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❝my memories are nightmares❞
ROSEMARY FIDDLED NERVOUSLY WITH THE VEIL OF WHITE LACE WEAVED THROUGH HER HAIR. Her dress had been sewn on her, corset tied tight around her ribcage and preventing her deep, calming breaths. She looked herself over in the somewhat dusty mirror before her, and smiled slightly.
Today was the day she'd marry her best friend, and her soulmate. Just in the chapel a few feet away Damon resided, standing at the altar awaiting Rosemary to walk down the aisle.
A knock on the door snapped her from her thoughts and she looked over at it. "Come in!"
"It's just me, Ro," Stefan called, opening the door and shutting it quickly behind him. His eyes widened when he saw her standing there in all white, and he felt his jaw drop slightly. "You look beautiful, Rosemary. Damon's not going to know what to say."
She smiled, hiding it behind her hand. "Thank you, Stefan. Are you ready?"
Stefan nodded, offering his arm for her to take. She tucked her hand in his elbow and the two exited her small room, Stefan leading her down the short hall towards the chapel where a majority of Mystic Falls awaited. "Are you ready, Rosemary?"
She let out a long sigh, and nodded. "I'm marrying the love of my life, Stefan. Nothing could ruin this for me."
Stefan smiled at her and the doors opened, revealing the crowd that stood up at her presence. Rosemary's smile widened into a blinding grin that her red lips were pulled back into, her attention solely on the raven haired man standing at the end of the aisle.
Damon's eyes widened and he swallowed around the lump in his throat. The tears were hot as they pooled at his waterline, an outwardly emotional reaction from the man when he saw her for the first time. She looked stunning, more beautiful than anything he'd ever seen.
He watched as she was walked to him, Stefan escorting her down the aisle in place of her late parents. It seemed like yesterday that he came home from the war and proposed, when in reality it had been nearly a full year. They'd settled back into a routine, and had begun building their own home in the comfort of Mystic Falls so that once they were married they could live on their own.
Damon smiled breathlessly when she came to a stop before him, turning to Stefan and hugging him tightly with a shakily whispered thanks that the younger man shook off. Two of the people he cared for most the most were getting married today, he couldn't be happier for them.
Rosemary stepped up on the altar and nodded to the priest, who opened the bible up and held a hand up to the filled pews before them.
"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to witness and rejoice the nuptials of Rosemary Montgomery, and Damon Salvatore. Today, in the most special of days, they have chosen to bind each other not only in name, but in heart, and soul, for as long as they both shall live.
If any of you can show just cause as to why they may not be lawfully wed, speak now, or forever hold your peace."
Rosemary just smiled at Damon, not an inkling of nerve flinching her mirth.
The priest nodded at the ongoing silence and looked back at the couple before him. "Rosemary, will you take this man to be your husband? To comfort him, honor and keep him, in sickness and in health, and forsaking all others, be faithful unto him as long as you both shall live?"
Rosemary nods firmly, not breaking her stare from Damon's gleaming eyes. "I will."
"Damon, will you have this woman to be your wife? To comfort her, honor and keep her, in sickness and in health, and forsaking all others, be faithful unto her as long as you both shall live?"
"I will." Damon croaks out, feeling his throat tighten up.
The priest looks out at the congregation gathered. "Will all of you witnessing these promises do all in your power to uphold these two persons in their marriage?"
The congregation echoes their assent and Rosemary lets out a shaky breath.
"You may now exchange your vows."
Damon takes Rosemary's right hand and lays their palms flat against one another in the air. "I, Damon Salvatore, take you, Rosemary Montgomery, to be my wife; to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse. For richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, even after we are parted by death."
Damon lets out a lovesick sigh. "From the day I first met you I knew I would love you like I loved no other, and even now, all these years later, it's true. I see nobody but you, I want nobody but you, and I know that will never change. I vow that no matter what may happen, no matter how far, or how long, I will wait for you. I will always wait for you, Rosemary."
Rosemary has tears skittering down her face and she knows she's going to have to touch her makeup up before the rowdy celebration later tonight because of them. She sniffles and squeezes his hand with her own, silently expressing her gratitude towards him through the action.
They drop hands and Rosemary takes his left hand in hers, mirroring the movement from before. "I, Rosemary Montgomery, take you, Damon Salvatore, to be my husband; to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse. For richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, even after we are parted by death."
She stifles more tears, swallowing around the lump in her throat as she looks at Damon. "The love I always dreamed of was one out of a story. I wanted to be swept off my feet and romanced, and charmed at every turn of the corner. I had no idea that the day I met you would be the day all of my unrealistic ideas about love would come true. I vow that no matter what may happen, and no matter how far, or how long it may be, I will wait for you, always."
Damon is the one crying now, the both of them looking terribly in love. It's a heart-warming sight to the congregation, all except one who's got a distasteful frown marring her pretty features that went unnoticed as everyone had their attention on the happy couple.
The priest nods and smiles, taking the two silver rings he'd been given before the ceremony. "These rings symboilze your union, a simple band to prove that you swore yourselves to each other before your peers. With these rings, I humbly pronounce the marriage of Rosemary and Damon Salvatore."
Rosemary and Damon join their right hands, bare of rings, and clasp them together in the air as the priest raises his hands above them.
"You may kiss the bride,"
Damon lunges forward and kisses her with every bit of passion that he can, the mixture of their tears tasting salty as she pushes back against him. Her lips split into a grin against his, and Damon laughs breathlessly, pulling back and resting his forehead against hers.
