** 1997 (continued) **

Bobby stepped out of the front door to have a puff and saw a hunching Louis sitting on the steps of the porch. “Hey, dude! You don’t look like a happy groom-to-be?” Bobby gave Louis a hard slap on his back so much so that the latter sat straight up.

Instead of receiving the expected retaliation, Bobby heard Louis’ low voice. “So the news has spread?”

Bobby settled himself next to Louis and mumbled something just loud enough for the latter to hear. “I don’t know what’s wrong with women and their fantasies over the perfect wedding?” Louis chortled at Bobby’s remark especially with his high-pitch intonation of the words “fantasies” and “perfect”.

“Why are you sitting here?” Bobby asked, skipping the wedding topic.

Louis looked out at the dark front yard before them. He slowly raised his arm and pointed at a spot under the bigger tree. “Do you remember we used to set up tent and camp there?”

Bobby’s line of sight followed the direction where Louis was pointing. This was the spot where he had pitched a tent for Louis and Jessica when they were ten. He had gone into the tent with them only during its first setup. After which he would set up the tent as occasional treats for the two younger ones and they would hide in the tent without him. Whatever secrets they had shared he would never know.

Running in Louis’ mind were his memories of playing house with Jessica. He knew that he had blown his chance with her with this decision but he was not just a groom-to-be, he was a father-to-be as well.

The two men sat wordlessly, sharing each other’s quiet presence. When the stick of toxics in between his fingers finished burning, Bobby asked Louis, “Are you ready to go in?”

After a long pause, Louis stood up and mumbled under his breath ever softly without looking at Bobby, “Lydia is not Jessica.” Bobby placed his hand over Louis' shoulder and gave it a soft pat.

As the two men opened the front door, they could hear the excited chattering from the ladies in the kitchen. Louis stood at the kitchen doorway and his eyes met Jessica’s. She gave him a crescent-like broad smile which sliced his heart. “I want Jessica to be my best man,” Louis announced to the astonishment of the ladies, even Bobby took a double take.

Replacing her smile with a pair of narrowed eyes, Jessica asked, “What?”

“I want you to be my best man,” Louis repeated seriously without looking away from Jessica.

“Why?” Jessica questioned while the other ladies were recovering from their shock.

“I want my buddy next to me on my wedding.” Louis paused to take in Jessica’s reaction. If there was one skill that he had honed from his recent years being an attorney, it was his ability to detect any changes in a person’s eye expression. He caught a passing sadness before she blinked it away and replaced it with a suspicious glare.

Louis wondered for a moment if Jessica’s sadness was because she liked him too. But if it was so, it would only make his decision more painful. In response to her suspicious glare, he said with his tongue in cheek, “And I don’t want a balding best man.”

Adding to the room’s roaring laughter, Bobby quipped, “A balding best man will make you look more handsome!”

“I’m handsome enough,” Louis replied and draped his arm around Bobby’s shoulders.

When the laughter ceased gradually, Lydia offered good-naturedly, “Jessica can be my chief bridesmaid.”

“Didn’t you just say that you want your sister to be your chief bridesmaid?” Louis’ mother interjected.

“It’s all right. Jessica can be my chief bridesmaid. That way my two sisters won’t be fighting over who should be the chief too.” Lydia said with a smile.

Jessica smiled at Lydia’s generosity. She already liked her and she was glad that Louis had found someone like Lydia. Jessica stood up and walked over to Louis and Bobby. Resting her hand on Louis’ shoulder, she said to him, “I will pull back my hair that day and wear a suit with tie for you, Buddy.” The common simple word “buddy” suddenly loaded both of them with various meanings and feelings, many of which they could not comprehend immediately.

Breaking her eye contact with Louis, Jessica turned around to face the other ladies. She said laughingly, “See this is what you go through for your buddy.” And they laughed with her.

The wedding came and went smoothly in the month of February. Lydia hid her emerging bump with an empire waist chiffon wedding dress. Decorated on her hair were baby’s breath flowers. She was a happy bride surrounded by people who loved her.

Before the church altar, Jessica stood beside Louis with a single red rose pinned over the pocket of her black suit jacket. Despite his determined effort to control his thoughts, Louis had wished that Jessica was the one pledging the wedding vows with him when he heard Lydia said the words after the priest. As he slipped the wedding ring over Lydia’s finger, he wished that it was Jessica’s hand that he was holding. Catching his own thought, he quickly pushed it away and when the ring reached the end of Lydia’s finger, he vowed silently in his heart that he would love Lydia and not hurt her.

That evening after the wedding dinner was over, under the night cover of stars, Louis presented a thank you gift to Jessica. He clasped a diamond tennis bracelet over her wrist.

(24.02.2014)