Page 46 of Write Me For You

Jesse

W e walked out of the chapel to cheers and applause. There wasn’t any room for sadness today. Today was about celebration and love. Because, hell, I had just married my Junebug.

She was my wife .

The guests made their way to the dining room.

I could smell the delicious food all the way from down here, but June and I were at the back of the line, and I pulled her into the alcove in the hallway for a moment alone.

I guided her back against the wall. June smiled up at me like I was her entire world.

She was mine, so I understood the sentiment.

I stepped back and just took my fill of her.

I shook my head. “Junebug,” I said. “You look incredible.” Every inch of her lace dress clung to her petite frame.

And her head scarf was perfect—everything was perfection.

She was beauty personified. Her cheeks were still flushed and her pink lips just begged to be kissed.

So I did. I kissed and kissed her until we were breathless—which these days, wasn’t a difficulty.

I broke away and June took hold of my left hand and studied the plain gold band on my ring finger. She looked up at me with nothing but love in her brown eyes. “You’re my husband,” she whispered in awe, and those words sounded like paradise.

I took her left hand and ran my thumb over the matching gold band and her mamaw’s ring. “Mrs. Taylor,” I said. “Why do I love the sound of that so much?”

“We’re married, baby,” June said, and just from the glow on her face, I felt ten feet tall.

This was one of June’s dreams. I couldn’t give her more time.

I couldn’t give her wrinkles or gray hair.

I couldn’t give her deep laughter lines or children.

But I could make her mine in every way that counted, and in the end, that would be more than enough for us both.

I kissed her one last time, deeply and with all of my heart, then said, “Shall we go to our reception?” I held out my hand and June took hold of it and held it tightly.

As we walked down the hallway, I ignored how my muscles ached and my joints rang with pain. I ignored the way we were both breathless and June’s limp was more pronounced. Death wasn’t invited to our nuptials today.

As we rounded the corner and walked into the dining hall, Mr. Scott held up a glass of champagne and said, “Introducing, Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Taylor!”

Our guests all cheered.

We sat down for dinner and the atmosphere was relaxed and happy. Even the few speeches made were light and positive. We had asked for tonight to just simply one of celebration, and our family and friends helped make it come true.

By the time we moved to the part of the night in the grand hall, exhaustion had taken us in its hold. June and I sat hand in hand, June’s head leaning on my shoulder, watching our guests dance. June laughed as Emily and Lucy ran circles around Chris, who was wiped by the time they were done.

I smiled as my mom danced with Pastor Noel, her sadness momentarily forgotten. June’s parents rarely left the floor, cheeks pressed together, and I understood how June had grown up a believer in true love with them as an example. We drank it all in.

The day had been perfect, but the truth was, we were tired. Clearly seeing that was the case, Neenee came over and said, “First dance, then we can say good night?”

“Yes please,” June said, and turned to me. “What song did you pick for our first dance?”

“You’ll see,” I said, and June groaned in trepidation.

“That doesn’t fill me with confidence, Jesse.”

“Mrs. Taylor!” I said and watched June beam at her new name. “Don’t you trust me? Your husband?”

June sighed, and I took her hand. I helped her to her feet, and it took us longer than I’d hoped to get to the center of the dance floor. I nodded at Neenee and the opening bars of Alphaville’s “Forever Young” began to play.

With June’s hand in mine and her arm around my back, she dropped her head onto my chest and said, “A bit on the nose, isn’t it, Jesse?”

I shrugged but knew she had found it as funny as I did by the shaking of her shoulders.

“It felt appropriate.” I kissed June’s head.

“Eternally seventeen,” I said, and dropped my cheek to lay on her head.

“Eternally yours,” I added and could tell June liked that better by the squeeze of her hand on mine.

We swayed, unable to do much more. I wanted to soak in every minute of this night. I didn’t know what would happen for us after this, didn’t know how much time we had together. But we would always have this night. We would always be joined as one.

As the song ended, Mom and Mr. and Mrs. Scott came over. Emily and Lucy were asleep on the benches at the side of the room. Mom kissed my cheek and hugged June. “I am so unbelievably happy for y’all. I’ll see you both tomorrow. I’d better get those two to bed.” She motioned to my sisters.

Mr. and Mrs. Scott gestured for us to follow them out into the hallway.

I placed my arm around June’s back and helped her walk.

My heart fell a little at how much of a struggle it seemed to be for her.

It wouldn’t be long until she needed a wheelchair to get around.

But I knew how determined she’d been to get through today unaided.

A flare of panic ran through me. Selfishly, I didn’t want to live a single day without her. Even if it took me only a few days to follow behind, every single minute without her would feel like a lifetime of loneliness.

“Jesse?” June said, moving her hand to my face. She was exhausted. I looked to Mr. Scott, and he must have seen it too by the worry lines on his face.

“I’m good, baby. Let’s just get to bed.” I didn’t want her to know I was worrying about her.

“Speaking of,” Mrs. Scott said, stopping at a bigger suite a few doors down from where we had previously been staying. June and I both looked at her in confusion.

Mrs. Scott opened the door, and we saw all of our things were there. A king-sized bed sat in the center, with June’s notebook full of our nearly finished happily ever after story on one bedside table and my sketchpad and pencils on the other.

“Mama?” June whispered, seeing the wall of my drawings that June had previously had in her room.

“Y’all are married now,” Mr. Scott said. “This is your new home. Together.”

I itched my nose to chase away the tickle of emotion that ran up it. “Thank you, sir,” I said, and shook his hand.

“Let’s get you both inside.” He could clearly tell we were exhausted. We had pushed ourselves too hard today, but it was all worth it.

“We’ll see y’all tomorrow,” June’s parents said, and shut the door behind us.

I helped June sit on the bed, and she drank it all in. It was beautiful. “Do you need help with your dress?” I asked, and June nodded.

She turned and I unbuttoned the long row of buttons that ran to the bottom of her spine. She slid the dress off until all that remained was a silk slip underneath.

Her cheeks blazed under my heavy attention. I peeled off my suit until I was down to my boxer briefs. We had already made love and slept in each other’s arms most nights. But this felt more intimate. It felt bigger somehow.

June yawned and I laughed. “That wasn’t at you,” she teased.

Pulling the covers back from the bed, I said, “Into bed, Junebug.”

“Are you trying to seduce me?” She attempted a terrible wink.

“Junebug,” I said, “we’re both on so much medication right now, we couldn’t do anything if we tried.” Her light peal of laughter rang around the room. I climbed in beside her, sliding her headscarf off and turning off the main light switch. Only the dull light of the beside lamp remained.

We faced each other and joined hands, content to just stare at one another.

Mr. and Mrs. Taylor—I could barely believe it.

“I love you,” June whispered, and even those three words sounded more important somehow.

“I love you too,” I said and kissed her lips. I ran my hand down her side, over her silk slip, and said, “Just so you know, if I were at full health, I would be devouring you right now.”

“Oh, I believe it,” she said and giggled. I laughed too. “I adore your dimples.” She ran her fingertips along them, then yawned again. “I don’t want this night to end, but I don’t think I can stay awake much longer.”

“Before you sleep,” I said, and reached for my bedside drawer. I just hoped June’s parents had put my wedding gift in the same place I’d had it in my old room.

Luckily, they had. I pulled out the picture that I’d had framed. It was wrapped in white. June struggled to sit up, but when she finally did, I handed her the picture.

“I didn’t get you anything,” she said, worrying her lip.

“You gave me you, Junebug. That’s more than enough.” I tapped the frame. “Open it.”

June carefully opened the package of the picture I’d drawn for her. She gasped when it came into view and her eyes filled with tears. “Jesse…” she said and ran her fingertips over the glass front. She turned to me with a sad smile. “Our dream.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat. “I couldn’t give you it in this life. Maybe it’s in our happily ever after, I don’t know. But I wanted you to have it some way, even if it was just in picture form from my imagination.”

June held the frame to her chest and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she looked at me and said, “It’s exactly how I see it too.”

My heart was full to bursting as she leaned down and kissed me, holding the sketch to her chest.

June took hold of my hand. “We’ll have this in some way, baby. In heaven, this dream awaits.”

“I know,” I rasped out, and kissed June’s fingers as she fell asleep.

When she was deeply asleep, I took the frame from her hands, so it wouldn’t break.

Looking down at the picture, I closed my eyes and saw it in my mind’s eye—us, sitting on our porch swing, the view from our home’s back door.

Our heads were close together, and we were older.

Before us were our children and grandchildren, playing in the back yard as we watched on.

It was June’s biggest dream.

I’d had to give her this too. I’d had to give her one more dream, even if it was just etched in pencil.

I would have given her the world if I could.

But I’d had to settle for giving her my last name, and that was a dream come true in itself.