Disclaimer: Don’t own the WWF superstars, just Kat and the intellectual idea.
Distribution: Flights.
Notes: More of the Tested Love saga. Reacting to the horror.
I didn’t expect it to be this big. Last night, while it still burned, it didn’t look so big. And frightening. It is frightening. My hair’s probably getting whiter as we speak. It’s so black with soot and… It was probably nice wood before it was burned liked this. Not anymore though…
The smell of charred wood fills my nostrils. Funny how I used to love that smell. When I was a kid, the only time we had fires in the fire place was when it was excessively cold outside… and usually on those nights, we lost electricity. I used to love those nights. Usually, it meant that we wouldn’t have to go to school the next day. Those were good times. Not so good right now…
The cross… symbol of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Yep, once upon a time, I was a good little Catholic girl. That is until I found out women couldn’t be priests and… well, it was a whole mess from here on out. But still, I believe in Jesus… maybe not just in him but I do believe in him amongst others. And using his cross, his symbol to try to frighten me? It’s not going to work. I still remember the first cross I got at my first communion. I think it’s still in my bedroom at home.
The cops wanted to take the cross down last night but I told them no. I wanted to imprint this into my memory, to see in the harsh light of day. I don’t want to forget last night or today. There are cops and reporters around, not to mention quite a few people from the roster, plus our bodyguards. On the inside I smile. So these bastards want to scare me? All right, let’s play this game. Let them see I’m not afraid of them.
I cross myself and genuflect in front of the cross. I put up my hands in the normal prayer formation, palms pressed together in front of my chest, head bowed down, and eyes closed. I am totally selling this. And, with very little effort, I manage to squeeze out a few tears. Oh, how incredibly heart-wrenching. Finally, I get up, cross myself again and play it up some more, putting my hand against the blackened cross and I push away from it. By the time I face the crowd, I look solemn and calm.
“You all right?” Amy asks me.
She’s playing the concerned girlfriend part to the hilt, squeezing my hand but she’s in on my little plan. The gorillas are too. They don’t like it but hey, what are they going to do? Sit their big asses on me and crush me to death? I think not.
“I’ll be okay.”
I wave over the police captain I’d spoken to last night.
“Captain Lewis? You can take it down now.”
My camera is at the ready as they do. I don’t know why but I want to document this myself. This is a part of me they’re taking away right now. It takes the firefighters a while but soon enough, it’s gone and all that’s left is a black hole in my incredibly green front yard. I try to smile but fail. I let the camera hang on my hip and it bumps into the velvet box in my jacket pocket. Amy’s ring is still there. I turn to her. She’s talking with Steph and Jeff, looking very resigned and tired. I take a deep breath and start to smile. Life must go on for us.
I start walking over to her very resolutely and for the first time since we’ve gotten here this morning, I don’t see anyone but her. There are no reporters, none of our friends, no police officers, no gawkers, just her. She looks so pretty. As much as she’s turned me on to the incredible comfort of cargo pants, every once in a while, I manage to con her into squeezing her legs into a pair of tight pants, like the ones she’s wearing now. And with her hair under her black cap, she looks so beautiful… God, and to think I almost left her to protect her. What was I thinking? Even with the gorillas in tow, I know that with the threat bearing down upon us, I will never feel she is safe if I’m not with her. And I want her to be safe forever.
God, I am so sappy… and she is too. There are moments when we both fall into such fluorescent pink sappiness we almost make each other puke but you know what, as kick ass as we both are, sappy is us. Sappy, kickass sweetness… ugh… I love it.
“Amy,” I finally say.
She turns around and I grab her hand.
“What’s up?”
“Baby, I wanted to do this last night and this,” I say, shrugging at the firefighters chopping up the large cross, “was just a delay.”
“Do what?”
God, when we used to play we were getting married when we were kids, I never thought I would actually be doing the guy’s role for real. But I do it. For the second time, on my front lawn, I get down on one knee. But this time, I’m not putting on a show, I’m making a decision that will change my life. So here, I am, down on my knee, her ring in my hand, the velvet box lost in the grass. In this moment, you could have heard a pin drop on grass. Seriously.
“Amy Dumas, will you marry me?”
She stands there and stares at me for a long time. Everyone is waiting on her. And my knee’s getting wet from the dew.
“You are such an idiot,” she tells me, shaking her head.
“Not quite what I was expecting as an answer.”
“I’ll bet. And imagine my surprise since your proposal kind of clashes with mine,” she says as she pulls a ring from her pocket. “Kathleen James, will YOU marry me?”
So we’re both kneeling there, waiting on each other’s answer. Finally, I start to laugh. I take her free hand and slide my ring on her finger and she does the same for me. We both lean forward and gently kiss. And to think, I’d been this close to leaving her.