3.
It was five days before the wedding when Delia arrived at a café to meet with her husband to be. He was already there, sitting alone and looking quite distracted. Samuel had been so distracted that he didn't even notice Delia arriving.
'What cha doin'?' she simply and almost playfully spoke in the hopes to gently bring him out of his trance also hoping and almost expecting a positive reaction.
'Huh?' he says just before realizing that company has arrived. 'Oh hey'. Samuel stands, forces a smile onto his face and hugs the love of his life, kisses her briefly.
'So, what's happening buddy?' she says punching him in the shoulder. 'You're a million miles away, is everything alright?'
He smiles again but the smile doesn't remain on his face for long, his eyes more than suggest something is wrong. For the moment she will wait. Whatever it is he has to tell, it will come, soon. They both go order themselves some coffee and then move to go sit down right where Sam had been sitting when Delia arrived. Clearly Samuel has something to say and he struggles to get any words out. It takes a moment or two, but the words do come.
'It's work ... they ... they let me go earlier today ... cutbacks apparently. I didn't even see it coming. I should have. I should have seen it.'
Samuel clenches his fists upon the table and turns his head away in an attempt to contain just how it is he feels. With her own hands Delia reaches and takes those clenched fists, aiding them to relax in a way that only she can. There is silence between the two for about half a minute, thirty seconds that feel so much longer.
'It's alright, we'll get through this, you will bounce back.'
'But we're getting married, haven't even booked the honeymoon yet' says Samuel, struggling to keep his emotion in check.
'Don't worry about that, we can sort that again soon. It's not so important.'
'Of course ... it's important, Delia, you deserve the world. I'd give you the whole of it and more if I could.'
'I know that. I have everything I want right here. You and I forever, right? We'll be fine ... we will be fine.'
***
The next few days passed quickly, and the time came for a wedding to take place. It was nothing fancy or expensive though was in its own way perfectly perfect. Closest family and friends were in attendance including the group of friends who unintentionally brought Samuel and Delia together. In the church and close to showtime, Samuel waited nervously. At the moment the organ began to play he turned to see the most beautiful sight in the world come slowly down the aisle.
A beautiful sight indeed and all dressed in white, moving down that aisle, stepping forward upon fallen red rose petals, an amazing sight if there ever was one. He is beside himself and love is most definitely in the air. She arrives at his side. He lifts her veil, then takes her hands as she has done his so many times before. The smiles on both their faces are contagious. The ceremony is fuelled by an overwhelming joy. There were tears, many tears, tears of joy. It is all perfectly perfect indeed.
Tears ... if this had been somewhere else after almost any point a darkness began to intrude then a quickening war would end almost instantly. This, however, is not a faraway place though perhaps this moment is where an attraction of another sort actually took hold.
The afters go swimmingly. This was not a time for financial worry, not a time to worry about stability, not a time to worry about the future. It was a time for celebration and for happiness. There is love, laughter and dance, a non-stop evening of dance. As Samuel remembers that evening it is as if we danced all night then we danced some more, we danced until we could dance no more.
