The ceremony will be simple and straightforward. We’ll exchange vows, I’ll slip a simple platinum band on Olivia’s hand next to my mother’s engagement ring and she’ll slide the platinum band we bought together onto my finger.
“Are you ready?” I whisper to her through the veil she’s wearing.
“I’ve been ready since the day we met,” she says quietly.
“Let’s make this official,” I say to Chris. “I can’t wait to be this woman’s husband.”
Olivia
Life is all about choices.
When Alexander walked into the Liore boutique on Fifth Avenue that day, I chose to help him.
I didn’t have to, but a part of me knew that it would change my life.
It took me on a path here, to the stage of our theatre and the dance floor that Alexander’s students have created for us.
It’s nothing more than a circle of flowers with the two of us in the middle.
The music playing is a recording of a piece by the junior symphony that my husband has been assembling.
It’s off-key, hurried at times, but it couldn’t be more perfect for our first dance as husband and wife.
As a family.
Our daughter will arrive in the winter.
Alexander doesn’t know it’s a girl yet. I told him we’d wait to open the gender reveal email from the doctor until tomorrow, but patience and curiosity don’t mix well in my world.
I hope she’ll have my husband’s eyes, and his kindness.
I want her to possess his strength and courage.
I hope she inherits my compassion and openness.
“You’re daydreaming about something.” Alexander presses his lips to mine. “Tell me what it is.”
“All of our tomorrows, “ I answer simply.
It’s the truth.
I know that life will change when our little girl arrives. We’ll be settled into the two-bedroom apartment we bought a few months ago. I’ll be working less. Alexander will be spending much of his time here, and I’ll bundle our daughter up and bring her here so she can listen to her father play and teach.
“You love me more than anything,” he says with conviction.
“I do,” I say the words for the second time today.
He spins me around gently. I hear my mom hoot in the distance.
“You checked the email, didn’t you?” He narrows his eyes. “We’re having a daughter. I know it’s a girl.”
I stop to look up and into the face of the only man I’ve ever loved. “It’s a girl.”
Tears well in the corners of his brilliant blue eyes. “I don’t know what I did to deserve this life.”
I kiss his chin, drawing his face down to mine. “It’s only going to get better from here.”
He holds me close, so close that I can feel his heart beating against mine. “I know that it will because each day until my last, I’ll wake up next to you, Olivia.”