“And I vow to listen, for as long as it takes for you to feel heard. I vow to be your unrelenting cheer squad on the days it feels too much. I vow to pick the important fights with you, especially when I know you’re selling yourself short or not being treated with respect.
“I vow to spend the rest of our lives laughing, smiling, going on crazy adventures, and most importantly, loving each other through the good times and the bad. And if there are bad times, I promise the kind of makeup sex that has your blouse buttons hitting the floor.”
And on the last sentence, he stared deep into her eyes. “I vow that I will love you, Georgia, every day, for the rest of forever.”
Georgia sniffled a few times, and I handed her a tissue to wipe her eyes.
“Don’t cry, TAPRoseNEXT,” Kline whispered, brushing away a few tears. “You may have written those vows, but I’ll stand by every last word.”
She giggled at his sincerity, but I wasn’t used to it, and therefore, found myself completely ill prepared. I dabbed at fresh tears with the back of my hand as she unfolded the paper in her hands.
“Kline Matthew, I stand before you today to become your wife.” She paused for a second, looked up at him and then back at the paper. “I think everyone here knows that already, but I’ve got this feeling that you really wanted to hear me say it.”
She turned to the crowd and remarked, “I’m not improvising.” She turned the paper toward them. “It really says that.”
Everyone laughed and he nodded. “Keep going, Benny.”
She looked back to the scrawl of his words.
“From this day forward, I am yours and you are mine. I promise to remind myself of this most important fact every day and smile when you do it for me. I promise not to give up or run away when you make the kinds of mistakes that every man makes, and I promise to use my heart, rather than my ears, to really hear you.”
Sweet cookies and dildos, this guy had a knack for saying the right thing.
“I promise to rap my way through our days and beatbox for you each night because it’s times like those when I’m so…” She paused and glanced to the crowd. “I’m so…effing…adorable you can’t even stand it.”
Her amused eyes met his again. “You really wrote the F-word in my vows?”
He shrugged. “Adorable wasn’t enough.”
She shook her head, smiling, and continued, “I promise to keep you on your toes with my hair and my words and always stand up for myself with the backbone you love and expect.”
“And, I promise to be late as often as I want because you’ll always be waiting. But when it comes to lovin’—” Georgia stopped midsentence, giggling at her groom. “Kline, I’m not saying that in front of the minister.”
“Baby, you have to. They’re your vows, remember?”
She leaned forward, whispering something into his ear. His mouth twisted into a devilish grin and he whispered back.
Georgia turned toward the attendants. “Please feel free to cover your ears during this part.”
She cleared her throat, cheeks pink, and said, “I’ll come early and I’ll come often because the power of Big-dicked Brooks compels me.”
“I knew it!” I shouted. “I told you!”
Pfffft. I knew my cockdar wasn’t on the fritz.
Everyone in the crowd was a mixture of laughing, clapping, and wolf whistling.
Once we settled down, Georgia gazed at Kline like she would happily crawl inside him and stay there and said the rest of her vows.
“But most of all, I vow to love you with everything that I am, no matter the circumstances, because I know, from the very depths of my tiny, perfect being, that you will be there, doing your best to love me more.”
And when the minister told Kline to kiss his bride.
He motherfucking kissed his bride so good it made my toes curl.
“Congratulate me, boys,” Kline toasted with a glass of scotch in the air, the happiest I’d seen the fucking sap in ages.
His body was here with us, but his mind and his eyes were on his boogeying bride on the other side of the dance floor. The space was fairly small. At least, this room known as The Greenhouse was. They’d rented out the entirety of The Foundry out of nothing more than necessity. Kline liked to think his life was boring and normal and that no one cared at all, but the truth was they did. They cared a lot. And keeping such an important event completely private was the only way to maintain his happy little bubble of make-believe.
“That,” he said with a slightly tipsy gesture, “is my wife.”
I laughed and slapped him on the shoulder, exchanging smiles with Wes behind his back. I raised my eyebrows in question, and Wes gave me a pursed-lip nod of agreement.
“Go get her,” I urged simply, knowing he wanted to be with her a million times more than he wanted to stand here and shoot the shit with us.
And, regardless of what people might have thought they knew about me, that was fine by me. My oldest, closest friend had found it. Found her.
Always loyal and loving, I couldn’t think of anyone who deserved it more than he did.