Chapter Thirty-Three #3
‘... none of us knows what is around the corner and sometimes, things or people that we think are meant for us really aren’t, not forever...’
‘Okay, here we go!’ Iris turned to face her entourage, her face split with a smile of pure elation. This girl was ready, more than ready, to march up that aisle and grab the future she wanted.
Trish raised her arm and Iris slipped hers through it, just as the music began to play loudly. It wasn’t what Enya had expected, no hymn, no mournful lullaby or thought-provoking melody. No slow evocative ballad with words of love and tenderness, nothing like that.
Instead, it was instant and booming, an explosion of strings, guitar, banjo and bass!
It was energetic and life-affirming and entirely rousing.
All present jumped on the spot, moved their shoulders, or tapped their toes or stepped gaily from foot to foot, arms moving, heads nodding, mouths preparing to sing along.
It was a sound that encouraged movement and participation, it encouraged life!
And then came the slowing, hypnotic and clear voices of those very clever Mumbley Boys.
Enya felt the beat in her breastbone and breathed in time to it. She stared ahead as the bridesmaids, with their bouquets held aloft, almost danced down the tunnel and then the aisle in a slow yet intricate step.
The music was loud in her ears, as Dominic came to stand next to her, close now. She could feel his presence, could smell his cologne, and she remembered what it had felt like to fall heavily into his arms on that day, for that brief time when she found a place to rest.
He reached down and took her hand inside his, where it fitted neatly, entirely, and where her fingers curled naturally around his.
She turned her face to look at him and he did the same, as the music built into a crescendo that carried her along with its passion and its beauty.
He spoke five words, five words said clearly and with resolution that would become indelibly etched in her brain, there for perfect recall whenever she closed her eyes.
‘I will wait for you.’
That was what he said, and she got the message loud and clear.
If only it were that simple. Then the last gentle squeeze of her fingers before he let go of her hand and offered her his crooked arm.
She placed her hand through it. Both looked ahead, as they walked through the flower arch, along the tunnel and into the marquee, surrounded by flowers and love, music and an atmosphere of infinite possibility, before they came to rest on the designated spot and separated, coming to a standstill opposite each other.
Their children, hand in hand, beamed into the face of the other as if they had struck gold and been brave enough to claim it as their own.
And while her heart sang for her son and this joyful union, her eyes were firmly fixed on Dominic and his on her.
‘Wowee!’ Rhona the celebrant spoke breathlessly as the music came to a close and everyone clapped, everyone!
This at the commencement of the ceremony because, unbound by tradition, it felt like the right thing to do.
There were even one or two whoops and hollers from the assembled.
‘Now that’s how you start a wedding!’ Rhona began, to much laughter.
‘So, good people, we are here today to celebrate the love of Aiden and Iris and I would like to start by telling you a little story.’ Another ripple of laughter made its way around the marquee.
‘Sometimes it’s the smallest things in life that can turn into the biggest things.
A tiny twist of fate that means the universe puts something or someone in your path that is meant for you, meant to be yours. ’
Dominic allowed himself a small smile, which Enya matched.
‘This is one such love, which started with a lingering look, a feeling, an indescribable and instantaneous connection that took them both entirely by surprise! But standing here today, can you imagine if they had not acted on this moment, can you conceive of a world where they might have denied the pull of destiny and not leapt! Surely that would have been the biggest tragedy of all, and surely it would have been to the detriment of their happiness. And that has to be the goal, right, to be happy?’
‘Yes!’ came calls from the crowd.
‘When two people are shown a path that leads directly to happiness, do they not have a duty to walk it? And what would be the end result if they didn’t? I shall tell you,’ Rhona paused for effect, ‘it would be the biggest missed opportunity of their lives!’
Enya, listening intently to every word spoken, felt the slow, warm creep of tears across her face.
Once she started crying, it was like removing a stopper and she really could not stop.
It felt monstrously unfair that she could not walk the path that led directly to happiness.
Dominic, it seemed, understood as he too let his tears fall freely.
And there they stood, facing each other, almost oblivious of everyone else present as they cried, hearts rent, their pain evident.
It was clear to her, the great love story was Iris and Aiden’s, and for her to act on any feelings towards Dominic would place the young couple, with all the challenges that lay ahead for them, under the most enormous strain.
Walking that path, acting on these feelings that she was certain were real, had the power to cause turmoil, division, and pain, the very opposite of what she wanted for them.
She loved her son and was too fond of Iris to do anything of the sort.
Trish, staring at her only child who stood in all her glory, cried too, but Enya suspected for very different reasons.
‘I’d like to ask you this question,’ Rhona took a breath, ‘what is living, if it isn’t to grab those glorious moments of joy when they are presented to us and to stuff them into our pockets, knowing that joy, that love is what will sustain us on the darker days and in the challenging times. What is living if it is not that?’
Enya finally managed to look away from Dominic’s face, staring at her pale-blue silk wedged espadrille shoes, where a blot of tears sat.
It would stain, no doubt, leave a faint salty water mark, but one she would treasure because it contained all that was in her soul, as her heart, full of heaviness, seemed like it might fall right out of her chest given all she felt and all that could not be. ..