Authors: Delia Delaney
He was sitting on a bench, able to bend his right leg for the first time in six weeks, but he could barely bend it very far, and he could hardly stand on it.
“It’s been ten minutes,” I told him with a
sympathetic
smile. “Honey, you’ve got to work into it slowly.”
“I know,” he replied. But it was sullen, like he didn’t want to believe it.
He got up again, standing on his left leg, and gradually he
put weight on his right leg
. The therapist handed him a cane and he practically scoffed at it.
“You wanna walk again or what?” Andy said to him.
He pushed the cane toward him again and finally Jared took it. He put it in his right hand to lean on, but I worried it would hurt his shoulder. He grimaced, but I wasn’t sure where it hurt exactly. He had refused to take any pain medication in the last four weeks.
“What’s hurting?” Andy asked.
“Uh, everything,” Jared chuckled. “No biggie, I just need to get used to it.”
“I know you can handle the pain, but where exactly does it hurt. Communicate with me, buddy.”
Jared shifted slightly, and then took a step forward with his right leg. He wince
d again. “Well, the shoulder seems okay
. But it’s just my thigh, I guess. It’s like…a rolling pain that goes up and down it and then to my shin. Pressure on the mended bones, I guess.”
“Yeah, sounds about right. How’s your knee?”
Jared stepped with his left foot, and then with his right again. He rocked back and forth a little, to get an idea of how it felt. “Well maybe it’s my knee that’s hurting,” he shrugged. “I honestly can’t tell. It’s just an overall pain, like arthritis or something. I don’t know what arthritis feels like, but according to Grandpa Jim, it’s annoying as hell.”
I chuckled, and could almost hear my grandpa say that.
Andy smiled and said, “Sounds normal to me. Your body is using a leg that hasn’t been used for a while. Is the ache similar to how it felt in the cast?”
Jared nodded. “Yeah, it’s about the same. But I couldn’t move my knee in the cast. Now that I can…”
We
knew a knee injury was
present
, which was why Jared w
as having an
other
MRI next. There wouldn’t be any actual physical therapy until the doctors knew what they were working with, so while we waited for the MRI results, Jared and I grabbed some lunch and went to the park. He felt stupid with a cane, but really it was the only thing that was going to help him for the time being.
There was no way anyone would recognize him. He’d pretty much grown a beard while he was recovering from his injuries. He joked that he wasn’t going to shave until our
wedding. He was still pretty damn sexy
, and I even kidded back that he could keep the beard. It wasn’t
even
long or scruffy, it was just right, and to be honest, it didn’t matter how he grew his hair—he was still
gorgeous
.
Maggie didn’t like it though. She told him it was icky and he was too hairy. But I think that was because he liked to rub it on her face just to make her squeal. He told her it was going to make her grow a beard just by it touching her face. She definitely didn’t like the idea of that, and she insisted that he get rid of it so there were no bearded ladies in the house.
The doctor called while we were still at the park.
After lunch w
e
’d
be
headed back to his office anyways, but I knew Jared wanted the results as soon as he could get them. I could only hear
his
end of the conversation that first started out with a heavy sigh. Then he asked how long it would set him back, and after he waited for an answer, he asked if he could function without having it done.
I assumed “having it done
”
meant surgery.
When he hung up he said, “I’ve got a torn
meniscus
and
a ligament
that’s apparently almost totally detached. Don’t even ask me what
it’s
called because I forget.
Anterior something.
Surgery is next week. He said
it’s a common
procedure.”
“And recovery time?”
“He said it shouldn’t be too bad—a few weeks of taking it easy. I’ll be able to walk with a brace on it or something, and then physical therapy to get it functioning fully again.
He didn’t say how long until it was back to normal.
”
“And he apparently didn’t recommend skipping the surgery?”
“Nope. Said I could blow my knee out in the middle of a show, or even stepping off a curb.”
“Hmm. Wouldn’t want to mess up those guitar jumps.”
That made him laugh and he nudged me with his elbow. “Hey now.”
I slid my arm around his waist and kissed him. “I love you, guitar jumps or not.”
We both lounged back for a few minutes, looking up into the trees. I was nestled in his arm and I couldn’t help but take a few pictures that way, just to capture another moment in time.
Life with Jared.
I wasn’t sure it could get any better.
Chapter Forty-
Four
I thought I would be nervous. I thought I would feel stressed out, or insecure, or even worried that something would go wrong. I figured it was a natural part of any person’s wedding, male or female.
Not for me. I
didn’t feel an ounce of anxiety
the week of the wedding or the day itself. I think I was so ready to marry Jared that it wasn’t going to come fast enough. And because it was such a private event—there were less than fifty people there—it felt comfortable and informal.
My mom did an amazing job. The flowers were gorgeous, the tables were beautiful, and the food was incredible. And because it was just an intimate crowd of people, it was easy to up the date even earlier in June—from the 24
th
to the 4
th
.
I guess there was one
small
thing that worried me
when I allowed it to
. That was Jared’s parents. I honestly didn’t know if Jocelyn was going to come to it or not, but I wasn’t surprised when she showed up just for the ceremony and then left. John basically did the same, but he did eat a little and speak
with a few of Jared’s friends. He w
atched us cut the cake and have our first dance, and I
think
that’s when he headed out. Besides a few necessary pleasantries, he avoided my family entirely.
We skipped a lot of the formal “group” photos. I had some pictures with my family, but Jared wasn’t interested in doing the ol’ photo session with his folks. I felt that to be a shame, but I didn’t want
to
intrude on his personal decisions when it came to his mom and dad. However, I didn’t think that he would mind a few casual pictures with his parents, and I felt inclined to call Jocelyn and ask if she’d return to the party for that. She wasn’t too keen on having a conversation with me, but when I stated that Jared should have some beautiful photos taken with his mom on his wedding day,
thankfully she
agreed.
John had left by then, already having a few pictures taken with his son, and Jared was surprised to see his mom return to the party. I think he was happy
,
though. I really think he wanted those bridges to be mended with his parents, even if it didn’t mean being close to them again. His relationship with his dad might always be strained because of my sister, but I wanted the chance for him to at least have a decent relationship with his mom.
I caught her just before she was about to head out again. Of course talking to me was probably the last thing she wanted to do, but I was still a fool trying. I handed her a g
ift that I had for her—it was a framed
8x10 of Jared, with his guitar, sitting against the tree in our backyard. I took the picture from the back patio without him knowing, and he had this really far away look in his eyes as he was gazing across the yard. It was a beautiful picture, and I hoped that she liked it.
“Thank you for being here,” I told her sincerely. I really didn’t know what else to say, especially since she was holding the wrapped gift in her hands like it was laced with poison. “I’ll send you a set of the wedding pictures when they’re developed. Or maybe we could come out to Las Vegas and bring them in person.”
She stared at me in such a way that I really felt in the wrong for some reason. It was like she was trying to make me feel insignificant all over again. Finally she said, “Please don’t ever thank me for doing something for my son. I may not agree with his decisions all the time, but I love him more than anything and I will always support him no matter what.”
I was speechless. I knew what she was saying loud and clear:
I’m not here for you in the least bit; you’ve married my son but I still don’t like you
. I guess maybe I was still shocked that she despised me so much. I honestly didn’t know why she thought I was so horrible for her son!
She did add, “Oh, and tell your mother that she did a
decent
job,” and then she turned on her heel and left.
By then I was summoned by my
mom
,
so I was grateful that nobody—especially Jared—s
aw how upset I was.
Jared had a surprise for me, a song that he wanted to sing. I was unaware of this aspect of the wedding, but apparently my mom wasn’t. I actually loved the smile that she couldn’t get rid of.
Jared sat at the head of the party on a chair and Jack handed him a guitar. He adjusted the microphone and said, “As many of you know, I kind of like to dink around with music…”
That made everyone laugh. I smiled, but already tears were
pooling
in my eyes
, just seeing him sit there so comfortably like he was going to perform a solo acoustic show
.
Watching him perform still affected me because of how talented he was, and
I felt honored
to be loved by such an amazing man.
“Okay, Taryn,” he said.
“You know how I always have something to say?”
That made me smile and I nodded my head.
With a smile he said, “And I had the chance to tell you a lot of stuff in our vows, but you know me. I
usually
have more on my mind.”
The audience chuckled again.
“But,” he went on. “This time I don’t. I don’t really have anything new to say.”
The audience
went
completely silent.
“Because my wedding vows to you actually came from a song that I wrote
, for that reason
. And I wanted you to always have that, so you would always know—and everyone else will know—how much I love you. So here are my vows to you again—in song form.”
My heart melted. I was already crying by the time he started the song, but when I heard the words
again, it truly magnified their meaning
. I
might
have guess
ed
that his vows to me were a song
if I’d actually thought about it that way
. But hearing him recite
it
again—in “song form,” with a chorus and a bridge—I was blown away.
It was beautiful.
W
h
e
n
he finished the performance, he stood when
I stepped onto the stage
. I wrapped my arms around
his neck
to kiss him
as all of our guests applauded. It wasn’t in my nature to be comfortable with so much attention, but it was comfortable with Jared, and I was slowly learning to accept
the rest that came with it
.
But he did everything so flaw
lessly that it made it easy
.
As guests returned to mingling, Jared led me to the side of the stage and said
, “I have a gift for you.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Wasn’t that it?”
When h
e smiled I already knew the answer. He turned around and Jack handed him a CD in a case. Jared gave it to me, and I stared at it for a moment. The album cover was a picture that Maggie had drawn of
Jared and me
. It was so cute in the fact that the stick figures had oversized heads
,
and arms that were way too long. Jared had an over-embellished fauxhawk, and I had a gigantic mouth. We were holding hands, and the most significant part of that particular drawing was that it represented the day that Jared and I first kissed. Maggie didn’t know that when she drew it of course,
but I remembered the day she created it. Her masterpiece even showed us
wearing the colors of the clothes we both had on that day
we went shopping
.