Forbidden Love

VII - 1986

I woke up in a hospital bed, with Mrs. Jackson, Mr. Jackson, and Gregory beside me. "Where- where am I?" I exclaimed, sitting up. "Your in the hospital, you passed out." Mrs. Jackson said. Mrs. Jackson looked towards everyone else. "Can you give us a minute?" Everyone left the room, and Mrs. Jackson turned towards me. "You never answered my question." Seriously? I passed out and I am laying in a hospital bed, and she's still asking me the same question, the same question that she asked me that MADE me pass out. "Excuse me, I don't like this assumption that you have of me." I said. "I can't believe you would even think of such a thing, do you not want me to marry your son? Because that is what it seems like." I yelled. She looked ashamed of herself. As if she had ruined the wedding, as if she had ruined all of Gregory's plans. "No, no." She started, grabbing my arm with shame. "I love you, Sherrie! You are perfect for my son." She started to cry in disbelief, thinking that she had ruined everything. I hugged her. "I didn't cheat on Gregory." I said. That was a lie, the biggest lie I had ever told anyone. I had cheated on Gregory. Mrs. Jackson was right. And my father, gosh my own father, almost ruined my relationship with Gregory. And for what? Like Pier would ever take me back after I left him. "Oh, my dear. You must get ready for your wedding because, well, it's today!" She started clapping her hands. My eyes flew open. The wedding! I had forgotten. "My, my dress." I stuttered. Mrs. Jackson started to laugh. "Oh, honey. I have your dress. It's waiting for you at home." I looked over at her with shock. "Take me home, I must see it!" I exclaimed, climbing out of the hospital bed. She checked me out of the hospital and we drove home. Gregory grabbed my shoulder from the back seat. "Oh my dear, you will love the dress." I grabbed his hand, and continued to look forward. Once we had arrived back at his house, Mrs. Jackson, while Mr. Jackson was pushing her, took me to the room with the dress. As soon as we walked in, my eyes went wide. The dress that was on a mannequin with a spotlight over it- it was my mothers. My mothers wedding dress was there, with a beautiful pearl necklace and earrings, and diamond heels to top it off. I hand flew into my mouth. "My, oh my! Mrs. Jackson, how did you get it?" I ran over and bent down to hug her. "Your father sent it to us as soon as he found out you guys were going to get married." She answered. "Well tell him thank you." I said. "Why don't you?" She said, and Mr. and Mrs. Jackson both turned around, and standing there was my father. "Father," I exclaimed, running to go hug him. "How's my little girl?" He exclaimed. "Same as always, and you?" I said. I turned to Mr. and Mrs. Jackson and said,"Can you guys give us a minute?" I then turned to my father. Once they left, I crossed my arms. "How could you, dad? How could you tell them I cheated on Gregory?" He sighed and looked down in shame. "I always thought Pier was better for you, this entire year I did. But when I found out that you chose Gregory over Pier, I thought you were making a mistake, so I tried to ruin it. I'm very sorry, it wasn't my place to do that and I hope you can forgive me." I looked over at him. He was my father, of course I could forgive him. "I forgive you," I looked over to the dress and started to rub the silk. "Thank you so much...for getting mother's dress. It means a lot to me." He placed his hand on my shoulder. "Glad your happy, sport. Now, you better get ready, don't you think?" I smiled a big smile at him, and I did my makeup and hair, and put my dress on. I was marrying the love of my life, Gregory that day. Things couldn't have been better.

***

I saw him standing there, smiling at me. He began to get teary eyed. My father walked me down the aisle, and we walked very slow with the music. Gregory started to cry tears of joy, which made me cry as well. Once I got to the podium, I grabbed Gregory's hands and kissed him. "I love you." I whispered. He kissed my cheek. "I love you more." He whispered back. We then said our vows...and I knew at that very moment that I had made the right decision. I knew that marrying Gregory was what I wanted. Everyone cheered as we walked down the aisle heading to the reception.
The food was very good, and I thanked Mrs. Jackson over and over for making this wedding happen. I saw my old friends from high school, lots of Gregory's family and my own. Everyone was shocked I would get married so young, I mean, I'm only 18. But they knew that it was true love, and that Gregory was genuine. Everyone made their toasts, and my father and I had our father-daughter dance. "Your mother would be so proud of you." He whispered. I started to cry. "I love you, sport." He said, hugging me. "You too, dad." The crowd cheered, and Gregory and I started to dance. "How crazy is it that your father lied about you cheating on me-," he began, looking suspicious. "I know, your the love of my life, Gregory. No one could compare to you." We kissed briefly, and continued to dance. The crowd continued to cheer over and over. Everyone thought we were the perfect couple, everyone thought we were meant to be. That's what I thought, too.