Wedding Night

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Wedding Night

by Andrea Lena DiMaggio

How did it happen that their lips came together? How does it happen that birds sing, that snow melts, that the rose unfolds, that the dawn whitens behind the stark shapes of trees on the quivering summit of the hill? A kiss, and all was said. ~Victor Hugo


"Honey...we have a lifetime together." Vinnie stroked his new bride's hair as he softly kissed her cheek. It had been years since he tasted anyone's tears but his own, and it felt sad and lovely at the same time.

"I'm sorry....please...I am so sorry." She wept. Her face was a mask of grief, never a welcome expression but especially on her wedding night; it felt as if her whole world had buried her and the love she had for her new husband.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, honey.... I love you...oh, hon..." He continued to stroke her hair, and he found himself crying; something he hadn't done in years as well.

"I'm the one who should be sorry. I made such a big deal of this, and I should have known how worried you were." She had been worried, and had told him so on more than one occasion.

"I wanted to be...I should have know...this is....I'm soooo sorrrreeee." She buried her face in his chest, sobbing.

"You're...yoooooo...don't deserve.....so soooohhhrreeeee." She tried to get up, but his strong arms wrapped around her, refusing to let her go.

"No worries, please don't....I love you more than life itself. She collapsed in the safety of his arms, the refuge of his sweat and skin; the harbor of his love and she felt secure; more secure than she had ever been.

"I love you, I am so sorry you don't know that yet, but you will, dear, even as the sun rises in the east, you will find me here and yours for ever! No matter what you have been, you are now my wife and I am your husband. No matter who you've been before this moment, you are now my bride and the love of my life."

He pulled her up and into a kiss. Not just a kiss, but the kiss they would tell their daughters and grandchildren about, he thought. She would remember it for all of her days as the moment her transformation became complete. He would tell his friends of the wonderful blessing his wife would become.

The kiss was only the beginning, but it was the hallmark of the relationship; the seal of approval given by their maker to them to assure that they were truly intended for each other. They began to explore; the moment of disappointment forgotten quickly and a touch and caress and kiss and bite and lick brought them into such a closeness such as they had never known with another human being.

He was tired and she had become tired as well. They fell asleep in each other's arms, the night of their wedding ending not with climax but with sweet repose. A coda for the symphony that their lives had become. Peace covered them like a soft warm blanket and joy held them like a comfortable quilt. Their heads rested in the love they had built like a firm pillow, and they slept as they had never slept before.


"Are you going to call it, or should I?" The doctor shook her head; in her years of practice she had never witnessed such a sad but wonderful scene. The nurse looked at her and nodded.

"6:42am." She choked back a sob as she put her stethescope in her pocket.

"So sweet. I hope I look this peaceful when I go," she said. She smiled through her tears as other staff members crowded in the doorway behind them; a sob here and a sigh softly breaking the silence in the room.

"Vincent Daniel Raggazzo, 6:42am."

"Brian Paul O'Hearn, 6:42am."

"Nancy? Please?" The nurse looked at the doctor.

"Why not? What could it hurt? Bridgette Paula O'Hearn..... Ragazzo, 6:42am, put them both down for natural causes, okay?" She smiled softly and wiped her own tears with her sleeve before kissing the couple and turning off the light.

“For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart. It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul.” She choked back a sob and closed the door for the last time.

"Shakespeare?" The nurse asked.

"Judy Garland." She said softly as she squeezed the nurse's hand.

"Into my heart."

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Comments

Oh! ' Drea,

ALISON

'now you have me crying again.So sad and yet so romantic.Thank you.

ALISON

Hi Gram...just hitching a ride...

Dear Heart...

Unfortunately this probably happens all too frequently. Why can't it simply be love without any rules or judgements. Regardless of gender or sexual orientation, two people in love are in love and that's that. But an other wise depressing topic was dealt with in a very sensitive and delicate manner...as usual. Brava!!!

Your Brat

'Drea Thank You For Your Help

littlerocksilver's picture

... in helping me understand. I wrote essentially this note in a PM to 'Drea:

I'm almost afraid to comment, because this really illustrates how thick I am at times. I had to go back and note the 60+ category. We have a couple, one or both is infirm. He loves her, she loves him, but she is a woman in soul only. I guess they are in a nursing home or hospital. I am not sure if they commit suicide or just die of old age - together. The staff obviously is aware of the situation, and documents their deaths as if they were a married couple. I didn't think I understood it, and I am still crying. Maybe my heart understood better than my mind.

More tissue, please.

Portia

Portia

Damned Kleenex pusher!

How do you do this, Dre?

Were you an advertizing exec in a previous life?

I smell a dual suicide here of lovers who knew it could never be or one was dying and they chose to both go out together. The Senior/Sixty tag hints at this along with the comments at the end by the doctors and nurses.

So sad,

John in Wauwatosa

John in Wauwatosa

not fair!

that they should have such a brief glimpse of bliss. I pray that they are allowed to be together in Heaven. Another moving, powerful, wonderful story.

DogSig.png

Lovely

kristina l s's picture

You do have a way with painting a gently lovely if seriously sad scene. Be nice to think it could go this way. I guess my problem here is that I'm sitting on the edge of my chair waiting for the bureaucracy to step in and smash the tranquillity with too many forms and clinical reality. 'what's love got ta do with it....'

Sigh, I like your take better though Drea. fade out with the theme from Local Hero... or maybe Judy doing Somewhere Over the Rainbow acapella.

Kristina

The Wedding Night

A truly Bittersweet story of triumphant love.

    Stanman
May Your Light Forever Shine
    Stanman
May Your Light Forever Shine

Please explain to all...

How a double suicide could possibly be a triumph of love! Are you insane or have you totally missed the point?

Short and sweet, sad and

Short and sweet, sad and happy, ideal story.

Dear Mystery Visitor

joannebarbarella's picture

You asked how a double suicide could be a triumph of love. May I suggest you read "Romeo and Juliet".

That aside, this story does not overtly proclaim a suicide. The lovers could have both been in terminal conditions. Regardless, two people in love in this tale achieved a transcendental union that touched all around them, and had me in tears, hopeless romantic that I am.

Oh, 'Drea, you can do it to me every time,

Joanne

That didn't suck TOO bad...

It actually kind of got to me. Like they were in love or something
and got like a farewell fantasy of the life they might of had.
Maybe there's something to this mushy stuff after all.
>>> Ace

Seven Hundred Words.

Jemima Tychonaut's picture

Seven Hundred Words. 700 words. That's all it took for my keyboard to be covered in the splatter of tears. Yours is a rare talent for evoking emotion Andrea.



"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

Rough

It's a little like a Burma Shave ad.

He tried to cross,
As fast train neared.
Death didn't draft him,
He volunteered.
Burma-Shave

Angela Rasch (Jill M I)

Angela Rasch (Jill M I)

serious tissue alert

wept after reading this. cannot come up with the praise this piece deserves. take a bow, sister.

"Let me succeed. If I cannot succeed let me be brave in the attempt." Pledge of the Special Olympics.

dorothycolleen

DogSig.png

Don't cry....

This is uplifting!! genuinely uplifting. If we could all go this way, the happiness in the world would be doubled, trebles, quadrupled........ Because we would know we could all go the same way, if we chose. Be uplifted! xx