Chapter 7 – The Marriage
Talk about ambiguities. That's where my mind went as I looked up the aisle and saw my bride for the first time on our wedding day.
Sonja looked like a princess in her dress. However for a moment I saw "Agent Percy" kicking in a door on our first official assignment together. I managed not to laugh out loud, but shared the moment with her later that night as we lay in bed and we both laughed.
I was surprised that Sonja agreed to have the wedding at my father's ranch. I really thought she would cross that location off the list. She had refused to come to New Orleans and thought that the capitol was too formal.
We chose to have a huge tent set up adjoining the pool. The grounds provided ample parking for guest. Our sisters stood beside Sonja while King, Cade and my former NOPD partner stood up with me.
The wedding was a combination of our family's cultures. Included in Sonja's bouquet were wild flowers from Alabama while each of the groom's men wore a boutonniere of a yellow rose, Sonja's favorite flower.
Sonja had found this beautiful song by Michael Hoppe entitled 'Beyond the Valley' to walk into. I could imagine it being played in the background as one sauntered through the farm on any sun filled day.
After we were pronounced husband and wife, we jumped the broom. "Broom Jumping" is a ritual handed down from generation to generation by African Americans reminding them of a time when their vows were not legally sanctioned. During slavery the ancestors sought the legitimacy of marriage by jumping over the broom and into the bonds of domesticity. For the ancestors this small ritual was a legal and bonding act connecting item with the heritage of the home land and giving legitimacy, dignity and strength to their unions. In their eyes this union was now sanctioned by "the almighty".
Our first dance was to Dolly Parton's version of her song 'I'll Always Love You.' Sonja had surprised me during the ceremony with a video recording of her singing a song from Patti LaBelle. I knew that she was one of her favorite singers and she found an early song of hers entitled 'Love, Need and Want You' that expressed her love for me.
The wedding cake included a traditional New Orleans 'cake pull.' The Cake Pull gets its roots from an old Victorian tradition of "ribbon pulling." In those days, charms of luck and good fortune were placed into the wedding cake by the bride for her single friends. Nowadays, bakers place sterling silver charms with specific meanings inside the bottom layer of the bride's cake and all the single ladies are given the opportunity to pull a charm from the cake (a ceremony called the "ribbon pull") just before the cake is cut. Sonja gifted her bridesmaids and momma with a charm bracelet that included the charms of the cake.
A sit down dinner and dancing followed the ceremony. We could all see the beautiful setting sun from the hill. It was picture perfect.
It had been a long day and we were both more than ready to shower and find our way to our bedroom. We arrived at the house to find it filled with flowers. Later we found out that Brody was behind the exquisite floral display.
We took off the next afternoon to fly to the Niagara Falls. It was a picturesque site. Sonja looked so at peace. She said later on it was nice for a few days not to be looking over her shoulder for the bad guys.