…It had been four months since Evelyn's death; the ground above her grave near the barn was just beginning to turn hard. Danny and I were still debating whether or not it would be appropriate to hold our wedding so soon after. Rafe was recovering well…Eve kept him occupied and happy, and little Danny was too little to understand the true meaning of what had happened. As for me, I was alright. After losing so many people at such a young age (although two of the four deaths were ironically false), I had become accustomed to the mourning process. I put flowers at her grave every day and "talked" to her whenever I got the chance. But time was becoming of the essence and Danny and I needed to plan…
"I think we should have it in the Spring," Danny said, leaning back on his chair. I reached over the kitchen table and grabbed his shirt, pulling him forward so that he wouldn't topple over.
"Spring would be nice, we could have it outside," I offered, writing "Spring/outside" on the paper in front of me.
"Thing is, what if it rains? We should have the service inside, at that church in town and then we could have the reception outside, weather permittin'."
"And you can wear your uniform," I laughed, smiling affectionately at him as he fingered his dog tags around his neck.
"But what'll you wear?" he asked, holding my hand over the table. "Not the same one you wore…before…right?"
I shook my head violently.
"No. This time it's going to be special. I've been waiting for this my whole life, and I'm goin' to make sure that my dress let's everybody know that."
"How though? How are we going to afford something like a nice wedding dress?"
"I'll wear my Mama's, that's all."
Rafe waltzed into the room with Eve in his arms and little Danny holding onto his ankle.
"Planning?" he asked struggling to move with the boy wrapped around his leg.
"Yup," Danny answered with a grin.
"Well it's about damn time!" Rafe boomed, sitting down next to me. "I hope you'll be havin' it outside in the Spring…or at least you'll be havin the party here, right?"
"Well, ya see," I began, showing him my notes, "We'll definitely be holdin' the wedding in the Spring, probably in May, right?" Danny nodded as I continued. "And since we don't know how the weather's goin' to be, we figured we'd have the vows take place in the little church down by Haverford's and then the reception could be outside. And yes, we'll be having the reception outside here."
"Can I be in it?" Little Danny asked, tugging on my sleeve.
"Of course!" I exclaimed, pulling him up onto my lap as Matthew ran at me and hugged my arm. "Both of you boys can be a part of it."
"Yay!" Matthew yipped, pulling little Danny down and into the other room.
"I'll go down tomorrow morning and see about that church for you two," Rafe said with a smile, standing up to stretch. "But at the moment, I'm gonna go do some dusting."
He walked out the screen door and down toward the barn.
Danny got up and kneeled behind me, putting his arms around my shoulder and whispering into my ear.
"It's going to be the most important day in my whole life, Suze," he whispered happily.
"Mine too, Danny. The most important day I'll ever have."
~*~*~*~*~*~
…On an early Sunday in May, the small Catholic Church in town was buzzing with excitement. Wreaths of pink and yellow flowers were draped over every door and window, and the people in the pews were hushed as Rafe walked me down the aisle to meet Danny, who stood in his Air Force uniform looking like a hero out of a movie…
As we neared the altar, I felt Rafe's grip tighten on my arm. I looked over at his face, wiser but not aged a bit since we were teenagers.
"I can't believe this is finally happening," he whispered, his voice trembling.
"Me either. I love you so much for bein' here with me," I said quietly, locking hands with him.
Finally, I looked up and met Danny's glistening brown eyes with my own, breathing sharply as Rafe let go of my arm and stood off to the side.
"Hi," Danny mouthed, eyes wide.
"Hey," I mouthed back through my veil.
The priest began to speak and his words became jumbled as I thought about exactly what this moment meant. After all these years, Danny and I were finally going to be joined together for the rest of our lives. I gazed at him through the lace that covered my eyes and felt more love for him than I had had ever felt for any other person in my life, except, of course, for Rafe. But my love for Danny was different than that…my love for him ran deeper than the roots of the oldest trees in Tennessee. He was my soul mate, my one true love.
"You may now recite your vows," the priest proclaimed with a tender smile.
Danny turned to me and held my hand in his as he took the ring from Matthew and little Danny in his other hand.
"Susie," he began shyly, his eyes wet and honest, "the circumstances here have kind of dealt us a funny hand, and there are things in my life, when we couldn't be together, that I regret. But I remember the first time that I saw you after I came back again. My heart stopped. They can take a human being and they can do a lot of things to him, but they can't take away his love...I know that there are a lot of people here today who might have thought that when I didn't come back, well, they might have thought that we were over...But we're not...Oh Suze, we are meant to be together and I'm so happy that we are. I love you; I always have and I always will."
He gently slipped the golden band over my finger and grinned widely.
Matthew ran over to my side and tugged on my dress skirt.
"Here's yours, Mommy," he exclaimed, drawing adoring laughter from the crowd that filled the church.
"Thank you darling," I said, giggling.
I looked up at Danny, the lace making him look like an angel. Drawing in my breath, I began.
"Danny, I love you...I thought I'd lost you and then I got you back...I always believed that having someone come into your life that you can love as fully and as completely as I love you is very rare and very special...I held on to that when you were gone, and it saw me through some unbearable pain...Most folks go through their whole lives and never have that, you know. Not us. We got to have it twice in this lifetime. I know what it's like to be without you for a month, for a week, for a day. For years... That's how long I hurt...but to be back with you now...We're more than blessed - we're twice blessed. I love you… I love you."
I took his hand and placed the ring on his finger.
"You may now kiss the bride," the priest announced joyously.
Danny put his arm around my waist and drew me close to him, looking deep into my tear-filled eyes as he lifted the veil. I stood up on my toes and put my lips to his. He leaned in and kissed me passionately, then pulled his face to the side of my head and breathed deeply.
"I love you," he whispered. "And now I have the rest of my life to prove it to you."
A/N: So what did you guys think? I'm sorry it took so long to write this, but my grandpa just died so my grandma Ruth had to come visit and, well, it's taking up a lot of my time to be with her now. I'm proud of this chapter, particularly the vows and the feelings I tried to show through them. Tell me what you think I can improve! In the next chapter, Susie is going to find a journal of Danny's from when he was a little kid until his last days before the Pearl Harbor attack. I'm going to branch that off into a sort of "Danny's P.O.V." thing…maybe a completely different story (a spin off?). but only if you guys approve…any other ideas in the mean time?? Let me know! PLEASE review!! Thanks!
