Short Words, Big Love

Ice Pop Kisses

Inspired by my little daughter...

"And here is your something old," I say, putting the tiara over my daughter's head.

"I can't believe that this is more than thirty years old. It still shines as if it was new," says my daughter Kylie, moving her head from side to side to admire the tiara.

Today is my daughter's wedding. It is a lovely summer day in June, warm and sunny. She is ready to marry the love of her life, her boyfriend Jayce.

They have known each other forever. Some people are high school sweethearts, these two are more like day care sweethearts.

I look at my baby girl and smile. She is chatting happily with her friends Eva and Sabrine while enjoying a nice glass of bubbly. Time really has flown by and my tiny blond toddler with her big gray eyes has turned into a woman.

Jayce and she, together with his brother Ryder have always been inseparable. Their afternoons were spent riding their bikes on the street or making chalk drawings on the sidewalk.

I still remember and chuckle about the summer when Kylie and Jayce were three years old. They sat on a bench during a neighborhood BBQ and she lifted her t-shirt to show him that she had 'three belly buttons'. Or when their mom Rachel had left the boys in our home to run some errands, and Kylie gave Jayce a big kiss against his will. I think they were six years old by then.

Or when the three of them went to the movies in the summer when they were fourteen. I saw Ryder walking to his house as they lived in front of us, and Kylie and Jayce spent a long time saying 'goodbye' at the front door.

Last summer, we were having a big celebration at the beach as my husband turned 60 years old. While watching the fireworks display that we rented for the occasion, Jayce went on one knee and proposed to Kylie. While patting his shirt and his shorts, he realized that he had forgotten the ring. Ryder came to the rescue with a makeshift one out of a trash bag tie.

Each summer brought the three of them closer together, and now again during a summer day, Kylie and Jayce are ready for their forever with Ryder as their witness.

I leave the ladies in the dressing room and head outside. My duties as mom of the bride are almost done, so I can go and enjoy myself a bit before the ceremony begins. As I get out of the room, I almost bump into my husband. He looks so handsome in his tuxedo. Even though he has gone completely bald, I still find him as hot as the first time that I saw him.

"How is it going?" I say while straightening his tie.

"People are starting to arrive. I think it will be a full house. Why did I agree to pay for an open bar? They will drink me dry!"

I start laughing and I know he doesn't mean it. He will do anything for his only daughter and he loves to entertain people. When Kylie and Jayce were concerned about having to downsize the guest list because the reception they could afford wouldn't fit everybody, he stepped up and hired this place. He knew that Kylie had her heart set in this manor, but they were also saving for the down payment on a house.

I kiss his cheek and he lifts a warning eyebrow at me. I smile at him wickedly and walk away fast, as he complains about what I just did to him. He doesn't like when I leave lipstick marks on his cheeks or lips. I adore teasing the hell out of him.

The manor is in the middle of a city, and you would think that it is in the middle of the country side. Vast gardens surround the house, giving it peaceful surroundings. I decide to take a walk around and then is when I see him.

He is dressed in his mess dress uniform from the army, and is throwing pebbles in a pond. Who would have thought that the scrawny kid with a crooked tooth, would turn into a handsome service man?

I remember the summer when he enlisted after finishing school. Rachel was devastated and we were very worried. Kylie and Jayce had a big fight. He was against the idea of his brother joining the army, as they lost their father when he was serving in an armed conflict. Kylie tried to calm him, but he was inconsolable.

I walk closer to him, and realize that Ryder is crying. Not of happiness. He is sniffling and cleaning his cheeks roughly with his hands. It is heartbreaking.

"Ryder, why are you crying?" I say, putting my hand on his arm.

He looks at me with red eyes, full of sadness.

"This is it. I've lost her," he says, looking back at the pond.

"What are you talking about?" I say, rubbing his back. I know that he dates, but I have never seen him with a girlfriend.

"I have lost Kylie," he says, picking a rock and throwing it back.

I feel confused at his words.

"Can you explain?"

"I have loved Kylie forever. Since we were kids. I loved reading to her when we were little, and how she liked to sit next to me. She would give me sticky kisses on my cheek as she loved to eat ice pops in the summer, and to me she was and is the most beautiful girl that ever existed. We grew up and both Jayce and I were interested in her affection. Of course, I'm not stupid and I knew that she only had eyes for my brother. I always held on to hope that one day she would look at me and feel something more. It never happened. I went away and even volunteered to be stationed in remote places so that I didn't have the urge of calling her and hearing her voice. I missed her terribly. When I came back, and saw how serious things were between her and my brother, I knew that any chance I had was gone. And I'm happy for them. I wouldn't like for her to be with anybody else than my brother, but it hurts like hell,"

I grab Ryder in a hug, and clean his tears. We stay like that until Sabrine comes to let me know that we are needed to begin the ceremony. Ryder looks at her and there is something strange in his eyes. We take our places for the ceremony, and I glance at him from time to time. As the bridal party comes in, he can't stop staring at Sabrine. She steals a look at him and smiles shyly.

We applaud the bridal couple as the ceremony comes to an end, and move into the reception area that has been set up in a dining hall. A nice top 40 band is playing. Kylie, Eva and Sabrine, are dancing, and I get an idea.

"Sabrine, sweetheart, can you come with me?"

Sabrine, with her big brown doe eyes and her black curls follows me and we walk to the bar, where the men are enjoying a drink.

"Ryder, I think you have not met Sabrine. She is one of Kylie's closest friends. She loves to dance, why don't you take her for a spin on the dance floor?"

Ryder offers his hand to her and she blushes prettily. They walk to the dance floor, and destiny decides that the DJ must play a romantic ballad. They laugh as he put his hands on her waist while hers are on his shoulders, and they sway to the music. Kylie grabs Jayce's hand and joins them on the dance floor.

And I look forward to the future, when maybe the summer will bring sticky ice pop kisses and even more love.