Ace of Hearts - All We Are Series [NaNoWriMo 2014] [#JustWriteIt]

Chapter Twenty Four [Edited]

The next two months flew by. Shelly and Jack’s wedding was absolutely amazing. The two were obviously deeply in love with one another. The venue was decked out in lavender and dark red. It didn’t seem like it might go together, but it was absolutely stunning. Shawn, Shelly’s brother, and their parents came up to Ohio for the wedding, and I swear they were bawling the hardest of everyone. Shawn gave Jack a little bit of grief about treating Shelly right, but it went unneeded as Jack wouldn’t ever hurt Shelly, anyways. Zeva, Jack’s sister, her husband Elliot, and their son Evan came down for the wedding though Elliot couldn’t stay for too long after the reception. Jack’s mother came down as well, and she and Shelly’s mother seemed to form an amazing bond as the two of them laughed the night away.

The most magical part, the part that had me cry, was when Shelly and Jack had their first dance. I suppose it’s always a sentimental dance, but something about them just made it even more special. The song was “All I Have” by country singer Beth Nielsen Chapman.

The song was so sweet and slow that they had the whole audience swaying to the music and most people tearing up. Shelly smiled up at Jack like he was her whole world, her lips moving softly in time to the music. Jack’s eyes glistened as he swayed with Shelly. Later Shelly confessed to me that she was singing the lyrics to Jack.

Soon they were leaving for their honeymoon, which Jack revealed at the last moment was in Italy. Shelly squealed as she grinned and attacked Jack, her brother claiming it sounded like a pig squealing. I felt like a mother as I watched over my “child” Shelly leave the “nest”. She was finally maturing and becoming a responsible adult, though I wondered if she would actually settle down and have children. Shelly loved her freedom, but she loved kids, and I couldn’t figure out which one she would decide on.

Not like it mattered right now, though. June and July passed with a small celebration for Shelbie’s birthday on July 8th. To no one’s surprise, Charles and Lily started dating, on July 4th to be exact. He asked her as the fireworks were going, which practically made Lily melt. Dave returned to work like nothing had happened, so I never brought up the surgery, though I was still curious as to what procedure he had to go in for. Daniel simply reminded me that it was none of my business, and he kissed me to make me stop thinking about it. It was quite effective.

Daniel and I were progressing in our relationship. We were getting a lot more serious now. I really liked him, and it was like it was too late to go back. Even if we broke up now, I would never be the Anaya that I used to be. I couldn’t quite put my finger on how I had changed. Something about me felt much more mature, though. I was handling our relationship well. I knew Daniel wasn’t asexual. I was mindful of this, and so we had progressed to some small make out sessions, much to Daniel’s delight. However, we hadn’t gotten anywhere close to sex, much to my relief. Daniel didn’t seem to mind this, though. He never hesitated to reassure me of this fact.

Emotionally, we were also incredibly close. I told him about my father dying when I was young, and he told me more about his sister and mother. Apparently the two of them had died in a car crash when Daniel was sixteen and his sister Bailey was twelve. It was a bit of a touchy subject for him, and he cried when he told me, so I never pressed for more details. From what I could piece together, Daniel’s father had pretty much fallen to pieces after that. He stayed barely put together, just enough to send Daniel off to college before allowing himself to feel his emotions and let the heartbreak show. Daniel said he respected his father for putting him first, but he also wished his father hadn’t made such sacrifices for him.

“Why didn’t he ever tell me how much he was hurting?” Daniel asked me. “Didn’t he know that I was hurting, too? We could have supported each other. Instead, we both had to pretend like nothing was wrong. This is the way of men and boys, Anaya. I’m not sure how much you know of it. Men and boys always feel like they have to be strong. But why is this? Wouldn’t we both have been happier if we had one another to fall back on when we needed it?”