My wedding day

“And that’s the way we fell in love,” Mama finished, adjusting her pearl tiara on my dark curls.

She stood back and smiled, her face so full of emotions. She reached out for my hand, but looked beyond me, over my shoulder to watch the blue, rolling sea. She took a deep breath and exhaled, quiet now… but I could tell there were still words behind her eyes. Mama has the deepest eyes I’ve ever seen.

I knew she hadn’t told me everything…

“So you knew right away?” I asked. “The same way Henry and I did?”

And it was okay… because I understand now that every love has its secrets…

“Just the same, sweetheart,” she answered, putting her palm against my cheek. “He took me in his arms and danced with me… and nothing in my life was ever the same.” She kissed my forehead. “I knew when he kissed me… that we were made for each other. He gave me you… and your brother… Your father has always put the beat in my heart,” she said softly, her eyes shining as she stood up and put her shoulders back bravely.

“Now,” she said, composing herself, “I’ve gone on too long already.” She reached out and smoothed one of my curls. “I should probably get downstairs and send Daddy up. He’s waiting to walk you down that aisle… and I’ve never seen him so nervous. The last time I checked, he was pacing a bare spot into the carpet… And I expect Aunt Mattie needs some help rounding up the twins…” She paused, as the strength of her emotion suddenly pulled her back to me.

“You are the most beautiful bride, the most amazing daughter,” she burst out, overflowing suddenly, tears spotting the front of her dress. “You know how much we love you, sweetheart. And we love your Henry just as much.” She smiled at me, her face wet and shining. “He’s family too now, you know. And we’ll always be here for you, for both of you… no matter what…”

“I know, Mama,” I answered, wiping her tears away. “Just like you’ve always been.” I glanced away, feeling shy for a moment and she headed for the door.

“Mama?”

“Yes, baby?” she turned…

“I love you, too,” I said simply, “for everything you’ve done for me, for my whole life, Mama… For your strength of will… for believing in me…”

And we shared a long silent moment, the way we did when I was little. We had never really needed words to understand each other’s hearts, for the deepest things are often the ones that need no words at all.

She nodded, bright-eyed, smiling at me with all the courage and power of a mother’s love and slipped out, closing the door behind her.

Mama had always told me, from the time I was just a little girl, that I was part of their love story.

But it was only when Henry gave me my first kiss on prom night under the stars… that I finally began to truly understand about the hidden depths that exist between a man and a woman… and how it feels to have something secret that belongs to the two of you alone. I saw it in Henry’s eyes that night. And I saw it in my own, when I looked into the mirror after he’d brought me home. It was the same sweet mystery I’d always seen in my parents’ eyes when they looked at each other, and my first real awareness of the beautiful, exciting world beneath the surface of love.

Henry is my best friend, my whole world, the music in my heart. He’s the only man I’ve ever kissed, and the only one I ever will. He’s a gentle man who understands me, who understands all the things that words aren’t powerful enough to say. He listens to me… but he understands my silences, too. He should, for we practically grew up together as students at Aunt Donna’s school. Then we transitioned together into the mainstream by middle school, and have been completely inseparable ever since. I can’t remember a time in my life before him, and I can’t imagine a life without him. We’ll be living in the cottage for a little while after the wedding, but only until he’s worked out the final details of the concert tour. I’m still a little nervous, but he’s confident that I’m ready… and just looking into his eyes makes me feel courageous…

I smoothed the creamy silk of Mama’s wedding gown over my knees and looked into the mirror at my reflection. Daddy’s dark hair and Mama’s blue eyes. The same sprinkling of freckles as my brother, David. My family, the loves of my life… but then so is the man I’m about to marry. On my finger, his diamond caught the light, and sparkled with flame and passion… promise and love.

And if there was anything in the whole world I understood, it was love. I’d had my whole life to learn from my parents what it looks like, how it feels. I saw the way they looked at each other, felt the way the air crackled between them when he took her in his arms and she laughed with sweet pleasure. Love is the way they looked at my little brother the day he was born. And it was the way Daddy sat beside me at the piano, and wrote down my notes as I played them. Love is the way they nurtured me until I was able to grow beyond my own limitations, and it’s what taught me how to share my music with the whole world. Love is what they gave to me my entire life, without reservation, even when I wasn’t able to express it in return.

And after twenty-five years, my parents still share the same passion, the same pure devotion, the same bond between them that I remember growing up. It’s like something secret ties them, one heart to the other. And it knows no bounds. It’s the same for Henry and me. And tonight, we’ll learn together, for the very first time, what that love really means. I’ll take care of him… and he’ll take care of me. He’s the one man in the world I know I can trust with my whole heart. And I know I’ll always be safe in his arms.

“Baby…?” Daddy said from the doorway. “My perfect, beautiful baby girl…” He stood, holding out his big, strong hands to me and I took them. “No daughter ever made her father prouder… and no father ever loved a daughter more than I love you…,” he said, hugging me tight… like he never wanted to let me go… “But it’s time… and your Henry is waiting for you…”

Mama always said that everyone needs something to believe in.

I think I believe in love.

Because, in the end, it’s what puts the harmony in our hearts, and the music in our souls. Even though we all communicate in different ways, it’s the single purest, most powerful way we touch one another. My mother, my father… and Henry, have all taught me this…

That short or tall… young or old…

bold… or silent…

every single one of us will have a love story to tell someday.

Even me.