What A Wonderful Surprise

Katherine

I’m getting married today. I can’t believe I am getting married. And just like that, a wave of panic drowns me. Am I making the right choice? Is this going to be the perfect day? What if I regret it?

But then I see his face in my mind. I see him telling me “It’s going to be alright. Just take a deep breath and know that I am also freaking out.” That calms me and a smile plasters itself across my face. A smile that is going to stay on my face for the rest of the day.

But that was this morning and this is now. I’m now standing in the side room of a church, pacing back and forth as my wedding dress train trails behind me. Pain fires in my lip and only now do I realize that I’ve been chewing on it. Where is he? 

I check my phone for the millionth time. Finally, I just stuff it into my bag on the couch and continue pacing. The door opens and for a second I have hope. 

My maid of honor, Malika, walks in. “Is he here? Is there any news? Where the heck is he? How late is he?” I hurl my questions at her, giving no time for response until she steps forward and grabs me by the shoulders.

“Calm down. No, no, I don’t know, and ten minutes. Only ten minutes,” she reassures. “Just take a breath.”

“Take a breath,” I mumble, “How am I supposed to take a breath when my groom is late to his own wedding? The answer is: I don’t! I pace back and forth, wondering if he is dead, has cold feet, or just had second thoughts.”

“Katherine! Take a breath. Ten minutes is not the end of the world and if I had to guess, he just misplaced his tie or the rings.”

“YOU TRUSTED HIM WITH THE RINGS?” I shriek. Malika cringes.

“No, I have them right here.” She pulls out a small, fancy drawstring bag. That makes me relax. Until I look at the clock.

“He’s eleven minutes late, Mal! What am I going to do?”I flop dramatically on the couch.

“You are going to get up, stand straight, and be prepared for your father to walk you down the aisle as soon as Reggie gets here.”

I begrudgingly sit up, thinking I should listen to her until another thought pops into my head. “Is Curtis with him?”

“Yes,” she says slowly.

“So my groom and his best man are late to the wedding!” I slump back on the couch.

“At least you know that he’s not dead.”

“That doesn’t help! What am I going to tell people when he doesn’t show up? ‘Sorry, the groom never came so I guess I’m not getting hitched today.’” I mock. “‘No sorry, the groom disappeared off the face of the earth along with the best man’”

“Kat!”

“‘Okay family and friends, you can go home. There’s not gonna be a wedding today. Woo-hoo!’”

“Kat!”

“‘Well—’”

“KAT!”

“What? If he doesn’t get here in thirty minutes, then we’re calling off the wedding. We have to. There is no other choice.”

“You know what? I’m going to leave you in here to freak out by yourself!” She storms out the room and slams the door shut. This time I slide off the couch and spread out on the carpeted floor.

Malika

I am going to wring her neck if she doesn’t shut up! I mean sure, what kind of groom is late to his own wedding, but she is being so dramatic. I am going to turn around, leave the room, and check to see if Reggie and Curtis are here. Again.

“You know what? I’m going to leave you in here to freak out by yourself!” I spin on my heel and slam the door behind me. I didn’t mean to be so rude but one more minute in there and I would have thrown water on her to see if she melted. 

Stomping through the hallway, I exit the church and step into the broad daylight. Taking a deep breath, I wrench my phone out of the small black purse that matches my black dress. Katherine thought it would be cute if all the bridesmaids wear black and all the groomsmen wear white. Writers are so dramatic. She even made her parents wear white and Reggie’s parents wear black. 

I attempt to call Reggie for the twenty-fourth time. No answer. I call Curtis for the twenty-second time. No answer. This is why you never trust men to get a job done.

As a surprise for Katherine, everyone pitched in to get her something and the boys offered to pick it up. That was a bad idea.

I try calling them each again. “Pick up!” No answer. I have the urge to smash my phone on the ground but I hold it in and instead put my phone back in my purse and take another deep breath. Relax, they are going to be here any minute. I just needed to calm Katherine down before she pulls all her hair out. No bald bride today.

I turn into the church, back down the hallway, and enter the chaos. 

Curtis

As the brother of the groom, I always knew I would be the best man. What I didn’t know was that being the best man is so chaotic. We had one job. To pick up the surprise. That was it. It was very simple. How could we mess something so simple up?

“Hey man, are we almost there?” I ask my older brother.

“I think.” Reggie’s jaw is clenched, eyes on the road. He’s speeding and Reggie never speeds. He’s the type of person who will purposely go five miles under the speed limit and when you ask him why he says “Just in case.” Just in case of what? Doesn’t he know you can be pulled over for going too slow?

“We’ve passed that sign three times.” I point to the big billboard advertising a new perfume.

“No, we haven’t.”

“Yes, we have,” I insist. “Let’s just pull over to ask for directions.”

“Well, I would have used my phone, but it’s dead. I would have used your phone, but it got crushed by a car. Why? Because you insisted on playing music.”

“One, it is not my fault you didn’t charge your phone this morning. And two, my phone was fully charged and you’re the one who hit the bump when I was changing the music, causing my phone to fly out the window on the highway.

“But you’re the one who insisted on music.”

“I suggested we play music. And now, because you are too proud to ask for directions, we are lost and you are late for your own wedding. I mean, what kind of groom is late to his own wedding?”

Reggie clenches his jaw again and unclenches it. “Fine, it’s my fault. But it doesn’t change the fact that I am late.”

“Don’t you know how to speed, man?”

“What’s the point in speeding if we’re lost?”

“The point is that we get somewhere faster!” I argue.

“That doesn’t make any sense!”

“It makes perfect sense!”

He pushes down on the pedal, going ten miles over the speed limit. “Happy?” That’s when we heard the sirens.

Reggie

Late. Late. Late. I’m late. Katherine must be so worried. What if she thinks I’m dead? I have cold feet? Or that I’m having second thoughts? I wish she was here because she would tell me the logical thing to do and which way to go. She wouldn’t want me to speed because she knows how much it bothers me. 

I should have just kept my calm. Now on top of almost ruining the surprise and being late, I get a ticket. Perfect. I pull the car off to the shoulder and roll down my window. An officer of the law comes walking up to the car.

“License and registration.” Curtis beats me to the glove box and passes me the papers. I hand the officer the papers and my driver’s license.

“Listen, officer. I’m sorry about speeding, but I’m kind of late to my wedding. My best man and I were picking up a surprise for the bride,” I say, thrusting a thumb to the back seat. “And our phones died, so we got lost. And officer, I’m so sorry.”

The officer pokes his head in and looks at me and Curtis. “Why would you speed if you don’t know where you’re going?”

At this, I turn to Curtis. “See, I told you so!”

“To get somewhere, anywhere faster!”

“That makes NO sense!”

“It makes PERFECT sense!”

“No—” I start, but the officer interjects.

“Alright, alright! I’ll let you off with a warning. Go on,” he gestures to the road and starts to walk away.

“Wait, wait, officer! Can you give us directions to the church?” He slowly turns around and walks back to my window. “Saint Anthony’s?” I nod vigorously and he sighs. “Take a right at the next exit and after a mile or so, it’ll be on your left.”

“Thank you, officer.” He mumbles something under his breath and walks back to his car. That’s when I take off (obeying all traffic laws, of course). 

Katherine

27 minutes. 28 minutes. 29 minutes. 30 minutes. I sigh, disappointed. Time to call off the wedding. Here I thought this would be the best day ever, but it’s turning out to be one of the worst. I get up from the ground and as I walk to the door, I send a quick prayer to God that Reggie shows up in the next 40 seconds. Please, please, please, please.

I reach for the door handle, but the door flies open, smacking me in the head. “Ow,” I moan, clutching my forehead in my hands.

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!” Malika rushes over. “He’s here!”

“Who’s here?” I don’t want to get my hopes up.

“What do you mean ‘Who’s here’? Reggie!”

I snap my head up, forgetting the pain. “Then what are we waiting for?” I march toward the door, but Malika pulls me back.

“You got to wait for the wedding procession to line up.”

“They better hurry.” I cross my arms over my chest. “Do you have my veil? Can you touch up my makeup? How do I look?”

“Yes, yes, and fabulous.”

Reggie

As soon as we pulled up to the church, Curtis and I jump out of the car and dash into the church. “Malika! Malika! We’re here!” I call.

She comes running around the corner and without greeting us, she starts shoving me through the church. “Go, go, go! You’re already almost 45 minutes late! Go!”

“I’m going, I’m going!” Curtis calmly leaves us to join the rest of the wedding party as Malika leads me to the platform in front of the altar.

“Now stay!” she orders.

“Yes, ma’am.” Only when she leaves, do I realize everyone in the pews is staring at me. I silently fold my hands and stand still, waiting for the wedding procession to emerge from the door. The organ player appears from the side door, which I assume is a good sign. He sits down at the organ and begins playing.

The main door at the end of the aisle bursts open and the maid of honor and best man walk down the aisle first, arms linked together. The rest of the bridesmaids and groomsmen followed. After they are lined up on the platform, the flower girl emerges, throwing red rose petals on the aisle.

Everyone seems to hold their breath, as well as me, as Katherine strides out of the doorway, wedding dress train trailing behind her, the veil over her head, a bouquet in one hand, and her father’s elbow in the other. They are both dressed in white and I can tell her father is trying not to cry. But she keeps her eyes on me and I keep mine on her.

Before I know it, she’s in front of me, her veil lifted over her face, and her bouquet handed to Malika. This is it.

Katherine

I’m standing in front of Reggie in front of the altar. This is it. I take a deep breath in as Curtis pulls out the rings. Good, Malika gave them to him. We go through our vows and I feel like I can hardly breathe. 

“Do you, Reggie Thomas, take this woman to be your wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do you part, according to God's holy ordinance?”

“I do.”

“And do you, Katherine Datford, take this man to be your husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do you part, according to God’s holy ordinance?”

Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. “I do.”

“I pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.” The preacher takes a step back as Reggie takes a step toward me. I smile and bring my face to his. We kiss, then break apart.

Malika steps forward and I’m not sure what’s going on. Is there an emergency? Did something go wrong? “Katherine, the reason why Reggie and Curtis were so late, was because they went to pick something up for you. Now I know to never trust these two.”

I look at her puzzled, but she walks down the aisle and opens the door I had come out of not long ago. A little nose pops out, then a furry little face, until I see my dog run toward me. He’s wearing a bow tie and in his mouth is a little box. 

He runs forward and drops the box at my feet. I bend down to pick it up and when I open it, I almost drop the box and cry. Instead, I tighten my grip and practically tackle Reggie in a hug. Best day ever.