If Walls Could Talk (Adamtina)

Chapter 10

Adam spun the wheel to the left for the last time and suddenly the Church appeared in front of them like a mirage in the desert. The beautifully classic building stood there staring at them through the windshield, somehow mocking them, like it knew all Adam's thoughts.

And his heart sunk when he saw it.

He was meant to be getting married in this building this Saturday. To a beautiful woman that had been his closest friend, his confidant, his lover for the past year. And his heart had sunk so fucking deep he felt like he'd need an excavator to dig it out. Adam felt tears threatening to spill again and he willed them away with all his might.

He could swear there was a new tightness to Claire's energy as she leaned forward to collect her bag from the floor, but he forced himself to ignore it. The best thing for them right now was to just get out of this emotional death trap of a car and get into the company of others.

Adam turned off the ignition and stopped still for a moment as he heard Claire sigh and open her door to step out, her brown mane falling softly down her long, lean back. And he just sat there and looked at her, suddenly imagining what she was planning to do with that hair for the wedding. What her dress might be like. He knew she was hiding it in their spare-room closet inside a tightly zipped bag. She'd giggled like a little girl when she'd attached a padlock to the door, joking to him that she didn't trust him to take a peek.

Adam's heart throbbed with grief.

Oh my fucking God, Claire. I'm so, so sorry. What am I doing to you... you don't deserve any of this. You deserve the total opposite. You deserve everything. Undying love. In sickness and in health. Forsaking all others.

Others.

Just one.

There was only one to forsake.

He turned and looked ahead through the windshield for a moment as he heard the faint trace of his friend, Jake, greeting Claire several feet from the car.

He knew he had merely seconds to imagine her standing there.

She's in an ivory-colored gown; her creamy, petite shoulders gleaming in the afternoon sun as she gently clasps a bouquet of champagne-colored roses. Her favorite. She's not inside a church, she's on a beach and the air smells of salt and her. Her blonde hair is swept up off her face, with a few tresses hanging down as the rest is gathered back and elegantly clasped with flowers. Her beautiful blue eyes are shining with love, her lips a soft pink as she smiles softly at him before the most beautiful words he's ever heard in his life slip out of her mouth.

I, Christina, take you, Adam, to be my lawful wedded husband.

To have and to hold, from this day forward.

For better, for worse; for richer, for poorer.

In sickness, and in health; in joy and in sorrow.

To love and to cherish; and to be faithful to you alone.

As long as we both shall live.

And suddenly it was all just too fucking hard. Adam mentally dropped to his knees and surrendered to the war his eyes had waged with him inside the car. He allowed his tears to fall for just a moment, gently spilling over and releasing some of their unbearable pressure. He let two roll down his cheeks - one on each side - before he tightened the muscles behind his eyes again and discreetly wiped them with both hands.

Christina. My beautiful Christina.

God, I miss you, Christina. How am I supposed to forsake you?