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“I’ll go check to make sure they’re ready for us,” Ana said with a smile. “They should be, but it doesn’t hurt to check.” She skipped out of the little room in the church to go to the antechamber. Then she was back a few minutes later with a smile and a thumbs up. “They’re all ready for us. In fact, the music is even starting to play.”
“Fantastic.” I smiled, then followed the three of them out of the room into the antechamber.
Can’t Help Falling in Love by Elvis Presley had started to play. It was the song that we had chosen as our wedding march as it made butterflies flit throughout my stomach and had been the song that the two of us had most related to when looking at possible songs.
My mom was waiting for me in a beautiful short lace dress, beaming with pride as she looked me up and down.
“You look lovely,” she said, taking my hand and squeezing it. “I know that your father would have loved to walk you down the aisle on this day, but I hope that you’ll accept me instead.”
“Of course.” I leaned over to kiss her on the cheek. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
The wedding party began walking down the aisle of that beautiful little church then. First went the bridesmaids and the groomsmen: Howard and Ana, and Rachel and Samuel. Then Vanessa and Reese walked down—much to the delight of everyone gathered—carrying the rings.
One of Lucas’s younger cousins walked the aisle as the flower girl. And then, finally, it was my turn.
As the music reached a swell, I took my mother’s arm and a deep breath.
And then we rounded the corner and stepped into the main chamber of that church.
There were audible gasps as people set eyes on my dress. I couldn’t blame them; it was quite the thing to behold. But all that my eyes saw was Lucas.
He was positively radiant, staring at me from his position next to the altar. I could see my future in him, in his smile, in that suit that he wore and the way that he was standing. I wanted so badly to be next to him then, for him to hold me in his arms.
I knew what that felt like, to have his arms wrapped around me. It was the best thing in the world to be inhaling his scent, to be feeling his body so close to mine.
And now I knew that I would be experiencing that for as long as the two of us should live. I would be with him for the rest of my life. He would be there, gracing my every morning with his smile and graving every night with his touch.
“You ready?” my mom asked, smiling up at me.
I nodded, and the two of us began to walk down the aisle, toward my future.
It was the only future that I wanted, and I felt so lucky to know that it was mine.
We got to the altar and my mom handed me off to Lucas, who squeezed my hands tightly and gave me a smile. I smiled back at him, then the two of us turned to the priest.
He walked us through our traditional vows and then it was time for the two of us to read what we had written for each other. We started with Lucas.
“Bernadette, my dear Bella, I don’t know how to properly express my love for you. I thought about writing a poem, maybe a love sonnet just for you, but whenever I tried the words just wouldn’t come to the pen, and the ideas wouldn’t come to my mind. You see, my love for you is boundless and indescribable, so I wanted to read you a poem instead that I feel expresses my love for you better than any words that I could conjure.
“Pablo Neruda’s seventeenth love sonnet: I don’t love you as if you were a rose of salt, topaz, or arrow of carnations that propagate fire: I love you as one loves certain obscure things, secretly, between the shadow and the soul. I love you as the plant that doesn’t bloom but carries the light of those flowers, hidden, within itself, and thanks to your love the tight aroma that arose from the earth lives dimly in my body. I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where, I love you directly without problems or pride: I love you like this because I don’t know any other way to love, except in this form in which I am not nor are you, so close that your hand upon my chest is mine, so close that your eyes close with my dreams.
“To me, you are everything, and these words seem to express that best. I hope that you will let me be your everything as well.”
“Of course.” I wiped a tear from my eye. “I can’t believe you read poetry for me.”
“I’ll read a lot more poetry for you if it gets that response.” He winked, and I laughed.
Then it was time for me to read my vows. I took a deep breath, taking the slip of paper from Ana that I had given to her earlier. She smiled at me encouragingly.
“Lucas, I knew that you were special from the moment I met you. After all, what other fifth grader would make friends with a lonely little first grader?” There was a chorus of laughter from the audience. “But I had no idea what you would become to me. In short, you are everything. You are the sun and the moon and the stars. You are my reason for getting up in the morning and the gentle tide that lures me back to bed in the evening. You are the hours that pass by too quickly and the cry of our child at three am when he manages to climb out of his crib again. And you are mine, and that is all that I could ask for. So, I ask you to let me make that permanent, so I know that you will continue to be my everything until the end of time. Because you are the end and the beginning for me and there is no one else that I’d rather have by my side during this life.”
“I’ll be there until the end,” Lucas said. “I can promise you at least that much.”
I smiled up at him and he smiled down at me. He reached across to grab my hand, squeezing it tightly. Then we turned back to the priest.
“By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you man and wife,” he said. “You may now kiss the bride.”
There were cheers as Lucas grabbed my waist and dipped me into a kiss, but all that I could concentrate on was his lips against mine and the feeling of his hands holding me steady. I had no doubt that they would continue to do so until the end of time.
