At this very moment, exactly two years, ten months, four days, 22 hours and 16 minutes after Charlotte Charles- his childhood sweetheart, the one and only big love of his life, the girl he called Chuck- came back to (his) life, at this very moment in a small town named Coeur d` Coeurs the piemaker lost all the trust in his eyes.
This view just couldn`t be real. Only in his imagination of what we call "heaven" or even "paradise" could exist such an angelic being, which his eyes were leading him to believe in seeing.
Chuck strode towards him. Her brown hair fell in long, silky waves over her shoulders, just decorated with a bright flower on a hair band- a red rose. Her slim, perfect body was draped in a long, flowing dress, in her hands she carried a wonderful bouquet of red roses. The colour of her dress: White! Pristine white!
It was the first time, the piemaker saw her completely in white and unexpectedly one corner of his mouth winced slightly, as the beginning of his always latent melancholic half-smile, in memory of that little girl he once knew. The little girl he once observed at his own mother's funeral, beside him, at the equally new grave of her father. And all he thought was:
`All-white and beaming like this – that`s so much better than seeing you all-black and mourning at that time.´
Her gaze fixed on him, only on him, Chuck strode forwards, across the long, red carpet, straight to him. Apart from the nice necklace Lily, her mother, gave to her that morning, her adorable smile and her unbelievable happy eyes, which would have made a child in front of the enlightened Christmas tree look pale, were adorning her.
He looked at her, smiling his uncomparable half-smile, with this mixture of pure joy, gentle desire and dearly love. Only he looked at her that way, only she could ever get that look from him.
The piemaker just couldn`t take his eyes off of her, every single second in anxious apprehension, this picture in front of him could burst like a rainbow bubble. Waiting for the moment, his alarm clock would ring from far away, to wake him from his dream- once more.
His eyes were surely misleading him, he didn´t trust them.
He was wrong, his eyes were right. His angelically being moved on, gentle, until she was right in front of him, close to him and beaming. Now he could feel her warm breath and the piemaker suddenly knew, he was not dreaming: Finally it was the day of their wedding....
As some murder victims had told him that they really saw their entire lives passing by like a fast movie, the moment before they died, at this very moment Ned saw all the pictures with Chuck he had captured in his mind and time stood still.
...Chuck and him, two children in his parent's back garden, laying in the green, lush grass, biting secretly on flowers and blades of grass, her head using his belly as a pillow, both staring into the sky... pure joy... Chuck saw a figure in every cloud... and he pretended to see them as well.
...Chuck and him at the graves: his mother, her father, his fault!... a sad look was given to each other.... their first and their only true kiss! ...Oh, these lips- so soft!
...Ned himself, at the Longborough school for boys, at night, staring into the moonlight- alone, without his mum, abandoned by his father and by his fantasies, WITHOUT CHUCK!
Alone... all alone!
Then there was only darkness... nothing at all...
...the news on TV about Chuck's death, his fascination about this happening, without knowing that it was her, being this "lonely tourist"...
...the shocking moment, Emerson Cod said her name, "Charlotte Charles" and the feeling, as Ned's throat tied up immediately, as if he was going to choke. Just like she did only hours before... "Chuck!" `She`s dead!´...
...the first meeting after nearly 20 years... the white coffin - her white coffin- whose lid he lifted slowly. `Oh my god!´... how beautiful she was.... the gentle touch to her lips? No! Too daring, ...the cheek? The cheek!... Her skin so soft, but oh, so cold... and then her first breath of air. The first one of so many he gave to her... her reaction... "Ouch!"... and then her joy, recognizing him, seeing him again. True Joy!... Her scent, flowers and honey (he never smelled the death on her!) as his lips came closer to hers... the pounding in his chest and in his head: `Don`t let her go again, don`t do it! ... Don`t touch her or you will lose her again- forever! You cannot kiss her, no matter how much you wish to... JUST DON`T DO IT!!!´
... Chuck's first night of her second life, together with him in his apartment,... waking him up, dressed in one of his pajama shirts, so sweet! ...His hand on the wall, which separated him from his bedroom, the room, where she was lying now. Where she was sleeping her first night after her `not so eternal as meant to be´- sleep! ...
And then, there she was in his life again and turned it upside down: ...bright and romantic dresses, hats and huge sunglasses in his wardrobe. Right beside his grey sweaters and equally grey or black suits. ...Her very red lipstick and her perfume on the wall bracket in his bathroom, way too much cheese in his "Cheesebox", hundreds of books, a bee farm on the top of his roof, surrounded with many flowers... Just this way she made his life become hers- and her life become his... and he loved it, because God, he loved her!!!
...Pictures, thousands of pictures of a happy Chuck, beaming, in love- with him, cheeky, romantic, singing and dancing...
...their first kiss through the plastic-wrap, their first, very cautious touch through thin gloves... further contact... less cautious...
...her look, shocked, as he confessed, that he killed her dad so many years ago, inadvertently and without his knowledge. But still, he killed him... the night he walked through the empty streets, searching for her in the first snow of the year... her cold face, as she said, that he should just go, because she needed some time to hate him a little... his relief as she told him, kneeling in front of her fathers grave, that he could stay now, that she was better... her disappointment, because he refused to wake her dad- not even for a minute...
...Chuck, moving out to Olive's empty apartment... The way, his heart braced and how he was able to breathe freely again, the moment she was back by his side, sleeping peacefully, snuggled up to him and only seperated by a thin plastic barrier between their bodies...
...Chuck crying happy tears, as she learnt, Lily was her mum...
...Chuck crying sad tears, when she was abandoned by her `alive again´ father...
...Chuck beaming, Chuck naked- blinking to him in the most cheeky and adorable way,
...Chuck sniffing the scent of the flowers on their roof, Chuck in the China-dress,
...Chuck, Chuck, Chuck!!
No matter how the piemaker looked at it, he started thinking, his whole life has risen and fallen with Chuck. With her being or not-being, with her wellbeing and most of all with her love for him. It was all about her and she meant everything to him!
Ned blinked just one time and all these pictures in front of his eyes disappeared. The clock of life went on. He looked straight into her lovely, green eyes... Oh, these eyes!
At this very moment the piemaker was happy. Every little corner of his heart was filled up with joy and he knew he could never ever feel better. Because after all they went through, she was finally his- and she was happy aswell, he could tell by just one look in those sparkling eyes.
The priest, their priest, because it had cost Emerson nearly half a year to find a blind priest, (the one, who wouldn`t recognize some strange occurrences of this very special ceremony)
began to speak, but the ceremony passed by Ned, as if he was in a rush or something like that. He couldn`t prevent his thoughts from drifting away from the speech of the priest right over to Chuck.
She, in contrast to him, hung on the priest`s every word, soaking up all of his words. Words, telling a story of two trees, which had grown near each other. During the years their roots interwined and finally they became one, stronger and bigger than any other tree.
The piemaker heard a deep swallow near him. This story obviously really touched her and he was touched by her tears.
He reached out his hand and took hers- safely, because she wore long, silky gloves- he squeezed her hand gently. Yes, they were like those trees, their roots were interwined already, they were strong together and nothing without each other.
Then there was the priest`s sign for them to get up. It was now time for their vows.
Chuck brought her attention to Ned. He looked at her and he was immediately drowned in her deep, beautiful eyes, framed by the slighty wet, but unbelievably long eyelashes. It was hopeless, he was totally addicted to her.
"Ned", she began – simply by the sound of his name out of her sweet mouth and the tiny hair on his arms reacted – he was trembling a little deep inside, awaiting her vow to be faithful and the little, half-crooked smile displayed in the corner of his mouth again.
Chuck looked at him -Oh god, how much she loved this man!
"Ned, I vow to love you, to honour you and to respect you in good and in bad times, till death do us apart. You – and only you- will be the man by my side, now and forever. You brought me back to life (and at this point she blinked at him, smiling a little bit cheeky and very loving) and I`m so greatful for every second that I`ve got you right beside me. I love you - with all my heart."
He saw her ruby-red lips moving and forming these words. He saw her eyes, all the love and warmth and he forgot everything around him. The guests, the priest, the church...
Even as Chuck finished and the break the piemaker should have taken before starting his own vow was getting too long and almost awkward. Even as she was squeezing his hand gently to give him his sign that it was his turn now, he just stared at her blankly.
The very same moment, she giggled a little shyly and looked down at the ground, he realized his omission.
Terrified, he gave a little cough. He wanted to start too fast and hasty now, but then he realized the meaning of this special moment and took another deep breath. He was wearing a glove on his right hand, in anticipation of the following ritual. With this gloved hand he reached for her, touched her with two fingers under her chin and raises her head carefully and oh so tenderly, leading her sight back into his warm eyes.
She looked up to him, with eyes so wide, pure and truly loving, comparable only to the eyes of a child.
"Charlotte"... he began. He had thought a lot about the right way to speak to her for this very special moment and he always thought it would be more appropriate to speak to her that way. But then, just as her full name had passed his lips for the very first time, it felt so unfamiliar and strange to him. Nothing like him at all. Even her eyes were looking up to him with a wondering expression, her lips were building an amused smile and the piemaker looked a little bashfully at the ground for a second and decided to start over again.
"Chuck, ... you... you are the love of my life. We've known each other since we were kids... and even then I had a cru... I was in love with you. Soon we were seperated for a long time, but when I look back now, it seems to me, that there was not one single day of my life without you being with me. And I know now, why it was like that... I've known it since the day I watched you one morning, up on the roof. You were watering the flowers, surrounded by buzzing bees. You were wearing your favourite red dress, your hair was made up in a ponytail and you danced with the watering can- I don`t think, you`ve noticed me, did you?- "
He gave her a little smile as she shook her head.
"Well, that was the moment, I realized that... in all those years without you... I've never really lived without you, Chuck. It was just a time, which I had to bypass to see you again one day.
So, you see, you brought me back to life, because you dug out the Ned, I nearly forgot to be.
With all your love and so much patience, you made me to this still not perfect, but very best version and if I really do believe in something, then in the meaning of you and me being together..."
The priest gave a little cough...
"...except of god, of course!" Ned hastened to say and reaped little laughters from the guests.
"And that is, why I want to... no,... I will love you, honour you and respect you for now and for the rest of our lives, till death do us part."
He saw tears gleaming in her eyes. Ok, these words had nothing to do with what he planned to say to her in front of all these people, but the words just passed his lips, without even thinking while he spoke them out to her and that meant a lot for a piemaker who usually thought every single morning about which pie had to go first in the oven for about ten minutes.
The blind priest began to speak again: "The rings, please!"
That was Digby's charge. (Thank god, the priest was blind) The dog, who was lying between the two chairs of the piemaker and the bride called Chuck, stood up and brought them their rings, fixed by Olive on his collar at the back of his neck.
Ned freed the delicate ring from the small ribbon and slipped it very carefully with his gloved hand on Chuck's finger. She looked deep into his shiny eyes, as she did the same with him. Now they were both smiling from ear to ear.
"Now you can kiss the bride" the blind priest said.
There it was, the sign to seal their marriage. And at this very moment, a moment, when most bridegrooms lift the veils of their women, Ned put on the other glove and then carefully grabbed the thin piece of plastic-wrap, which was fixed at her hair band, lying on her silky hair. He liftet it above her head and covered slowly her eyes, her nose and finally her mouth.
In slow motion her lips drew closer to his and touched so soft, warm and tender for a little piece of eternity.
Far, far away, like it seemed for the both of them, somewhere in a little chapel in a small town named Couer d`Couers, the guests were acclaiming, the music of the church organ was starting, Olive's breath-taking voice filled the room with an unbelievable "Ave Maria" and like in their dreams before, they strode across the red carpet, arms locked, as husband and wife.