Unholy Matrimony

Chapter Nine

                 Chapter Nine            

               Every little girl dreams of becoming a princess. I was a little more realistic than the other girls and figured that the closest I would ever get to becoming a princess, would be on my wedding day. That one special day where I got to wear a beautiful dress, be surrounded by flowers and everyone I loved, and marry the man of my dreams, my prince charming. I spent years planning my wedding when I was a little girl, years, but I never imagined it would be like this. Let’s go through the checklist, shall we:   Beautiful Dress? Check.   Flowers? Check.   Everyone that I love? Check. (Sort of. Hired representations, I call them)   Prince Charming? MIA.

                I couldn’t help but wonder who was my Prince Charming? Certainly not Nick. He clearly only wanted me for one purpose, and one purpose only: to help him further his career. I don’t even think we could be considered as friends, to be honest. We mostly just fight and tease each other, until one of us has enough of it and starts another fight. We’re not in love, we’re dysfunctional.   I was in the bridal room, getting ready, and I was already starting to hyperventilate. The girl that was hired to be my sister (I didn’t even have a sister in real life), Maggie, I think, was giving me a weird look as she was putting the finishing touches on my hair.

              “Getting cold feet?” She asked me.

             “Does it matter? None of this is real anyways.”

           “Yeah, but the audience doesn’t know that. And, as great man once said: “If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well.”, so stick your chin up bride, you’re getting married today.”   She was right, of course. I was supposed to be happy today, or at least pretend to be.

         “What’s you’re secret?” I asked Maggie as she moved onto my makeup. “You know, your acting secret?”

        “I don’t imagine the audience in their underwear, if that’s what you’re asking, That’s rubbish.”

       I stifled a laugh, moving now would cause her to mess up my mascara.   “That’s not what I meant, I was just trying to figure out how you do it. How do you pretend to be someone else, and make everyone believe it?”

      “That’s an easy one darlin’, YOU just have to believe it.”  

      I pondered over her words as she finished doing my makeup. It must be nice to be an actress, you can just mess around, play different parts, be different people, and when you wake up the next morning its done. You can go about your life and forget your character forever….   I wasn’t that lucky. I’d have to play the blushing bride, Tessa Brady for...who knows how long?

                                                                   *****                  

       When Robert took my arm and led me down the aisle, my long train billowing behind me, he whispered in my ear, “It’s been an honor being your father.” Just before he finished walking towards the front. I felt my eyes start to sting with tears. I imagined my own father saying the same thing to me when he walked me down the aisle, but of course that couldn’t happen because my father was gone.  I realized then just how much I’ve missed him, and I’m sure Nick missed his mom too. I fought to keep the tears back. I couldn’t start crying now, I’d ruin the perfect makeup that Maggie worked so hard on, and I’d seem unhappy. Brides are supposed to be happy on their wedding day, I'd just have to suck it up.

                     When I finally met Nick’s gaze, across from me at the altar, I realized that he was staring at me. Like truly staring. His gaze raked across my body and I felt myself suddenly wishing that this dress had sleeves. I was beginning to feel quite uncomfortable. Nick shook his head, as if shaking himself out of a daze and held his hands out expectantly. I realized, a little too late that I was supposed to hold them. I was still kind of freaked out by the staring contest from earlier. His large hands enveloped mine in a warm, comforting embrace and I felt some of the stress from earlier melt away.

            In the distance, I could see the vice principal sitting down with a woman I could only assume was his wife, watching intently. Show time, I thought to myself just as Anthony, the justice of the peace I met yesterday, started to speak.

            “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to witness and celebrate the union of Nicholas Brady and Tessa Martin. Through their time together, their love and understanding of each other has grown and now they have decided to live their lives together as husband and wife….”  

             That was right about the time that I tuned out, I’m sure that this whole speech thing is really beautiful and important if it’s actually your wedding, but if it isn’t it’s boring. My mind started to wander, and I ended up getting sucked into the depths of Nick’s deep blue eyes, and I couldn’t seem to find a way out. I literally couldn’t look away. I suddenly found myself freaking out about the inevitable kiss at the end of all of this, would he actually kiss me? Or would he just pretend to? The suspense was killing me, and I wasn’t sure If I wanted him to or not.

            After that, the long, boring speech seemed to fly by, and before I knew what was happening, Anthony was leading Nick into his vows:

            “Do you, Nicholas Brady, take Tessa Martin to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward, until death do you part?”  

          Nick swallowed. “I do.”          

  Anthony turned to me. “Do you, Tessa Martin, take Nicholas Brady to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward, until death do you part?”

            “I do.” I managed to get out, trying to sound convincing. Nick let out a tiny sigh of relief, just barely noticeable by me, and Anthony, I’m sure. So he thought I was going to mess up huh? Well that’s a vote of confidence….  

          Right about then was the moment when the cute little hired ring-bearer, Sammy, showed up. He was so little, probably no more than five or six. His cute little brown mop of curls were styled and he was wearing a miniature tux, complete with black shiny shoes. A fancy beige pillow with the rings attached to it, was grasped in his little chubby fingers. He presented it to us proudly, playing his role for all that it was worth, it was probably his debut. Man, can they start young or what?  

          Nick artfully undid my ring from its tie and slipped it onto my finger, repeating the pre-rehearsed words:    

        “Through this ring, I accept you as my wife, now and for all time.”

            I was a little less awesome, fumbling with the tie a bit, as I tried to undo his ring from its lacy embrace. I finally got it free and Nick chuckled lightly as I slipped it onto his finger.  

          “Through this ring, I accept you as my husband, now and for all time.”    

        Anthony now continued his speech. I felt myself get more and more nervous with each word. “And now, by the power vested in me, by the state of California, I hereby pronounce you husband and wife.” I eyed Nick nervously as Anthony went in for the big finale. “You may now kiss the bride.”  

          I sucked in a sharp breath as Nick leaned forward, closing his eyes. Wow, he was really going for it. What could I do? It was supposed to be my wedding, I couldn’t just run out before we sealed the deal that would look incredibly suspicious. Sure, he was attractive, but I didn’t want him to kiss me. Time seemed to stop as he slowly inched towards me. I gave up at the last second and closed my eyes….

            And then his lips came in contact with mine, and the urge to run away disappeared. Nick’s kiss was soft, but urgent at the same time, consuming me. His hands came up to gently cup my face and felt like fire against my skin. It was perfect. When he finally pulled away and I opened my eyes, I could literally see stars. His face was flushed and he looked exactly how I felt, so knew that it wasn’t just me, he felt it too.

            “Holy crap.” Nick whispered as everyone in the audience got up and started cheering. It was all white noise against the deafening sound of my own thoughts.    I could still feel the sensation of his lips against mine, in fact I missed it, I wanted more.  

          What the heck was wrong with me?