Unexpected Second Chance

Chapter 5 - Two new friends

"Yup."

He hoped he didn't need to elaborate and he saw Mrs. Burke's shoulders relax, as Jack seemed to accept that explanation.

"How about you two sit right here with Joe, while Auntie goes to check on everyone else?"

"Sara?" Bridget asked.

"Yes, darling, Sara." She smiled.

She didn't ask Joe if he minded, but he was happy to help out. At least, he'd have two more friends in a room full of strangers. As they sat together in the last pew, he learned Jack was three and a half and Bridget was five and a half and in Kindergarten.

"Did you know when we hear the loud noise we have to go outside and we can't talk? Lyla cried, because of the noise. She cries every morning. I don't know why she doesn't like school. I love school."

"We have the loud noise at our school too and the big kids talk when they aren't supposed to."

"Do they lose choice time?"

He laughed and could only guess what choice time was and shook his head.

The church had filled in with guests. Ella told him it would be a small wedding, so he wasn't expecting the church to be full.

Bridget exclaimed, "Grandma!"

An older couple turned towards their pew and smiled. They were not Ella's grandparents, because he had seen them at the lake and they were older than this couple.

"Darlings, you look so smart all dressed up." The woman smiled.

"Grandma, Sara is going to be our mommy. Daddy said we have one here and one watching over us."

The woman swallowed. "Yes, darling."

Joe hadn't asked where Bridget and Jack's mother was, but he didn't have too. He understood, his mother had told him his father was watching over him too. He liked that the couple were attending the wedding of their daughter's husband to another woman.

"Grandpa and I are going to go sit, so we can see you when you walk down, okay?"

Shortly after, he heard Bridget. "Daddy!"

He turned to see Dr. Burke with the groom who he imagined was about to question the stranger with his kids, but Dr. Burke said, "This is Joe. Ella's teacher friend." The other doctor nodded and Ella's father said, "Joe, you need to come sit with the family."

He wanted to protest, but the doctor wasn't going to back down. As if timed perfectly, Mrs. Burke appeared and said they were about ready to begin.

She took the children by the hand to the back of the church and the doctor made sure Joe followed the two men down the aisle and he pointed to the third row. He watched as the brothers took their place in the front of the church to wait for the bride.

Shortly after the music began, he looked back and he saw her. She wore a sleeveless dress in a shade of blue he couldn't describe. It was as unique as Ella. She was beautiful with her abundant blonde curls piled on her head in a style he imagined had to have been done by a professional. His eyes followed her as she glided down the aisle. She was graceful and elegant. As she approached his row, Ella smiled and winked at him and he thought he might have a heart attack. Thank God, she had a family full of doctors, because if she kept stopping his heart, eventually he was going to need resuscitating.

He didn't take his eyes off her, as she took her place in the front, opposite her uncle and father. When he heard laughter and awes, he turned briefly to see Bridget and Jack doing their jobs quite seriously. The tie, he noticed was firmly in place, as they walked towards him, he winked and Bridget smiled. The smile didn't stop his heart, but it warmed it. His eyes followed the duo. They made their way to the front, and he saw their father looking at his children with a look of pure love. There was so much love in Ella's family and although Joe loved his mother and his siblings their love seemed fuller and bigger. Perhaps, it was the large family or maybe it was unconditional. Ella's father didn't like the guy she was with, but he wasn't pressuring or controlling her. His mother guilted him about living in Maine during every phone call.

He didn't turn to watch the bride, his eyes kept darting back and forth between Ella who was smiling with unbridled joy and the groom whose face was the definition of pure love. Joe felt melancholy knowing he had a wife who died and seeing him so happy and in love. His mother was never happy with the piece of shit she linked up with. Maybe she had been after Leah and Caleb were born, but even then she always had a sadness that was as permanent as her eye color.

Ella must have been watching him, because when he looked back at her she had a wrinkled brow. He smiled and winked to let her know he was fine. He would always be fine, as long as she was nearby. He was a masochist and would be the one responsible for breaking his own heart by giving it to the girl who didn't want it. He turned to see the bride leaving her father's side to join the groom, her smile matched his joy and was full of love.

The ceremony was longer than he would have liked and was mostly a blur, as he spent most of it looking at Ella. Mrs. Burke and the children did join him in the pew and so he had a little distraction, since they were restless. He imagined they were anxious to be a family and listening to a man in a robe talk about love and commitment must have sounded like the adults talking on a Charlie Brown special.

His description of marriage sounded like a dream or a fantasy to Joe. Even Tommy and Gina, who had the best marriage he knew had words from time to time. It was nothing like the example he was forced to witness so much of his life.

The highlight of the ceremony was when Ella sang. He was mesmerized and his only distraction was when her mother reached up to wipe a tear off her cheek. Her voice filled the church, as she sang. It was a song that he had never heard before and it sounded beautiful. He had heard her in the music room and in the church, but neither compared with her casual singing to the radio, as he drove her to the inn for the reception. She had been talking nonstop about her family getting ready for the wedding and he tried to make sense of everyone in his mind. She abruptly stopped when an Ed Sheeran song came on the radio and sang along with him. In Joe's mind, she put superstar Ed to shame.

The minute the song was over, she hardly took a breath. "I heard that you saved the day." Unsure of what she meant, he glanced at her and saw her smiling. "With the tie. I think Bridget is in love with you."

He laughed and in a serious voice said, "I hope she doesn't have a boy in kindergarten and tell me we're just friends."

The minute the words came out, he regretted them. To save himself, he added a big, wide smile and a wink. Ella was quiet for a few minutes, until she said turn here. They had arrived and she was immediately whisked off to take pictures. He suspected with the size of the family, it would take some time. Joe, on the other hand, wanted to bang his head against the wall but settled with silently cursing himself over his boner statement.