My wedding day started out in the most promising possible way. As the sun rose, my mother was fighting back tears as she looked over her final ice sculpture, knowing her museum exhibit would be completed today.
Well, kind of completed. I think maybe Uncle Ed is going a little blind and I'm unhappy with Mom's elder portrait, so I'm going to redo it myself.
My section is also shaping up nicely. It's so strange to look at littler versions of me. It's hard to accept that I really was just a little girl like that once upon a time and tonight I'll go to sleep a married woman. I hung my valedictorian ribbon and my most artistic award with my diploma.
I woke up to a bit of an unsettling sight. Ophelia was staring at me from the chair, waiting for me to wake up.
"I need to talk to you," she said.
For some reason, that phrase just puts rocks in my stomach, so I stood up and gave her a bit of a nod, dreading some sort of trouble.
"Darling," she said, "you know I love you lots. Today is your wedding day, and if this is what you want, I will support you absolutely. But, Mona Lisa, everyone knows you're in love with Goopy and that he's in love with you. So, why are you marrying someone else?"
I balked at her. Like I've mentioned, this subject is the one thing Ophelia and I have
never discussed.
"But,
you love Goopy. You're always flirting and carrying on with him!"
She blinked at me in disbelief. After a pause, she laughed in a short, sad kind of way. "You think I could flirt like that with someone I actually
liked? Come on, Mona, think about it. You know me better than that. If I'd been able to flirt like that with Emmett, he'd ... well, that's not important."
"Oh, God, oh, God," I muttered, putting my hands in my face.
"Hey, come here, shh" she said, reaching around my waist and pulling me close. "Listen. You're young. You're still figuring it out. I know you weren't trying to hurt me. It'll be okay."
Will it, though?. My wedding guests are filing into the house downstairs and she tells me that Goopy, my Goopy, is in love with me?! Great timing! Oh, God, what will I do?
I got dressed in a numb haze, and when I heard him knocking about in his bedroom, I just sort of walked in there all on my own.
"You know I love you, right?" I said, staring right through him.
"Aw, I love you too, sweetie," he said, his eyes full of sincerity. "You look beautiful."
"No, I mean ... I ... oh, forget it. You are wonderful, Goopy. You might be the most important person in my life."
"I wish all the happiness in the world for you, Mona Lisa," he said and pulled me into a hug. I felt the strangest shuddering of his body while he held me, just a little too long, and suddenly, urgently I had to walk away before I started to cry.
I walked downstairs quickly, scanning the room for Emmett. He needed to marry me fast before I changed my mind. The first thing I saw was Ophelia, true to form, flirting it up with a man I knew for a fact she had no interest in. How could I have been so unforgivably blind?
I spotted Emmett near the door and straightened up, resolving myself to see this thing done. "I'm ready," I said, and began walking toward him. "Let's get married."
In the flash of an eye, a warm, strong hand had wrapped around my wrist and I was spun on my heel, suddenly encircled by a warm, strong pair of arms. And oh, there were fireworks.
My brain was on fire, sparks firing off like crazy.
"I can't let you do this," Goopy said breathlessly. "I love you too. Please don't, Mona. Please."
My head was spinning. I couldn't process it. I slid my hands around his face and looked at him hard in the eyes, trying to figure out if this was real or not. "I won't," I managed in barely a whisper, my voice choked and raspy. "I won't do it."
It was then that I realized how completely silent the entire room had gone. And then I heard the door slap open and Emmett was rushing out. He'd seen everything.
I realized in that moment that I had become a horrible person. I'd hurt everyone I loved in my pig-headed pursuit of some happiness or revenge or whatever it was I was after.
Emmett and I met at prom. I had a good feeling that he'd be going to the school, so I had Ophelia drive me there.
"Emmett."
"Mona Lisa."
"I am so sorry. I am so, so sorry."
"Do you love him?"
"Yes."
"Oh."
I could tell he was on the verge of tears. And it made me feel just awful.
"Please, Emmett. I know it's selfish to ask. Can you ever forgive me? Please. I ... I was so unaware. I'm so sorry."
"I forgive you, Mona Lisa. I hope you're happy. With him."
I could tell at this point I was dismissed. Maybe we'd be friends one day down the road, but today was not that day. I motioned to Ophelia that I'd rather walk home than ride back and began my trek. I think she may have gotten out of the car to talk to Emmett. Maybe she offered him some perspective. I don't know.
When I got home and hung my outerwear up, I saw that Goopy hadn't moved. He was waiting for me. He couldn't contain his smile, and through my guilt, somehow, maybe horribly, suddenly I couldn't contain mine either.
"Mona, come here," he said, pulling me over to where we'd shared our kiss. "Don't change out of your dress. I have an idea."
"What idea?" I asked.
"Am I about to wake up and realize that this has all been some elaborate dream?" I laughed, looking at the ring sparkling on my finger. "This is unreal, truly."
"Everyone's asleep," he said. "The first snow of the year is falling. I want you to be my wife. We've been dancing around each other for years. I can't wait another second."
He grabbed my hand and we ran, laughing, out into the snow, without our coats, without our boots, and stood near the bright greenhouse he'd helped design as a child. It was there that we exchanged our vows.
Could it really be just this morning that I told him I loved him? Could it be that I went to sleep last night planning to marry anyone else?
When it was done. When he was mine and I was his, like it was always supposed to be, I found myself flying through the air as he scooped me into his arms.
I did go to sleep that night a married woman. I was right, I got married that day no matter what. It's funny how no matter how right you may be about something, the details will always catch you by surprise.
