Beautifully Broken

“Put this on.” Mamma T hands me a tube of lip-gloss. She gives me a once over, making sure I’m as perfect as can be for an impromptu hospital wedding. “You look beautiful. Are you nervous?”

“A little.”

“We don’t have to do this, Piper. We can wait until your healed and do it right.”

I love Mamma T and her persistence. I get it, she just wants what’s best for me but she doesn’t understand. Rex is what’s best for me. “Everyone I love, except for Bane, is already here. He may not even survive his injuries. Call me a shitty friend, but I’m not gonna wait and find out. I love Rex, and he loves me. I don’t want to wait another minute.”

She smiles. “Guess we’d better get going then.”

All hospitals have a chapel. They’re tiny, dimly lit, and usually occupied with grieving loved ones praying for a miracle. Not today. Mamma T opens the door and my breath catches. Every pew—all ten of them—have a short bouquet

of white roses and three tiered candles at the end, lining the walkway. The aisle is sprinkled with flower petals of every color: white, yellow, pink, red, and even purple.

Mamma T squeezes my hand. A piano rendition of Disney’s Tale as Old as Time starts playing from someone’s phone. I laugh, setting a rogue tear that I didn’t realize was building free. I wipe it with the back of my hand, not wanting to look away.

Rex stands at the front of the chapel, a single white rose pinned to his jacket, hands in his pockets, with the biggest grin I’ve ever seen. Cooper’s behind him, Logan too.

We stop a foot away from Rex. Mamma T kisses my cheek, then takes a seat beside an older woman, who I assume to be Gretchen, in the front row. Gretchen dabs her eyes with a rag, a proud grin on her face. Cooper pulls his phone out of his pocket, stopping the music as I take my place at the altar.

“Hi,” Rex whispers.

“Hi,” I whisper laugh. “Come here often?”

He grins. “Only with you.”

“Sorry I’m late!” An older man says running through a side door. “I was finishing up someone’s last rites ceremony. It took longer than I expected.” He clears his throat. “You do know the groom is supposed to be on the left side, right. Whatever, it doesn’t matter. Dearly beloved we are gathered here today to celebrate… “

“Rex and Piper,” Cooper whisper yells.

“Yes, that’s right. Rex and Piper in their union of holy matrimony.” The man looks at Rex. “Do you Rex take Piper to be your lawfully wedded wife? To love and to cherish from this day forward, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?”

“I do.”

“And do you Piper…”

“Yes!” I say cutting him off. “Hell yes.”

Logan snickers. The man marrying us—who I’m assuming is a pastor of some sort and not some joe-schmo-notary based on his black pants and matching black shirt— glares at me. “And now for the rings,” pastor man says.

“Oh we don’t…” I start but Cooper hands Rex a box, who then hands it to the pastor-man.

“Before we commence the ring exchange, does anyone have a reason these two should not be married? No? Wonderful.” He opens the box. “Sweet mother of Jesus! Uh…sorry. I don’t do many weddings. Um. Here.” He hands me a silver band and Rex the box.

“Piper, as you slide the ring onto Rex’s finger you are to say ’with this ring I thee wed.’”

I take Rex’s left hand and push the ring over his knuckle. “With this band, I thee wed.”

Rex takes my hand. He places a matching ring with a monster of a diamond at the end of my left forefinger. My jaw drops looking at it. The single stone is as big as my thumbnail. It must have cost a fortune or been his mother’s. Either way, I’m kind of scared to wear it. What if the diamond falls out? What if I get mugged and they take it?

He slips the ring onto my finger, oblivious to the mini freak out I’m having. “With this ring, I thee wed.”

“By the power vested in me, you may kiss the bride.”

Rex cradles my cheeks, pulling me in. The kiss is quick and rough, like he fears it will be our last, but his tongue dancing with mine feels divine. Cheers erupt in the room, reminding us we have an audience. He pulls back, resting his forehead against mine and looks me in the eye. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” We turn and face our family, which at this point is just our not-mothers who are taking a million pictures with their phones.

Cooper slaps Rex on the back the way guys like to do. “You’re stuck with us now man.”