Till the Day That I Found You

As Cameron was dancing I thought of one of the best days of my life...

I was so nervous. I knew this was where I was supposed to be. I ran my fingers through my recently cut hair. I was pacing around my aunt's house. Erica was at my other aunt's house last night and was in route. Nathan stuck his head into the kitchen where I was.

"We're leaving."

I nodded. Not saying anything.

"You're not going to run are you?" Before I could answer Nate came in the room fully and said softly, "Because if you are, and you break her heart, you're going to regret the day you were born."

I blinked in both fear and amazement. Nathan never acted like that, he was a hippie, but I understood his point. I didn't know quite what to do so I hugged him. Nathan hugged me back and whispered, "Let's go bro. I know you can do this."

I smiled and muttered my thanks. I really was excited, the butterflies in your tummy about to throw up kind of feeling. I got in the car and we drove to the seaside. I stared out the window, and imagined Erica and I living in an area like this and having a family. I was finally brought back to the present day when Cameron swung open the car door and screamed, "WELCOME YOU YOUR WEDDING!"

I ran to the board walk. Which was hard in a tux. I looked at everything before me: white matting had been laid down on the sand where Erica was going to walk and where the reception was going to be, a tent was over the reception mat. All the tables had an aqua colored cloth over it with jars of sea shells and daisies for the center pieces. At each place setting was a navy and white striped cloth napkin with a sailor knot bracelet around it. A huge arch was at each end of the aisle, each covered in sea plants, daisies, and other wild flowers I couldn't name. The one that was at the back and facing the ocean had a thin curtain that Erica would walk though and make a grand entrance.

Jade, the photographer that Erica helped pick out to help her on tour, and Anna Ross, the brilliant girl that takes our photographs for albums, were waiting together in the seats on the sand. Holly Jo wasn't there yet because she was taking pictures of the girls getting ready.

"Hey!" they came over to me. I smiled and hugged them.

"I'm so anxious," I confessed.

"Don't be. You and Erica are so amazing together," Anna said.

They told me that Holly was going to be behind Erica and take a picture of her back as the curtain opened, because the lighting would be perfect or something. Then Anna was going to get her walking down with her dad. Jade was going to be facing me and taking my picture as I saw her for the first time.

I was getting really excited when this little priest drove up. He asked me if we wrote our vows or wanted traditional. I told him we wrote our own, then he patted my shoulder and shuffled off to the wedding arch. My parents soon came and within the next half hour seats had been filled and I was standing at the back looking at the front platform with the priest and Nate waiting patiently.

We had seen the car drive up and the driver rolled down the window, "Bridesmaids are coming out now. Good luck buddy. This girl seems like a catch. She's been talking the whole car ride and making sure I was in the conversation. Want to know the last person to talk to me in a sweet voice on the job? No one."

I smiled and Kylie, Meghan, and Laura came out of the car in pastel yellow dresses, in that order lined up with my side of the bridal party. I walked down with my mom (Erica's demand), one of Erica's little boy cousins walked down with one of my little girl cousins as the ring bearer and flower girl. After them Laura and Vic, Meghan and Michael, then the maid of honor and best man, Kylie and Cameron, walked down.

Nathan started playing his guitar. Everyone waited. The car door slammed shut and there was movement behind the curtain. Erica's father moved the curtain to the side and wrapped it around a little loop that was thereon the side for this moment. He shifted out of the way and took her arm. Together they walked in. This was the first time I'd seen Erica in two days. I sucked in a breath and grinned. Her eyes were on me and she blushed. I stared at her, eyes filling with tears.

White strapless dress, it went in at the waist and came out again falling in the most beautiful way. She had no veil, but instead a crown of flowers. It was positioned so it rested on the back of her head more than the front. Her something old was her Nonna's necklace. Her something new was obviously her dress. Her something borrowed were her mom's pearl earrings. And her something blue was a friendship bracelet that I made her, it was white with blue letters that said, "Porter Bride". I couldn't believe how amazing she looked. Her curls cascading down her back and simple makeup made me want to kiss her face all over.

Her Papà brought her up to me and kissed her cheek. He took my hand and put it in hers. "Take care of my youngest daughter," he said in a thick Italian accent.

"I promise I will."

Erica stood in front of me. "Hi," she said with a bright smile.

"Hi," I said returning the smile.

"We gather here today..." I honestly don't remember what he said after that. I was staring at my bride. She kept smiling and moving her eyes over to the priest as to say, "Pay attention to him!" Then she'd hold back a giggle and would bight her bottom lip when I'd shake my head and flicked my eyebrows up, "No.” Finally it came time for the vows. I had to go first because I'm the dude. Everyone was staring at me. I tried to open my mouth to speak but words would only come out as stutters or squeaks. Erica held my hand tighter and gave me a smile of encouragement. I looked at our family and friends. Everyone was looking at each other and getting scared I'd run out.

"I can't," was all I could say. Everyone gasped. Everyone except Erica. She gave me a wild look, then saw in my eyes why I was acting this way. She looked over my shoulder and called out to Nate.
"Nathan, your guitar!"

Nathan came running to give his guitar to me. I said thanks then put the strap around my neck. "Now,” I smiled, “I can." Everyone sighed that understood me.

I started playing and sighed, "To all of you that are confused, let me clear this up. I'm awkward, and sometimes in high pressure situations I can't get my feelings out into words. I need to sing, or at least play some guitar and talk. Erica knows that. Oh yeah, she knows me well. I love her to bits for that. She's the first girl that my family actually adores as much as I do," I laughed a little. Then continued strumming.

I started to sing, “Were you named for the river that surrounds all my biggest my mistakes or the way that I made it out. All the muscles in my mouth never smiled or said profound things, until the day she handed you to me. Now for all the steps you'll take and all you'll overcome, I wanna be the one to put in a song. Take every single tear for all the world to hear, I wanna be the one to put it in a song.” I hummed then continued at, “She brings me a cake we celebrate I have arrived. And I know that it's been sang before but you're my human holiday. I put my hands to the table and dare say the love of my life.”

Erica was smiling, as I willed a tear to roll down my cheek. She wiped it away and nodded. I continued to strum and began to play Journey, but instead of singing I spoke, “No matter what happens to me in this life, I know I’ll be all right with you by my side. I’ll protect you no matter what, and if I’m not around you’ll always have this song. Your song. Our song.”

I strummed to a close and looked over my shoulder. Nathan came to take his guitar back, I slipped Erica’s ring on her finger, and everyone shifted their focus to her. She looked down and coughed. She hated being on the spot. I held her hand a little tighter. She looked up at my eyes which were smiling at her. I saw behind her sea green eyes a wave of relief.

“Wow,” she let out a breathy laugh. “This is insane. I never would have believed that this would happen to me. Meeting you, Zach, was honestly the best thing that has ever happened to me. You know better than anyone how hard it is for me to open up and become so vulnerable. But I know I’m save with you. Our love could create planets and move stars. We are a thing of fairytales.” She laughed again, then said softly almost to herself, “This is a dream.” Louder she projected, “You are my dream come true. I love you with a love I didn’t know was possible. Thank you for proving to me that things like this exist. Thank you for being my savior. Thank you for never leaving my side and being my best friend. You’re my everything, and that scares me, but I’d never do anything to lose you. I couldn’t, it’d simply be suicide. We prove people wrong. We are the weirdos. We are the thinkers. We are the lovers. We belong together and will always be.”

At this point I had to battle off the urge to kiss her. She smiled and looked down. Her chest heaved. Tears trickled down her face. I tilted her chin up and let go of her hand. I wiped her face, baptizing it with her tears, being careful not to touch her eyeliner or mascara. She slipped my ring on my finger. We smiled. and looked over at the priest. He was being supported up by Nathan who was handing him a tissue. 


“That was beautiful,” he blew his nose. “Yes, well. You have declared your consent before the Church. May the Lord in his goodness strengthen your consent and fill you both with his blessings. What God has joined, men must not divide. Amen.” Then looking at us both he said staring at me, “Oh, just kiss her already! I pronounce you husband and wi-”

Without wasting anytime I grabbed her waist, put my other hand under her hair and kissed her so passionately that Aphrodite would have been jealous. I felt her cheeks burn bright and heard people whooping from the seats. I leaned her back up and pulled away. She shook her head with amazement and looked at me smiling down at her. Then I saw a wave of emotions pass through her. She bounced on her toes and threw her arms around me, kissing me again.

Alas, we were married and our guest shifted to under the tent. Everything was perfect.