Page 38

Twenty-Six Years Before

The wedding had gone by in a blur. His mother had warned him it would, but he hadn’t expected how time would contract and snap like that, and one minute he would be in the all-purpose room of the church, helping Pauline clasp on a necklace, and the next minute, he and his bride would be sitting on the folding chairs looking around the empty banquet hall full of plates smeared with cake frosting and flowers now wilting in their vases. The last guest had left. The deejay had packed up. The waiters were clearing the remaining dishes and pulling off the white polyester tablecloths.

They weren’t going on a honeymoon. Not with Gloria’s father so sick and their decision to save for a down payment on a house. Instead, they were spending the night at the Red Lion Inn where, with help from Pauline, had decorated the walls with tear-outs from travel magazines of all the places they would go one day, an idea he had shamelessly stolen from It’s a Wonderful Life.

Still in their wedding gown and tux, but barefoot now, they made their way to the parking lot. ’s car was in the corner spot he’d left it at, six hours and another lifetime ago. They were married now. Their lives were forever linked. At his bachelor party, a tame affair at the bowling alley, his friends had teased him for being yoked to a woman at the ripe old age of twenty-two. He’d hardy-harred along with them but didn’t tell them the truth. That the idea of being joined with Gloria forever made him inexplicably happy. It was all he wanted.

They drove to the hotel and he unlocked the door. carried Gloria over the threshold and the two of them gasped.

The plan had been for Pauline to put up a dozen or so pictures: London, Paris, New York. But she had papered the walls with travel images of places both familiar—the Sydney Opera House—and less so, the temples of Samarkand.

“Pauline went a little overboard,”

said.

“For Pauline, this is tame!”

Gloria replied.

She was laughing as he kissed her. Kissed his wife.

“It gives us something to aim for. See the world,”

said.

“I don’t care about seeing the world. As long as I’m with you, that is my world.”

fingered his wedding band, the same style as Gloria’s. One day, he would buy her the diamond she deserved.

“Did you see what I had engraved in the rings?”

she asked.

“I didn’t know you had them engraved.”

She smiled and his heart ached. Oh, she was so beautiful, this woman, and now she was his wife. Until death do them part.

“I know. I wanted to surprise you earlier but in all the hustle and bustle, I forgot.”

She started to pull her own ring off. “I had them both engraved with the same thing. I hope you like it.”

twisted his ring off and stared at his hand. He’d worn the band for only a few hours but already his hand felt naked without it.

He glanced at the inside of it. The writing was so tiny he had to squint to make it out.

My Miracle, it said.

He put the ring on, vowing never to take it off again.