(Read Part 1 here.)
As I walked down the
cobblestone path to the car, I looked back at the house. I had the funny
feeling of deja vu and I shivered involuntarily. For a moment there, I thought
I’d caught a glimpse of a face at the window.
"Come
on Liam!" Nan called out to me from the car. "You don't want to be
late to your own wedding do you?!"
I turned back and walked
briskly to the car. Matt got down from the driver's seat in a suit identical to
mine and clapped me on the back.
"This
is it man!" he said beaming at me. "It all begins now!" he said,
embracing me.
"Thanks
Matt, for everything." I said after we pulled apart.
"Come
on, let's go and get you married!" he said getting back into the car.
"About
time!" Nan mumbled from the back seat.
I got into the car and as it
pulled away, I took another look at the house and the funny feeling washed over
me again.
Half an hour later, I stood
before my friends and family with Matt at my side as the wedding march started
to pump out of the pipe organ. I had been baptised in this church, had taken my
first holy Communion on this very alter, then returned here to get baptised
again when I understood what it really meant, so it was fitting that I would be
married here as well. On the first row, I saw mum dab at her eyes with a hankie
and I smiled back at her. Dad stood beside her beaming proudly at me. Nan was
on his other side and with a pang, I wished Grandpa could have been here too.
Natalie was in the next row with the kids. Next to her were Adele and Bella in
their bride’s maid’s dresses.
My reminiscing was cut short as
she came into view. She looked like a shimmering mirage, all sheathed in white
lace and satin, gliding towards me. My breath got caught in my throat and my
heart started to thud. Looking at her as she came closer on her father's arm, I
felt weightless, like I didn't have a care in the world. A feeling of serenity
and contentment settled over me and I knew deep down in the core of me that I
had come home. I
knew that there was nowhere else on the face of the earth I would rather have
been at that moment and she was the one I’d waited for all my life. That
was why it hit me like a blow when I realised I had no idea who was walking
down the aisle towards me!
She gave her father a quick hug
and then turned to smile up at me through her veil. I stared at the veiled face
intently, willing myself to remember, but nothing came to me. Reverend Harvey,
who had baptised me both times, was going on with the ceremony but I scarcely
heard a word of what he was saying. Even as I realised that I'd never met this woman before, the feeling of
serenity didn't leave me, instead it grew stronger.
When I lifted the veil,
honey-brown eyes looked up at me from a face perfectly sculpted from ebony. I
studied her exquisite face, committing each detail to memory. The high cheek
bones, the slightly large, rounded nose, full lips and dimpled chin. Even the
pimple that sat just underneath her right eye. I took in every detail, as if I
feared she would soon be taken from me and I would have to search real hard
find her again.
“William Auguste Harding…” She said and gave a little laugh. She knew how much
I hated my silly middle name. “I almost can’t believe I’m standing here with
you. It feels like a dream, my perfect dream come true. Today, I will become
one with my best friend, my mate of heart and soul, my brother.”
Who are you?! Why can’t I
remember you?!
“I promise you my darling, that I'll be your confidant, companion and help, God helping me. I promise to see through your eyes
to your dreams, to fly with you as you fly with them.”
Am I losing my mind?! Why
then does it feel so…right…
“I promise
to share every moment and challenge and victory and struggle and triumph with
you, and to grow old and silly with you…”
Her voice became husky with
emotion and her eyes were glistening with unshed tears. Smiling, she slipped
the simple gold band unto my finger.
*
*
*
*
I woke up with her vows echoing
in my mind. I switched on the bed-side lamp and sat up in bed. Absently, I
picked up the gold band that lay beside the lamp and turned it over and over in
my hand. It had been Grandpa’s ring and after he passed, Nan had insisted I
have it for some reason best known to her. I’d told her matter-of-factly that
if that was her way of hinting that I was getting old, she could think again.
What I hadn’t told her, or anyone else, was that the ring spooked me out badly,
and that was because I’d had a very funny dream the night before Nan gave it to
me. Tonight, it had been the very same dream all over again. The wedding. The
un-veiling. The beautiful stranger. The same weird dream. Only this time, I'd
finally met the stranger. She was Nan's new tenant.
