Silver

Chapter 26 - then

I walked up the aisle behind Millie. Right foot, together, left foot, together, right foot, together. Her mother walked on her right-hand side, her father on her left.

Despite her non-Lolita attire and twiggy frame, I thought Millie looked beautiful. Her hair was pinned up at the back of her head, with a few loose strands dangling softly around her face. She wore an ankle-length halter-neck silk dress, a short veil and a pearl necklace of one of her ancestors who originally came to Australia as a Japanese war bride.

We were in a faux Baroque chapel, built twenty years prior especially for weddings like these. There were no references to any God on the walls or in the ceremony. It was all 'non-denominational'. The domed ceiling didn't feel high enough and it felt like the design and space was compromised by a tight-arse budget and the use of cheap modern materials.

On either side of me there were people standing in the pews. I didn't recognise many of the faces. I knew that my parents and a couple of girls from school were somewhere. But there were too many faces staring at us walking up the aisle for me to bear to look closely. I kept a grip on my bouquet of white lillies and concentrated on left foot, together, right foot, together, left foot, together.

I could see the groomsmen in their tailored suits. I noticed their hair first - short and boring. I recalled doodles Millie and I did in our school books in year seven, of guys with mini-mohawks and shots of purple locks. There was not one cool haircut here.

We stopped at the front of the chapel. Millie's parents kissed her. Millie's mum had a red blotchy face and neck. As her parents stepped away, I saw her husband-to-be step forward.

He was gorgeous.

Even with his plain haircut and his over enthusiastic smile, I couldn't help but think he was gorgeous.

But I could also tell straight away that he was mainstream.

When the celebrant said 'do you Amelia take Jason to be your husband', we discovered his name was Jason. He looked a bit older than us, perhaps by a year or two. When he spoke, his voice wavered, as if balancing on a knife's edge. It was unexpected, this nervous voice, because he looked confident and it made me like him just a little.

'I, Amelia take you Jason to be my lawful wedded husband. To have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until death do us part,' Millie responded with her whole being.

I knew that she meant every word.