The story of you and I

CHAPTER 46

After hugging the newlyweds, they took the floor again to thank everyone for coming and for the toasts, while we enjoyed the food.

"I loved your toast" Alex said grabbing my hand to kiss it. I winked both eyes at her and gave her a grateful smile. We were at the main table with the couple and the rest of the wedding party, when the video that Andrew had prepared for Ana with instrumental music in the background began to play, the photos of Ana as a baby, as a child, on her first school day, when she was a teenager, when she was in love with the Backstreet Boys, her prom and high school graduation, photos from the university in which I too appeared, then the photos of Andrew as a baby, photos with his parents and a tiny, beautiful Alex, I couldn't help think about how cute her babies would be, that's how the photos went by but instead of looking at the groom in those photos, my eyes were fixed on discovering Alex's childhood and adolescence in the photos in which she appeared, then the first photos of the bride and groom together, of us as a group, from so many nights of partying, afternoons of board games, funny photos, eating, even the photos of the bachelor parties of both, luckily no pictures of Ana's stripper were shown, until we got to the last photos in the ceremony. I speak only for myself but taking a single glance at the room I can tell that we were all excited, Ana could not contain her tears, it was a beautiful video.

"We invite Ana and Andrew for their first dance as a married couple" said the master of ceremonies when we had all finished dinner, we all clapped and stood up to watch the bride and groom take their places in the center of the floor while the music Elton John's song Your song flooded the atmosphere. It was a magical moment, the dim light of the sunset filtered through the large windows while we all watched the lovely couple dance. Alex put her arm around my waist and gave me a kiss on the cheek, I smiled at her and laid my head on her shoulder. In the middle of the song, Ana's parents stood up, Nicholas began to dance with Ana and Andrew with Maggie, then little by little other couples began to join them at the dance floor.

"Should we dance?" Alex said in my ear, pulling me out of my thoughts. I nodded and took her hand, to guide me to the dance area. I put my arms around her shoulders and she put her hands on my waist as we moved to the music. "Did I tell you that before the ceremony I said hi to your parents?" I looked at her with wide eyes, with all the excitement of the day and all the stress I had forgotten about the inevitable meeting of my parents and Alex, especially with dad who hadn't seen her since I told them she was my girlfriend.

"And how was it? Did Louise say something mean?" Alex frowned and shook her head.

"No, we just said a quick hello. Why did she say something mean to you?" She asked me worriedly, I shook my head and then leaned it on her shoulder while enjoying the lyrics to Mraz's song Lucky. "This is perfect" she whispered against my head, I nodded gently.

"It is ... I had never seen your photos as a little girl, you were both beautiful as babies, I can't wait to see Ana and Andrew's babies" I said pulling my head apart to look into her eyes, she gave me that smile with her nose wrinkled that made my heart soften, I brought my hand to her face and gave her a kiss on the lips, then I laid my head back on her shoulder againq.

"Em..." she whispered close to my ear, after a few seconds.

"Mmm?" I was going to look at her, but she put her hand on my head to keep it in place.

"I want everything with you" I opened my eyes in surprise and stopped, but I wanted her to keep talking so I forced my feet to keep dancing and my head to stay in place. "It petrifies me to think about having kids, so many things can go wrong, it scares me that something could happen to them, that something could happen to us and they would be left alone, that they would get sick, that I won't be a suitable mother" she snorted "that later in life they will need therapy and they end up hating me" I raised my head gently to look into her eyes and she continued "It terrifies me, but that's how I know that it will be great and I want to do it with you, because no matter what happens in the future, I want to hold your hand and face everything together...if that's what you want too" I felt my heart melt, my eyes were wet and my lower lip began to tremble, Alex's eyes were glassy too, she looked at me expectantly. I could not describe what I felt at that moment, I felt so much happiness that I felt guilty for it and I was afraid that the natural balance of things had been altered and that all this happiness had to be paid for with some future pain.