Counting Down

Chapter 3 - Heartbeats

Cold.

That's all I felt.

Then arms cradled me as I was slowly lifted onto a slippery, cool surface. Muffled voices as if being spoken into a wall invaded my ears before an awful ringing filled my brain. I slowly cracked my eyes open but only saw bright light and two blurry figures leaning above me. I attempted to move my head, but only received a series of wicked pain snapping at my nerves. The gurney I was loaded on to was lifted into an ambulance. I watched as the doors at my feet shut, blinking out the last sight I my wife, on the ground with a group of people surrounding her, before I passed out.

-

"You're being ridiculous," Riley chucked beside me. Her flowing white dress that hugged her waist was being tossed around like flower petals as she groaned. I patted my dress down and wiped a few tears away.

"I'm not being ridiculous, I'm being emotional, that's all," I laughed as I attempted to save the perfect make-up around my eyes. This was perhaps to most important day of my life and here I was blubbering like a baby. I smoothed my short hair down underneath my veil and bit my lip.

Riley swept around me and turned to face me. "Don't be nervous, you look absolutely stunning." I looked down but she grabbed my chin in her fingers. "I love you, Jacklyn."

I said, "I love you too, Riley," before shakily getting on my feet to start our famous walk down the isle. We both held out vibrant red-rose bouquets with one hand and had our fingers intertwined with the other.

The crowd stood up on both sides of the wooden, red-velvet covered benches. The outdoor venue was adorned in white Christmas lights and rose vines tangled in a dance up both brick walls. The alter was a simple white gate in an arch with foxgloves winding up the sides. The woman marrying us stood with a bible in her hands and a wide smile across her face. Everyone we passed was wearing a big smile as my soon to be wife and I walked between them.

We stopped at the alter and turned to face eachother, our hands connected and veils still down. The woman cleared her throat and began, "Good evening, family, friends. We come here to join these two young, beautiful women in matrimony. I understand they have both prepared their own vows?"

I turned to Riley and saw tears begin to prick at her eyes. She reached into the arch and pulled out a small slip of paper. She inhaled deeply. "I've known you since the very first day of school. I remember getting my watch and thinking, 'There's no way I'm going to meet my soul mate today. No way at all.' But it seems fate has tricked me yet again. I've been blessed with the glory of the beautiful woman that is Jacklyn Meyers. There is not a single human on this earth I could ever picture myself with. I promise to be your concert buddy. I promise to brush your hair out of your freckled face each morning. I promise-" her voice broke off but she started again. "I promise to hold your hand in times of pain. I promise to always be by your side when we watch a dumb love movie and you're sitting there covering your face and stomping your feet." She laughed the last part and caused a few people in the crowd to laugh as well. "I promise to be your love story. I promise to be the best me I can possibly be for you because you deserve noting but the world. And if that's what it takes I'm going to give it to you. I promise to reach into the heavens and give you the stars to spell out your name in lights so everyone knows the beautiful woman I am to call my wife."

I covered my mouth to mask the ugly sobs escaping my mouth at that moment. I chuckled as I reached into the top of my dress to yank out the piece of paper with my vows...out of my bra... Everyone laughed as I wiped a few tears away before I began. My eyes caught Riley's gaze and my breath caught in my throat. "Ever since I first saw you," I managed out, "You were the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. You hadn't even spoken to me or made eye contact with me. I saw you and I saw an absolute angel."