Zena felt something in her heart humble under those words, something break away and wither. It was pain. It was gone.
“Yes,” she said. “Yes!”
Seeing this, the crowd cheered. Adan stood and grabbed Zena’s hand, racing back to the gazebo, with Zola close behind.
The crowd, which had now doubled in size, began to applaud their return.
“Wedding, yes?” the registrar posed to Zola once they made it to the altar.
“Yes!” Zola said, pulling Zena in front of herself. “But not me—her.”
Zola looked at Alton and communicated the plans to him with no words.
“Wedding, yes?” the registrar looked at Adan and Zena, his new subjects, as if it made no difference to him who got married. They could even pull a pair from the crowd forward.
When Zena, who was looking at Adan, did not respond to the registrar’s eye prodding, he looked at Adan and repeated, “Wedding, yes?”
“Wedding, yes!” Adan replied.
The registrar said over the clapping crowd, “Wedding, yes?”
“Yes! Wedding, yes!” Zena nodded. “Yes!”
Zena felt the way anyone does when they’re next in line and plucked from a crowd to receive their heart’s desire. As if luck had finally chosen her. And it felt so good. This was her wedding. Her wedding to Adan. Their wedding in Bali, on the beach, with people they loved, with people they’d never know. And it felt right.
Adan had taken both of Zena’s hands.
“This is my dream. You are my dream,” he said. “I let you go so many years ago. I pushed you away. But I was a boy then. Now I’m a man and I know it wasn’t right. I know for sure I’m the luckiest man who ever lived if you say yes to be mine. And if you take me back, not a day will go by when it’s not clear that I know that—that I’m lucky to have you. I’m never leaving again. I’m never turning away again. I’m here to stay.”
Zena started her vows with the first thing that came to mind: “I shouldn’t take you back!” she joked, and Alton and Zola laughed. “But I have to. I have to take you back because you’re my love. You’re the only man I’ve ever loved. That’s something I’ve kept in secret from everyone, from you, from myself, for too long, but I’m not willing to live in secret with that anymore. I’m not willing to live without you anymore. So, Adan, I vow to hold on to you. To be open to you. To the experience of you now, as you are now. And I’m never turning away again. I’m here to stay.”
“Do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?” the registrar asked Adan.
“I do.”
The registrar turned to Zena and asked, “Do you take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?”
“I do,” Zena replied, and Adan wiped his forehead nervously for a laugh from the crowd.
Adan pulled two gold bands out of his suit jacket. “I’ve been carrying these rings around for years. They remind me of the love I thought I lost, but now I’ve gotten a second chance.
Adan slid the band onto Zena’s ring finger, and then she put the ring Adan had given her onto his ring finger.
They separated and looked into each other’s eyes, feeling the weight of those rings on their fingers.
“I now pronounce you husband and wife,” the registrar said. “And you may now kiss the bride.”
Adan stepped close to Zena, pairing the tips of his shoes with hers.
“Can you believe this?” she said as he leaned down to her.
“Yes,” he said.
Adan lifted Zena into the air and lowered her down to his lips.
And there, with the sun beaming behind them, Mr. and Mrs. Adan Frederick Douglass celebrated their first kiss as husband and wife.
* * * * *