“Rise and shine sleepyhead!” Nicole called cheerfully into her little sister’s room.
Symone groaned as she looked at the clock. 5:35 AM. ‘It is way to early to be that chipper.’ She thought as she placed her pillow over her head and tried to fall asleep again.
“Oh no you don’t!” Nicole rushed into the bedroom and pulled the pillow as well as the quilt away from Symone.
“You suck!” Symone grumbled, sitting up. “I will be so happy when this whole wedding thing is over with. Things can finally get back to normal and I won’t have to think about marriage for at least another 5 years!”
Nicole smiled. “Don’t be so sure, Baby.”
Symone looked up, somewhat shocked. “What? What do you mean?”
Nicole and JC hadn’t told anyone of their engagement yet. They didn’t want to take any focus off of Terri and Chris this week. But, Nicole was about ready to burst, and her sister seemed like the right person to tell first. “Well, you might have to think about one a little sooner than that. Probably not for at least a year, because we want to wait until after the tour but…”
“Wait a second! JC asked you to marry him?”
Nicole nodded fervently. Hearing those words from someone else’s mouth made her very emotional.
Symone hugged her sister tight. “I can’t believe it! This is so amazing. When did this happen?”
“Monday night.”
“And you waited until SATURDAY tell me? I should kick your butt for that!” Symone laughed. Her sister’s dream was finally coming true. Her smile faded when she realized that 24 hours earlier, hers had been, too. Now she and Justin were back to square one.
“What’s wrong?” Nicole asked; noticing the crestfallen expression Symone wore.
Symone smiled again, a little less enthusiastically. “Nothing. This is a happy day. Now lets get going, we don’t want to be late.”
The commotion at the church was overwhelming. There were hundreds of reporters and camera people, not to mention the throngs of fans. Symone, Krysti and Nicole joked about how funny it was that they had to wear passes to be in a wedding. Once they got into the church, which took considerable effort, they headed to the bride’s room. Terri was already inside getting her hair and makeup done by the ‘N Sync crew, as were her sister, Chris’s sisters and Adrienne, who insisted on spending the night with his youngest sister, Taylor. Terri looked up as her bridesmaids entered.
“Good you all made it through the fray!” Terri laughed.
“Thank goodness for these things,” Krysti said, kissing the badge she wore on a ball-chain necklace. “You should’ve seen, it was like Noah parting the Red Sea. Or was that Moses?” They all laughed at that one. Then the make-up artist grabbed the girls and got to work.
Angie, the same stylist who dyed Joey’s hair back to a normal shade, took Symone. “Hey, when did you do that to your hair?” she asked, nodding in approval, “It looks good.”
“Thanks. I got it done last night.”
“Well, whoever did it did a hell of a job!” Angie never would have thought of that cut and color for Symone, but the outcome was amazing.
“It was this older lady with a shop down by the country club.” Symone said. “A little trinket store and hair salon…”
“Momma J’s! That woman is my mentor!” Angie squealed.
Symone smiled. “That’s her. She is great.”
Angie nodded. “Great doesn’t even begin to describe…OK, so your hair is perfect. Lets do the makeup.”
About fifteen minutes later, amidst the idle chatter of the girls, a yelp was heard from the bride. “I can’t believe I forgot that!”
Symone, Nicole and Krysti jumped into action. “What do you need?” Nicole asked, while the others got ready to run and do whatever needed to be done. This wedding meant a lot to all of them, and they all wanted it to be perfect.
Terri giggled at the tensed state the girls were in. “Calm down guys! Yolanda just asked me what I had for my ‘something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue’ thing, and I realized that I forgot all about it. It’s no big deal.”
The girls began to relax a little bit. Symone put her hand to her heart. “You scared me there! I thought we were gonna have to run around town looking for something.” As she brought her hand down, it touched the necklace that Momma J had given her. “Wait a second. Here,” she said, unclasping the necklace and placing it around Terri’s neck. “This is old, and blue, plus its on loan to me, so technically it’s borrowed. And it’s new to you, so it covers all of it.”
Terri stood up and kissed Symone on the cheek. “It’s beautiful, thank you.”
“It’s yours. You need it more than I do. But it’s only on loan. You have to give it to someone you think needs it more than you do.” Symone repeated the words that Momma J had said the night before. The girls all got dressed, careful not to muss their hair and makeup. And before they knew it, it was time to start the show.
The bridesmaids began to walk down the aisle to where Chris and Justin stood. Chris had asked him to be his best man, because he figured that without Justin he never would have met the love of his life. The rest of the guys stood slightly to the side, all beaming for their best friend.
Krysti walked down the aisle first followed by Nicole, who kept her eyes focused on her fiancee. Before stepping into position, she mouthed ‘I love you’ to JC.
Symone came after her sister, causing Justin’s heart rate to quicken considerably. She was wearing the dress she had on when he first realized he loved her. Now he realized that he needed to tell her. But, the dress wasn’t the only reason he was awestruck. She had cut and colored her hair, and he had to admit that while she had been beautiful before, she was just plain sexy now. He wished with all his heart that he could pull her aside and talk to her. But, just as those thoughts came to mind, the organ changed tunes and everyone in the pews turned to face the back. Justin had been so focused on Symone that he didn’t even notice all the other bridesmaids or the 2 little flower girls. ‘Oh well, I’ll see pictures,’ he thought.
Terri came into view, a spectacular bride. Chris’s breath caught in his throat as she started to walk toward him. Her off-white dress was accentuated with tiny beads that shimmered in the light that streamed into the church, and her hair was done up with tendrils falling around her face. She all but floated to the altar. As she got closer, Chris noticed the beautiful sapphire necklace she wore. Everything was perfect. She was perfect. And soon, she would be his.
“Dearly beloved…” the minister began the ceremony, while the bride and groom stole glances at one another. It approached the point where they would share the vows they had written, and Symone headed to the piano to wait for Chris’s turn. Terri went first though.
“Chris,” she started, turning to him, “there were so many things going through my head when I first met you. I’ll admit, like most of the people in here, ‘who is this goofball?’ was the most prominent.” The crowd laughed at that. She continued. “But I also thought of what it would be to spend the rest of my life with you. I know that it’s an odd thing to think when you first meet a person, but I felt it even then. We were good together, you and I. It just seemed to fit. We had trouble dealing with that in the beginning, trying to keep our relationship at that professional and strictly friendship level, but it was always destined for so much more. We were destined for this. I have been thinking about what it would be like to be with you forever since the day we met, and to tell you the truth, I can’t think of a better way to spend my forever than with the man I love. I love you Chris.”
The entire congregation had tears in their eyes as she finished, including Symone and Chris. Terri handed him the microphone after he took a moment to compose himself. “My blushing bride took the words right out of my mouth. She has a tendency to do that, which means this must be meant to be, because nobody thinks like me!” Laughter once again. “Although we did decide to write our own vows, I kinda cheated a little. This song that I am about to sing expresses all the aspects of our relationship, Terri, from the beginning until now. I love you, and that’s all that matters…for the rest of my life.” Symone took her cue, and began to play. The song was not familiar to everyone, so they all listened closely to the lyrics that Chris began to sing.
I know you’ve heard the excuses before
So I won’t waste your time, and I’ll keep this short
I’ve bound my emotions cause I can’t afford to be wrong
I know we’ve talked about being good friends
So we’ve been real careful of the signals we’ve sent
But all of your glances they came and they went to my head.
And I’m not a man to throw words to the wind
When I said, “I love you” that’s what I meant
And I plan to show you if it takes me the rest of my life
The rest of my life
The rest of my life
I don’t want to rush this ‘cause my greatest fear
Is taking for granted what’s taken us years
We’ve built from the ground up with all of the tears that we’ve cried
We’ve taken our time, and for this I’m so glad
Now we can be sure that this moment will last
We’ve traveled the road of mistakes in our past to get here.
So I’m not about to throw words to the wind
When I said, “I love you” that’s what I meant
And I’m going to show you if it takes me the rest of my life
The rest of my life
The rest of my life
And I’m not a man to throw words to the wind
When I said, “I love you” well, that’s what I meant
And I plan to show you if it takes me the rest of my life*
The audience erupted into either tears or applause. Terri had been crying since the first chorus, and Chris had been wiping away all of her tears, their eyes locked as he sang.
“By the power vested in me by God and the state of Florida, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.” The minister, too, had been moved to tears by the love the two shared. Chris cupped his wife’s face in his hands and kissed her sweetly. They turned to face their friends and family, as Justin said into the microphone that had been handed to him, “Please put your hands together for Mrs. and Mrs. Christopher Kirkpatrick!”
*The Rest of My Life by Blessid Union of Souls copyright 1999
::chapter 25:: -THE END!
