Our Late Nights

Traditions - Chapter 66

I hummed after she'd softly scratched from my back up to my neck. We both laid on the couch with my covering up to her midsection. She pulled all my hair to one side then started growing through my scalp, "I'm going to be Mrs. King tomorrow."

She leaned down and kissed my forehead and I smiled incoherently. Then I forced my heavy head to peer at her with a random thought, "...I want our kid to have both of our last names."

"When we do the certificate we could write it like that. Hart-King or King-Hart?"

"Mmm i don't know that's a bit of a difficult question right now."

We went back into a comfortable silence until she spoke again, "You know you could've gone out and partied like Cherry wanted to."

"You know I'm not much of a party goer so it wouldn't have been fun. Are you trying to get rid of me so soon?"

"No honey but it feels like your staying because my friends weren't able to make it here tonight."

"I can have all types of reasons."

"That I do know," I moved up and sat on her abdomen. I messed with the hem of the blue shirt she'd had on and was about to go down lower, "We are not having sex. I want to wait until our wedding night."

"But- why?"

"Because It might be to just wait all of one day and cherish you as solely mine. Or that my dad threatened that I'd be wallowing in my grave if I didn't hold up to my jewish traditions."

She draped her hands around my waist and I did my best not to think of them as advances, "List off what we were doing for the ceremony again."

"You forgot?"

"No, I just like hearing your accent come out. I can't believe I hadn't noticed it before."

"I'm glad Malcolm was licensed to agree with them."

"We've kinda had it easy other than like in the beginning of finding where to do it."

I placed my arms around her neck and leaned my head into the crook of her neck, "Early tomorrow morning we're going to visit a rabbi for Aufruf. It's where we'd be called to the Torah for a blessing and it's customary if anyone wakes up and wants to come with us that they throw candles at us."

"Then what."

"After that and a little later, my dad, your mom, and your aunt since she had raised you will sign the ketubah. Usually it's only two witnesses though. I'm unsure whether it's going to be either before or after your walked down the aisle."

"What is the Ketubah?," I groaned when it came out, sounding nothing like how she said it.

"Ketubah?," She mocked purposely and expertly copying exactly how I muttered it.

"You know what I mean."

She laughed and I pinched her neck avoiding looking up, "It's just an outline of my responsibilities to you and the conditions I'll provide in the marriage. And during the signing I will come to you and veil you. That is called the Bedeken, showing i love you for your inner beauty. There's the Chuppah and Circling but I skipped it then the ring exchange as you already know. Sheva B'rachot which are the seven blessings but I wanted to do it in a more intimate way since I have to brush up on my Hebrew to speak them to you."

I leaned up grinning then kissed up her neck to her cheek, "In what kind of intimate way?"

She was distracted and increased her hold on me for a moment yet sadly a short one, "...We're gonna drink wine first and I'm going to make some statements then end with a blessing to our future. I kinda wanted to do it before or after I took you on our wedding night. Then again someone hasn't left me alone to study it so it might be on one of the nights of our honeymoon."

"Can't wait for it."

"I bet you can't. After the ceremony and we break out to eat there's the breaking of the glass and mazel Tov. I skipped the Yichud and Hora and Mezinke because we were just going to dance once and then hightail it out of there."

"I still haven't perfected the slow dance so if I step on your foot I'm telling you sorry in advance."

"I think I'd be too distracted by you to care unless it was with your heel. ...You aren't overwhelmed with these customs right? I can take out a few in the beginning if you want."

"No no I want to. I'm gonna be so happy, not so much for waking up so early tomorrow but I'm gonna be happy nevertheless."

"That's not an actual yes or no."

"No Faye, I'm not overwhelmed," I covered my yawn and looked past her to find it dark out, "Take me to bed?"

Her mouth was agape and I noticed only then how that sounded, "Nuh uh get your butt off. I'm gonna search for my Hebrew butt and stay up a while longer."

She slapped my side after I got up and leant down to kiss her, "I didn't even mean it like that."

"Sure you didn't and wear actual pajamas in bed tonight."

I couldn't hold in my own laugh remembering all the times she'd made me put on pajamas so that she could work only to be awoken with her head in between my legs, "Like that's stopped you before love. Goodnight Hart."

"Goodnight King."