Chapter 35
The guests faced the center as the music filled the sanctuary and bridesmaids in flowing dresses descended down the isle. Nick rocked back and forth on his feet as he awaited each second to pass. “Geez, you think you could relax just a little bit. I mean this is Kevin’s wedding,” AJ tuned in but was silenced by Nick’s stark glare.
“Aren’t weddings just the greatest,” Amanda gloated squeezing AJ. Watching them Nick was hardly amused and had this sudden urge to call Hannah. Just as he was about to excuse himself the wedding song chimed and the bride paced towards the alter past the beaming faces. "Here we go," Nick sighed. Being a catholic ceremony he was stuck for a good ninety minutes. He watched as Kevin and Kristen stood before family, friends, and god to make their final vows.
After what seemed like an eternity, and a great deal of sitting, standing, then sitting again, the guests started filing out of their pews in progression to the reception. “Hey, let’s go try and find Kev,” Brian spoke up leading the way out of the church.
“Wait, hold up,” Nick grabbed hold of his arm. “I’ve got a call to make so I’ll catch up with you later…at the reception. Send Kristen and Kevin my love,” Nick yelled over the loud commotion of the crowded gallery before rushing off with his friends behind completely dumbfounded.
“What’s up with him?” Amanda asked.
“One word, Hannah! Come on, let’s get going,” AJ answered taking her arm and pushing his way through to the door.
Figuring the quietest place to make a call was the actual sanctuary itself Nick walked in to find the wedding party in the middle of pictures. He quickly turned trying to leave unnoticed as to make his call elsewhere, but was stopped by the shouting of his name. “Nick!” Kevin yelled out. Stepping out of his pose he walked towards the back of the church, “What are you still doing here? I thought you’d have left with Brian and Leighanne for the reception already.”
“Oh yea, “Nick stumbled for words, “I was going to but wanted to say a word of congratulations to my good friend privately. But I can see you’re in the middle of something here, I’ll let you be…”
“Think nothing of it, we don’t mind. Actually you stay here and watch, maybe it’ll liven things up a little bit. This photographer is a real starch.” Kevin laughed.
“That’s ok, I don’t want to intrude…that’d be rude. I’ll catch up with you later at the reception,” Nick suggested trying to make a quick get away.
“No, by all means stay. You’re in no way a nuisance, well maybe not a complete one…oh come on, stay.”
“Fine,” Nick surrendered, “Oh!” he shook himself back to reality, ”Congratulations on being a married man! How’s it feel?”
“Well it’s only been about 15 minutes officially, so maybe I don’t have the best grasp on the whole thing…but it’s the best thing in the world. You should really try it,” Kevin teased. Hearing those words startled yet rang true for Nick, he had not thought of it before but for some reason the words that had once arisen the strongest sense of fear in him now brought a sense of comfort and joy. “Hello, I was only kidding,” Kevin waived his hands before his face. Laughing it off Nick patted Kevin’s back and started towards the front where the photographer and wedding party stood in annoyance.
Snapshot after snapshot Nick sat in the front pew twirling the phone in his hand. ‘Could this possibly take any longer?’ Giving up he flipped open the phone and dialed the number he’d embedded permanently in his mind, he could not resist anymore. One ring…two rings….five rings….ten rings…by the twentieth Nick figured she was not there and reluctantly closed his phone. Sinking back in the bench he groaned as the photographer discovered a new and improved way of positioning for the large group.
Forty-five minutes and three more phone calls later people finally began to load the limos and start route for the resort holding the reception. Scrunched between a wide-hipped bridesmaid and broad-shouldered groomsman Nick had no choice but to stare directly ahead and try not to miss-position himself as they made their way over rolling hills and through rounding curves. Once at the dining hall he immediately tried one more call to Hannah but the secure, meaning isolated and removed, location offered no signal. ‘Figures!’ he dropped the phone back in his side pocket and entered the walkway.
Inside over one hundred guests danced around a room fully decorated with sparkling lights and glowing candles. In the rear a band was playing wedding classics, songs that even though heard a million times…still make your heart melt at the first chord. It would be perfect, if only he weren’t alone. Grabbing a glass of champagne Nick started to circulate the room; not to find someone to talk to but to help each minute pass. Behind a gathering of gossiping women he spotted Leighanne and Brian at a table, enjoying the scenery.
“There you are! We thought you’d ditched us to fly back home. Come sit with us,” Leighanne motioned to him. Nick made his way between the cramped tables and took a seat.
“Does this,” he eyed the room, “make you even more excited for your own wedding in September?”
“Of course,” she smiled taking hold of Brian’s hand. “What about you, any ideas of marriage sparking in your head?”
“I don’t know,” he sipped his champagne, “maybe.” The adoring couple nodded and sat back enjoying their surroundings. “If I may, could I ask you a question, especially you Brian?” The two averted their attention back to Nick, “When did you know that the two of you were meant for each other and no one else, that you were going to spend the rest of your lives together?”
“Good question,” Brian smiled, “and an easy answer. I knew immediately, after that video shoot I somehow knew that my search for true love was done. Of course I waited a while before proposing, but I think I always knew that one day I would. And here we are, engaged and to be married this coming September with our whole lives before us.” Absorbing the quick answer Nick stared into the bubbles of his champagne.
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Stomach cramping and face a bright color of red Hannah gasped for air to recover from laughter. Somehow the hospital lounge no longer seemed so barren and depressing as she and her mother reconnected over lost times. “I had no idea how much you’d grown up,” broke in her mother, “and how much you were in love.”
All afternoon Hannah had gushed over her every moment with Nick, both the good and the bad. “Yea, I guess you could say I’m pretty smitten,” she answered sheepishly.
“It’s obvious what an endearing man he is, and that,” she tapped Hannah’s nose, “makes your mother very happy. My daughter deserves nothing but the best. So exactly how far do you see this going? Are future wedding bells ringing?”
Hannah choked at her mother’s inquisitive nature, “What?” she coughed patting her chest. “Wedding bells? Isn’t that a little premature?” It surprised Hannah that the thought of marriage had never crossed her mind before, but now that the idea presented itself a smirk brushed across her face. ‘Me and Nick, married?!’ she silently asked herself ignoring her mother’s amused stare.
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“What are you thinking Nick, I haven’t seen you this deep in thought for a long time,” Brian teased trying to snap his friend back from the world of bubbles.
Suddenly the room seemed to close in around Nick. The music was playing louder. Roaming from table to table he saw masses of people shouting and hollering amongst each other. His friends, that strange smile they were giving him. Instinctively he grabbed his glass and finished off the champagne in one swing back of the neck. “I’m not thinking anything. Well, nothing important anyway. Besides, since when did you become so concerned with my train of thought Brian?” Both Brian and Leighanne eyed him, and his neurotic behavior. “OK, you win! If you must know I was thinking about the very person I’ve been thinking about all day. Did you know that there’s no cellular service up here in the middle of no where? Well there’s not, and I’d just like to get a hold of Hannah before it gets too late; to say goodnight…to say I love her…and that I’ll see her in the morning.”
“Lighten up! You know she wouldn’t like the idea of you sitting here frantically worrying because your cell phone doesn’t work in the mountains. I guess this whole thought of marriage is really getting to you huh?!”
“Nick, would you join me on the dance floor? My feet are starting to get antsy,” Leighanne asked. Agreeing Nick arose from his seat and crossed the table to take her by the arm and out on the dance floor. “You really do love her don’t you?” her twang voice rang out as they stood motionless as couples twirled around them.
“Brian’s right, the idea of marriage is getting to me.”
“That’s ok, being scared is nothing to be ashamed of,” she took hold of his hand and started moving her feet.
Spinning her under his arm the two starting dancing to the rhythm, “No, that’s not it at all. The thought of marriage is really comforting.” He leant her backwards, holding her securely with his hand on the small of her back.
Looking into his eyes she smiled, “So she’s the one for you…you’ve found her.” Raising back up, the two started twisting their hips. “If you know it now you’ll know it forever. Feelings like those just don’t come and go, they last for a lifetime.”
“And I suppose that’s why our nation’s divorce rate is more than 50%,” Nick breathed as he again spun her around, this time catching a breath of her golden hair in his face. “Not to put a burden on the thought of marriage, but statistically—“
“Oh who gives a hoot about statistics?” she panted. “You are your own person not some random number. Have a little faith in love.”
“You,” he pushed her out, “misunderstand me,” pulling her back towards him. “I’m not worried about statistics, and that’s what’s weird. It’s like Brian said back there, I know that this is what’s right…I know she is the only woman I’ll always feel this way about.”
Circling him, Leighanne bite her lip in excitement, “Then you have nothing,” the two came face to face, “to worry about.” The music stopped and they returned back to the table without uttering another word.
Chapter 36
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