by Stahl, Shey
And then we exchanged rings.
I had never worn a ring before, but this one felt comfortable, like it belonged there and always would. For my ring, we chose a black titanium ring since it was sure to get a little scuffed with my lifestyle.
In all the moments of uncertainty, the earliest days of our friendship with benefits, convinced I couldn’t have it both ways, and pushing her away. They all seemed so silly now. There was no way to doubt that we belonged together, forever. If these last few months taught me anything, it was that together we were stronger.
I had this idea of what my life would be life but this wasn’t even close. I honestly believe expectations sell us short.
The real test is what happens when the unexpected happens because that’s what really molds who you are. It changes all those laid out plans you once had. But that change can also bring something you never saw coming—the love of a lifetime.
My unexpected was this. The girl I thought would never be mine, agreed to mess around with me. The girl I never thought would understand how you felt, felt the same way. The girl I never thought would love me, told me she loved me too. And the girl I never thought would marry me, was standing before me in a white dress, promising me forever.
This was one time in my life where the expected truly did pale in comparison to the unexpected turn my life had taken.
Sway was the girl that spoke her mind. The girl that kept me in line and made me laugh with her quirkiness and the adorable way her cute nose wrinkled when she laughed. She was my rock. My girl. My wife.
Flywheel – Sway
In college, I took a physiology class, only one, but I learned that Robert Plutchick created a wheel of emotions that consisted of eight basic emotions and eight advanced emotions composed of two basic ones.
What happens when you’re feeling all of them at once?
A shitstorm of emotional overload is what happens.
Standing in front of the man of my dreams, butterflies dancing around in my belly, I had to focus just on breathing, forget about trying to decipher emotions.
I did the only thing I could do to distract myself. I decided on what I’d call myself now that I was married. This could take a while but at the top of my list was “Wizard” since I’m no longer a Pit Lizard and I’ve been upgraded from Pigizzle. Wizard...It had a nice ring to it, magical even. Just like our fairytale love story.
When I focused once again on Jameson’s eyes as the minister finished the ceremony, so many moments in our lives were replaying in my mind like a slide show.
The moment we met and his grass green eyes locked with mine, wide and full of innocence. Our first kiss and the way his lips felt when they touched mine, the ever-present electric pulse humming between us and the exciting all consuming feeling swirling throughout my body of our first kiss. I saw the day he asked me to stay in Charlotte, the way his hand felt against my ankle when he spoke the word “stay”. I saw the look of defeat when I left Sonoma. I saw him standing outside my house, waiting for me. His expression when I told him I was pregnant. And the look of pure relief when I agreed to marry him.
All of those images were surging throughout me, ebbing electric tides of my memories with him. Here I was, standing in front of the man I loved for the last ten years. I still remember the knobby kneed little boy who liked cherry jolly ranchers, banana only Laffy Taffy, and whined like a two-year old when he didn’t get his way. He may be a NASCAR champion now but underneath it all he was still that little boy at heart who was now my husband.
All the uncertainty I’d ever felt that he didn’t feel the same way seemed so silly now. He was here, showing me that he had felt the same way all along and that this was where we belonged.
Looking at him now, why did I ever have fear?
He was my hero, my best friend, the boy I branded cows with and my shoulder to cry on when I lost my virginity to a douche. He was my scary movie partner, the stealer of my Nine Inch Nails CDs and my dancing partner to a dance that only he knew the steps. He was my confidant, someone I could be me around, someone who knew me. He was the boy who gave me my first kiss at eleven and stole my heart in the pits of Knoxville Raceway seven years later.
He carved his name in countless record books beside the greatest racers in the world and in my heart.
He was my everything and now he would be my husband.
Flywheel – Jameson
I was relieved when the minister finally pronounced us husband and wife, and gave me permission to kiss my bride. Sway had happy tears in her eyes as I leaned down to press my lips to hers softly.
She had other ideas and got a laugh from the crowd when she threw caution to the wind and flung her arms around my neck threading her fingers in my hair, clutching me to her in a deep kiss that was not quite polite for church. Thankfully, we weren’t actually in one. Besides, I was delighted with her enthusiasm and returned the kiss with as much enthusiasm of my own, probably more than I should have. But I wanted her to know. I wanted her to know that I loved her all these years and wanted her as my wife. I poured every emotion I ever had for her into that kiss.
It wasn’t until my dad cleared his throat and said with no measure of amusement, “Hey dipshit, let the poor girl breathe,” that I figured it was up to me to break the kiss and return to the actual moment, here, in a room full of people.
I placed my hands gently on Sway’s cheeks and pulled away, smiling down at her. She smiled, not quite regretting her flagrant public display of affectionate abandon. With a return smile of my own, I took her hand and we turned toward the congregation. There was one last traditional moment to cap off the ceremony.
“Friends and family,” Reverend Campbell announced, “it is my great pleasure to be the first to introduce to you Mr. and Mrs. Jameson Riley.”
I loved the sound of that, as old fashioned as it may have sounded.
I wondered if Sway had even heard it. She was still looking up at me, beaming with apparent happiness. As we were pulled into one after another of the congratulatory embraces of our guests, she continued to clutch my hand tightly. My heart soared to see her deep joy equally reflect my own.
There was no way to doubt that we belonged together.
The reception followed directly after the ceremony. Still clutching Sway’s hand, I led her into the main lodge, decorated with more flowers, ribbon and white cloth. A bar and a dance floor had been set up, and uniformed wait staff were ready with glasses of champagne for our guests.
I glanced toward the large glass windows looking over the ocean. It was still snowing outside and I briefly wondered if we’d even be able to leave in the goddamn carriage. Surely, it didn’t have snow tires.
Emma had built all of the usual traditions into the reception agenda. We cut a five-tiered white wedding cake heavy with fondant flowers and mashed bites into each other’s faces. She threw her bouquet over her shoulder to the group of unmarried women, somehow managing to direct it to her intended target, Ami, Justin’s girlfriend.
When it was my turn to remove her garter, I wasn’t surprised to see that she had already maneuvered it down from her thigh in order to modestly minimize the amount of leg she would be flashing at the crowd. I had other plans for that. She was not escaping this.
“Oh, come on...” Spencer yelled from off to my left when he saw what she’d done. “That’s no fun!”
For his amusement and, admittedly, to tease Sway I flipped her dress up higher than necessary over her knee, letting my fingers trace sensuously down the length of her leg as I bent down to remove the garter, with my teeth, as slowly as I could. Spencer, Tommy, who was feeling better, and Aiden both whistled as Sway flushed red.
When it was finally time for our first dance, I was relieved to find that Sway was relaxed, settling contentedly in my arms as she let me lead her around the floor. We chose Can’t Help Falling in Love as our first dance. That was one aspect of the wedding we were adamant on was our music selection. If Emma had her way, we’d be dan
cing to some Miley Cyrus song.
I was vaguely aware of photographs being taken, but tuned out the crowd to concentrate on my bride, singing quietly to her.
I let go of her hand and twirled her around before capturing her once again in my arms. Everyone stayed off the dance floor, snapping pictures while we danced, lost in the moment together.
“Are you enjoying yourself, Mrs. Riley?” I whispered to her, deciding to give those particular words a try.
She laughed. “That sounds good to hear and yes, I am, Mr. Riley.”
“I hoped you feel that way. I intend to say it a lot.” I replied happily.
We made our way back to the wedding table where everyone decided to give us toasts. Handing a microphone to my family really was a bad idea, particularly when intoxicated.
Spencer started. “Before we get this party started...I wanted to congratulate you guys. Sway, you’ve always been like a little sister to me and I’m glad my brother finally pulled his head out of his ass and asked you to marry him. We have all waited a long time for this wedding so...Let’s party!” he exclaimed pumping his fists in the air while our guests cheered.
Alley took the microphone from him while holding Lane. “Welcome to the madness, Sway.” she said with a smile.
Lane leaned down into the microphone. “Happy wedding,” he said shyly and handed the microphone to Aiden before he buried his head in his mom’s shoulder.
“Whew!” was all he managed to say throwing his champagne around in the air. He must have been trying to compete with Tommy.
Emma then took the microphone while Sway and I laughed at how drunk Aiden was. Aiden was always lively when drunk but he was unskilled at staying on his own two feet.
“You know, once...hey...I wasn’t done—”
Dad snatched the microphone from her before she could go off on another one of her speeches, knocking over a few glasses of champagne as he did so.
“I think what Emma meant to say was...LET’S PARTY!”
My entire family was drunk if you didn’t know, even my mom who was dancing with Charlie.
When the speeches were finished, I led Sway out to the dance floor where Spencer queued the sounds of September by Earth, Wind and Fire.
Although it was hard to dance with Sway and her round belly, we made due. She didn’t hesitate to rub her ass against me either to tease me.
“You better watch out wife. I’ll get even with you.” I growled against her neck in a rough strained voice. “You shouldn’t tease me.”
“I’m looking forward to it, husband.” Sway whispered in my ear as she once again pushed against my camshaft.
Two more weeks...two more weeks...I chanted to myself. How I was going to make it two more weeks was beyond me. I wasn’t sure I could make it through tonight with how amazing she looked in this dress.
We danced for hours to a variety of different songs. Everyone took turns dedicating songs to us. Some were appropriate—some were not.
“Now...I remember one particular party at our house...sorry dad...” Spencer flashed our dad a smile. If only he really knew the parties we threw in our teenage years. “This song was playing that night and I remember my little bro here dancing with Sway to it...so here’s to you two.” He signaled the DJ and the sounds of DJ Kool’s Let Me Clear My Throat pulsed through the speakers. The memories of that evening came to mind as I watched her shake her ass in front of me. For being eight months pregnant, she could still shake her ass with the best of them.
There were so many memories of my childhood with Sway in them. It was refreshing to know we’d be creating more for years to come and I couldn’t wait.
My composure had long since vanished watching Spencer dance around beside us. He looked like an asshole on the dance floor or a coked out version of Evander Holyfield, only white, the size is the same.
I was now vacillating between snorting and violently shaking as I tried to hang onto my beer while laughing uncontrollably and keeping one arm around Sway.
I don’t think I’d ever danced this much in my life or laughed at how ridiculous our families were when drunk together. One thing was true; our families were one in the same.
My legs were starting to feel weak when Spencer approached us.
I’m not sure what was more entertaining to me, him trying to stand on his own two feet, or me.
“Enough for fuck’s sake,” Spencer said as he strode up to cut in. “Let me dance with her. This could be my last chance to tease her before this baby pops out and I have to watch my mouth around it.”
Alley slapped him. “You don’t watch your mouth around Lane...”
“He’s used to it.” Spencer replied with a shrug reaching for Sway.
I gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, and relinquished her hand to Spencer. “Keep your hands to yourself.” I warned before walking past them.
I noticed that Tate and Bobby were standing off to the side of the dance floor and didn’t mind the idea of a few minutes with them.
It was another hour or so before I was able to extricate myself from talking with more of our guests and claim my bride once again. Everyone wanted to congratulate me on the win when all I wanted to do was focus on Sway. Today was for her and she deserved my undivided attention.
When I walked toward her, I caught a glimpse of who she was dancing with and immediately resorted back to my caveman tendencies.
Who the fuck invited him is what I wanted to know.
Emma and Spencer were beside me before I could make a scene—I assumed I had that look to me.
“Whoa there, calm down.” Spencer urged. “They are only dancing.”
“I don’t give a fuck.” I snapped glaring toward Emma. “Why was he invited?”
She gave me this look that was in between stupid and annoyed. “There was a time when you were friends with him.”
That was true but ever since Spencer’s wedding night; I didn’t care to ever see him again.
“I don’t care. You shouldn’t have invited him.” I pushed past Spencer, only to be caught by my mom.
“Jameson, you make a scene on this perfect day for Sway and I will kill you. My son or not, I will murder my own son.”
I flashed a smile; she continued to glare. “I’m only going to claim my wife again.”
Sway’s face was pure panic when she saw me approach them. I stopped a foot shy and tapped on his left shoulder. “Pardon me Cooper—I’d like to dance with my wife again.” I nearly spat the word wife in his face.
“Oh sure...sorry about that,” he apologized with a nervous chuckle. “Congratulations on the championship man. I knew you’d pull it off.”
“Thanks.” I muttered clutching Sway to my chest tightly, relaxing into the feel of her soft body in my arms.
Cooper stepped away after that and I focused all my attention on Sway, where it belonged.
“Sorry about that.” She said after a moment of silence.
“Don’t be,” I leaned down to kiss her forehead.
“This I could get used to this,” she murmured happily, as her footsteps followed my lead. “Even though I feel like a Shamoo doing tricks at Sea World,” She laughed. “Do you want to toss me a fish? I bet I could catch it.”
I chucked at her joke, my mercurial mood returning and pulled back to look into her eyes.
Suddenly overcome with the urge to kiss her, I leaned down and brushed my lips over hers softly, then back again. I kissed her again, gently, slow but building in intensity as we both got lost.
Despite the fact that other couples were dancing around us, I had managed to tune them out and had kind of forgotten that we were still in the middle of the dance floor until I heard Emma calling for Sway.
She stood on her tiptoes to kiss me again, but wasn’t strong enough to hold on when Emma gave her an impatient tug, dragging her away. She looked back at me wistfully as the guests around us, having noticed the scene, chuckled with amusement.
“Good luck controlling yourself tonight,
” Spencer teased. He and Alley had been dancing right next to us. I hadn’t noticed they were there.
“I swear to god...if you say penetration...I will kill you.” I threatened.
Alley stepped in as Spencer smiled. “Spencer, behave,” She rolled her eyes at me. “You may want to do something about the lipstick on your face, Jameson.”
With a smirk, I pulled a handkerchief out of my pocket, and tried to get the lipstick off as I left the dance floor. I supposed it was a good thing Emma had used a light shade on Sway.
Charlie was waiting for me off to the side.
I watched him for a minute, his chocolate hair cut short now. He had the remnants of a glass of champagne in his hand and a contemplative expression on his face. I knew immediately what he wanted to say, and braced myself to let him say it. I could tell he already felt uncomfortable about it, but needed to get it off his chest. To be honest with you, we hadn’t really had a talk since I asked to marry his daughter.
“Hey kid...” he began, after a somewhat awkward pause. He took another swallow of champagne. “I just want to say—I’m glad she has you but it was still hard to give her away. I won’t be around much longer and I’m,” his expression took on a distant gaze. “relieved to know that my only daughter is happy. That’s all I’ve ever wanted for her, and I know that she is. She’s ecstatic, in fact. And that’s because of you. Sway loves you, and I can see how much you love her.” He smiled. “So...I wanted to welcome you to the family son. If Rachel was still alive I know she would have loved you and I’m sure she’d say the same.”
“Thank you, Charlie. That means a lot.”
“I can’t thank you enough for what you...” he paused and I knew what he was about to say. I think he also knew not to actually say his name around me. “Did to...just, thank you. I also know you’ll take care of her. She’ll always be my little girl. So I’m entrusting her to your care now. Understand?”
“Of course. You don’t have to worry about that.” I told him with confidence. “I will take care of her.”
