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Monday, July 1st 10:07 AM
Father Lucian greeted me in the waiting room. I was so excited to see him, and I got up immediately and shook his hand.
My parents were sitting with me, and they each shook his hand in turn. They knew why he was there, and Stella had even been brave enough to have a nurse take her to Jane’s room to let her parents know that he was here.
I gave Liam to my parents when Stella returned, red faced and bravely trying not to cry, and walked with Father Lucian down the hallway to Jane’s room.
“What’s that?” I asked, noticing a document in his hand.
“Marriage license. With as much as I hate to say this, I keep these on hand in case something like this was to happen,” he replied.
I nodded and turned my attention back to the hallway. I kept my eyes forward as we passed all of the open doors. I didn’t want to see other people suffering, any more than I wanted to be getting married this way.
“Nolan.”
I nodded at Mr. East who was half-standing outside of Jane’s room waiting for us.
“Father,” he said, shaking the priest’s hand.
“You need to be ready for what you’re about to see,” he said after Father Lucian went in. “Janey is very sick. She’s got some tubes in her and she’s hooked up to a dialysis machine. She’s not very responsive but her eyes are open. Wide open. She just stares at the ceiling so I’m not sure if she’s really there. She’s… she’s jaundiced too. I need you to be sure you want to do this, and I need you to be strong enough to be in there with her. I don’t know if she can see us or not, but if she can…” his voice trailed off as his words caught in his throat.
“If I still have your blessing as well as Jessie’s, I’d like to go through with this,” I said quietly.
“Alright,” he said as he nodded and led me into the room.
I took a deep breath and walked in. I saw her mother first because I refused to look at her. I walked over and she stood up to give me a hug.
Then I turned my attention to the girl I loved more than anything in the world. The girl who made me feel like anything was possible. The girl who taught me how to love unconditionally.
I felt my heart shatter into a million pieces. She wasn’t the girl in the picture anymore. She wasn’t the girl in the swing on that cool day in the park. She wasn’t the girl who was excited to hold the Adelie penguin.
I went over to Jane’s yellow, fragile body and looked down at her. I placed a hand gently on top of her head and leaned down, kissing her as softly as I could on her now dry, cracked lips.
“Hi, Janey,” I whispered softly to her.
She blinked but never turned her eyes to look at me.
“I need to know who will speak for her,” Father Lucian said gently.
“I will,” Jessie said, getting to her feet.
He nodded and began.
"Dearly beloved, we are gathered together here in the sight of God, and in the face of this congregation, to join together this Man and this Woman in holy matrimony..."
I had made a point of holding Jane’s hand through the entire thing. It was burning hot and limp, but when Father Lucian got to the part of the vows where he asked if she took me as her lawfully wedded husband, her hand tightened around mine and she coughed. I looked down at her while Jessie said “I do” in Jane’s place and her eyes were on me. I took a deep breath and smiled at her as she coughed again, tears slowly falling down the sides of her face.
Jessie gave me my ring and I slid it on. I gently put Jane’s on her hand and kept my eyes on her beautiful face.
The last thing I heard Father Lucian say was “you may now kiss the bride”. Her eyes were still on me when I turned to face her. I leaned down to kiss her, and I heard her straining as she moved her face up toward me. When our lips met, she was exhausted from having moved that little bit, and her kiss was more of a quick series of puckers.
It was the most amazing, meaningful, and perfect kiss I had ever received.
“I love you,” I whispered to her.
She coughed again before turning her eyes back to the ceiling.
Chapter Eighteen
