Into the Light(45)

I walked over to her when she finished, my tongue was tied, not able to find the right words.

“Hi,” was all I managed. Damn, I was never lost for words.

“Hi yourself.” She smiled back.

The photographer grabbed us once again and before you knew it we were lost in the wedding chaos. The cars pulled up to the church and we were separated yet again. It wasn’t a long drive to the reception but of course, in wedding tradition, and I am not exaggerating when I say a million photos were taken. From a pose by the pond, under the apple tree, against the cars, in the cars, you name it and it was done...three times! The photographer suggested a photo of the bridal party with their respective partners. Again, I thought it might be a chance to speak to her.

As we posed by the flower garden, the fussy photographer snapped pictures, directing us every which way. For a moment when he had to change the roll of film, I tilted my head to whisper in her ear but she was pulled away by Adriana for help on a wedding dress problem.

Fucking hell.

An hour later we were sitting inside the reception hall. I was sitting next to Elijah who kept making out with Adriana; who would have thought that I would be sitting in the most awkward spot there was? Just before the entree was being served, I decided to make a quick dash to the men’s room. On my way there I ran into Rocky and Nikki in the hallway. I could have sworn she had her hair in a bun at the church and now it was out, sitting messily on her shoulders.

“Babe, can you excuse us for a second?” Nikki asked Rocky. He walked back into ballroom with a giant smirk on his face. That fucker just got blown. Nikki’s lipstick looked fresh, like it was reapplied minutes ago.

“First of all, that prank you pulled wasn’t funny. However, it serves him right for begging for the floorshow.”

“I can’t argue with that one,” I replied with a small chuckle.

“Look, you know me, I’m just going to say it how it is… I was there when Charlie found out. She’s very fragile right now. I want you to take that into consideration.”

“Nikki...”

“No, Lex, look, I’m butting out. This is your business. She’s your wife now. All I ask is that you take good care of her, okay? She’s family to me.”

I nodded; I understood exactly how much Charlotte meant to her. How much Charlotte meant to everyone.

Then I remembered she just said she was my wife now. So Charlotte told her, did that mean what I thought it meant? She walked away and I was left standing there, thinking about what she said and forgetting my urgent need to take a piss.

I quickly ducked in and out of the bathroom, then made my way back to the table. Dinner was served and we all sat there chatting amongst ourselves. I knew it was almost time for the speeches but of course some moron in the crowd kept tinkering with their glass, that stupid tradition where one person starts tapping their fork against the glass and the whole room follows, forcing the couple to kiss. It was like the tenth time it had happened tonight and after close examination I realized it was Rocky who always started it. I looked over at him, shooting him a ‘fuck off and stop doing that’ look. He just shot me back a wide grin and raised his glass to me. A few moments later, the MC announced it was speech time. Thankfully I was last, not that I was worried since this was nothing compared to the speeches I had given in front of the most powerful men in the world, but I would have to follow my dad. He was up first and I knew that it would be a tear jerker. Not for me, I didn’t cry over wedding shit, but for all the women in the crowd, especially my mother.

“Thank you all for coming here today to celebrate the marriage of my beautiful and only daughter, Adriana, and my new and hopefully only son-in-law, Elijah.” The crowd let out a small laugh; my father always had a way with crowds.

“Even since Adriana could talk she was obsessed with weddings. Her first failed marriage was at three. I walked into the living room and found all her dolls and bears dressed up sitting in rows. Adriana was wearing a Cinderella costume with a crown; I asked her what she was doing and she said she was getting married and waiting at the altar for her groom. I couldn’t help but be amused by this little girl’s imagination so I asked her who her groom was and she simply replied, ‘Alex’.” The crowd erupted into laughter and even I remembered how funny that was. “Well, needless to say that was followed by a long lecture on who you were and weren’t allowed to get married to.”

“Her second failed marriage was at the age of eight. We were due to move to Carmel in about a week. Adriana came rushing through the house with a basket full of items. I asked her why the rush and what she was doing. She explained that she was eloping in the backyard and that we all needed to be there because she was marrying the next door neighbors’ kid before we left. I explained to her again that marriage wasn’t something that you committed to with just anyone. I still remember her exact words to me: ‘Daddy, if I don’t lock him down now then God knows who I could end up with.’ I’m thinking little Jimmy next door must have been glad we decided to move three days early.” The crowd again let out a laugh, my mother beaming as my father continued on.