A Wedding Affair (The Wedding Affair) (56 page)

I say good bye to Oliver who has his glasses on the tip of his nose
, I sneak up behind him and kiss him on his head as he sits at his sewing machine covered in threads, as he sews yet another masterpiece.

“Have a good night my dear”

“Love you Oliver do the same, and thank you for always caring about me”

“Ar
ia more than happy to watch over you and see that you are safe” his words warm my heart he maybe scolding like a father but he is loyal as can be, that is why I never get mad when he show me he cares, it all comes from a good place.

I call the valet station and have Lawrence pull my car around
my makeup is flawless my lips are pressed as I head to the Ritz to retrieve my Cadillac from the valet station. Just as promised Lawrence has her waiting as I reach the blue awning of The Ritz, I fist him a modest tip for his swift attention to my needs and I am off.

I head out through downtown traffic and hit
the MLK exit off of I-90 East and head towards Case Western Reserve campus, after being there for the faculty dinner I know where his building in that all his classes are held in. I park accordingly in the student parking lot that is adjacent to the lecture hall. The campus looks like what you imagine college life to be, old buildings that are centuries old ornate with towers, and steeples that sore into the skyline. I am also impressed by the lavish and lush gardens as well as the beautifully manicured grounds. The buildings lined with cobbled walkways. Case is a marvel of higher learning, I have to say education at its best, the campus is a mecca, I always find myself walking along the quad and looking up just taking it all in.

I find myself blending into the rush of student
s hurrying to class, I enter a huge oak arched door where Ian’s lecture hall is and no sooner am I hit with the smell of old English, as it envelopes the atmosphere, the dark wainscoting drapes the halls in regal and refinement. I laugh to myself as Ian was right he loves this place because it smells of old books, and yes he is right it smells of old books, it resembles an old library with soaring windows trimmed in dark wood and paned glass. The hard wood floors are old and creek as my heels make their way across them. Students scurry about in every direction as they pass me, I have to say this building does remind me of the library that Ian and I use to do our homework in back in high school. I have not been in a library in probably twenty years or so, and Ian has scolded me about it, he always tells me to take advantage of your tax dollars at work, yes he means the public library, I gotta feeling he is planning a field trip for he and I pretty soon. to our neighborhood Carnegie west branch Library.

Oh cool here we are I turn a corner and find Professor Bollinger’s class I file
in and blend with the rest of the paying participants.

The lecture hall is stadium seating
and fills quickly with all his students, the old wooden desk are shaker style with an attached desktop that folds down to the right. There is a wall of windows to the left and the sun is shining through the paned glass. I think it’s nice he has a window in his classroom, the view over-looks the impressive quad. I’m intrigued by the whole college experience, and yes this is higher learning at its best, but don’t take my word for it I think it’s a must, everyone should attend.

I sit a few rows back
on the left side, as the sun shines through the windows and over my shoulders. Ian walks in and I get butterflies in my stomach, he is adorable dressed like the handsome professor in his khaki trousers, blue oxford shirt and yellow and blue tie, that I didn’t tie for him this morning because I was reminded of Tristan, I sigh as I take him all in, his jacket is draped over his arm, he carries himself with poise and confidence, he does have a grace about himself that is quite fetching. I use to love to watch him play basketball for the very same reason. He is confident yet consolatory as he greets his students Ian is profound he knows he looks good, but it is the furthest thing from his mind, he is way beyond superficial displays of admiration. Ian is all about the beauty within, don’t get me wrong he has had his share of bimbos and Barbie dolls and he said you can fuck beautiful women all you want, but you still have to live with her personality.  I don’t know why just thought of that, maybe it’s all the young women in here. I watch Ian and I have to say he wears humble quite well.

The handsome college professor doesn’t know I am here yet
and my heart is pounding, I am nervous and excited, it’s like being a fly on the wall. I squirm inside and try not to be too conspicuous.

I can’t take my eyes off of him as
he puts his coach Lexington briefcase on the walnut desk, his jacket on the back of the chair, a sense of pride comes over me. I made that suit for him as a present the first night he took me out to dinner about a month ago.

I feel seven shades of guilt,
what a bad fiancée I was for freaking out like that this morning and not tying his tie for him, what am I five? As my niece says to me all the time
‘no actually I’m six’
is her reply.

I get
comfortable in my desk which is basically a chair like in an auditorium bolted to the floor, cold hard and stained a dark walnut. I put my Chanel bag on my lap and I pull my black sweater close around my neck as I settle in and cross my ankles.

Ian
grabs the chalk and writes something on the free standing black board that is smeared with a white haze from a previous whipping.

‘Henry VIII’
in big bold letters, he turns to his left as he ushers in the last few stragglers and then closes the door behind him. Hmm he sort of sashays when he walks, treading very lightly across the hard wood floor of
Kimball lecture hall
he is observant as he works the room, he is polished, poise and anyone can tell this is not his first rodeo, he steps lightly as he returns to the podium ready to begin.

I look around
and catch little things like his students getting ready to take notes with everything from laptops to Ipads and still some go for the old stand by…a writing instrument of their choice such as a pen or pencil and a notebook filled with lined paper how twentieth century of them.

I smile as I bit my bottom
lip I am nervous and I have built up anxiety about what happen this morning, and will he spot me sitting amongst the twenty something crowd of flip flops, t shirts, faded jeans and ear-buds laced youths. Shit I am definitely overdressed.

A thought these kids are p
robably wondering who the hell I am. I look studious with my sweater ties around my neck but the rock on my finger screams older women not young college co-ed.

Ian
looks so adorable his tousled dark hair that makes him young and irresistible, those dark eye that pan the crowd of eager students. It is almost as if he senses me or maybe he smells my perfume and
hello
he has found me, the butterflies are now wow, hey did he just make my girly parts tingle? My heart is racing like it use to in high school when I saw him walk into the library I give him a small smile and a wink, as he pushes back his hair from his forehead and he narrows his eyes as if to say he has me cornered and I am his for the next fifty minutes or so.

I cock my head to one side as I cross my arms
and let him know I am all his. He turns his attention and gazes to the center of the room and begins his class with a question.

“Ok people can anyone
name one quality of Henry the VIII that is not in the main stream?”

His students are quiet first as I hear faint
shuffles and typing around me, and then they start yelling the answers,

“Musician”
from a girl in the far right  

“P
hilanthropist” from a young man down front

“I
nnovator” from the girl behind me,

“R
ole model” from a girl in the middle as she giggles her response, and

“F
ather as a very authoritative voice from in front of me”

“According t
o the catholic church… adultery” a very clean cut young man with his laptop open and sporting a tie. The crowd laughs at the young Spanish students comment. So do I this is getting good. Ian tosses up the chalk again and says in a very calm voice almost like a police officer in an interrogation.

“Interesting
that none of you all said TYRANT?” Ian makes his statement he is soft spoken yet firm, a bit unpretentious, he works the crowd, ever so gauging, meek at times and always modest, wow I can see how I fell for him. It’s all coming back to me, he is knowledgeable yet witty, smart but in an alluring way, intelligent beyond his years, articulate as ever and on him it has always been handsome to me.

I think Ian
is his most humble when he is teaching, sincere, honest, devoted, this is the man I fell in love with. I mean look at him he is tall six feet two inches of brains and a bod to rock, he is fun and knowledgeable, energetic and incorrigible as he involves these students and takes them on a journey that they would have never taken if it wasn’t for him.

I glan
ce over to my right at the crowd of eager students as they laugh at his proposed question, the female student body well let’s just say that what I see on their faces and the giggles and snickers that are being made are sure as hell not aimed at dear old Henry VIII, yeah my fiancé is a hottie. I believe there was an eighties song
Hot for teacher
yeah I can see why.

Ian walks towards the black board and writes what the kids yelled out and turns as he throws the chalk up and catches it. Yes that is my fiancé u
p there being cute and adorable, playful and sexy as hell, no wonder this class is packed must be two hundred kids in here.

In all seriousness what glues me to my seat is when
Ian, Professor Bollinger does what he does best, and that is speak-- I am riveted as are the rest of the twenty something ladies in this class, jeez they are all so young, cute and perky.

Ian continues with
his thoughts, backed up by facts in history and always bought to the main stream so we less mortals can comprehend the written word from five hundred years ago.

I
have always been impressed when Ian talk’s people listen, he makes them think and poses questions but what I love is his voice, so soothing, inspiring with just a dash of humor to make sure we are paying attention. Here take a listen.

“His leadership was often challenged, his decisions were always scrutinized and his lack of decorum was evident but I think his
ever present wondering eye is what made him humble, popular and a tyrant”

A youn
g Asian girl raises her hand

“But professor with all he had to deal with back then it wasn’t easy to be the king” she gets a laugh from us all.

Ian is smiling and now moving back to the black board and he writes down this statement “Ok let’s see in this day and age would Henry VIII make the history books or make the tabloids?” again he has these kids eating out the palm of his hands. That was the ace in the hole, the students starting yelling their opinions, they started taking sides which got them all chirping in as they are now debating over who and what and that Ian has always said to me ‘
this is teaching
, if a teacher does not inspire you to form an opinion they should be ashamed to cash their paycheck’ I do agree there are those who do and then there are those who teach Ian has done the research traveled and has done the fieldwork for twenty years and look how he makes this class come to life, I am impressed beyond comprehension at my wonderful fiancé talents.

His comments made them
think hell he made me think about dear old Henry VIII and I’m not even in this class! I have to hand it to him they all picked and poked which was Henry’s assets and his liabilities. What a great teacher Ian is. He is compassionate, inspiring and he makes them ponder instead of taking things for face value and I believe we all need to do that every once in a while as a reality check.

I am getting  a bigger sense of what is happening in Ian’s
class as I listen, the ace in the hole is he is entertaining in his statements, he knows his shit, from data, dates, events how this impacted America and of course how the Church of England was formed.

There was no stone unturned in this lecture about Henry
VIII it was all up for grabs, from Anne Boleyn to the rest of his wives, it was interesting to hear all the facts and legends. Ian’s class is fifty minutes or so he covered six chapters eloquently and he was inspiring, they were pinned to their seats, some of the more gregarious students were animated while others even answered in English accents. Which I thought was cute and lets him know that he got through to them that they understood the material and that to him is a connection that he says he just thrives off of and that is why he is still teaching. I was so proud to sit in on his class today. After the whole educational process was over, he gave them parting words.

“If
there was no Henry VIII there would not have been an Elizabeth I or the reformation of the Church of England, these were trying times and what they were doing was all uncharted territory, to challenge the Catholic church, to challenge Rome and the Vatican, citizens of England were governed by the king, what he said was the law and punishable by death if you did not comply, they had no voice, no choice and no recourse.