ARR 1988 - Flipbook - Page 154
her wedding preparations.
Nicole sat amidst those like the Rock of Gibraltar. She could hardly
tolerate the buzzing going on around her. If she wanted to do something,
there were always a million reasons why she couldn't; she couldn't see, she'd
cut herself; she couldn't see, she'd fall; she couldn't see, it would take too long.
In short, she was in the way.
"No, you are not," Joey insisted when she expressed her desire to crawl
into a hole. "You and Craig are the eyes of our storm. Uh ... I didn't mean that ยท
like it sounded. Nicki, you're not in the way. We need you here."
"For what?" Nicole asked tiredly.
"To make us remember," Marilyn said suddenly, and Nicole wondered
where she had come from. "To remind us that the wedding isn't all that
counts."
Nicole smiled. She knew what Marilyn was saying, and she also knew
that Marilyn was trying to make her feel better.
"We're not just having a wedding. We're getting married," Marilyn
said wisely, and Nicole knew she was looking into Joey's eyes. It doesn't
matter what kind of wedding we have, as long as we can be together."
From what she could hear, the wedding was beautiful. Nicole satin the
front row, listening to the rustle ofMarilyn's gown as the bride glided toward
the altar. She smelled roses, and from somewhere, a faint trace of citrus.
The priest was a tenor, she thought with an inward giggle. "Joseph,
doest thou take this woman to be thy lawfully wedded wife?"
It was so reverently traditional that Nicole was startled, but not
surprised to hear her mother crying. She was surprised to find tears seeping
out of her own eyes.
I can cry, she thought.
"I doth," Marilyn declared.
And then it was over and Nicole found herselfbeing hustled outside for
pictures. "You were wonderful," she heard Craig whisper.
"So were you," she answered back, her voice nearly breaking.
Nicole stood rooted to one spot for nearly half an hour as the camera
snapped away. Finally, Joey and Marilyn surrounded her and one of them
lifted her chin to the sky. Instinctively she turned her head away.
"She saw the sun!" Marilyn exclaimed.
Nicole blinked. Had she really? She felt the sun's warmth, knew it was
there, but had she seen it?
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