“I do know,” Helena smiled softly.
The two of us had always kept cats. We’d had quite a few over the years, and we’d loved them all so very much. The cat we had now was almost twenty years old, and we both knew he’d probably pass away soon. The thought was sobering, but oh, had that damn cat been loved.
“Anyway, do you want to ride with us?” Matthew asked.
“We’ve got room in the SUV if you don’t want to walk,” Dora added.
I looked over at Helena, who shrugged.
“Sure,” she said. “I wouldn’t mind riding.”
“Actually, I’d like to walk,” I placed my hand on hers and then looked over and Dora and Matthew. “Why don’t the two of you take off? We’ll meet you there. I’d like to enjoy a nice stroll with Helena.”
“You would?” Helena looked surprised.
“Yes,” I nodded, “I would like that very much.”
“Okay, sounds good.”
Matthew and Dora nodded, as well, and they headed toward the church doors. The pastor was still standing at the podium, tidying up and waiting for everyone to leave so he could lock up the church. Dora and Matthew’s friends, who were in the wedding party, followed them quickly out of the church, and they all laughed as they headed toward their cars.
“My lady,” I said, standing up with a flourish. I offered Helena my hand and she chuckled, but took it. The two of us waved to the pastor and headed out of the church doors. We saw the cars pulling out as the wedding party headed toward Granny’s.
“It really is a beautiful night,” Helena said as we stood there for a minute.
“It is, isn’t it? Not as beautiful as you, of course,” I said, and we started walking. As we made our way down the sidewalk, Helena looked up at the stars and sighed. It reminded me of a night many years ago when we made this same walk.
*
“Don’t you think my mother will be mad?” Helena asked, looking over at me.
“I don’t give a damn if she is,” I said, feeling bold and proud. Helena’s mother was bossy. Really bossy. She tried to control everything about the wedding, ignoring the fact that today was all about Helena and me. It was all about the two of us and nothing else.
Nobody else.
“Bob!” Helena laughed, playfully slapping my chest.
“Besides, I want a few minutes alone with the bride-to-be before everyone else takes all of your attention,” I laughed.
The one thing we’d learned about planning our wedding was that everyone had an opinion about everything. Helena’s mom wasn’t even the worst or bossiest person we’d encountered. My own grandmother and my mom were close contenders when it came to taking charge.
Helena and I didn’t care about most of the wedding stuff. We were doing these things to please our parents. We’d just finished the rehearsal dinner and now we were all heading toward the restaurant to share a delicious meal together.
It was a cold night, so everyone wanted to drive, but not Helena and me.
We were going to walk.
I took her hand, guiding her down the sidewalk. We laughed and kissed lightly as we walked, unable to keep our hands off of each other any longer.
“I still can’t believe I get to marry you tomorrow,” I told her.
“Me neither.”
“Are you excited?”
“You have no idea,” she laughed.
“I think that out of all of the people in the world, I probably have the best idea,” I countered.