The Height Of Happiness

“I’ll be waiting for you,” Edward said before disappearing out the door.

A moment later, Serena’s father appeared in the doorway in a new tuxedo. He was actually shorter than Serena now, and she had to look down at him as he got close to her.

“Well, don’t you look spiffy, Charlie Beauchene!” Serena exclaimed at her father before kissing his cheek.

“Your grandfather and I got gentleman’s facials this morning,” he said with a swell of pride. “We wanted to look our best for you.”

Serena looked him up and down in a grandiose and overly dramatic way before finally offering, “Well, I give you five gold stars. You pass with flying colors.”

“Do I get the same good grade?” Grandpa asked her.

He too was freshly trimmed up with his bright eyes gleaming against the shine of his new shoes. Serena saw his head bare for the first time in years. She had only seen his head exposed during prayer and the one time he was in the hospital for kidney stones when she was still in high school. It felt foreign to see him without a hat.

“You feel a slight breeze on your head?” Serena teased him. “Is it chilly?”

“Oh naw,” Grandpa smiled. “I’m feeling great. I took a nap after lunch, and now I’m raring to go!”

Both Serena and her father laughed at Serena’s grandfather. Both men took her by the arm as they walked her slowly to her destination. Cassie reached out, giving Serena her big rose bouquet before finding her place in the procession. The cellist began as the line moved closer and closer around the curve to where the chairs were set up with the congregation of people waiting among them. Serena had been agonizing over every face and name as she picked planned cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, and what to put on the sundae bar. She took hours to arrange the long tables with little name cards on thick ivory card stock with hand printed calligraphy. She interviewed DJs while driving them around on her utility work cart as she inspected the burgeoning business of her orchard. All those days and time spent agonizing had led to this moment. There was no looking back.

As the tune turned from her selected piece by Bach, the cello music swelled into the intro of “Here Comes the Sun”. Serena could hear her grandfather humming along to the tune under his breath. Serena giggled lightly, and the old man smiled.

“Anything to make you laugh, my little princess.”

“Are you gents ready?” she asked them both.

Her father sighed, tension in his voice and his eyes misting as he said, “I’m ready as I will ever be baby girl.”

When the chorus hit, they stepped out and made the turn just as they had practiced the afternoon before. Serena looked at the crowd of faces. Some were using tissues to keep their eyes free of tears. Some smiled. One infant just looked tired and confused, but finally her eyes locked with Edward’s. Serena couldn’t look away.

His eyes conveyed something Serena couldn’t quite describe. It wasn’t pride or shock. He’d seen her already, so he was free of crying over this moment as Serena had planned. As she looked at him, Serena could only think his expression must mean he was in awe of her. She hoped her eyes matched the sentiment. As she reached out to give her flowers back to Cassie, who took them with a smile, Serena let her fingers intertwine with Teddy’s, slowly and then all at once as they turned to face the same priest who had baptized her as a child in a chapel across town.

Serena squeezed his hand three times in an attempt to share the only words she could think of: I love you. It rang out in her head for the whole half an hour they stood there. The words sang out in her head as she tried her best to listen to the officiant. Every time they caught each other’s glances, the emotion only increased. Closing her mind off, she repeated the man’s words, and finally the big moment came.

“You may know kiss your bride,” the officiant said in his calm and cheerful tone.

Closing her eyes, Serena felt Teddy’s lips meet hers. The exponential anticipation of the moment didn’t mean the kiss was disappointing. His kiss tasted like peppermint, but she could smell a faint hint of alcohol. She wondered how much mouthwash he’d used to ensure his breath was pristine, but the curiosity of that question didn’t last long. Her serendipity led her to other things. In her vivid and wild imaginings, Serena felt so happy that she could burst into pure starlight or rather a thousand colorful butterflies that would fly off into the horizon. However, Teddy kept her there, and he was now bound to be hers to have and to hold for the years to come. Serena had never felt happier about belonging to someone else.

Pulling away as cheers from the crowd seeped into her head, Serena looked out at the dozens of people now throwing dried lavender at her. Never letting her new husband’s hand go, she walked down the aisle to the triumphant chorus from the growing cello music as it crescendoed into a grand climactic moment and the newlyweds disappeared from view. Her guests were now being instructed to head to a vintage camper caravan serving a variety of drinks, alcoholic and otherwise.

Heading back into the hotel for the briefest of moments, Serena found the accounting office was unlocked after trying a few doors. Not telling anyone where they were, Serena laughed wickedly to herself as she pulled in her husband and locked the door behind them.

She turned on a small desk lamp for some dim light as Edward pressed her up against the wall. Knocking over a calendar pinned into a cork board, they kissed like they’d both been starved for centuries. In the back of her mind, she remembered such an event on television, and her grandmother had described the pair as “randy young people”.

They were randy young people.

Feeling Edward’s determined hands, he gripped the small of her back after having no success in finding her hips through all the layers of fabric. After kissing for a while, Teddy pulled away in a huff, frustrated by his inability to find her body through all the fabric.