Saint Sophia #2
Jessie watched Halo’s fantastic blue eyes watching her, and there was again, a click inside her mind.
She knew why she was here and was happy for it.
“So… two girls sitting here together. Both with men who thought we loved them because they saved us.” She saw Halo blush and she reached out tenderly and squeezed her hand.
Halo smiled and squeezed Jessie’s hand in return. “Would you please take my note to Xander? Everyone here read it; if by chance you read it, I wouldn’t mind.”
Jessie watched Halo hand the note to her, and she graciously accepted it. “Am I going to cry if I read it?”
Halo leaned close, “Yeah, everyone else did that read it. I heard you read my last letter to Xander, I promise this is a much better letter than the last one I wrote.” Halo made a face and Jessie smiled.
After taking a moment looking at the paper, she nodded, opened it up, and indeed tears were welling in seconds. “It’s beautiful…” Jessie sniffed. “You sure I should be the messenger?”
“Positive…”
“Halo… thank you. Seriously.”
“I am here for you… ok, when I get back from the honeymoon, I’ll be here for you, for whatever you need.” They both laughed and Jessie accepted Halo’s hug and hugged her back warmly. She felt as if she had a friend, then heard Halo whispering in her ear.
“Thank you for being there when I needed someone…”
Jessie nodded, let her go with a smile. “So, Pony Express has a delivery to make.” She laughed and pushed a tear back with her finger. “Na zisete, Halo.”
“You, too, Jessie.”
Eric Rose brushed off the lapels of Xander’s tuxedo, adjusted the pink rose, and chuckled. “What a year it’s been…”
Xander stared into his friend’s pale blue eyes. “Ha! Please tell me this is not some dream. I swear sometimes I think I’m in a coma somewhere, living this out as some kind of fantasy.”
He felt a hard slap on his shoulder as Simo began chuckling. “Nope, not a dream. I think you won the lottery, though!” Simo laughed.
Eric laughed. “One hell of a win!”
Ari laughed along with them. “I believe the word we’re all grasping for is Cinderfella.”
Xander laughed, and everyone joined in. “No kidding!”
Eric waved Chen, Ari, Theo, Simo, and Gunnar closer. They all surrounded Xander, smiling. “Ok… as Xander’s best man, I am privileged to perform this time-honored duty that all best men are held accountable to.”
Xander squinted as Eric placed both hands on his shoulders and gave him a gentle shake. “Xander… as your best man, I have to do this.”
Xander eyed his friend, then glanced at the surrounding men, all smiling knowingly. “Ok…”
Eric pointed outside and fixed him with a serious stare. “We can leave right now, all of us. Head to Las Vegas and party like there’s no tomorrow. Are you absolutely, positively sure you want to get married to Halo Raines? We’re here if you want to split right now. No questions asked.”
Xander’s chuckle turned into a deep belly laugh. “Leave? Hell no! Not on your life!”
Everyone cheered and clapped him on the shoulders. Eric laughed. “Glad that’s over with. Good choice, my friend.”
“Xander, my plane is fueled and waiting for you both tonight; everything is set on my end,” Ari grinned.
“Thank you so much, Ari. I truly appreciate yours, and everyone else’s, help with all the details.”
Simo stepped up and hugged him hard. “Efaresto… for everything, Hero Boy.”
Xander returned the unexpected hug and patted the big man’s back. “Of course, Gigas. I’ll always have your back whenever you need me.”
Simo stepped back, nodded, then pressed a finger to his ear and groaned. “Eleni and Jessie want to see you for a moment, nea?”
“Sure thing.”
Simo pointed toward the waiting room door. Xander headed over and found Eleni on crutches, with Jessie hovering nearby, trying to help her.
“Yasou, Eleni… Jessie. You both look beautiful.” Xander beamed, taking them in: both fully made up, wearing elegant off-pink, below-the-knee designer dresses.
Both women smiled. Eleni spoke first. “Jessie has a note from Halo, and we wanted to thank you in person in case we don’t have a chance later.” She turned to Jessie and gestured toward Xander.
Jessie nodded and handed him the envelope.
“What’s this?”
“Halo’s love note,” Eleni smiled.
Xander nodded, smiling, just as Eleni elbowed Jessie.
“Damn… this is hard,” Jessie muttered. “How do I say this…”
Eleni elbowed her again. “Just use your lips, girl.”
Jessie arched an eyebrow, suppressing a chuckle, then smirked: unmistakably Jessie.
“Ok, handsome. Here it is. I don’t trust people…
just you and these guys. I just want to say thank you…
for having my back. I doubt we’d even be here, or we’d be in pretty shit shape.
” She clapped a hand over her mouth. “Sorry. I was a teenager the last time I was in a church…”
Xander smiled. “I’m just relieved I was able to help. Honestly, I think it was mostly luck, so…”
“There you go again,” Jessie huffed, turning to Eleni for backup. Eleni nodded and shot Xander a look. “Stop trying to justify it. You risked your ass when you didn’t have to.”
He chuckled. “Sorry. Force of habit. You’re both very welcome.”
Eleni touched his hand and smiled. “Efaresto… poly. I’ll leave you two to speak for a moment, nea?”
“Parakalo, Eleni.”
As Eleni limped off toward Simo on her crutches, Jessie eyed Xander up and down. “You don’t look nervous. Not even a little. Hell, I think I’m more nervous than you. What gives?”
“After everything I’ve been through,” he said with a small smile, “this is by far the easiest thing I’ve ever done. It just feels right.”
“No shit… oops.” She winced. “Well… I wish you both the best.” She hesitated, clearly about to say something, then stopped cold.
Xander smiled, reached out, and gently squeezed her hand. “It’s ok. Go ahead.”
Jessie sighed. “Halo sent me here to you, so fine. But don’t tell anyone… ok, except your soon-to-be wife?”
“My word,” Xander said, nodding.
She briefly touched the area over her heart. “It’s a personal question?”
Xander nodded, knowing what it was. “I am all ears.”
“When… when you thought Halo only loved you because you saved her, uh… did you really believe that? Or was that something else?” She winced slightly. “Sorry…”
Xander understood immediately and nodded.
“No need to be sorry. You were right to ask, and I think I’m now the expert on that.
” He let out a short laugh, and Jessie joined him.
“I… well, I did my best to convince myself that was the reason because…” He took a breath.
“I was trying to protect myself from her love… and all that it entailed.”
Jessie’s mouth fell open, clearly not expecting that. “I… really?”
“I’d never lie to you, Jessie.” Xander ran a hand down his chin and nodded.
“Honestly, I tried to put everything in my way of loving her back. From thinking it could never work, to Robbie Montclaire, who I thought was her boyfriend but actually was her gay friend waiting to kill me for being with Halo, to, lastly, my duty to a failed marriage and an unhappy wife.”
“What… what can I do in a similar situation?”
Xander smiled gently. “Don’t give up.” He hesitated, then asked quietly, “Simo?”
Jessie looked down and nodded.
“He’d be…” Xander huffed a laugh. “What did Evie say to me? Oh yeah, ‘a stupid malaka’ if I didn’t go be with Halo. So, yeah… he’d be just that.”
“What if I can’t wait any longer?”
Xander took a deep breath again and met her green eyes fully.
“Jessie… I was miserable without Halo. But if you can’t anymore, then you have to trust yourself.
” He paused. “I care greatly for you both. That said, please, for your heart’s sake, stay and fight for as long as you can.
Halo was relentless…” He studied her face for a moment, then added softly, “We all want to protect our hearts… but listen to what your heart is actually telling you.” He shrugged. “You can’t help who you love.”
Jessie nodded thoughtfully, though Xander could tell she wasn’t entirely satisfied.
“Jessie, I can only explain my own experience.” He smiled faintly.
“What feels like a lifetime ago… I fell for Halo the instant I met her eyes. It was insane. I thought it was stupid. At times I honestly believed I’d lost my mind because of how impossible it all seemed.
” He chuckled quietly. “As you know, it took one hell of a journey to get here, but here I am, standing in a church ready to get married. Want to know something weird?”
She nodded, hanging on every word.
“I still think sometimes I’m in a hospital bed somewhere, dreaming all of this.”
Jessie snorted softly and patted his shoulder. “Handsome, if that’s true? I am so pissed at you for putting me through all this sh—ah, crap.”
Xander laughed. “No kidding. Anyway… you never know what the future has in store. And getting there?” He shrugged.
“Might be a little crazy.” He paused for a long moment.
“Simo… ah, for how different he and I are… I think in a few ways we are alike. I needed to have my eyes opened to the truth on how much Halo really loved me, but that’s us. ”
Jessie reached out and straightened the rose on his lapel, sighed, then met his eyes. “I think Halo is the lucky one in all this… just don’t let that go to your head.” She winked.
“Not me,” Xander said warmly. “And thank you, Jessie. I’m really happy I met you… and that I get to call you my good friend. Like I told Simo, I will always have your back or an ear to lend.”
She had a sarcastic retort ready on her pouty lips, but she held it back as her eyes glistened in the light. “Thank you, Xander.” She exhaled. “I’d better help Eleni back. She’s determined to be involved the whole time… and if I remember right, Orthodox ceremonies are really long.”
“Oh, yeah,” he laughed. “They are.”
She waved to him and left to meet Eleni.
Looking down at the envelope, he gently unpeeled the flap and pulled out a card. In her beautiful, flowing handwriting, he read:
To the love of my life,