Shine - Part Nineteen
This episode is part of a larger story, Soft Touch. If you haven’t yet, you can go back and read it from the beginning right here.
We all go racing out through the green passageway in a single-file line. Ralph is at the back, and he comes to a sudden stop when Raj tosses Aiden the keys to the pickup.
He twists his fingers around his leather wristbands, shifting slightly from foot to foot. His dark green eyes dart up the street, then flit to Noah. He bites his lip, hesitating.
“Hey,” he blurts out. “We got time for one more surprise?”
Aiden had been unlocking the pickup, and the rest of us were gathering around it. We all stop, startled, then turn to look at Ralph.
“That was one more already,” Noah says, half beneath his breath. “What surprise, man?”
Ralph hesitates, then beckons with a toss of his head towards the curve in the forested road. He starts to walk for it.
Raj and Noah exchange a confused glance, then set off after him. Aiden, Ripley, and I follow after them. I catch Aiden’s eye, but he shrugs at me, just as lost as I am.
Ralph leads us around the bend in the road, with Noah and Raj right behind him. Before I can see what they’re all looking at, Noah comes to a sharp stop, and Raj lets out a sputtering sound of disbelief.
“Holy shit, bro!” he says, right as Aiden, Ripley, and I stop behind him.
I let out a soft gasp, and Aiden lets out a low whistle.
There’s a beautiful, shimmering sports car parked off the road. One with an immaculate blue paint job and sleek, dramatic tail lights that reach all the way around to arch over the back wheels. It sits low to the road, ready to eat it up at lightning speed. A silver, leaping jaguar marks the front.
“Oh, shit,” Noah breathes, staring at it with very wide eyes. “It’s a Jaguar F-Type. Got a supercharged 5.0-liter V-8, this car, real old-school…”
He fades off slowly. His grey eyes narrow, then flit to Ralph in confusion. Silently asking the obvious question. What is it doing here?
Ralph nervously twists his fingers around his wristbands one more time, then slips something from his pocket. A set of shiny car keys, which he holds out to Noah.
“Thought you might want a fast ride,” he says. “To drive to your wedding.”
Noah stares at Ralph. First in disbelief, and then with a very blank expression. He blinks uneasily, his jaw tensing up, his grey gaze dropping to the car.
I know exactly what he’s thinking of. The Corvette, and everything it broke between him and Ralph.
Ralph must be following Noah’s thinking, too. He hastily slips something out of his bag and holds it up to show Noah. An agreement from a car rental service, with Ralph’s name signed at the bottom.
“It’s all legal. Paid for, all that.” Ralph is speaking all in a rush, in an increasingly desperate voice. “No one’s coming after it. It’s yours for the day, and I’m gonna return it myself tomorrow.”
Noah stares at him, pierced eyebrows knitted, grey eyes unreadable. Ralph blinks at him anxiously, starts to lower the keys. Then he takes a sudden deep breath, forces himself to meet Noah’s eyes.
“I did it right this time, Noosh,” he says, quietly and earnestly. “I promise.”
He holds out the keys to Noah again.
Noah stares at him for a long, silent moment, then slowly reaches out and takes the keys.
Ralph lets out a breath like he was holding it for hours, and Noah breaks into a small smile, then an enormous grin. He lets out an excited laugh, clasping Ralph’s shoulder. Ralph sags against him, his face flooded with relief.
“Al-fucking-right!” Noah shouts, bouncing in his combat boots. “Let’s fucking go, boys! Raj and I are taking the Jag, obviously! See if you suckers can catch us!”
“It’s not a race, Noah!” I remind him, then blink when Aiden, Ralph, and Ripley all go rushing for the pickup, like it is a race. “What-? Oh, my god!”
I sprint after them, gasping when I hear the roar, and then the purr of a very powerful engine behind me.
“We are never gonna beat them, they’re in a sports car!” I groan, as Aiden disappears into the front seat of the truck. I scramble into the passenger’s seat, and the truck bounces as Ralph and Ripley bound up into the back. “If anything, they’re gonna beat us there by like-”
I break off as a blue streak hurtles past us on the road like a torpedo. It sends up a blast of wind, and the faint sound of Raj screaming.
“Oh, Jesus.” Aiden stares after them, wide-eyed. “Was - was Noah standing up on the gas pedal?”
“Yep,” Ralph laughs, grinning happily in the back of the truck. “As much as a man can in a sports car, anyways.”
“Oh, god.” I press my palms over my eyes. “Aiden.”
“Yep. Yep.” Aiden sticks the keys in the ignition, his shoulders shaking in silent laughter. “Let’s get there before-”
He stops as the pickup turns on, and very loud, fat-beats-only kind of music begins blasting at top volume from the truck speakers.
“Don’t you dare turn that down, dude,” Ripley laughs, reaching through the truck window to knock my hand away from the radio. “Clearly Noah wants us to roll up in style. We should really have our girls with us - is yours coming, Ralph?”
“To the reception, yeah, but not the ceremony. She’s gotta drive from Port Sitka.” Ralph arches an eyebrow at Ripley. “Why’re you asking about my girl?”
“Because I don’t really believe you have one.”
Ralph blinks at Ripley, startled, then lets out a burst of indignant laughter.
“Oh, it’s like that, huh?” Ralph swats at Ripley, who snickers as he falls back to avoid it. “She lives in Port Sitka!”
“Oh, yeah?” Ripley laughs, tossing his green curls out of his eyes. “Like - she goes to another school?”
“Go on, man. Talk your shit. Only gonna make it more gratifying for me when you see what a dime I got myself-”
“We so don’t have time for this,” Aiden groan-laughs. “The sun is gonna fucking set soon-”
Ripley slaps the side of the truck excitedly. “Let’s go!”
The pickup rolls out onto the road. We follow the invisible trail of brilliant excitement left behind by Raj and Noah, and leave behind our own.
~~~~
As I predicted, Raj and Noah beat us there by a lot.
We find the Jag idling on the corner before the turn onto their street, waiting for us. Noah sticks a thumbs-up at us through the window when he hears the music we didn’t turn off thumping out from the truck.
Mel told me that she’d warned their neighbors to expect some noise on their wedding day, but people must be curious about the commotion. As we sail down Raj, Mel, and Noah’s street, windows are open, and people are leaning out through them, watching. A few people wave at us, shouted congratulations coming from the windows and from front porches to Raj and Noah.
It’s a very Ketterbridge thing to happen, and it has me smiling in the front seat of the pickup.
I can see what drew everyone out as soon as we come into sight of the house. It looks like all of the wedding guests are already there, gathered out on the front lawn. A big crowd, filled with familiar faces. Ellen is excitedly saying something to Kent and Gabby, and Raj’s cousin Chahna is talking to Noelle. Angie is the center of attention of a bunch of the guys from Noah and Aiden’s high school soccer team, and Melanie’s mom is laughing with Aunt Sarah…
I can’t even count everyone.
As the Jag and the pickup approach the house, from one end of the crowd to the other, a collective shout rises up.
The instant that Noah parks the Jag out front, the car is swarmed. He and Raj get out into a whole lot of reaching hands and laughing, shouting faces. Aiden, Ripley, Ralph, and I get the same treatment when we descend from the truck.
Suddenly we’re in a thick, tight crowd, and everyone is blazing with joy and excitement. Alix rushes out to meet Ripley, tripping over everyone’s feet, and he laughs, fights his way through the crowd to get to her.
I give Aunt Sarah a hug, slap Rasheem’s shoulder in greeting, then look through the chaos for Noah. Some part of me is worried that this might be too many people touching him and reaching for him at once. But when I catch sight of him, he looks like he’s in a daze of happiness, only vaguely aware of the hands on him. A beaming smile, complete with dimples, is shining out from his face.
I forgot that while Noah doesn’t like people touching him, he doesn’t mind a crowd. In fact, he loves a party, and that’s what this is clearly shaping up to be.
Raj is laughing at his side, reaching out to hug everyone, but keeping one hand tight around Noah’s.
We ride a sea of people into the house. Noah and Raj are leading the way, and with Aiden’s huge physique to clear a path, we’re able to follow right behind them.
Noah and Raj come to a stop right inside the door, so abruptly that Ripley crashes into Noah’s back.
Noah doesn’t notice. He and Raj are both staring open-mouthed at their living room.
I stop by his side, anxiously twisting my fingers together. I’m proud of how everything turned out, but I poured my heart into this, and I’m really hoping that the reactions are gonna be good.
I wanted it to be what Aunt Sarah said. Flowing, natural. Wild.
I sank all of my effort into the bolts of silky black fabric. With a glue gun and a sewing needle, I gave the fabric a thick, unbroken coating of flowers. All different kinds of flowers, in all different sizes and textures, with no uniformity or pattern aside from what my hand felt like when I placed them. I wanted it to look spontaneous, overflowing. There are even berries and leaves worked in, pieces of blonde driftwood, forest moss, heather.
All the chaos is unified by the colors of the flowers. One third of them are a luxuriant, rich, fire-colored scarlet. Another third of them are golden, like a late afternoon sky over a beach. The rest are silver.
All of it is inextricably woven together, beneath a very subtle shimmer of gold and silver glitter.
Here and there, there’s a velvet black rose tipped with gold, a signature touch from me.
The fabric oceans of flowers are draped gracefully across the ceiling and spilling down the walls, turning the living room into a beautiful, intimate cavern, a mass of color that subtly changes in the soft light.
I had to go really simple with the flowers for outside in order to have time to do this, so I really hope that Noah and Raj and Melanie -
“Holy - holy fucking shit,” Raj sputters, staring around with enormous eyes. “Jamie. Jamie.”
“You like it?” I ask hopefully.
Instead of answering, Raj lets out a loud shout of appreciation, which instantly draws a burst of relieved laughter from me. I look searchingly at Noah, and find him looking at me.
He silently reaches over, smiling from ear to ear, and braces my shoulder.
“Oh, yay,” I say softly, weak-kneed with relief.
Raj sweeps me up into a hug from behind, startling another laugh out of me. I swat at his arms as he basically carries me the rest of the way into the house, leading in everyone who was waiting outside. The living room becomes a sea of excited chatter and laughter, and I back up a little to catch my breath.
A soft, deep voice murmurs in my ear. “Nice work, Keane.”
I smile to myself, then lean back against Aiden. He folds his arms around me, drops his head to kiss the top of mine.
“EXCUSE ME?” someone hollers, at a volume that nearly makes me jump out of my skin. “JAMIE KEANE?”
I whip around, then take a startled step back when I lay eyes on the person trying to get my attention.
“Jesus fucking Christ!” I sputter, then gasp, clasping my hands over my mouth.
I haven’t been to church since my mom stopped making me go, but I know that’s not how you’re supposed to greet a priest.
“Oh - not Jesus Christ!” I rush to add, absolutely aghast, my mortified eyes widening. “I meant, um - oh, no, I’m so sorry, Father-”
“It’s alright, son,” he booms. He lets out a hearty laugh, then slaps my shoulder hard enough to nearly send me spinning. “I was in the Navy, I’ve heard it all!”
I stare up at him, taking in the sight. I know that Mel’s mom had begged her to have a priest do the ceremony, but priests who were willing to marry three people were thin on the ground.
“We don’t want a priest who will just - put up with it,” Mel told me and Aiden. “We want someone who will actually be excited for us, and that’s been - hard. But Raj said he found the one, and I trust Raj’s intuition.”
And here the priest is. He’s nearly of a height with Aiden, and built out in a similar way, with iron muscle forearms coming from the rolled-up sleeves of his black clergy shirt. He’s grey-haired, with a salt and pepper beard on a straight-razor jaw. He’s scattered with faded tattoos, even on his throat above his white clerical collar.
He’s got a thick, massive scar running down across one ear, obliterating it completely. The scar runs all the way down onto his neck.
“Father Leo?” I ask timidly, and he nods, smiling warmly down at me.
“Sorry if I’m a little loud, son,” he shouts, pointing to his ruined ear. “My hearing isn’t what it used to be.”
“Oh, it’s fine!” I answer, talking louder than I was before so that he can hear me over the din of the living room. I hesitate, then nod at his scar. “Did - did that happen while you were in the Navy? If you don’t mind me asking!”
“No, after! Logging companies are relentless with protestors, but especially back in the ‘80s!” Father Leo points to the scar again. “They cut down the trees we chained ourselves to, so we chained ourselves to the cutting machinery. And you know what they did? Started it!”
“Holy shit,” I answer blankly, then quickly press my fingers over my mouth. “Or - not holy shit! I mean - I’m sorry, that’s just so-”
“It’s alright, son!” Father Leo bellows, patting the top of my head. “I was alright, in the end! Had the Lord on my side!”
I shake my head, a little dazed. It’s dawning on me that Raj was right. This is somehow the perfect person to marry him, Noah, and Mel. I exchange a grin with Aiden before I turn back to Father Leo.
“It’s good that we have someone loud!” I yell to him. “This is a tough crowd to keep quiet!”
“My kind of crowd, son!”
“How’d you know I was Jamie, by the way?”
“You did the flowers, right?” Father Leo asks, and then, when I nod - “Chlorophyll-green fingers!”
I look down at my fingers, which are most definitely stained a vivid shade of green from all the work I did over the last two days. Aiden lets out a soft snicker of affectionate laughter from behind me.
“And the name had me looking for an Irishman!” Father Leo adds, warmly cuffing my shoulder again.
The playful slap nearly sends me stumbling back into Aiden, who is struggling hard to fight down a laugh.
“Oh, um-”
“The bride is looking for you, Jamie,” Father Leo shouts. “She asked me to send you upstairs. But hurry, because we need to get started!”
“I’m on it!” I answer, then lean up to brush a kiss onto Aiden’s mouth before I dart for the stairs.
“I’ll go light the candles,” Aiden calls after me, and I cast him a grateful look over my shoulder.
Upstairs is much quieter than downstairs, but I can hear voices from Raj and Mel’s bedroom. The door is slightly open, so I knock, then push it wider.
I freeze when I see Melanie standing there, looking at herself in the mirror.
“Oh, Mel,” I sigh, clasping my hands beneath my chin as she turns around to smile radiantly at me. “Oh, my god. Noah and Raj are literally gonna die when they see you.”
“Not bad for a thrift store dress, right?” she says happily.
I step into the room to find Destinee, Angie, and Dahlia touching up their makeup in the mirror, along with a cluster of Mel’s other friends. I don’t recognize all of them, but one of them drops and then catches her eyeliner pencil with such lightning-fast reflexes that I have to think some of these girls know Melanie through Dahlia’s Muay Thai gym.
Kasey is sitting on the floor with the girls, leaning back on her hands, laughing at something that Des just said. She gives me a wave when I step inside, and I flash her an affectionate smile, since I can’t say anything in front of the others.
Melanie’s mom is sitting on the bed, singing softly to Nikita, who blinks up at her peacefully.
“Can you put some flowers in my braid, Jamie?” Mel turns to look at herself in the mirror again. “And add some to my dress, too? You said you left some extra flowers here, right?”
I did, so I quickly cross to the corner of the room and open up the cooler. I come back with my hands full of flowers. I start gently tucking them into Mel’s braid, and she falls silent, looking into her own eyes in the mirror.
“How are you feeling?” I ask quietly.
Mel lets out a soft, wondering laugh. Her eyes are dream-rich, wild with happiness, just like Noah and Raj.
“Can’t believe it’s happening,” she murmurs, shaking her head. “I keep thinking back to when you said to me - have yourself both.”
I let out a laugh, and Melanie laughs, too, then bites her lip.
“I never expected to actually have both,” she rasps softly, blinking hard. “Forever.”
“You three and Nik,” I tell her happily. “Actually - is Nik gonna be alright, attending this event? It’s loud, down there.”
Melanie lets out a sparkling little laugh.
“Her dads are Raj and Noah, Jamie. And those two always have the rest of you guys over at our house, so, yeah. Nik is used to it being loud. Chaos is her comfort zone, really - hey, save some flowers for my dress!”
“You - you really want me to add these to your dress? They’re real flowers, Mel. They’re gonna die eventually, and the glue isn’t gonna come off-”
“Whatever, I want to be flowery!”
“Do as the bride commands, Jamie,” Dahlia laughs, and I hold my hands up in surrender.
“Fine, but I’m on the record with all my warnings about this!”
Mel falls quiet again as I fix the flowers in little scattered bunches to her dress.
“How do they look?” she asks suddenly. “Raj and Noah?”
“Honestly? They look great. Like, good for you, girl.”
“Jamie,” Mel giggles. “I didn’t mean-”
“That navy blue dress shirt looks super good on both of them, and Noah - I thought all the tattoos and piercings might look bizarre with the suit, but it weirdly works, like, really well-”
“Jamie,” Melanie laughs, “I meant, like - how are they?”
I look up from where I’m kneeling at the skirt of Mel’s dress, give her an earnest smile. “I’ve never seen either of them so happy.”
Mel bites down on her smile as I reach into the cooler, extract her bouquet, and straighten up.
“They’re ready,” I tell her, pressing the bouquet into her hands. “Are you?”
Mel lets out a soft gasp, staring down at the long, trailing bouquet. A wild explosion of ruby red, silver, and golden flowers, softly encircled with stalks of heather.
“Oh, Jamie, it’s beautiful, it’s…” She fades off, then tips her head back and lets out a happy little laugh. “Yeah, I’m ready.”
I’m still smiling by the time I get back downstairs. The living room is full to the walls, but Aiden stands so high over even the tallest heads in the room that I catch sight of him and the rest of the guys right away. Noah is bent down over a cardboard box, hastily tearing it open while Ripley hides a laugh behind his paint-stained fingers.
“What are you doing, dude?” I ask breathlessly, coming to a stop beside Aiden.
“Mel told us not to make a big deal when she comes downstairs,” Raj explains, as Noah springs back to his feet.
“Yep, so we got this thing.” Noah shows us what he was unpackaging: an actual megaphone. “Let me just check that there are batteries.”
“What?” I sputter, staring at Noah in disbelief. “She says not to make a big deal when she comes down, so you two went out and got a fucking megaphone?”
“Jamie doesn’t date girls,” Raj reminds Noah, then turns to face me. “Jamie, when your girl says not to make a big deal about something, sometimes she means it, and sometimes she means the exact opposite. You gotta learn how to tell the difference.”
“It’s an art, bro,” Noah tells me, straightening out his lei.
I look to Aiden for confirmation, then let out a startled laugh when he closes his eyes and gives me a very serious nod.
“Noting that tip down for later,” Ralph murmurs to himself.
“Me, too,” Ripley says, looking faintly alarmed. “Wait, so - how do you know-?”
“Okay, we can come back to that, just-” I look anxiously at Raj and Noah. “You guys are sure-?”
“Trust me, bro, this time she meant the opposite,” Raj assures me. “Besides, she already knows that we’re gonna make a big deal. She knows that we can’t not make a big deal. Goes against our nature, when it comes to her.”
“Have you seen her, dude?” Noah asks, like I’m being ridiculous. “She’s fucking gorgeous, even when she’s not getting herself done up all special for us. And I’ve got to think that today, she probably looks-”
“Noah,” Raj breathes, staring past us with enormous eyes.
All of us turn as one to follow his gaze.
Melanie has stopped on the stairs. She’s gazing around at the flowers, her eyes very wide, her mouth slightly open.
Raj and Noah stare at her in much the same way. Noah slowly lifts a hand, grips Raj’s shoulder tightly.
“Holy - fucking - oh my g…” he stammers, then falters into astounded silence.
I get it. Melanie looks stunning.
Her dress is a deep, vivid shade of scarlet, with a gentle plunge of neckline held by the tiniest of straps. Fitted to her body everywhere but the skirt, which begins at her knees in loose, flowing form. There’s an airy layer of shimmering, translucent white fabric almost floating over the first, with graceful sleeves like wings that fall around her elbows. That’s the part I added the crimson flowers to, and they look beautiful, scattered over her. Like they grew right out of the dress.
Her hands are covered with intricate bridal mehndi, rich henna that spirals all the way up to her elbows. Her hair is in a teased, dramatic version of its usual french braid, resting on her shoulder, thick with flowers. The soft light of the room makes her shine, catches on the light dusting of glitter that’s fallen from the bouquet and onto her hands.
Her cheeks are rosy with a light blush, the gentle round curves of her face glowing with her smile. She looks like a winter rose, in full blossom. Like something out of a fairy tale.
Her eyes land on Raj and Noah, and light up.
Raj and Noah are still staring at her, holding tight to each other, their jaws dropped. You would think that an angel had quite literally descended from heaven right before their eyes. They both look completely lost, awed, in a dream, as if suddenly there was nobody else here. Their thunderstruck silence is only broken by the soft clicking sound of Ralph’s camera.
Raj and Noah stand there, powerless to move or say anything or even to blink, for what feels like a full minute.
And then Raj suddenly collapses to the floor - nearly taking Ripley out in the process - and Noah whips the megaphone up to his mouth.
“Holy shit, everybody!” he shouts, pointing at Mel as if everyone hadn’t already stopped to stare at her. “Did you guys fucking see-?”
“Noah!” Ellen lets out a shocked giggle, tugging on his arm. “You swore!”
“Shhh, don’t tell anyone,” he answers through the still full-volume megaphone, as Aiden hauls Raj back to his feet.
Mel is beaming and blushing, giggling on the stairs, which makes Nikita start giggling in Dahlia’s arms behind her. Raj makes an almost anguished sound, then starts rushing forward through the crowd to them. Noah is about two seconds behind him. Ripley just manages to catch the megaphone that he tossed over his shoulder before it can crash to the floor.
Raj sweeps Mel down from the stairs, and Noah gets there just in time to fling his arms around both of them, nearly sending all three of them down to the floor. Mel gasps and laughs from in between her two fiancés, clutching Noah’s shirt to stay on her feet. A burst of excited noise comes from the crowd in the living room, and everyone surges towards them.
“Alright, alright!” Father Leo roars, his powerful voice cutting through all the chaos. “Outside, everyone! Let’s get these three married!”
There’s a resounding cheer, and then - if people can be crowd-surfed while still standing upright, that’s what happens to Noah, Raj, and Mel. They’re swept on a wave out into the rainforest backyard, with Ripley, Aiden, Ralph, and I right behind them.
Outside, the sunset sky is a deep and dusky orange. Every huge, flowing cloud is vividly illuminated with the color. The highest reaches of the sky are turning indigo, revealing a few early stars. The air is soft, caressing, saturated with warm light.
The mismatched golden containers that Mel thrifted for me to use for centerpieces are out here, placed throughout the miniature rainforest. They’re all filled to the top with water. The candles floating on the water's surface are flickering beautifully in the falling light, shedding a soft glow onto the flowers floating alongside them. All scarlet red flowers, but all from Hawai’i. ‘A‘ali‘i and ʻohiʻa lehua blossoms, petals unfurled to the sunset.
The surface of the water in all the different containers is lit up with the mirror reflection of the sky.
The archway that Raj built is draped with another one of my fabric sheets of flowers. This is the one I put the broken pieces of mirror into, hidden among the petals. They also catch the deep, Tuscan-orange glow of the sunset, and reflect it back as Raj, Mel, and Noah gather in front of it.
The wedding guests pour out into the backyard, filling it up. Will and Kasey drop to sit together on the overhang of the roof. Will folds an arm around her, drawing her close to him.
“Best men, maid of honor!” Father Leo shouts, beckoning to us. “Places, please!”
Aiden goes to stand at Noah’s shoulder, gives his arm an affectionate slap. Noah looks back at him, and they exchange a quiet word, then a big grin and a soft laugh. Ralph also leans over to say something to Noah, who listens, then snickers and pushes him away. Ralph falls back to stand near Ripley, smiling hard.
I go to stand with Raj, who braces my shoulder and casts me a beaming look, which I return. Dahlia and Mel are giggling together, but I can see that Dahlia is already tearing up. As is Mel’s mom, who stands at the front of the crowd with Noelle and Chahna, hugging Nikita to her chest. Chahna is holding up a phone with a video call going. Raj’s family in Hawai’i are all watching excitedly from the screen, and Raj blows them a kiss.
Then Raj, Mel, and Noah all turn to look at each other in the rich sunset light. Mel hands her bouquet off to Dahlia, so that all three of them can take hands with each other. The wind is velvet soft, rustling over the rainforest, over all of us, stirring the folds of Melanie's dress as she gazes at Noah and Raj.
Father Leo seems to see that they’re ready.
“Alright, enough, quiet!” he bellows, and all the chatter drops to a softer volume. “It’s high time we got down to it, don’t you think?”
An enthusiastic burst of noise comes from the crowd. Father Leo breaks into a big smile.
“Now, I believe in short, sweet ceremonies,” he begins, his booming voice resounding across the backyard. “And I’ve been informed that this is a tough group to keep focused. I can see that someone back there is already wandering off.”
“I wasn’t!” Ellen protests, quickly darting back to Kent. “I just got excited - the pretty flowers, um-”
“It’s alright, my child,” Father Leo laughs. “I don’t blame you for being excited. We’re all excited, aren’t we? I can see that Raj, Melanie, and Noah have a lot of people who love them. Given that we’ve got overflow to the upstairs of the house.”
The soccer team guys and Muay Thai girls watching from the thrown-open upstairs windows cheer loudly and hold up their beers.
“What blessings.” Father Leo smiles up at them, then at Mel, Raj, and Noah. “The truth is, beyond keeping it short, I wasn’t sure what to do for this ceremony. There’s nothing I legally have to say, since nothing legal is being signed tonight. And there’s no church procedure - not in my church, anyways - that lays out the steps for marrying three people. I’ll confess, I was a little bewildered when Raj approached me.”
He turns his warm gaze to Raj, then looks at Mel and Noah.
“I asked Raj to explain it to me, so that I could understand,” he tells them. “I told him that maybe I didn’t understand because personally, I couldn’t split my love between two people. And Raj said to me that for him, it’s not a split. It’s the opposite. For him, being with the two of you, it’s wholeness.”
Noah and Mel blink at Father Leo, then slowly turn to beam at Raj. Father Leo smiles at him, too, then lifts his eyes and hands to the open sky.
“Ain’t it a beautiful day to be made whole!” he bellows, to an instant roar of excited noise from the crowd. “Ain’t it a beautiful thing to find someone you love so much, you want to be with them for the rest of your days? Ain’t it a beautiful thing to find two?”
Melanie is giggling happily, but I can scarcely hear her over the cheers and shouts coming from the wedding guests. Raj is grinning all over his face, bouncing on his feet. Noah’s eyes are two pools of liquid magnesium. He looks like he’s on the point of tears.
“It can be a cold, stormy world out there,” Father Leo continues. He puts one enormous hand on Noah’s shoulder, one on Raj’s. “But the beautiful thing is that sometimes, against all odds, a heart full of love is enough to get you to safe harbor.”
Aiden’s blue eyes suddenly flit to me, then shyly dart away again when I meet his gaze. A faint scarlet blush burns across his cheeks and nose, and I bite down on my smile.
“I can tell that you three got hearts full of love,” Father Leo booms, spreading his arms wide behind Raj, Mel, and Noah. “And they steered you right.”
“Yeah they did!” Destinee shouts from the crowd, leaning back in Rasheem’s arms.
“I know it,” Father Leo laughs. “As I said, we’re not signing any legal papers today. But you are making vows, and that’s what truly matters. You’re vowing to remember where your safe harbor is. Vowing to always come home to it, no matter how far away the storm might take you. And you’re vowing to be a safe harbor, yourself. For each other, and for your little one. Forever.”
I can see Noah squeezing Raj and Mel’s hands tightly.
“Did you three prepare vows of your own?” Father Leo asks.
Melanie nods, and Father Leo gestures for her to go ahead.
Dahlia hands Mel something. Two neat, brown paper envelopes. Based on the weight and thickness, there’s a long letter in each. Mel gives one to Noah, and one to Raj. They both beam at her, tuck them away in their pockets, then look to Father Leo.
“Oh,” he says, caught by surprise. “Okay. Raj, your turn.”
I reach around Raj and hand him the two pendants. Two pieces of rich, dark wood, lovingly sculpted into the size and shape of a coin. Each with an intricate, abstract, hand-carved design on the front. One is on a length of dark leather. Raj puts that one around Noah’s neck. The other is on a shimmering golden chain, which Raj fastens around Melanie’s neck.
They both look down at the pendants, smiling from ear to ear, then turn their adoring gazes to Raj.
Raj matches their smiles, steps back, and looks to Father Leo.
Father Leo blinks, then shrugs his shoulders. “Ah - Noah? Your vows?”
Noah extends his forearm and carefully pulls away the bandage that’s there, revealing a new tattoo on the inside of his wrist. In big, flowing script, it reads: To The Very End.
Raj and Mel stare at it, then lift their eyes to beam at Noah.
“Unusual vows.” Father Leo lets out a booming laugh. “But that’s what I like about these three, they do what they want.”
There’s a burst of affectionate laughter from the guests, and Father Leo smiles again.
“Do we have the rings?” he asks.
Ripley passes them to Aiden, who holds them out to Raj, Mel, and Noah. The rings are nestled cozily in a seashell, one with a beautiful mother-of-pearl interior.
Noah suddenly freezes. He stares at the seashell with wide eyes, then sharply lifts his gaze to Raj. Raj winks at him, and Noah breaks into a slow, disbelieving, dimpled smile.
“I’m not going to make you repeat anything after me,” Father Leo informs them. “Disobedient boys, you two. I can tell. We’d be here all day.”
There’s a laugh of confirmation from everyone present as Raj and Noah grin sheepishly at Father Leo.
“But do think about how you’re taking her as your wife when you put it on her finger,” Father Leo tells them, more softly.
Raj and Noah exchange an intimate, brilliant smile.
Together, they pick up the ring with moonstones and rubies and slide it onto Melanie’s finger. She watches them, laughing a little, glowing.
She and Noah slide the wide golden band onto Raj’s finger together. Then she and Raj slip the matching one onto Noah’s. They all three stare down at their new rings, looking dazed.
“Alright!” Father Leo booms, clapping his hands together. “Let’s do it! Melanie, do you take these men to be your unlawfully wedded husbands?”
“I do,” she laughs happily, a tear streaking down her cheek.
“Noah, do you take this man and this woman to be your husband and wife?”
Noah nods eagerly. “I do, fuck yeah, I do-”
“Alright, son, that’s enough,” Father Leo laughs. “Rajiv, do you take this man and this woman to be your husband and wife?”
“I do,” Raj stammers, in a very hoarse, fragile voice.
“Then by the power vested in me by - well, not the church, not the state, so I guess by my own damn self - I now pronounce you husband and husband and wife!”
There’s an instant explosion of noise from everyone, so I can barely hear Father Leo bellow: “You may now kiss the bride!”
Raj and Noah hear him, though, and they both dive for Mel at once.
Noah gets there first and presses a long, adoring kiss on her mouth, nearly knocking her over in his eagerness. Raj catches her as she gasps with giddy laughter, stumbling to catch her footing. He spins her around and kisses her, and then I lose sight of all three of them as all the guests sweep forward in a poorly-organized but very enthusiastic attempt at an everyone-present group hug. I can hear Nik’s bubbling laughter through all the chaos, but I can’t see anything, the whole place is in uproar -
I gasp as Aiden lifts me up like I weigh nothing and easily drops me to sit on his shoulders.
“Are you fucking kidding me, Callahan?” I laugh, seizing two tight handfuls of his hair. “Oh, my g-”
I break off, because from here I can see Raj, Mel, and Noah. They’re all clinging to each other, laughing as everyone swarms around them. Nik is staring wide-eyed at all the madness, giggling wildly and batting at everything, her other hand holding a fistful of Mel’s dress. Raj has one arm around Noah, one arm around Mel. He’s going back and forth pressing kisses onto their cheeks. First Mel, then Noah, then Mel again, then Noah again, then Nik.
And Noah, standing there with his husband, his wife, and his baby…
He looks like his whole universe has been remade, and all he can do is stare and stare at the sight of it, magnesium brightness shining out from his eyes.
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