Eden (3 page)

The trip from my chair to the door was
uneventful, but the preparations for me to step outside into the
murky jungle were firmly coordinated by my mother. Cynthia barked
orders at Bex, Beth, and the driver. Bex lifted me and held me away
from his body—at Cynthia’s request—to keep from wrinkling the dress
further. Beth and Cynthia held any protruding pieces out and away
as Bex made his way to the truck, and then help spread the fabric
while he lowered me to the backseat. Cynthia’s tactic worked. I was
seated atop a clean blanket, and my dress remained untouched by the
jungle.

Bex led us to the chapel on a dirt
bike, while Cynthia commandeered the passenger seat. Beth squeezed
against the door to my right to give the dress plenty of
room.

“
You are all being a
little ridiculous about this dress. Once I get out of the truck,
the wrinkles will fall,” I said.

“
It’s possible. What will
you do if mud is splattered on it? Have you found a dry cleaner on
the island?” Cynthia asked.

“
Good point.”

Within half an hour, the truck was
bouncing over familiar cobblestone streets. My heart pounded
against my chest when the chapel’s steeple appeared above the palm
trees, and I could barely restrain myself from bursting from the
truck and running inside when the fountain, and then the wooden
double doors came into view. Jared was inside, and the wait had
already been an awful test of my patience.

Beth lightly touched the top of my
hand, and only then did I realize I was tapping her
knee.

“
We’re here,” she said,
pulling at the door handle.

Bex stood on the walkway with a wide
grin on his face. “You look good.”

“
Thanks,” I said, touched
by his sentiment.

“
All right, enough
chitchat. We’re not in the church, yet,” Cynthia said,
orchestrating another transfer. She lifted the hem of one side of
my dress while directing Beth to lift the other, and together we
climbed the steps.

Inside, Lillian waited. Once
recognition hit, her eyes lit up, and she clapped her hands
together, quickly bringing them to her mouth. “Oh. Oh my goodness,”
she said, tears glossing her eyes. “You’re even more beautiful than
I imagined.” She looked to Cynthia. “It’s so good to see you,” she
said, hugging her old friend.

“
As it is you,” Cynthia
said with a warm but demure smile.

Lillian blotted her eyes with a tissue
and shook her head. She looked upon me with pure love and
adoration. She had always regarded me with an adulation that I
never quite understood, but the look in her eyes was new to
me.

“
May I seat you?” Bex said
to Cynthia, offering his arm.

“
Yes, thank you,” she
said, walking with Bex into the church.

Lillian watched them disappear behind
the door, and then leaned into my ear. “You don’t know how long
I’ve waited for this moment. You’ve always been family, Nina. I
can’t explain it,” she whispered. A sweet, innocent laugh escaped
her throat. “Some nights, after Jack and Cynthia took you home
after I’d make you all dinner, I would cry.”

My eyebrows popped up. Lillian was
always so candid about her feelings for me. Even so, her words
surprised me.

“
Gabe used to shake his
head. He always thought me to be irrational when it came to you.
But each time you left my home, I felt I was letting my daughter go
away to live with someone else. I must sound crazy. It sounds silly
to say out loud. I…I just wanted to tell you how happy it makes me
that after today…I can call you my daughter.”

I hugged her to me. The intensity of
emotion in the room was overwhelming. I didn’t hear crazy.
Lillian’s words sounded like love.

“
No, no, no, no…,” Beth
said, pulling a tissue from her purse. “Don’t cry. Your mascara is
waterproof, but it’s not magic. It could smudge.” She carefully
dabbed under my eyes. “You’re only marrying the man of your dreams
soon. What’s to cry about?”

I smiled. “Touché.”

The music sounded. Beth handed me an
exquisite bouquet of pink and white tulips, winked at me, and then
slid out of the double doors to take her walk. I stood alone in the
vestibule, in my dress, holding my favorite flowers—the same Jared
presented me on our first date. I was amazed, then, at the
coincidence. Now it just made me smile. Why he was ever nervous
about whether I would fall in love with him was a mystery. Not only
was he the most thoughtful, most selfless and loving person I knew,
he was also armed with the knowledge of all my likes and dislikes.
He was more armed to win me over more than any man could any woman.
The tulips were perfect. Jared had sent me this very bouquet many
times over the course of our relationship. It just occurred to me
that these flowers had also been sent to me before our
relationship; on birthdays, my high school graduation, and I
remember feeling comforted by a wreath at my father’s funeral
bearing the same flowers. Jared had never mentioned it before, but
I knew they were from him. That thought made me smile. He had loved
me for a long time, and now I was about to walk down the aisle of
our chapel, on our island, to pledge my eternal love to him. Life
had never felt so right.

I thought about my father, and wished
he were next to me. I imagined him in a smart tuxedo with teary
eyes, fawning over my dress and how beautiful and grown up I
looked. As a little girl, I imagined him giving me away at my
wedding, and now he would have to do it from Heaven.

“
I know you can see me,
Daddy,” I whispered, closing my eyes.

Suddenly, I was no longer alone.
Someone was beside me, with an arm hooked around my
elbow.

“
Hope you don’t mind a
wedding crasher. Jack sent me,” Eli winked and tightened his
grip.

“
N-No,” I said, shaking my
head. “Of course not.”

“
I’ve always wanted to do
this.” He stretched his neck and shoulders. “Looked like
fun.”

“
Thank you,” I said, as
the wedding march began to play in the chapel.

“
Ready, kiddo?”

I smiled, and took a deep breath.
“Ready.”

Both doors swept open, held by two
young local boys, and our small audience stood.

Eli leaned into my ear. “You are
breathtaking, by the way.” He took a step, and I followed his lead.
Together we walked slowly down the aisle.

The sanctuary was a bit dim, with
beams of sun breaking through the windows and spotlighting the
different faces of our friends and family. The dust motes slowly
floated in and out of the sunshine, delicate and graceful. I saw
Jared’s Uncle Luke, first. I was surprised to see him, and it must
have showed, because he and his wife Maryse chuckled softly at my
expression. I was glad to see Chad sitting next to my mother,
although it wouldn’t have occurred to her to feel…well,
anything...I didn’t want her to be alone. Lillian, Luke and Maryse
sat together in the first of the heavy, wooden pews, parallel to
Cynthia and Chad. Luke whispered something into his sister’s ear,
and Lillian nodded, taking a deep, satisfied breath.

And then, I saw him. Jared stood next
to Bex at the head of the chapel, at the top of a few steps that
lead to the pulpit and the rest of the stage. Eli waited before he
took a step, sensing that I had stopped in my tracks. Jared was
dressed in a khaki suit with a white-button-up shirt. The top
button was undone, and he skipped the tie. He looked perfect, and
his bright blue-gray eyes were locked on me, over a slightly
nervous, beaming smile.

Without thinking, I took a step, now
anxious more than ever to be next to him. Eli picked up his pace as
my feet insisted on placing the rest of me next to the man I loved
more than life itself. My love for Jared surpassed needing normal,
enough to conquer fate and beat death. In that moment I couldn’t
fathom why I had waited so long, and I wanted to be nowhere else
but in that chapel, making the easy promise to love him
forever.

The reverend was short, swallowed by
his officiant’s gown. His brown skin was dull and wrinkled, but his
kind smile brightened his face. He spoke in a thick accent. “Hello,
Nina. I’m Father Julian.”

I nodded, my gaze returning to
Jared.

“
We gather here, in the
presence of God and this company, that Jared and Nina be united in
holy matrimony. We here to celebrate and share in glorious act that
God is about to perform—the act by which He converts their love for
one another into holy and sacred state of marriage.

“
This relationship is
honorable and sacred, established by our Creator for welfare and
happiness of humanity, and approved by Apostle Paul as honorable
among all men. It is designed to unite two sympathies and hopes
into one; and rests upon mutual confidence and devotion of husband
and wife. May it be in extreme thoughtfulness and reverence, and in
dependence upon divine guidance, that you enter now into this holy
relationship.”

Jared didn’t take his eyes from mine.
Just a few feet away from him, Father Julian stepped down to meet
me. He looked to Eli, and spoke with a thick accent, “Being assured
that your love and your choice of each other as lifelong companions
are in God's will and that you have your families’ blessings. I now
ask. Who gives this woman to be married to this man?”

“
We do,” Eli said with
confidence. He spoke for my father, for Cynthia. He might have even
spoken for Gabe, but I felt Heaven was smiling on the
moment.

Eli lifted my hand to his lips and
kissed my knuckles, and then took Jared’s hand, placing his gently
under mine. With a small, tender squeeze, Eli left us alone at the
bottom of the steps, disappearing behind the double doors he had
just helped me through.

Jared raised an eyebrow, a permanent
smile etched on his face. “That was unexpected.”

“
Jack sent him,” I said,
feeling my eyes gloss over.

Jared touched my face once, and then
the reverend spoke again. This time his voice blurred into the
background as I watched the blues and grays of Jared’s eyes shine
in ways I’d never seen them. His expression was relaxed and
nervous; happy and concerned; every emotion he’d ever felt collided
inside of him in a beautiful display of the barely noticeable
shifts in the skin around his eyes and mouth. No one could have
noticed it but me, and I read each one as he struggled with a
lifetime of duty, and the relief of hearing me promise myself to
him.

“
Jared Ryel?” Father
Julian said. “Are you ready to enter into this marriage with Nina
Grey, believing the love you share and your faith in each other
will endure all things?”

“
I am,” Jared said
simply.

“
Nina Grey?”

“
I am!”

Our small audience laughed at my
haste. Jared chuckled as well.

Father Julian regrouped, and then
finished his part. “Are you ready to enter into this marriage with
Nina Grey, believing the love you share and your faith in each
other will endure all things?”

I waited for the minister to correct
his mixup, but he never did.

I nodded quickly. “To Jared Ryel. Yes.
I’m ready.”

Father Julian didn’t skip a beat.
“Nina, do you take Jared to be your wedded husband? Promise to love
him, to honor and cherish him, in joy and in sorrow, in sickness
and in health, and to be to him in all things a good and faithful
wife as long as you both shall live?”

“
Yes.”

Father Julian repeated Jared’s vows.
The closer he came to the end, the tighter Jared’s fingers were
around mine. Finally, when it came time for Jared to speak, he
didn’t hesitate.

“
Yes, and after that,”
Jared said. “For a thousand years, and then a thousand more…I will
love you.”

A smile stretched across my face. His
hands were cupped around mine a bit too tight, and his body leaned
into mine eagerly. This was the moment he had waited for, and he
seemed to want to take it all in and rush it at the same time so
nothing could keep him from it. That moment in time was the light
switch in a dark room, the doorway at the end of a scary hallway.
It was anything and everything that had ever saved
anyone.

Father Julian closed his eyes. “Father
in heaven, You ordained marriage for your children, and You gave us
love. We present to You Jared and Nina, who come this day to be
married. May the covenant of love they make be blessed with true
devotion and spiritual commitment. We ask that You, God, will give
them the ability to keep the covenant they have made. When
selfishness shows itself, grant generosity; when mistrust is a
temptation, give moral strength; when there is misunderstanding,
give patience and gentleness; if suffering becomes a part of their
lives, give them a strong faith and an abiding love.
Amen.”

I opened my eyes to see Jared looking
at me with total love and devotion, more so than I ever saw in the
proud eyes of my father.

“
What token do you give to
perform your vows?”

Bex opened his hand, and Jared plucked
a white gold band from his brother’s palm.