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The seats fill up more, the division between the guests becoming more and more apparent, and finally, right on time, the music starts. There’s a string quartet where the altar would usually be, and the music fills the space perfectly. Everyone turns to face the central aisle as the first of the bridesmaids enters. She’s dressed in a gorgeous off-the-shoulder slinky black dress touched with lace that matches the flowers, and I do a double-take at the metal collar that she’s wearing around her neck. It’s just like the one the kneeling girl is wearing.
The next bridesmaid has cuffs around her wrists. What on earth is happening here? A dawning sensation reaches me that in the two years since I’ve seen Lily, life may have taken a different path than I thought. Like full on kinky, and by the time the last bridesmaid appears, I’m prepared to see her in full-on bondage gear.
I’m so relieved to be wrong. Lily appears in a white gown, no strange additions in sight, and the minute she sees her fiancé—Mark—at the altar, she transforms into a person so happy and so beautiful I almost don’t recognize her. There’s a pang in my chest. I want someone who will make me that happy. I want someone that I want so much that I have a smile that looks like it’s going to crack my face in half.
The wedding is simple and proceeds much the way I expect it to, until it doesn’t. Lily and Mark say their vows, they exchange rings, and then Lily kneels in front of Mark like it’s the most natural thing in the world for her to do. Mark steps behind her, placing a simple silver necklace on her and fastening it, all the while murmuring words that are not loud enough for the guests to hear.
I feel stunned more than anything. Glancing over at the ‘non-traditional’ audience shows that many of them are close to tears, and Lily is too. She looks almost happier than when she spoke her wedding vows. Is this what her life is now? Is Lily one of those women you read about in books who like to get tied up and beaten during sex? Even though we haven’t spoken in a long time, I knew Lily really well. I still feel like I know her really well, and the look on her face is genuine happiness. She’s not being forced into this. Am I okay with that? Can I be happy for my friend when she participates in something that many people consider abuse?
My gut churns with uncertainty, and I make up my mind to ask her at the reception. If I get to talk to her, I’ll be able to know whether she really wants this. And if she does, then I’ll do my best to be happy for her. If not, I’ll find a way to get her the hell out.
Lily stands, the minister pronounces them man and wife, and the whole audience cheers as they retreat up the aisle to a song that’s cheerier than you’d expect at a wedding that’s full of crimson and black.
Well, one thing’s for sure. This is going down as one of the strangest weddings I’ve ever been to, and I haven’t even gotten to the reception yet.
Two
It’s late by the time I get to talk to Lily. You never actually get to talk to people in a receiving line. It’s kind of like an assembly line. After fifteen seconds and a hug, I half expect a woman with a stern face and clipboard to say that we’re slowing down production.
So instead, I talk to the people at my table, I eat some of the food —which is delicious—and I drink. I’m learning a hell of a lot more about the scene than I ever knew before, because one of those couples sitting in the front row is at my table. The woman was sitting on the floor and I definitely wasn’t doing a good enough job at not staring.
Frankly, I’m still not doing a very good job, because I can’t dismiss the tiny, nagging feeling that I’m missing something whenever I look at them. Thankfully this couple has been kind about it. They aren’t the couple I was watching in the sanctuary, but they behave much the same. And talking to them—both of them—is an experience I’m not going to forget soon.
And now I know that Mark—Lily’s now husband— is a Dom or Dominant, and Lily is his sub. Which just blows my mind. Lily was practically afraid of men in college, to the point where I would have to drag her out of our dorm rooms on weekends so she could have some social interaction. But even though this is all new to me, Jenny and Christopher are making me feel a whole lot better about this. Jenny doesn’t seem like she’s some beaten down woman who does whatever Chris says. In fact, they seem like they have a really solid relationship. I’m relieved.
