The day was off to a beautiful start. The sun was shining upon the Carribean island, and as Callum left the main building of the hotel to approach the wedding arch and the gathered guests sitting in front of it, he felt its warmth both on his skin as well as inside of him. The lush green grass, the white wooden arch and the silver carpet leading from it right to the beginning of the tiled footpath, all those bright and colorful dresses of the bridesmaids and other invited guests... it was almost an overwhelming range of bright colors, and for a second he wished he had put some sunglasses on. The light didn't do him any favors in dealing with his hangover, but after a second he adjusted to it.
He noticed Alex following shortly behind him, apparently coming from the hotel bar. No wonder he looks like he's in better shape than me, Callum thought. He's still drinking! His young groomsman however didn't show any signs of being drunk. Maybe the hair of the dog that bit you did actually work for some people.
The eyes of every guest were directed at Callum as he stepped on the silver carpet. It was a moment that filled him with terror - did he miss something? Was his zipper undone? His bowtie in shambles? Hell, could they see that he almost threw up from his painkillers? But those looks were not judging. The bridesmaids smiled brightly at him, some of them even with a hint of admiration. Maybe even... lust? He frowned at that idea. The looks of his friends and family were more to the point. Straight up support, from beginning to the end. His parents had longed for this day, and his father stood as proud as when he was promoted to Wing Commander. Even Ocean, waiting at the end of the long aisle, standing by as the best man, had erased all doubts from his face and showed him with a smile that they would see it through together. It was such a reassuring look.
It's a shame Molly isn't here with us...
Callum stopped for a moment, closing his eyes and reaching out in his thoughts to his little sister, wishing her all the best and a speedy recovery. It was such a sad thing, and he would have loved to postpone the wedding, hadn't it all been arranged already. At least one of the twins was here... but Mia really seemed to be miffed about something lately, and it was more than just her puberty issues.
"Hey, are you alright?" came a question from his right side. He looked at the bloke sitting there and recognized Scott, one of the groomsmen who had also survived this crazy stag party. His girlfriend Candy, three years older than him and her blonde head filled up with outrageous ideas, was sitting next to him. Both had worried faces when they looked at Callum.
"What?" Callum took a heartbeat to get back into here and now. "Yes, sure... I'm fine." He hurried down the rest of the aisle to meet Ocean and his father. A sigh came from his chest when he finally stood in front of them.
"You look nervous," Arthur Wallace commented, but he did so with a faint smile. "It is a big day for you, son. I can relate to that. I had the heebie-jeebies when I was about to meet your mom at the altar, too. It is completely normal."
"I guess so..." Callum turned to his best man to ask whether he looked good enough, but at the last second he doubted that Ocean would give him an answer that could be trusted. So he asked his father instead: "Do I look alright? Am I presentable?" I still feel like crap, he thought by himself, but did not dare to speak it.
Arthur looked at him thoroughly, measuring him up from head to toe. Then he put a hand on his son's shoulder. "Stop worrying so much, my boy! You look great. And even if you didn't... this woman of yours would take you in a heartbeat even if you were in rags."
Still, the reassurance was needed. Only with those words Callum dared to turn around to the audience and face them. All those people who had come here to celebrate this day... friends, relatives, his closest family, Anna's friends and family... Faces he was so familiar with from his earliest memories, but also some that he hadn't seen in ages. Again, he missed Molly - of his two sisters she was the one more open to this whole thing, and she would have enjoyed herself immensely. The beautiful dresses, the luxury hotel in this beautiful island, the weather and the music that the entertainer had put on for the waiting period was right up his sister's alley. "We Can Make It" by Boston was playing right now... not the common choice for a wedding, and Callum suspected that his dad was responsible for that.
One face in the crowd caught his attention. A bit behind the bridesmaids to the right, where Anna's side of the wedding was seated, one young woman in a cocktail dress looked at him from under a large sun hat. The other bridesmaids occasionally threw glances at this person and whispered. Callum recognized her face... and nobody could be more surprised about it than him.
Laura...
After all the fuzz she had come here. She was sitting among the wedding guests like nothing happened at all. Callum wasn't sure whether to be happied or worried about this. After all that Anna told him about this, he had been convinced that the last thing Laura wanted on this planet was to appear at the wedding of her former best friend. But it seemed like both Anna and him were wrong. At least Anna would be happy to see her. As long as Laura didn't come here to cause a scene, like last time...
"Shouldn't she be here by now?" Ocean looked at his expensive Rolex on his wrist - a model that he had explained to Callum in excruciating detail was a Patek Philippe Calatrava. Callum really didn't need or want all this information, but it was something that Ocean annoyed everybody with who wasn't quick enough to escape him. He was right though. The ceremony was about to begin, yet no sign of Anna or her dad.
Finally, from behind the bushes and trees that separated the wedding area from the rest of the hotel grounds, he could see someone approaching. The shadow of a woman in a dress. And soon this person stepped onto the carpet with big black leather boots, more fitting a biker than a bride. Though Anna wasn't fond of high heels herself, this was not the choice of shoes that she'd go for. With another glance Callum realized that this was, in fact, not the bride, but someone else.
"Mia!" Callum said happily. His sister finally arrived. But one fraction of a second later he realized what was wrong with the picture. The dress she was wearing... It was by no means part of the wedding plan. "What the..."
Everybody else had turned around and noticed his baby sister as well. Too late Callum realized that Mia was supposed to be among the bridesmaids... an arrangement he had made with Anna after Laura dropped out of the wedding party. But this dress his sister was wearing... His dad behind him saw it as well.
"Oh dear..." Arthur knew all too well what was coming next, and he was right. Callum's mother jumped up from her seat in the first row and rushed down the aisle towards Mia like a bull that saw red. For a moment Callum was really worried if Mia would even survive this encounter. And before anyone could say anything, his sister was grabbed by her arm and pulled behind the bushes by her own furious mother, out of sight of everyone.
"Wow!" Even Ocean commented on this weird situation. Callum gave him a distrustful glance. This sounded like his best man was in some way attracted to his sister. But he was mistaken. Ocean just stood there and shook his head: "Someone is about to get a good spanking."
"No!" Both Arthur and Callum responded vehemently. Callum couldn't even bear the thought of his mother steeping that low. "My mum has never laid hands on any of her children, and she never will. No matter how hard of a time we give her."
However, there was no doubt that the words that were exchanged in private between Marie and Mia were anything but pleasant. Callum knew how lucky he was not to be part of this conversation. After a short while both women emerged from the bushes again. Marie pulled Mia on her arm again, practically dragged her down the aisle and sat her on Callum's side of the wedding, next to Alex. Mia was covered in Marie's long cashmere scarf that his mother had previously worn loosely wrapped around her throat. Completely unfolded it was wide enough to almost wrap Mia entirely like a blanket, hiding most of her dress from the eyes of the others.
It was almost amusing that Marie chose to sit his sister right next to Alex, who was visibly uncomfortable with such a young girl sitting next to him. What surprised him more though was the fact that Mia didn't even say one more word. Just biting her lower lip and staring blankly at the back of the person in front of her. Whatever Marie had said to her, it must have felt like a slap to the face. His mother never used physical violence, because she frankly didn't need to.
"And there she is..."
Callum looked to the end of the aisle right at the moment when the entertainer switched the music. The traditional wedding march filled the air from the speakers. Everybody turned around to witness the arrival. Callum stepped into his position in front of the altar, knowing in his heart and in his mind that his father and his best friend were right behind him, in more than one way. This was it. This was the big moment on this big day.
And there she was. In all her beauty.
His beating heart accelerated, but this time not because of fear or nervousness. He had always thought that Anna Gilmour was gorgeous, but even his expectations were beaten. This angelic creature coming towards him, ready to spend the rest of her life with him... All his doubts vanished at this instant. The conversation with Ocean earlier... gone! Mia's trouble with Marie about the dress... insignificant! The fact that Molly couldn't join them and see this... It disappeared into the darkest corner of Callum's mind like everything else. He just stood there, speechless, waiting for his bride to arrive. Everyone else stood in awe, watching this divine being pass them, escorted by the towering presence of her father who held her arm gently and released her just at the end of this way to join her future husband and to make the biggest, most important step in her life.
Anna stepped right next to Callum, smiling brightly at him under the thin veil. Callum smiled back.
"Marriage... Marriage is what brings us here... together... today."
The vicar began to speak. Callum turned to him in surprise - the voice sounded like an old and senile man, but the vicar was neither. It took Callum a heartbeat to realize that the tall man in his thirties with the short blonde hair and the cheeky grin on his face had comically altered his voice on purpose. It became more apparent when he continued in the rather normal, warm baritone that he usually spoke with:
"For the ones among you who are familiar with the movie 'The Princess Bride', they might have noticed this very iconic line from the priest during the wedding scene. "
Callum nodded. It sounded rather familiar, now that he mentioned it.
"But what does it really mean, this word: Marriage?"
Anna kept smiling at him, happy like a little child whose greatest wish was granted at this very moment. She wouldn't turn her eyes away from her groom, as if nothing else existed outside the two of them. Callum doubted that she even listened to the vicar and his speech. Good thing, though... As the man quoted the bible and talked about the obligations of husband and wife, Callum had the strange and uncomfortable feeling that those words stretched like chewing gum.
"... once the vows are spoken, they can rest assured..."
Maybe it wasn't just the wordy sermon? Callum kept returning the loving stares of Anna and even kept his smile on his face, but he felt that it had somehow frozen. Ocean's words still haunted him, even though he had been so sure before he had come down here. Was he really doing this out of love? Or had he been lying to himself this whole time, like his best friend accused him of?
"Anna and Callum," the vicar now addressed them both, and they turned towards him. "You have decided to walk your paths together, and today you are going to make the first big step. With your rings and the vows that you have decided to write on your own, you will tie the knot that will bind you together for the rest of your lives, both in the eyes of the Lord Almighty as well as in the eyes of your families and friends."
"Kinky!" someone in the crowd uttered. Callum rolled his eyes. Scott! It wasn't helped by the fact that half the audience started to giggle, led by Candy whose high-pitched squeal sounded like a five-year-old. He didn't want to turn around and see the reaction of the older guests. Especially his mother's...
With another bible quotation the vicar finally finished his long speech: "So... if you'd please speak your vows now..."
Callum cleared his throat. "Ever since the first moment I laid my eyes on you..." The words that he had prepared for this very moment came easily over his lips, almost like a presentation he had held in college. It felt like it, too. "From this day on I shall dedicate my life..." He saw Anna, his beautiful bride, and spoke words that had felt heartwarming, touching and honest the moment he had written them. But now? Almost nothing. An assignment to get through, one more step to... reaching a goal. He didn't even consider what he was saying to her - he just repeated what he had practiced over and over again. "... till whatever end, on this journey we will be together."
But it didn't matter. Anna didn't doubt it for one moment. She smiled even brighter, which he didn't think was possible. Now it was her turn to speak her vow:
"When I first met you, I thought you were like all the other men, wanting to marry me for fame and money..."
His heartbeat stopped for a moment. Could she see the blood rushing into his head? Had she figured him out this time?
"... but you proved me wrong with your kind heart and your humility."
He could feel that a part of the smile on his face now was honest again. Anna continued to speak her vow - some of it seemed a bit familiar. They hadn't talked about the vows before the wedding, just agreed that they would write their own. Still, some of her words seemed inspired by him. Was she making it up as she went? Or maybe those vows were all the same.
"I look forward to our future and what it has to hold, my darling, for together we are stronger."
It was done. The rest was just a formality, but Callum knew that this already was the moment of truth. The vows were spoken - there was no turning back from that. Even if he said "No" or "I don't" now... if he even could...
The seven-year old Hispanic kid who had been standing by in his tuxedo in front of the wedding crowd rushed forward and put the rings in Callum's and Anna's palms. No turning back now... no time to chicken out. No easy way out. He slipped the ring onto her finger and let her do the same with him. Even under the veil he could see her tears of joy.
"Callum Anthony Wallace, will you take this woman, Anna Grace Gilmour, to be your beloved wife?"
"I do," Callum answered.
"And will you, Anna Grace Gilmour, take this man, Callum Anthony Wallace, to be your beloved husband?"
Anna smiled brightly under her veil. "I do," she responded.
"Then hereby I pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride now."