guy to pronounce us man and wife and sign a document, I still wanted to follow through with the whole "don't see the bride before the wedding thing." Or as close to the wedding as I could get, I added mentally in my thoughts, smiling to myself, wondering how Jack would look. I knew I'd probably get some wierd stares from other people for wearing the dress, but I'd found it at an estate sale a couple weeks ago and I'd fallen in love with it. Jack hadn't seen it yet, and I hoped he wouldn't freak out.
"Relax hon. Jack's a dear. He's not going to stand you up," Charlotte soothed, as she finished buttoning the dress up and put down the button hook with a relieved sigh.
"I know that. I'm just excited, and a little nervous. I'm getting MARRIED Char. That's an insanely important thing to do in life." I fiddled with one of the curled strands of hair hanging down into my face and wondered if I was rushing into things.
"And you're making the best choice you could hon, even if Jack Kelly is a bit of a mystery boy."
"It adds sex appeal," I quip, as I shrug into my jacket and pick up my purse. "You'll have the luggage loaded into the taxi and all that?"
"I've got everything under control, although why you want to go back to that hell hole you grew up in beats me." Charlotte put a scarf around her neck and grabbed her own things, before opening the door and helping me out. I didn't have much mobility in the dress, what with the corset. I had a pair of cargo pants and a black t-shirt to change into as soon as we were married, for before we went to the little pub we all loved so much for lunch and drinks, before Jack and I had to leave for the airport. "I know you love that dress, but seriously, how did people survive wearing these things?"
"Obviously it was easier to rape people back then," I snap cynically, knowing that she's working on a thing about rape over the years and was a little touchy on the subject. Charlotte never said anything, but a gut sense told me she'd either been raped, almost raped, or had known someone who had been raped. The way she'd fought to actually get to write the piece instead of just do layout told me enough to confirm my gut sense. Char was allowed to write articles, but she rarely ever exercised that ability except when something caught her interest particularly.
"You had to go there?" Charlotte opened the door of the cab she'd had waiting and helped me in before getting in herself, making me scoot over to the other side. The taxi driver rolled his eyes, muttered women under his breath than pulled off the curb. I was glad Char lived on the bottom floor of her building.
"Where to ladies?"
"City hall. Justice please." Charlotte chirped. "She's getting married today."
"And next week I'll drive you to get divorced?" The cabby was a cynical man apparently, and I elbowed Char to get her attention to give her our little signal for "shut up and don't talk to the guy" from back when we rode in cabs together a lot.
"Jack's always wanted to go to Santa Fe," I explained the choice to go back to New Mexico as calmly as I could to Charlotte, hoping she wouldn't pry too much. "So I rented my aunt's ranch from her without her realizing it's me, which would be bad." I don't tell Charlotte, nor have I told Jack ever that I ran away from them and stole a huge amount of money from them and that I was pretty sure they'd arrest me if they saw me again. My foster dad was a cop after all, a shitty arse of a cop, but still had a badge and the ability to arrest me. I wonder idly for a moment, like I do occasionally when I think about my past, if there's a sentence enhancement for stealing from a cop.
"And how are you going to get in?"
"She rents it out through an agency. I'm gonna send Jack in to get the key from the rental car. He'll be thrilled. He's always wanted to go to a ranch, and it's small enough. My aunt just keeps a couple horses and since I wrote that I love horses and bullshitted a few references, she's letting us take care of them for a few days. The rental agent lady just has to have us sign responsibility forms or something. It's wierd, but it'll be a treat."
'You miss the daily riding?" Charlotte knows how much I love horses, although I love the press more.
"Kind of. I'm actually wondering if the whole ranch near Santa Fe thing is going to mess with Jack's desire for, well..." I blush slightly. I can talk frankly about a lot of things, but some times I'd just rather not.
"Hon, it's your honeymoon we're talking about. You'll go on rides during the time that he can't do the other stuff." She doesn't phase. Oh Charlotte.
I don't respond, instead thinking about what I really wish I could give Jack right now, as the cabby swerves violently through the busy streets. I wish I could show up there, meet Jack, and have him get to see all his friends again.
Jack's waiting outside when we pull up, wearing the slacks and shirt we agreed on, with a pin-stripe vest and the sleeves of his shirt rolled up so that his appearance, more formal than usual, oozed his personality. Sometimes I wonder if his skill at "distribution" as he and I refer to it in public, but "carrying the banner" as we call it in private, was because of his looks, at least with any female customers. He sees Charlotte getting out of the cab and comes over quickly, helping me out of the cab as Charlotte pays the taxi fare.
"You look gorgeous Erika," he whispers in my ear as he hugs me close, careful not to muss up my hair. "An dat dress. Where'd you find it?"
"An estate sale-you know, the one Mary sent me to?" I pull back and spin around carefully. "What do you think?"
His face is unreadable, and for a moment he looks like he's seeing a ghost, and I wonder if he ever was this close to another girl back then. "I think dat it's perfect."
"Where's this accent coming from Jack?" Charlotte asked, as she hugged him quickly, before we all started to head inside to be on time for the wedding.
"Old habit. Sorry." He sounds more modern again, and I sigh quietly, wondering why I loved Jack more when he sounded like the bewildered Jack I'd first met.
Silence reigns again, as we walk through the crowded halls to the waiting room for the justice of the peace, Charlotte sitting in a corner picking up a Sunset magazine, while Jack and I sat next to each other, holding hands and smiling at each other, not speaking, except through our eyes.
"I wish they could be here."
"Who? Your mysterious birth parents?" He refers to the fact that I never met my birth parents, and that I didn't know much about them. I had a last name, but I hadn't told Jack. Especially since I wasn't sure it was really my last name.
"No." I look at him with a sad smile. "Your friends. Blink, Mush, Race, David, Les, Crutchy..."
He shuts me up with a soft kiss to my lips, the first of the day, just as a door opens and "Jack Kelly and Erika Worthington?" is called into the inner confines to get married.
I'm about to become Mrs. Jack Kelly, and I'm no longer scared, as Jack leans down and whispers in my ear. "I love you." He helps me stand up and I smile thankfully at him.
"Love you too Jack." I whisper, before handing the assistant the copy of the text we'd requested especially. We'd had to argue a bit, but we had gotten our request accepted. The text wasn't from the late 1800s, or the early 1900s, but I'd found it in a book and I'd fallen in love with it, and well, Jack had agreed with it too. It was neutral.
The justice of the peace looked over the text we were asking for as Jack and I stood next to each other, waiting as Charlotte came in and sat in the corner, her SLR camera out of her bag, ready to take pictures, and Jack's assistant Joey came flailing in last minute (he'd had to get his kid to daycare before he could come, so we'd known he'd be rushing in), a video camera already out. "Everyone here?" The justice of the peace, a kindly seeming man who had a picture of his grandkids on his desk said, as he stood up, coming to stand in his place where there was a little space for the ceremony.
"Yessir." Jack responded, as he felt his pocket, looking for something probably. "Can we get started please? We've got a busy schedule today."
"Don't we all?" The justice of the peace quipped, before clearing his throat and brandishing the papers with the ceremony text. "We have come together here in celebration of the joining together of Erika Worthington and Jack Kelly. There are many things to say about marriage. Much wisdom concerning the joining together of two souls, has come our way through all paths of belief, and from many cultures. With each union, more knowledge is gained and more wisdom gathered. The law of life is love unto all beings. Without love, life is nothing, without love, death has no redemption. Love is anterior to Life, posterior to Death, initial of Creation and the exponent of Earth. If we learn no more in life, let it be this." He paused, looking at us with eyes that were assessing us with a different light, as he performed the ceremony. "Marriage is a bond to be entered into only after considerable thought and reflection. As with any aspect of life, it has its cycles, its ups and its downs, its trials and its triumphs."
I could hear Char already snapping pictures, the click and whirring of her winding the film to the next picture making me want to smile, but all I could do was look in Jack's eyes, and slowly everything but the justice's voice faded away, and his voice was like a narrator as I looked into Jack's eyes and saw the love he had for me, and I knew my own eyes reflected my own returning love. Love for a guy from the past who'd made an existance for himself in the future, with me.
"Listen to that which I am about to say. Above you are the stars, below you are the stones, as time doth pass, remember..." The man paused dramatically, showing he had a flair for reading these things to make them not bland quick ceremonies like many of them were. "Like a stone should your love be firm like a star should your love be constant. Let the powers of the mind and of the intellect guide you in your marriage, let the strength of your wills bind you together, let the power of love and desire make you happy, and the strength of your dedication make you inseparable. Be close, but not too close. Possess one another, yet be understanding. Have patience with one another, for storms will come, but they will pass free in giving affection and warmth. Have no fear and let not the ways of the unenlightened give you unease, for God is with you always." He paused and took a sip from a glass of water he had sitting nearby, and I wondered if ceremonies were usually already over for him by now, but I didn't care. I only cared about the man standing in front of me, that I was about to marry.
"Jack Kelly, I have not the right to bind you to Erika Worthington, only you have this right. If it be your wish, say so at this time and place your ring in her hand."
Jack pulled a ring out of his pocket and placed it in my hand, that I'd outstretched for the ring. "It is my wish." His voice was low and hoarse, but not like he had a cold. It was raw emotion that fueled Jack's words as he smiled at me, and I could swear I saw a tear forming in his eyes. The ring was a simple plain band that I'd found and had him come make sure it fit him when I was out shopping around the same time I found this dress. I had had it etched with something after he'd last seen it, and I planned to show him later when it was just the two of us what it said.
"Erika Worthington," The justice of the peace turned to address me, "if it be your wish for Jack Kelly to be bound to you, place the ring on his finger."
I took hold of Jack's left hand with my own left hand and slid the ring carefully on his ring finger with my right hand, noticing that my fingers were trembling ever so slightly. I kept my eyes locked with Jack's, and the look of happiness on his face made me start to smile even wider than I already was.
"Erika Worthington, I have not the right to bind you to Jack Kelly, only you have this right. If it be your wish, say so at this time and place your ring in his hand."
I turned to Char, who had momentarily put her camera down and stopped snapping pictures to hand me the ring that Jack had given her and ordered her not to let me see until this moment. It was a plain band with tiny little garnets embedded in it, circular and winking at me in the light. I could see what looked like an engraving on the inside as well. I placed it in Jack's outstretched hand and felt tears welling in my eyes, as I saw the tears in Jack's eyes well closer to the edge, as his smile seemed to stretch his face. "It is my wish," I whisper, knowing that these words are so important, not trusting my voice to be any louder.
The justice of the peace smiles, out of the corner of my eye, and continues the ceremony in the same dramatic, but friendly voice like the guy in the Princess Bride."Jack Kelly, if it be your wish for Erika Worthington to be bound to you, place the ring on her finger."
Jack slid the ring onto my finger, much the same way I had slid his ring onto his finger, and I felt my heart swell with emotions I had experienced only a hint of when he'd put my engagement ring on my finger. We'd opted not to have the justice prompt us through our vows, so Jack cleared his throat and took hold of both my hands, the feel of his ring against my right hand strange and comforting. "I, Jack Kelly, in the name of the spirit of God that resides within us all, by the life that courses within my blood and the love that resides within my heart, take you, Erika Worthington, to my hand, my heart, and my spirit, to be my chosen one. To desire you and be desired by you, to possess you, and be possessed by you, without sin or shame, for naught can exist in the purity of my love for you. I promise to love you wholly and completely without restraint, in sickness and in health, in plenty and in poverty, in life and beyond, where we shall meet, remember, and love again. I shall not seek to change youin any way, because I love you just the way dat you are Snark, dat's true. I shall respect you, your beliefs, and your ways as I respect myself."
Everyone laughed, myself included, as Jack had inserted a bit extra that was clearly his own, not the words that were from the text. Jack'd also refused to use the tehes and thous originally in the text. I smiled up at him, then took a deep breath to begin my own vows. "I Erika Worthington, in the name of the spirit of God that resides within us all, by the life that courses within my blood, and the love that resides within my heart, take thee, Jack Kelly to my hand, my heart, and my spirit to be my chosen one. To desire and be desired by thee, to possess thee, and be possessed by thee, without sin or shame, for naught can exist in the purity of my love for thee. I promise to love thee wholly and completely without restraint, in sickness and in health, in plenty and in poverty, in life and beyond, where we shall meet, remember, and love again. I shall not seek to change thee in any way. I shall respect thee, thy beliefs, and thy ways as I respect myself." I had left in all the old language because I loved that kind of language when it came to being formal.
"By the power vested in me by God and the State, I now pronounce you husband and wife. May your love so endure that its flame remains a guiding light unto you." The justice of the priest smiled at us as we looked at him hesitantly, not wanting to screw things up. "Oh just kiss!" He cried, smiling broadly at us.
Jack grabbed me around the waist and ducked me into a passionate kiss, tilting me back so I had to rely on him to keep me from falling, as I wrapped my arms around his neck and waist, pulling him as close as I could that way. We stood up as Char whooped at us, and I blushed, knowing that she'd probably snapped a few good pictures of the kiss and that it was all on video due to Joey's helpful volunteering.
We signed the certificate quickly and then we left, Jack's arm still wrapped around my waist, my arm still wrapped around his.
AN: Ceremony text is a slightly modified (parts cut out) version of a "Pagan" medieval wedding ceremony designed for when people from different religions were there to watch the ceremony. I got it off the internet from a website full of various ceremony texts, so credit where credit is do.