Authors: Carolina Soto
Too soon the music finished, so I turned to clap to our own musician. I had never heard that version, and it was amazing. The smile on my face was so big, that the violin guy couldn’t help but to smile back and left the room.
When I turned back my heart stopped. Dylan was no longer at eye level. Looking at me, he was on one knee, holding my hand in his, and I knew my world was about to change. “Katherine.” For the first time since I had met him his voice trembled. “I love you more than what I ever knew I was capable of. You’ve changed my life, you made me feel and you made me live. I don’t want to wake up a day of my life without you by my side. Katherine Elizabeth Bianchi, would you marry me?”
I fought to find my voice, my hands were shaking, and I had never seen his eyes brighter than they were in that moment. “Yes.” Incapable of saying anything else, I pulled him up. I needed his mouth, but I needed to do something first, that required to be on eye level. “I love you Dylan, I love you with all my heart.”
Oh my God! What have you done?
He kissed me, really kissed me. Like every single time, as if he couldn’t half kiss, or give normal standard kisses. He always needed to devour with kisses, always desperate, always making my knees weak.
Holding me in his arms, molding his body with mine, he whispered in my ear. “Are you going to look at your ring?”
I hadn’t even seen what he had put on my finger, it could be a plastic trinket, and I wouldn’t care less. He took my hand, both of us still shaking and put it in front of my face so I could see.
Perfect.
A simple, perfect, Tiffany setting, round diamond ring. I couldn’t speak or move, or breathe for that matter. “You don’t like it. Katherine, I can take you to Tiffany or Cartier and you can choose any ring that you want.”
Without removing my eyes from the ring, I shook my head. “You would have to cut off my finger before I let you take my ring away. Since I was a kid this has been the ring of my dreams, how could you possibly know?” It was the most common ring in the world, but knowing him, he could have given me one with a bigger, more expensive rock. A sapphire that matched his eyes, or his mother’s ring, there were thousands of options, but this was what I had always wanted.
We remained in the room just holding each other for a while. My poor heart couldn’t slow its pace and I could feel his banging against my chest. I could have expected my brain to be analyzing my decision, but it didn’t. I felt peace and calmness and an overwhelming happiness that only could mean that this was right, that we were right.
Without talking he took my hand and walked me out of the building. Leaving behind the magical setting. Both Max and Joe were waiting for us. Not really thinking about it I ran to Joe and threw myself at him. “I’ll marry him, Joe.” The life sized teddy bear hugged me back and chuckled in surprise at my weird display.
“Congratulations, Ms. B.”
Max was already giving a brief hug to Dylan, and then I went to him. The frozen eyes that were always so closed, seemed a little warmer and less dangerous. “Thank you for making him happy, Ms. Bianchi.” He barely whispered against my ear avoiding Dylan’s attention.
We got into the SUV, still in our blissful estate. “Call your parents, doll, they are waiting for you.”
I turned to him in disbelief. “They know?”
“Who do you think I am, Katherine? Of course, I asked for their blessing when we visited them.”
“What?” I took his face between my hands. Who was this man and what had he done with the barbaric asshole who asked me to sleep with him after 2 hours of knowing me?
My mom answered after the first ring. “Mommy, Daddy, I am going to marry Dylan!”
“Congratulations, Princess. We love you so much! We are so happy for you two!” Dylan’s arm was around me and I rested my face over his chest, really not believing what was happening.
“I love you, too. I’ve got to go, but I’ll send you a picture.” The happiness in my parents’ voice just added to my happiness. The SUV stopped, and I didn’t even need to turn to know where we were. Our place, the Bethesda Fountain was waiting with a pad of candles that directed to our spot. My parents already knew the news, now he needed to share it with his.
We walked in silence as we had been since Dylan’s proposal. He took off his jacket and put it in the floor.
Zac would have killed me if I had sat there in my beautiful dress.
And we both assumed our usual positions, his head over my lap. “Are you happy?”
I didn’t even need to think about it. The words came out of my mouth with the usual lack of filter of my head. “Completely happy.”
“Could you say it again?” His eyes were brighter, and his lips were already displaying that pain in the ass smirk.
“I love you, Dylan Berkeley.” He took my face between his hands and kissed me, taking my breath away.
“I want you to plan the wedding.” I was already mentally calling Carolina Herrera for my dress and reserving Saint Patrick’s Cathedral. “But I just want to ask you for one thing.” He opened his eyes and looked me straight in the eye. “Can we have the reception here?”
“I could have never thought of a better place.” He wanted his parents present, that was what this place represented for him. And it was so much for us, it was ours, the refugee where, since the beginning, both of us let our walls down and our bullshit out. We stayed there for hours not wanting to break the magic of the night when we decided to share the rest of our lives.
Chapter 10
What have you done? What have you done? Breathe, breathe. OH.MY.GOD. Why did you say yes to this? It is too soon? Is it too late to back out? Oh God I’m going to puke! Breathe in a bag, Princess…breathe…
The door startled me, so I took the paper bag out of my face for a second. My eyes as big as plates in my best rendition of a heroin addict on a high.
“Princess, are you ready?” Mommy was looking at me as if I were crazy.
I cleaned my hands worried about staining my perfect Carolina Herrera dress with all the sweat and tried to smile at her. Of course it came out as a beautiful, creepy smile. “Is it already the time, Mommy?”
She was fighting not to laugh at me, probably afraid of moving fast and cracking my barely there control. “Yes darling, we need to go there, now.” Momhad always surprised me for being so strong, even with her age. So when her arms surrounded me and walked me to the door with the strength of a WWE wrestler, I wasn’t that surprised.
Daddy was waiting for us just outside of the door. They both exchanged a conspiratorial look, and I tried to smile, but didn’t make it. “Come here, Princess.” Daddy offered me his arm, and Mommy took my free hand. I couldn’t choose one, I wanted to walk with both of them; they were everything for me.
Before I could understand what was happening, the string quartet started performing Pachelbel’s ‘Canon’.
Think of something else…not his abs…you are in a church for God’s sake!
I started picturing what was happening inside. I borrowed little Maya as my flower girl, the only other woman wearing white. Dylan had walked with Claudia, then Marc and Spencer followed, Joe and Max reluctantly made their appearance.
If they had made it on time, it would be the moment for Michelle’s entrance in her dress, which of course I chose to be in light pink, behind her, Chelsea in the same color. And just before my parents and I, Kevin walked in wearing his beautiful tux with a light pink handkerchief, holding a peonies bouquet. He was one of my bridesmaids and embraced it like the golden boy he was.
“Walking, Princess.” Daddy was already pulling me to the entrance. The doors opened wide and it was my turn to enter. The cathedral covered in candles and white peonies took my breath away. And I couldn’t really see Dylan’s face, but I felt how the corners of my mouth pulled up instantly. While walking I recognized a few faces, John, Mrs. Cherry, Mrs. Danvers, all my family.
But every now and then I would try to see Dylan in the front. I couldn’t for a long time, until finally the distance was short enough for me to recognize his features. He looked perfect in a pristine tux, his posture as strong as always. Even from my place, I could see that his hands were shaking and I just smiled to myself, he was nervous too. Finally I saw his face. He was smiling with all his heart, and the blue pools were clouded. Discreetly he cleaned one tear before it fell, and I was hypnotized by the vulnerability of his eyes.
We get to the front and he offered his hand to me. Carefully Daddy took the lace veil out of my face and kissed my right cheek while Mommy was kissing the left. Both of them took my hands and put them in Dylan’s.
“I, Katherine Elizabeth Bianchi…”
“I, Dylan Alexander Berkeley…”
“…take you Dylan, to be my husband…”
“…take you Katherine, to be my wife…”
“…
to have and to hold, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do us part.”
Neither of us could take our eyes from each other during the ceremony. I can’t really remember anything besides the vows. There was no one around, just Blue Eyes and me. “I pronounce you, husband and wife. You may kiss your bride.”
Dylan didn’t think twice, his arms surrounded my waist and he kissed me. Not the “picture perfect” kiss. But the “I-don’t-give-a-damn-who-is-looking” kiss. As always, making my knees weak and taking my breath away. As if his life depended on that kiss. The claps from our family and friends broke the spell, and we walked hand in hand.
The door was not even closed when he was kissing me again. A driver that I had never seen before was taking us to the Met for our pictures, Joe and Max were guests, so they were not on duty.
The night in New York was perfect, but I couldn’t care less when Blue Eyes was kissing me. “Can we just skip the reception?” His fingers were all over my lace head-to-toe ivory dress. I went for a long sleeved dress, under the lace was a solid fabric corset with a fluffy skirt, with a big ribbon Bow over my waist and a back covered in pearl buttons. Of course, Berkeley hadn’t seen the dress, not once, he was lost in my face, and his fingers were either touching the lace or messing with my curly hair.
“The hell we can! I made them bring the best meat from Argentina and you want me to skip that?”
He just rolled his eyes. “I will take you to fucking Argentina, but I want to get you out of that dress now. That bow is killing me!” He had seen the dress…after all. “I will fucking need to tear out all those damn buttons.” He whispered in my ear just as the car stopped outside the Met.
The pictures were simple, it was night so the photographer had big lamps trying to get the perfect picture of us. Against the walls, sitting on the stairs, dancing like crazy people in the middle of the street, we just did what made us happy.
“Mrs. Berkeley.”
Fuck! When did this happen?
He whispered to me when we got into the car.
“May I just use a hyphen? Bianchi-Berkeley? Or something like that?”
“The hell you can! We have been fighting over this for months. It was you who suggested a bet, and doll, you lost. So suck it up and change your name!”
Stupid Rangers, they had lost by the end of our bet game and I have lost my individuality with their championship. “I really thought they had a chance to get the Stanley Cup.” My little girl’s voice was on.
He smiled at me with that melting knickers smile. “I know, doll, but that’s just dumb hope. And you lost.”
Trying to cover my rolling eyes, you are not supposed to roll your eyes at your new husband on the day of the wedding, I turned to him. “I know we promised to avoid all the ‘wedding corniness’ like the plague.” He air quoted as I had been doing for the entire five months it took me to prepare the wedding. “And that I was the first against writing our own cheesy vows.”
He took something out from his chest pocket, a white piece of paper was hidden in his father’s handkerchief. “But I wrote you this, you can burn it after reading. I don’t care. I just want you to know.”