I dedicate this to Storybookgirl08, HR always live on, and Sigma Creations for believing in me when others turned their back; for standing by me at my ugliest and worst. It is through your love, support, and friendship that I have made it through perhaps the most difficult, and certainly the most life changing, year of my life. For showing me compassion when most would walk away and for making sure I was okay, even when I was nasty, childish, and untruthful. This is only a small part of a thank you I can never begin to repay back.
~ H & R ~
It is curiosity that has her slipping into the last pew, the small church surprisingly crowded for what she has assumed to be a small, private service.
A curiosity and nothing more.
He is the father of her oldest children after all, and the one secret they have tried and failed to keep from speaking about around her, is his wedding. Their whispered conversations in the kitchen when they thought she was in the garden, the glances across the sitting room in a communication only siblings close to one another can understand. For weeks now, the topic of should they or shouldn't they bringing a different answer each day.
The no's equal to the yes'.
Perhaps it should be humorous than that she, the one they had tried to keep out of the loop had decided for them. "Just go," she had said one afternoon, the novelty of watching her grown children so befuddled over the invitation with handwritten note to their father's wedding growing thin. Had her head not been sore with a tension headache brought on by her youngest son's latest brush with trouble, reminding her that blaming Harry for all of Graham's issues had been unjust, then their indecisiveness would have drawn out longer.
After that, it had been simple enough to peek at their invitation, seeing the when and where the wedding was taking place. Even simpler to make the two hour drive to Felixstowe on the Suffolk coast to effectively spy on her ex-husband and his fiancé, which in itself was humorous given his profession and the reasons their marriage had broken up.
But she was curious.
There was nothing she wanted more, at this time, than to see what this new woman looked like. To see if she was like any number of the countless women he had forsaken their marriage vows for, or if she was different. She wanted to get a taste of her personality, to see if more than just superficial looks had managed to attract the boy she had been unable to hold onto. And perhaps see the man he had become.
From her place behind the pillar, she can see he is even more handsome now than he had been all those years before. The boyish good looks having blossomed into a sturdy, confident man. Those pouty lips that had driven girls' mad even fuller. The curly blonde hair now straightened to a dirty blonde, and though more thin on top then he probably liked, it accented his strong facial features. And drew ones attention to his eyes. From his stance, she can see the confidence that was just beginning to form when their marriage had broken apart, and she knows from past experience that he's not one prone to nervousness.
And yet, he is.
She can see it in the way he fidgets just slightly, masking it with the tightening of his tie and the adjusting of his cuffs. Sees the way his eyes are glued to the open doors, his absentminded nod to the vicar more reaction than any kind of agreement.
And now more than ever she wants to meet this Ruth.
It's not long before music begins to fill the air, and though she's curious, her eyes never leave Harry. Watches the tension leave his shoulders as he seems to stand even taller, and she sees she underestimated that confidence he has gained over the years as it all comes flooding back into him. But it's the changing of his facial features that floods her, the softness and love that fills his eyes and lights the church, that pulls at the smile gracing those pouty lips, and even creates a marked difference in the lines of his cheeks and jaw.
It hurts to realize that he's in love with this Ruth in ways he never was with her. Surprises her to realize how deeply she feels the pain for a love long since over. Never once in all these years has she felt such regret for not sticking it out until the boy grew up, but just now, a sliver of remorse fills her heart.
Nothing has prepared her though for the woman who has brought about this change. Whenever she has thought of Harry remarrying; and she'll admit those thoughts had been frequent over the years; it has always been to a bleach blonde tart with little brains and large breasts. Perhaps a tad cliché she knows, but the petite brunette standing with her hands gripped tightly in Harry's is never what she has imagined.
Without even meeting her, she can tell that she is different. Perhaps a bit more like the young woman she had been when they had married out of university than the brass Juliet that had ultimately brought about the end of their short marriage. She can see in the way that they gaze at each other that the other woman knows if not all, at least most of Harry's secrets, and what's more, she doesn't hold them against him.
There's a knowledge in her eyes that Jane can see even from her seat thirty feet away that she sees the man. And that fills her with a happiness she had never expected to feel.
~ H & R ~
AN: A break from my normal style of writing and a character that I never expected to tackle. It's funny how something just pops into your head and will not get out. This little bit did just that today when Jana Kramer's 'I Got The Boy' came on the radio at work. Never mind the seven other stories I have outlines for and plans to write, this demanded to be put to paper today and that was that. I do hope that you enjoyed it, and that you'll leave a review.