Jake in Chicago - wedding day
"So you're off tonight; you will be feeling a little tired by the time you get home, you never can sleep well on the red eye flights" "Tell me about it, but I couldn't take any time off as it's not been long since I had that official break, so maybe I will just have to drink something on the flight to make myself relax and try to sleep". I had received a message from Laura asking if we could meet in the hospital canteen as she had something for me to give to Danny. " I just got him a card to wish him well, but I wasn't sure how you spelt his girls name, so I need to finish it off before I seal it. Remember I want plenty of details when you come back. I heard the weather forecast last night, it's going to remain good weather in Chicago; the church they are using is going to look beautiful with all the Fall colours in the trees as a backdrop, they should have some lovely pictures." "Yes, when I spoke to Mum yesterday, she said it has been beautiful there all week". "Did you finish your speech ? The part you read to me was very witty, it will go down well I'm sure". "Yes, I finished it last night". "Well I gotta be going, have a safe flight, and say hi to your parents for me. Bye Jake".
"Arghhhh, Jake did you have to come at this god damn time, don't you know you're suppose to ease gently into your wedding day not get up at the crack of dawn, give a man a break" "It's nearly 8am, what are you going on about? I see by the look of things you were celebrating here last night too, I thought your bachelor party was last weekend; I thought the idea was to give you time to recover." "Believe it or not it was just Mike and Dad, we had such a laugh; we got to wonder what you are going to come up with in your speech, they thought of some amusing stuff, mind you it might not be repeatable; Mike gave me a ribbing again for mine, poor guy, don't think he ever lived down some of the things I revealed; if only you could have been here too. You know I think we are really lucky being so close, we get along so well not everyone is so fortunate with their families." "That's true, I know we have our disagreements at times but that's only natural, but none of us hold grudges, except for when Grace decided to support the Red Sox, don't know if I've ever forgiven her for that" I said laughing. "yeah, I'm siding with you on that one".
"So what time are we going over to Mum's? you did say we were picking them up en route to the church, does that still stand?". "Yeah, Martin's bringing a minivan, you know he doesn't drink, so he volunteered to ferry us all, god help him tonight with you lot", he laughed. "by the way you're still staying over there tonight aren't you, or did you want to stop here? Martin said he's coming here at 12.pm, we should be at Mum's by quarter past, Mike's bringing his family over to Mum's too, and cousin Julie and Aunt Jane and Uncle Bob will be there so we can all go together; then it's, what about 20minutes to the church, so that leaves about 25 minutes spare encase of traffic". "That sounds a good idea, and the traffic shouldn't be too bad as we are not going into the city centre. Thanks for the room offer but I promised Mum I'd stay at home so I could see the Texan branch, don't get to see them so much nowadays. Well I don't know about you but I'm famished, is there anything I can eat in the your fridge?". "Plenty, Chuny keeps it well stocked, every time she comes over she brings more food, it's something to do with keeping your man well fed and he won't wander; I dunno, well that's what she tells me. So do you want to go cook a condemn man his last meal ?" he joked.
"Can I ask you something" I said as we sat eating our breakfast. "fire away ". "I know you've had quite a few girlfriends/lovers, call them what you will, but what made Chuny so special, "the one", you didn't date so long before you got engaged; you went out with Megan for nearly three years, yet that fizzled out, but here you are about to get married".
"Jake, how many times do I have to tell you; just because you see me chatting up the ladies doesn't mean anything, it's just my affable nature; and some of the things I've said to you in the past, I'm joking when I say them; I'm just winding you up. If you must know, including Chuny, I've had, let me see……. starting from my first date with Erin, when I was 17 years old, to the present time …….nine girlfriends. Before you ask, 'cause I have a feeling you will, it's gonna be one of those sort of mornings I can see; I've slept with, including Chuny …..five. Despite the impression you have of me, I don't just jump into bed with them, or have one night stands, I told you that before. I actually enjoy the company of women; I love their femininity, their take on life, I think it's because I'm surrounded by men all day, you don't have that, your workplace has a good mix of sexes. As for Chuny, I told you, she's just so much fun, and underneath that bubbly exterior she shares the same hopes for the future; believes in the values I do. Marriage, family, loyalty, to name a few: she's caring and supportive too. It's funny with Megan, I wanted to take the next step, get engaged, yet towards the end she made it quite clear she didn't want a family, or want to settle down, she was quite happy with the situation we had; lets face it we were both in our mid twenties, so I can understand her stance. Yet look at her now, eight years down the line, married with two kids. Mind you, with Chuny, I'm in for an interesting ride. I don't know how I'm gonna cope with her fiery Latino temperament; I've had a dose of that already; all this stuff that's been going on, first her cousin's wedding, sorting out our wedding stuff with her Mum, and trying to appease her mothers crazy ideas on wedding dresses, and then her working too, it got to her; my god, I tell you when she gets going……although making up was pretty explosive; thank goodness I wasn't to blame I dread to think what will happen if I am in the wrong ." he laughed. "Does that answer your question".
"Yes; your so lucky to have someone who shares in your beliefs and hopes for the future. Can I ask your opinion, how would you feel if you loved someone; believed, no, knew they cared about you too, but because of an underlying self doubt , didn't want to admit to those feelings. Suppose you knew why they had these doubts, but you couldn't say because you would be betraying someone's trust; would you feel there was any hope for a future together. Would you want to pursue that relationship?"
"Phew! That's a bit heavy isn't it, you're my best man , you're supposed to be keeping me upbeat this morning Jake, not depress me with this sort of stuff" "Please, I'd like to know what you think". "Oh is this referring to your mysterious girlfriend that never showed up at the graduation?" "No, it's a friend at the hospital; he asked me yesterday what to do, I told him if he really loved her to give her time, she would need to see for herself if she trusted him enough to open up and explain why she had hesitated in sharing her doubts with him . Do you think I gave him the correct advise?" "Without knowing either of them it's hard to say, but maybe if she's young she's like Megan was, unsure of what she wants, there maybe too many options pulling her, because it's a big commitment to admit to someone you love them and want to share the future together, it scares some people away, it's too much to handle; they like the romance but commitment's a step too far. If I loved her would I wait, that's difficult, there's only so much time you can, otherwise you end up sacrificing your happiness waiting for something that's not going to happen. As I say, without knowing them, it's difficult to give an honest opinion." "Perhaps your right, there is only so much time to hold onto someone who is afraid to commit".
"Jake, enough of this, look it's my wedding morning, it maybe only 930am but I'm going to have a beer, if you say anything to Chuny, I'll say you drove me to it with your topic of conversation. Care to join me, you will have time for it to wear off".
"Why not. Oh I've got my camera with me, I said to Dad I'd take some shots of you getting ready, candid stuff that's fun to look at instead of all the formal photos later. I am going to take some during the day, informal pictures of everyone, I bought a couple of films with me. First off - beer drinking at 930am" I said laughing.
"Did you have to make any alteration to the suit or are you still the same size" "No, I went to collect it from their branch in town ten days ago and it was fine, good thing they had an outlet in San Fran. too otherwise it would have been impossible to get anything to match with me there and you here. I was lucky last night the steward hung it up for me so it shouldn't be creased, I'll take a look in a minute. It looks good on, if I say so myself; but I somehow don't think the cummerbund or bowtie is gonna stay on for too long after we start dancing" "I know, I'm hoping Chuny will let me take mine off too, but as the groom she may not think it appropriate, so I'll have to play it by ear. By the way; how come you didn't get a hair trim, she'll have something to say about that I know. "
As we sat drinking our beer Danny said, "listen as we have no secrets today, come on
spill the beans, how many girlfriends you really had". " I'm not getting married, I don't have to say" "hey I told you, I've never been that candid before, mind you I did not reveal those others names so I don't feel guilty, I've kept their honour intact. I know about Laura and Connie, and Suzie from way back, how many more have there been?" "three" "and ……" "and what?" "you know what" "had carnal knowledge with?" "yeah that" "four" "four out of six - Jake, now who 's the bad boy its not me not with those statistics." he said laughing. "And have you ever been in love?" "I thought so" "with whom?" "that's all your getting out of me". "I thought you were seeing someone earlier this year did you keep in touch after you moved out West?" "No" "That's all; no, what happened, you seemed happy each time I saw you; and when you didn't say anything I knew it must be getting serious, that's how I remember it was with Laura. Why didn't you ever bring her round here, or to Mum's?" "listen do you mind if we drop the subject, ..….oh I've just remembered I've got a card here for you" "from Laura, that's sweet of her, I hear you two seem to be getting along well, are you rekindling that relationship?" "can we leave out talking about women, lets talk about my role today, I've not been to the rehearsal so tell me what I've got to do, stand where, apart from the obvious next to you, is there anything extra you wanted me to do?" "avoiding the subject are we?" I just gave him a stern glare. "oh, like that I see, touched a raw nerve, sorry. Nothing unusual, the normal best man's duty, just don't forget the ring. By the way, am I in for a hard time with your speech later". "you bet, mind you I may have to alter the bit about your bad boy reputation, it doesn't really apply, looks like I have taken over that role, unless you'd like to enlighten me with Mike's record". "geeze, Jake your not gonna mention that, Chuny's mother would kill me I'm sure" " don't be daft, only good things I promise."
As Danny went to get showered, I wondered to myself if Abby would be there at the church. I was longing to see her, I'd thought of nothing but her as I flew back home. Yet I was so nervous of seeing her, we'd hardly spoken in those last few weeks, it had been so awkward. I had so wanted to tell her I knew why she was reacting this way, but the frustration of not being able to was so hard to bear at times. Even now thinking about it……I couldn't help but recall what he'd said earlier, about just waiting for so long then giving up hope; carrying on with my life; was that what I was gonna have to do?.
"Bloody hell Jake, what's that glass in your hand? Don't tell me you've been drinking the whisky, not with the beer, what's got into you, you know what happens if you mix them, come on you're meant to be looking after me, I'm the one whose supposed to be nervous, not you. Don't tell me I'm gonna have to sober you up. Put the glass down, go take a shower".
As the hot steaming spray run over my body I tried to push aside THAT night from my mind, the hurt I felt at her rejection, why was I thinking about then, why not the fun times we had, the laughs we shared, the love I knew I had for her. "Abby why do you confuse me so much? Perhaps I'm not so grown up after all when it comes to relationships."
"You've not shaved! Why? Are you doing everything to get me into Chuny's bad books." "They say ladies like the look, there will be plenty there, so I'm going like this, besides didn't I meet Connie at Joseph's wedding, I was like this then too, so it's staying". "Jake you can be a right bloody pain at times; I'll put your bolshi attitude down to the whisky, I know how quickly it effects you. Anyway, I 've made some strong coffee, drink some BLACK".
"That will be Martin, you ready?" "As I ever will be; gosh I'm starting to feel nervous now…..am I really doing the right thing, it's been so quick". "Danny you love her, you know she's "the one", think about what you told me earlier, you can't interfere with Fate" "that's true" "Come here." I gave him a hug, "I'm so very happy for you, I know Chuny and you were made for each other; and I'm sorry I mixed the drinks earlier, needed a bit of Dutch courage, I didn't think I would feel so nervous too, forgive me?" "I could never stay annoyed with you even as a kid, I love you Jake, and I'm proud that you're here today as my best man", he said as he hugged me back.