Page 149 of Falling Too Late

My heart swelled seeing her. Her smile was radiant.

She walked down the aisle and passed her flowers off to Riley before she took my hands.

Mario started in on the vows. We promised to have and to hold but left out the death do us part. We weren’t speaking of death today.

WREN

The crisp air in late September sent a chill down my spine. It was in the early morning and dew clung to everything. I pulled my long coat tighter around my body as Alex pulled out the basket.

“Are you sure this is okay?” Alex asked as King and Queen jumped out and he closed the back end of my SUV.

I turned to him, cocking an eyebrow.

“If someone comes up to us and says it's not okay, what are you going to do? Pack our things up and go?”

Fire ignited in his eyes at the prospect. The once gentle and kind boy I knew made his appearance every so often, but the man with the fire in his eyes was the most prevalent.

“No,” he firmly said.

“That’s what I thought.” I turned and headed up the gravel path, the pups ahead of us.

Alex’s hand came around my arm, tugging it free from my coat and claiming it for himself. I looked up to him and smiled softly. He brought my hand up and kissed my wedding ring.

“I lost six years of being able to hold your hand, don’t you dare keep them to yourself.”

“You are so clingy,” I teased him, wrinkling my nose.

Alex stepped in front of me, bent down, and hauled me over his shoulder with one arm.

“Alex!”

“I’ll show you clingy. I’ll start carrying you in my arms everywhere we go,” he threatened while smacking my ass.

“Ow, Alex you’re?—”

I was gently placed on the ground, the basket on the ground. Alex’s eyes were wide as he knelt in front of me, running his hands over my body. “Where do you hurt? Is it your ribs? Your head? Sweetheart, I’m so?—”

A sly smile curled at my lips.

“Oh fuck,” he breathed, bowing his head. He pulled me close so his head brushed against my stomach. “I think I just died a thousand deaths.”

I giggled and brushed my hand down the back of his neck. “Serves you right.”

He stood, and I could still see the concern in his eyes, his hand brushed down my cheek, pushing a loose lock of hair behind my ear. I leaned into his touch, feeling a little guilty.

“I’m fine,” I said softly. “See?” I took in a deep breath, my shoulders lifting as I held it. “No pain.”

Seeming satisfied, Alex gathered the basket and put his arm around me, guiding me to our destination. He laid the blanket on the grass in front of his parents' headstone. King whined and nuzzled my leg, so I pulled a ball out of my coat pocket and tossed it across the cemetery. He and Queen launched themselves after it.

I brushed the top of the headstone off with a cloth I’d brought. I wiped the dust off the shiny marble surface pulled some of the weeds that had gone without maintenance since the last time I was here at the beginning of summer. I tossed them to the side. I felt Alex’s eyes on me as I went about my routine, gathering the dead flowers out of the vase, placing them to the side, and arranging the new ones.

I knelt down on the blanket and pulled out the arrangement of food I had packed for us. Fresh fruit, some rolls we picked up from Tony’s with the blackberry cinnamon honey butter I’d madeto go with them. I looked everything over, satisfied with my placements.

Alex lay across the blanket. I moved to sit in front of him, using him as a backrest. I handed him an orange slice, taking one of my own. We sat there eating in amicable silence for a while.I was happy to be here in front of his parents, married. He wearing his father’s band now, and I his mother's.

“I never knew your middle name was your dad’s first name.”

“Really? I thought you did. James was a family name, I guess. All the boys were named that from what I understand.” He paused. “Wait, howdidyou find out about my middle name?”

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