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After: Then Walk Me Down The Aisle


Nick
I paced. I was in a small room off to the side of the main entry of the church, I guess it was probably a pastor's office because there was Bibles and crosses and fish things all over the place and those are all things pastors like. I could hear people arriving, talking, making their way through the hall way to the pews in the main church. My palms were sweating. I was trying to figure out how I was gonna get through the next hour.

The door opened and I turned and Chris was standing there in a charcoal grey suit. He had a white rose pinned to his lapel. He leaned against the door to close it. Instinctively, I brought my fists up in front of me. "Unguard," Chris said, holding up his palms. I lowered my fists reluctantly. "Look, man, I'm sorry about the other day, okay?" he said.

I hesitated.

"I got scared."

I stared at him.

"I just didn't know what to do, man, you know? I was afraid of losing her."

"Well you didn't, so go revel in your glory and brag somewhere else," I snapped.

"But I guess in the end you're right and you won fair and square."

"I dunno how fair it was," Chris admitted. "Anyways, I just wanted to say good fight, and I'm sorry for beating you in the head." He turned to go.

"Chris," I said.

He stopped and turned to look back at me.

"This morning, around four in the morning. What'd you say to Ashley?"

He looked confused for a second. He came back in the room, closed the door again. "How do you know I talked to her at four in the morning?"

"She was with me," I said.

Surprise registered on Chris's face. "What?"

Going all in, I said, "We were on our way to Vegas. To elope." My palms were pools of sweat, "And we stopped at this gas station and I went inside and I bought breath mints and condoms and when I went back outside, she wanted me to take her back."

Chris's face was unreadable. I had no idea what he was thinking.

"I just told her that I found her wedding present for me is all," Chris said with a shrug, and he ducked out of the room.

I stood there in the silence feeling worse than I had before. I'd hoped that Chris had told her some magical words that had made her question whether she was making the right choice. But just telling her he found a present she'd bought him? I really had just lost. It wasn't about Chris being able to tell her he loved her better than me, it wasn't about him being charming and me and my stupid mouth not really working right.

It was just that she loved Chris.

And that was all there was to it.




Ashley

"Okay, you're ready." Karen said. She put my veil on my head, nestling it into the pile of hair on my head. Thin whisps hung down in my face. I looked in the mirror. I looked like every little girl's dream. My hands trembled. "You look gorgeous," Karen said thickly.

"Thank you," I whispered.

She helped me step into my heels and to teeter up the stairs to the hallway. Everyone was inside the church, the doors were closed. Inside, music was playing, people were talking. There was a lot of noise, but it was all so muffled.

"I'll see you inside," Karen said, smiling, and she slipped in the doors. I stood in the hallway.

A door to the left opened, and Nick came out. He was wearing a tuxedo. He closed the door behind him and walked over to me stiffly. His eyes were red, and he had a look of determination on his face. He swallowed, his adam's apple bobbled as he stared at me in my dress. He walked over and held out his hands for mine. He stared into my eyes. "You... look.. beautiful..." he whispered.

"You don't have to do this," I said. "I can walk down there myself."

"I promised," he said.

My throat ached. I heard everyone inside shuffling. The music stopped. The pastor was talking.

Nick looked deep into my eyes. "I promise... this is the last time I will ask you this... then I will walk you down that aisle and give you away if that's what you want but..." He slid down the length of me, to his knees on the floor in front of me, holding my hands, staring up at me. His eyes were wide, bright, pleading. "Pick me."

The words were so simple, but the emotion in them shook his voice.

I felt tears in my eyes, "Nick. Please."

The doors to the church started to open, the organ started the notes of Here Comes the Bride.

"Don't marry him," Nick begged.

"Nick," I said, "I have to."

"You don't have to."

"I'm pregnant," I said.

Nick scrambled to his feet as everyone in the church turned to look at us. Chris stood at the front of the church, staring, waiting, his face one of worry...

"I'm pregnant and my baby needs a father."

"I'll be the father," he whispered urgently.

"Nick."

"I'll be a good father. I'll play baseball with him if he's a boy and I'll go to tea parties if she's a girl. Ashley I told you I'd give you anything you asked for, I'll be a father if that's what you're asking me for."

"Nick you've said a thousand times that you don't want to be a father. You've said a thousand times you don't want to get married. I can't ask you to do that Nick," I said.

"Ashley," he said, "For you, I'd do anything."

I took a deep breath. "Then walk me down the aisle."