Spirit Desire

The past three weeks had gone by quickly. Between working, helping Natalie with her wedding plans, and stressing out over the idea of possibly getting a new job, the days had passed quickly and it was finally November 8th, Natalie and Chris’ big day.

Natalie stood in front of the mirror in the small room designated for the bride as I placed the thin gold necklace on her neck. Natalie was radiant as she stood in her ivory dress. A maroon sash delicately tied at her back divided the chest area that was lacy and tight from the delicate skirt framed her figure nicely—and just as she wanted, hid the small bump that was forming. Whenever she walked it seemed like she was gliding and I had no doubt Chris was probably going to shed some tears when he saw her walking down the aisle.

“Is it just the necklace?” I asked.

She nodded her head as she tugged nervously on her ear when she couldn’t grab onto hair. Her black hair was swept into an elegant low chignon and an ornate band was on her head. “Yeah, I decided to keep it simple with the jewelry and all that. Just the necklace and then the ring.”

“Twenty minutes Natalie,” Luisa, Natalie’s older cousin, said.

“Is Salvador here?” she asked nervously as she smoothed down the skirt.

“Yeah, he sent me a text about thirty minutes ago telling me that he’s here. He’s very excited to give you away.” I smiled and tried to get her mind away from the fact that Javier wasn’t coming to her wedding—at least definitely not to the church service, he hadn’t been clear on whether or not he was going to show up at the reception.

“That’s good,” she murmured, “God, I’m so nervous.”

“You’re going to be just fine,” Daniela said.

Natalie smiled nervously before going to the door when we heard a knock.

“I’ll get it,” I said and shooed her away before opening the door slightly and seeing my brother. “Hey Salvador,” I kissed his cheek before leading him into the room where everyone greeted him. He nodded his head towards all the bridesmaids before walking over to Natalie and kissing her cheek.

“So,” he smiled, “you ready to do this?” he asked and grabbed the small bouquet from the vanity and handed it to her.

“I’m so nervous,” she replied and ran her fingers through some of the flower’s petals before looking up at him and narrowing her eyes that weren’t lined in black like they usually were. “You better not let me fall or trip Salvador, I mean it.”

He chuckled and nodded his head, “I promise not to do any such thing,” he kissed her forehead. “We’re going to have to walk pretty soon,” he commented and turned to the rest of us, “You should all go outside, all the guys are waiting for you out there to start in a couple of minutes.”

Everyone nodded and left the room before I went over to Natalie and hugged her tightly while making sure not to mess up her hair or dress. “I’m so happy for you Nat,” I smiled, “the next time I’ll hug you you’ll be a married woman.”

“I know,” she smiled and her eyes glistened a bit.

“Don’t cry Natalie, you look so beautiful right now.” I said as I squeezed her right hand between mine and smiled warmly again. “Crying is Chris’ job and he’s surely going to do it when he sees you walking down the aisle.”

“He better,” I smiled and dabbed underneath her eyes, “if not I’ll stop the whole thing and do the walk all over again.”

“I’ll pinch him and make sure it’s Niagara Falls on his face,” I laughed loudly and so did she before I excused myself and shut the door quietly behind me. Salvador had told me to give them some privacy when I left, he said he was going to tell her the speech he had already thought of for me and my two sisters and I thought it was unbelievably sweet. If Natalie wasn’t crying because she was going to finally get married then she would surely cry after Salvador told her his speech.

I walked over to where Leone, Matt, Jack and James were sitting and standing around and talking. The rest of the bridesmaids were off in another circle trying to peek at who had come—Luisa obviously looking to where her boyfriend was so she could wink at him when she was walking. She wanted to make him nervous and make him think she wanted to get married.

“Hey guys,” I smiled as I tucked some stray curls behind my hair. Natalie had chosen to have all the bridesmaids curl their hair and have a thin silver band on the hair—a simple one in comparison to the ornate gold one Natalie donned.

“Hey Adriana,” they said almost in unison and I laughed.

“So you guys ready to see your friend get married?” I asked as Jack stood up and motioned for me to have his seat. I smiled and took despite knowing that I would be getting up in a couple of minutes—it was the gesture that counted.

“It’s awful if you ask me,” Matt shook his head and I raised an eyebrow, “getting married that young you know? There’s so much left to do as a single man without care and he’s getting married and having a baby.”

Leone rolled his eyes and punched Matt’s shoulder who rolled his eyes. “I kid,” he muttered.

“It makes the rest of us look bad,” Leone started, “At least Matt and I. Matt’s pushing thirty and hasn’t had a long term girlfriend since he was 18. That long term girlfriend lasted seven weeks.”

“I’m twenty six, you idiot, and only three months older” he swatted Leone’s hand that was going towards his hair away and added, “and it was eight weeks and a half with Lily. Don’t make it sound any less magnificent than it was.”

I laughed loudly at this and he gave me a bright smile, “I think we should start getting ready to go out there,” I commented.

They all nodded their heads and all went off to the person they’d be accompanying down the aisle. Leone stood up and gave me his hand, pulling me up and to his side.

“You ready to see your best friend get married?” he asked and tucked a piece of hair behind my ear. His hand lingered lightly on his cheek and I almost leaned into his touch before I realized what I was doing.

I came back to reality and smiled at Leone, “beyond ready. Now she’ll have someone else to whine too. I can finally relax.”

He laughed lightly, “I’m scared for Chris.” We stood in silence for a couple of moments before he spoke up again. “Has Javier gotten here yet?” he asked.

I must have gotten whiplash from how fast I moved my head and stepped away from him. His eyebrows furrowed quickly in confusion before he regained himself and a look of disinterest replaced the confused one.

“No, he’s not coming,” I said slowly and lowly and I’m sure some anger must have flashed in my eyes because he looked shocked before he again masked it with indifference.

He stared at me a couple of minutes and I think he wanted to apologize for asking or for Javier not planning to come. I don’t know, but either way he shouldn’t be apologizing to me. Natalie’s the one that’s stuck with an asshole for a brother, I chose it.

“Natalie’s mad at me,” Leone commented after a few seconds.

“Why?” I asked and smoothed down my maroon dress, for all the shit I gave Natalie and the distrust I had she had picked some nice dresses. Bridesmaid dresses were usually not the prettiest and I had seen too many shows about crazy brides and how they would purposely pick ugly dresses for the bridesmaids so that they could outshine 100%. It’s crazy, everyone’s looking at the bride.

“She’s mad I kept my hair short,” he commented. I glanced up at his head and noticed it was still cropped short. I hadn’t noticed it until now and it just showed how wrapped up I was in Natalie’s wedding planning and trying to get Javier to be less of asshole that I didn’t notice his hair was still cropped short or that Natalie’s bump was getting more visible every day.

“She says I look like a fascist or a skinhead. Apparently she doesn’t go for that look,” he laughed.

“Don’t listen to her,” I smiled, “I love your hair like that, or lack of hair,” I smiled widely and he shook his head bashfully.

He brought left finger up to his lips and shushed me quietly, “I think our cue is coming up,” he smiled.

Chris did cry, in fact I cried too. As soon as he saw Natalie walking down the aisle he started tearing up a bit and he didn’t hide it even when she reached him. Natalie was ecstatic, making him cry at the sight of her was one of her goals. She said they could’ve had a small backyard wedding or just gone down to city hall and gotten a marriage license but most of all she wanted him to cry of happiness knowing that they were going to spend the rest of their life together.

Salvador didn’t let Natalie fall and they both glided down the aisle with ease. I would’ve been extremely nervous if it had been me walking in front of all the people in the small church. He had some words, probably threatening for Chris before they both chuckled quietly. He kissed Natalie’s forehead and whispered something in her ear that had her tearing up before the ceremony started.

“I hate wedding ceremonies,” Jack commented as we were driving towards Matthew’s house.

Matthew had a large house near a lake and he had told Chris and Natalie that if they wanted to have the reception there, they were more than welcome. I had never seen the property but my mom assured everyone that it was beautiful. Natalie was of course devastated when we found out the Lafayette had already been booked for that day and had taken up his offer but I was nervous whether or not she would actually be happy with the location.

“Why?” I asked, leaning back into my seat. I had decided to catch a ride with the boys in Matt’s large SUV—his baby Sally as he called it—since all of the girls had their significant others and I didn’t want to be around couples.

“They’re so boring,” he shrugged his shoulders, “it’s always the same thing isn’t it? I promise to love you. I do. Sickness, health, money, all of that shit.” He waved his hand and focused on the road signs before he realized he was still a ways away. He turned to look at me, the guys had been nice enough to let me sit in the front and I was thankful since Jack and Leone were currently fighting about some video game. “I mean do we really need all this grandiose declarations of love? What happened to just taking a girl from her house and coming back two weeks later and saying we’re married.”

“I think tax incentives and our need to make people jealous happened.”

He nodded his head and if he could I’m sure he would close his eyes.

“I don’t want to ever get married,” he said as he switched lanes and swerved a bit before yelling at the back, “sorry, thought I saw a deer or something. They would never shut up if I didn’t do that.” He snickered and continued driving, the rest of the car ride was silent as we all listened to some FM station playing mellow music.

Jack whistled lowly as he helped me stepped down from the massive car, I was thankful he had taken upon himself because having to ask any of the guys for help would’ve been extremely embarrassing. “Looks like your mom’s boyfriend is loaded,” he nodded his head and I smiled tightly as we began walking towards the house.

“I don’t really know,” I shrugged my shoulders, “this is the first time I’ve seen Matthew’s house or him outside of my house to be honest.”

“Well it seems like your mom is marrying rich,” he commented as we stood awkwardly before the large wooden door, he shrugged before ringing the doorbell four times. He would’ve continued but I slapped his hand away.

Matthew opened the door for and smiled, “you should’ve all just walked in, the door is unlocked. Natalie and Chris are waiting for you guys out in the patio space, go down this hall and through the kitchen on the right. You’ll be able to see it, it’s easy.”

Matthew smiled before he waved his hand towards the kitchen and left us to go to a different room. Jack shrugged again before we began walking the route Matthew had given us. It was easy to find as he had said. We had cut through the impressive white kitchen into a backyard that seemed to be miles long.

It was beautiful just as my mom had said. The backyard was massive and there seemed to be no end in sight. It seemed to end at the small lake and go off for miles until the next house. The garden was immaculate. All throughout the garden were small round tabled with white table cloths and large floral arrangements, complete with hyacinths and roses as she had wanted. There were large lamps hanging from the various trees planted and it seems that when night hit, the whole space would be illuminated lightly by the lamps and small lights hidden throughout the trees.

I quickly separated myself from the guys after telling them I was going to look for the happy couple. The lake was calm as I walked alongside it while trying to make sure my shoes wouldn’t get caked in mud. The lake and its surroundings were so peaceful I wouldn’t mind getting lost in it but that wasn’t the reason I had separated myself from the group. I grabbed my phone out the small clutch I held and dialed Javier’s number.

As I suspected he didn’t answer, but this time rather than hanging up I left him a message.

Hey Javi, you missed the ceremony earlier today. Natalie looked beautiful. The reception starts at five over on Matthew’s house. I sent you the address already, it’s right off the five. Try and make it by seven so you can dance with Natalie and be here for a while before Chris and her leave for their honeymoon. I’ll see you later.

I hung up the phone before sticking it back into my clutch and starting to look for the couple. I found Natalie and Chris standing by one of the tallest trees in Matthew’s property and approached them quietly before saying a quiet hello, not wanting to disrupt them in case they were having a special moment.

Chris smiled, “hey Adriana. Did you come with the guys or with the girls?” he asked.

“With the boys,” I answered, “you should go to them before they start messing around with the space.”

He sighed and smiled contentedly, “I should do that shouldn’t I?” he asked. He smiled once more before kissing Natalie’s temple and telling her to meet up with him when we were done talking.

“You’re married,” I said as leaned back on the tree.

I had been surprised at her composure but relieved when she broke through it and squealed. “I know,” she almost yelled, “can you believe it? I’m married, like actually married!”

“I’m so happy for you Natalie, you two are the perfect couple and I can’t wait to meet my little god son or daughter,” and laughed. “It was such a pretty service too. Everything went perfectly.”

She smiled brightly, “I know, I have to thank you and your mom for basically planning everything in like a month. And of course thank your mom even more for having a rich fiancé with such a nice house. Honestly, this is even more perfect than having the wedding at Lafayette. It’s better than I imagined. Now we just have to get Javier to propose so we can plan out your wedding.”

I smiled before changing the topic, “yeah, well. Whenever the time comes I’ll make sure you help me plan it and be as stressed out as I was. Now, we should go back to the patio and see if Luisa and everyone else is here or if we need to call them and tell them to hurry up.”

Natalie nodded and we hooked our arms together as we began trekking towards the patio. “So where are you guys going for your honeymoon? Paris or Greece?”

“Neither,” she shook her head, “Chris said Europe is too expensive right now since we want to save up money for the baby. So we’re going to Costa Rica, I still get the beach and it’s not terribly cliché so I win.”

“You’ll get the sun while I’ll be here working away, sometimes cleaning up puke and giving shots. You’ll be living the life while the most exciting thing I’ll do is deciding whether to get Chinese or Thai for lunch.”

We both laughed loudly, “I’ll bring you back a ton of souvenirs and take a lot of pictures.”

“You better,” I smiled and stopped to hug her once more. “God, I can’t believe you’re married. Like actually married and pregnant, I’m so happy for you.”

Natalie’s eyes watered a bit before she squeezed me back. We both smiled and hooked our arms again before walking to the large deck where it seemed everyone was waiting for us, complete with Chris’ parents who pulled Natalie away from me and began fawning over her as I stood with Leone and Jack and we took it all in and I thought about when I would have a moment like Natalie’s.