Page 144 of Other Side Of Never
I’d always felt uncomfortable in church, even when I was quiet, I felt too loud, too big, too much.Sequestered in that tiny room?I felt enormous and enormously out of place.
I shifted from one foot to the other as Shae stood in front of the mirror, smoothing down the lace of her dress.
“That’s Irish lace,” Nan informed me with tears in her eyes.
“It’s beautiful, Nan,” I murmured, watching as she moved closer to her granddaughter.
Her face lit up with barely restrained glee.“Well, I’ll be damned!”
I looked around.“Not sure you should say that in church, Nan.”
“When you reach a certain age, son, you say what you like,” she retorted softly.“She’s wearing Mrs.Wemberly’s earrings, that old bat.She outlived me.”
I snorted.
“You see that tiara?”
“What’s a tiara?”
“It’s a crown, you heathen.I wore that on my wedding day.”
“I bet you were a stunner,” I teased.
“I was,” she agreed with no sense of false modesty.
Shae faced the mirror.“Okay, Nan?”she whispered softly.
“Oh,” Nan breathed, moving around to face her granddaughter with her heart in her eyes.
Shae picked up her clutch and rifled through it.“Oh no,” she murmured, patting herself down for pockets that didn’t exist.“Did I put it in the vanity?”
“It’s in the drawer, love,” Nan insisted.“Open the drawer.”
Shae touched the drawer, tilted her head to the side, and slowly pulled it open.When a lipstick rolled to the front, she smiled and carefully smoothed the color over her lips.
Her voice barely quavered as she faced Nan.“Are you proud, Nan?”
“Infinitely,” Nan whispered back, touching Shae’s face.“Shae, darlin’, may the dreams you hold dearest be those which come true.”
Shae opened the door and lit 6 candles.With each one, Nan uttered a prayer.
Then she turned to face the aisle.
“Right, lad,” she clapped her hands together.“Here’s where we come in.”
“I’m ready, Nan,” I assured her as she danced out into the aisle and started waving her hands.
“What are you doing?”I hissed.
She laughed.“You don’t have to whisper.Aren’t ye dead?”
“He can hear,” I whispered, pointing to the ceiling.
“Give your head a shake, child,” she reprimanded me.“Get out here and wave your arms around.I want my Shae to smell these roses and know I’m with her.”
I followed her orders, tentatively at first, but her joy was contagious.Soon I found myself sweeping her up and down the aisle in a wild dance that was a cross between the two-step I was familiar with and some sort of wild Irish jig.
We stopped at the front of the church where Nan thanked her two best friends for coming with a kiss to each cheek.
