~ Asher's POV ~
- - - - - THREE YEARS LATER - - - - -
"I can't believe we're a married couple now!" Zoie squealed in excitement as she pushed the door to her bedroom open. "I can't believe I get to tell people that I have a husband!"
With a glass of champagne in her hand, she was twirling around the room in her white satin dress. Asher was walking right behind her in his crisp white shirt, black slacks, and black suit, closing the door shut.
"I'm sorry the wedding didn't go the way we planned," he said with a sigh.
"Are you kidding? It's even better than we planned. We didn't have to worry about who to invite and how to entertain the guests," Zoie giggled as she sipped her bubbly drink. Leaning her sexy self on the bedpost, she then said, "It's just you, me, and our families. It was the wedding of my dreams,"
Asher always knew that life was unpredictable, but this year hit them like a bolt of lightning. They started off the year planning for the wedding. Asher proposed about a year ago, right after graduation. He took her on a drive to the beach, this beautiful place called Carmel by the Sea. After spending a perfect weekend out there, he took her to the beach, got down on one knee, and popped the question. And if you're wondering what ring he proposed with, he proposed with the ring his mother got from his father. It was such a special object and he couldn't imagine anyone else in the world holding such an important piece of his life in their hand other than Zoie.
And of course, Zoie said yes.
Zoie and Asher then moved back to the east coast after graduation. Asher was still racing cars with his team on the side, but his main priority was to work for Damon, handling his international clients. Zoie, on the other hand, got a job as a junior editor at this up-and-coming literary magazine called, A Public Space. On top of their busy schedules, they were also planning a summer wedding. Everything was going perfectly, until a few days before the wedding, Hurricane Ida happened. All the flights in and out of New Jersey got canceled, their venue had to close down due to safety issues, and many of their guests didn't end up attending the wedding.
It was total chaos. Zoie was upset and crying, Asher was scrambling to hold everything together, and they thought about postponing the wedding. But luckily, Damon was a persistent man. When he wanted something to happen, he could always make it happen. So instead of their original venue at the St. Regis, they moved the wedding to the grand room at Damon's house. It turned into a small and intimate wedding, but it was a wedding nonetheless.
Damon walked Zoie down the aisle. Zoie wore a white dress and Asher wore a black suit. Jo and Nic were her bridesmaids, while Mikey and Landon were Asher's groomsmen. Zach actually got officiated online and he officiated the wedding for his sister.
And so, as of today, they were officially Mr. and Mrs. Asher Luciano.
"You're really not disappointed?" Asher asked again, just to be sure. "Because if you want a big wedding, we can always do another party-"
Zoie shook her head and walked over to him, putting a finger to his lips.
"I don't care about a party, all I want is to be married to you,"
Oh, damn. Even after all these years, she can still melt my heart with just a sentence.
Cupping her cheek with his hand, Asher pressed his forehead onto hers and sighed, "I love you, Mrs. Luciano,"
Zoie's cheek blushed rosy pink and she replied, "I love you too, Mr. Luciano,"
Asher couldn't contain the smile forming on his face as he leaned down to kiss his wife. It didn't matter that a hurricane was raging outside. A great thunder was rolling, the rain was pouring, and it may as well be the end of the world. But for Asher, tonight was the happiest night of his life.
Because no matter how crazy the world gets, I get to have her as my wife. Every day and every night. For the rest of my life.
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For the rest of the night, Asher and Zoie had stocked the bedroom with a whole lot of food and booze, and they also had Netflix playing on the TV. At some point in the night, Zoie thought it'd be fun to walk around the room butt naked as she chose a movie for them to watch. She was trying to torture him, obviously. And of course, it worked.
Spoiler alert, they didn't end up watching a movie.
They ended up spending the entire night recreating some of their best memories in this very house. They danced, they talked, and they lost their wedding-night-virginities to each other.
What's it like to have sex with my wife, you may ask? Well... it's the best. I don't have any other words for it. Creme de la creme. Best of the best.
After years and years of practice, they were pretty much a pro at this. He knew exactly how to get her off, and she knew exactly what to do to send him into an early grave.
Needless to say, I had a good workout on my wedding night.
After making sure his insatiable wife was happily satisfied, Asher collapsed on the bed and slept like a damn baby afterward. He didn't even realize that he was out cold until he woke up alone in the bed the next afternoon.
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When he woke up the next day, it was already past 12 PM and Zoie wasn't on the bed or anywhere inside the room. It wasn't like her to leave him in the morning without a note or anything, so Asher got anxious. Getting off the bed, he grabbed his slacks and put them on before heading out to find her.
There are guards everywhere. It's not like someone's taken her... right?
He spent the next ten minutes roaming around the house looking for his wife, but no one had seen her. Her mom said that she was in the kitchen all morning long, and Zoie hadn't even come down for breakfast coffee.
That didn't sound like Zoie at all. Her mom's coffee was the first thing she needed before anything else in the morning. Asher was starting to get worried, so he raced back to the room to find his phone. Thankfully, when he opened the bedroom door, he found Zoie standing inside the room.
"Oh, thank god!" he said as he ran up to her and pulled her into a hug. "Sweet girl, where'd you go?"
"Ash..." her voice was small and she had her eyes down on the floor, like she was scared of him or something.
"Zoie?" he tilted her face up to meet his. "What's wrong?"
"I... just came back from the store to get this," she pulled out a small pink box from her coat pocket and his eyes widened instantly. "Asher, I think I might be pregnant,"
"Say what now?" he gaped at her.
At first, he thought she was playing a prank on him or something, but her eyes were dead serious. Her hands were shaking as she held up the box of the pregnancy test. And after letting out a long sigh, she swallowed hard and said, "I just realized this morning that I hadn't had my period in two weeks... I haven't taken the test, but I think I might be pregnant..."
"What...?"
Asher didn't have a better response other than being completely shocked. He didn't see this coming at all. Especially after what the doctors kept telling them, it didn't seem like this was ever going to be a possibility and he already accepted that.
"I... I don't know how it happened... but I've been feeling kinda off the past few days, I had all these mood swings, and I thought it was the wedding stress, but yesterday I was also throwing up-" she paused to take a deep breath before continuing, "I don't know what's happening here..."
Zoie was clearly stressed out. This was something they ruled out as a thing that was never gonna happen, but now that it was happening, she didn't know how to react.
Is this even real? Dare we hope?
"Sweet girl, c'mere," he said as he ran his thumb around her cheek gently. She complied and came closer, leaning her face into his hand. "Don't worry. No matter what happens, everything's gonna be okay,"
Zoie looked up at him and her eyes turned glassy.
"Ash..." she whispered weakly. "What's this gonna mean for us?"
"It means a whole new adventure is waiting," he said with a big smile. "And I can't ask for a better ride or die,"
Zoie's lips also curved into a smile. It was a small smile, but it was enough.
"Ash... I'm scared..." Her lips started quivering.
"Hey, I know you're scared, and I'm scared too. But, no matter what happens, we'll do this together," he said as he pressed his forehead onto hers. "We've taken on the world before, we can do it again, together,"
Zoie swallowed hard and nodded her head.
Taking the box from her hand, he told her, "Let's do it together,"
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
It was the longest five minutes of my life.
Zoie had already peed on the stick and they had it facing downwards on the sink counter as they stared at it with each passing second. Their hands were clasped together and Zoie's hands were shaking uncontrollably. Asher tried to look calm for her, but honestly, he was freaking out too. His heart was beating like crazy and he was sweating like a dog in the summertime.
"So, one line means negative and two lines means positive?" he asked again, just to be sure.
"Yes... that's what the box says..."
Zoie looked so terrified. He couldn't stand seeing her like this, so he tried to make the situation better by saying, "Hey, don't worry, even if it's a no, nothing will change between us,"
That didn't make her feel better at all. Zoie still looked anxious, maybe even worse.
"Hey," he said as he squeezed her hand. "We'll be okay,"
Zoie bit her lip and turned to him, tears were brimming in the corner of her eyes as she said, "Ash, I want this for us... I wanna give you a family... I don't wanna let you down,"
"Sweet girl, nothing you can do will ever let me down," he said reassuringly. "You're my family and that's more than enough for me,"
Asher stared deeply into her eyes, capturing her soul. Zoie nodded her head lightly and leaned her face closer. Asher wrapped her body in his arms and planted tender kisses on the top of her head. He then tilted her face up to his, leaning down to catch her lips.
* BEEP! * BEEP! * BEEP! *
But just before their lips could touch, the sudden beep coming from the stick was ringing like a freaking bomb about to explode. Asher and Zoie pulled apart instantly.
"Is that...?" he asked cautiously.
"I think that means it's done," she gulped.
With his hand shaking, Asher reached for the stick and he was about to flip it when Zoie stopped him.
"Wait," she said suddenly. "Are you ready for this?"
"Honestly, I don't know," he admitted. "Are you?"
"No, not really..."
"We'll look at it together, okay? On three?"
Zoie took a deep breath before answering, "Okay,"
Asher was holding his breath as he fixed his eyes on that little white stick. Zoie put her hand on top of his as he was getting ready to flip the stick upwards.
"One..." he started counting.
"Two..." she continued.
"Three...!"
And there they are. The two lines.
Signaling that forever had only just begun.
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- - - - - - The End - - - - - -