Even Angels Fall

Chapter 33

               ~~~~Christina~~~~

On my birthday, Mike took me to apply for our marriage license and then out to dinner. I was worried about how much it was going to cost, but he refused to let me talk him out of it. He said that we could go out once in a while and that today was special. He told me to order anything I wanted and wouldn't listen when I said we didn't need dessert. After dinner, he took me to Navy Pier like he did on our first date, just to walk around. Or so I thought. 

We walked to the edge of the pier and looked out over the water for a few minutes before Mike surprised me by kneeling down and pulling a ring from his pocket. It took me a few seconds to comprehend what he was doing but then I started laughing and crying all at once. 

Not caring how many people were around or how loud he was, he took my hand and said "Christina Grace Brown, I love you. Would you marry me?"

Of course, I said yes and he stood up and kissed me as the people around us clapped and cheered. It was completely unnecessary, considering we already planned on getting married in two days, but it was still so sweet.

Also, I hadn't been expecting a ring since we really couldn't afford it and he'd already given me one. But after he pulled away, he slipped the sparkling, silver ring on my finger. He said it wasn't a diamond but one day he'd give me one. I didn't care. I didn't need a diamond. I thought the ring he gave me was perfect. It was small but not too small and it had the date we planned to get married engraved on the inside.

But he gave it to me just because he wanted to make this special for me, and I'd rather have my little ring for that reason than a thousand diamonds that he gave to me because he felt like he was supposed to.

                 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Our wedding was small and quiet. Steve was Mike's best man and the pastor's wife served as our other witness. I wanted Jodi to come, and since I was eighteen I wasn't so scared to go see her anymore, but she was away at college now and so was Jeremy.

I'd gotten a little depressed thinking about how I would be at college right now if things had been different. But as if my little girl knew what I was thinking, she gave me a gentle kick and I was reminded that I had something even better. Honestly, I was okay with how everything turned out.

The only thing I couldn't seem to feel better about was the fact that my parents weren't with me for this.

I was never one of those girls who dreamed of what her wedding would be like or what her dress would look like. I was actually happy with a small wedding. A big wedding sounded a little like a nightmare with all the planning and the money wasted on clothes no one would ever wear again or food people would hardly eat. Not to mention, all that attention focused on me didn't sound appealing. So I liked that ours was so intimate. But big or small, I always assumed my parents would be there for my wedding, and that Daddy would give me away. 

I allowed myself to have a good cry over that in the shower that morning, but I refused to let myself think about it after that. Mike made sure the day was special and I didn't want to ruin it by crying all over the place. And besides, it's not like my crying about it was going to fix it. 

Of course I wound up crying in the actual ceremony anyway, but at least it wasn't hysterical sobbing. It was just the kind of crying people normally did at weddings. The ceremony wasn't very long and I was fine for most of it, but when it came time for me to say my vows, I got all choked up and had a hard time getting the words out.

Afterward, Mike and I headed downtown where he surprised me with a dinner cruise on the Chicago River. It was beautiful and romantic with delicious food, live music, and dancing, which helped to make up for the fact that we missed our prom.