan I feel in love with, and he does.
His dad, Logan, Lucas, and Todd are all standing on one side of him, and on the other is a man in his sixties with an outdated mustache and a Members Only jacket.
Jason stops so I can stand next to Ryan. Before he lets go he kisses my cheek and whispers in my ear, “I love you Jazzy.”
I hug him tightly, “I love you Jason.”
The Justice of the Peace begins speaking of the sacrament of marriage and how important our wedding vows are. I lose myself in Ryan’s eyes for a moment just thinking of how far we’ve come so quickly. If someone would have told me a few months ago that I would be marrying the hot guy I had, what I assumed was, a one night stand with I would have told them they were fucking crazy. Now, we’re standing in front of our friends and family promising to spend the rest of our lives together.
I come out of my trance when I hear the preacher ask for the rings. Dani hands me the wedding band Ryan and I picked out last night. It’s a plain silver band, simple but beautiful just like him. Lucas hands Ryan my mother’s wedding ring and the preacher begins the vows.
“Do you, Ryan, take Jasmine to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do you part?”
Ryan smiles and slips the ring on my finger, “Hell yea I do.”
The Justice of the Peace looks a little thrown off my his response but recovers quickly before addressing me, “do you, Jasmine, take Ryan to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do you part?”
“Hell yea I do,” Ryan laughs as I slip his band on his finger.
“By the power invested in me by the state of Arkansas, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.”
And does he ever. Ryan pulls me towards him, dipping me and kissing me like he never has before. I hear our friends and family clap and cheer around us. When we finally break apart, we’re both breathing heavily.
“I fucking love you Ryan Davis.”
“I fucking love you most Jasmine Davis.”
And in that moment, I know he does love me most, and nothing will ever change that.
“Ryan, I fucking hate surprises.”
I laugh at Jasmine sitting in the passenger seat of my truck wearing a blindfold and pouting.
We’ve been married for three days and it has been the best fucking three days of my life. Jasmine is my wife, I am her husband, and fuck everything else.
I reach over and place my hand on her thigh giving it a reassuring squeeze, “I know baby, but this is a good surprise I swear. We’re almost there.”
“Whatever,” she pouts more and scoots down in her seat.
A few minutes later we pull into the parking lot of Ricky’s. I put the trunk in park and jump out to rush to the passenger side before Jasmine tries to open the door. Once I get her out of the truck, I walk her inside slowly so she doesn’t trip and fall.
“Can I really not take the damn blindfold off yet? It’s totally going to fuck up my hair.”
“Can you ever just be excited about a surprise and not bitch about it?”
“Nope. Hopefully this will teach you to quit surprising me.”
We stop in front of the door to Ricky’s. I turn Jasmine so she’s facing me but don’t take her blindfold off.
“You may hate surprises, but I love seeing the look on your face when you’re really surprised. I plan on giving you lots of surprises for the rest of our lives, so you better get the hell over it now.”
“If I could see you right now I would kiss you then punch you.”
“Well lucky for me you can’t.”
“Bastard.”
I open the door to Ricky’s and pull of Jasmine’s blindfold.
“Surprise!” When Jasmine sees Ricky’s full of our family and friends she gets the look that I love so much. She’s smiling ear to ear and her eyes are filling up with tears. She turns around to face me and the tears spill over.
“What is this?”
“This is our wedding reception. Todd has spent the last 3 days doing God knows what to get this ready.”
She turns away from me and finds Todd and Jason standing by the bar and gives them both a hug.
I still don’t know how Todd pulled all of this off. Ricky’s is covered in white fabric looking things on all the walls and there are flowers everywhere. When I asked him to help me plan a surprise reception for Jasmine on such short notice, he was excited and nervous as hell. He wanted to make sure everything was perfect and he had no clue if he could pull it off in 3 days, but he did. I told him I didn’t care how the room was decorated, I just wanted it to be something Jasmine would love.
We stop and speak with different people, mostly people who work for Slade Industries and a few of Jasmine’s parent’s friends who have known her most of her life. We see Charlie and Holly and congratulate them on their baby. Holly is just starting to show and Jasmine says she’s ‘glowing’ whatever the hell that means. Dani and Lucas are cuddled up in a corner booth. The night we got married Jasmine joked with Dani that she was next to get married. She shut that shit down real quick. Apparently, Dani and Lucas have decided against marriage. They just don’t feel the need to get married right now or ever for that matter. As long as they’re happy, I say they should do whatever the hell they want.
Molly and Logan are sitting down with a smiling Lyric. Logan and Justin are planning to propose in a few days. I know that that both Molly and Wynee will be surprised and of course say yes. Wynee and Justin have been together for 4 years so this engagement was a long time coming. I see Justin sitting at the bar alone drinking, but can’t spot Wynee. As I walk over to ask where she is, Jason’s voice streams through the bars speakers.
“On behalf of the bride and groom, I want to thank you all for being here today. I know it means a lot to them. As all of you know, Jazzy is my baby sister, and Ryan is the guy who was lucky enough to get to marry her. I wrote about 5 speeches trying to find the perfect words to describe how I feel about Ryan marrying my sister, but in all of them I wrote things that Jazzy would have kicked my ass for saying, so I’m just going to wing it.” He coughs and shuffles his feet. Jason is nervous, and I have never seen Jason nervous. “Jazzy and I lost our parents when she was only 13. As a 21 year old guy, I had no idea how to raise a 13 year old girl, and Jasmine reminded me of that often. Anyone who knows us knows that we have had our fair share of disagreements over the years. I tend to be a hard ass and Jazzy tends to be a smart ass, and well, sometimes those two personalities don’t mix well. I always knew that it would take a special kind of man to deal with her, and when she met Ryan, I had a feeling he was that kind of guy even though it took me a little while to admit it. I have been proven right over the last few months. Ryan and Jazzy have this special way of evening each other out. They are an amazing example of what true love is, and I am proud to say that now I not only have a smart ass sister, but a smart ass brother as well,” he raises his glass as does everyone else, “To Ryan and Jazzy. I love you both, and Ryan, she’s your problem now.”