Written in Ink

Thirty-one | Reagan

 The next morning hits me like a rock. My head feels very cloudy and stuffed. But at least both my nostrils are clear. A stuffy nose is the worst. Turn to my other side and stretch a bit before opening my eyes. When I do, I am greeted by Alonzo as he walks out of the closet in a black button down with black trousers and black shoes. No tie, so the top button is undone. He looks down at me and smiles.

"Good morning amore." He says.

"Morning." I mumble with a raspy voice.

He turns into the bathroom and I lay back down, closing my eyes for a second, just for them to open again to Alonzo now sitting on the bed beside me. I look up to see him holding two medicine cups. I groan, turning over again.

He laughs. "Come on, it's for both of us." He coos. "You'll feel better."

I grunt into the mattress before pulling up my head by pushing up with my arms. I look at the two cups before scowling.

"Come on. We have something to do this morning. Then you can sleep all you want. I promise."

The introvert inside me pouts. I don't want to do anything today. "What do we have to do?" I ask as I sit down criss-cross-apple sauce on the bed.

"Now that we are home, and most importantly married, you have to begin to go to Church every Sunday with us." He states.

I tilt my head. "I mean this in the least disrespectful way possible— but how do you all go to Church?"

Alonzo chuckles. "Ironic, isn't it?" I nod my head. "Well, I read in your file that you and your family practice the Catholic religion, which is perfect. You'll be attending a Roman Catholic Church from now on."

"Reading up on me?" I question, kind of skeptical about what could be in that file. "Well we do practice, I went through all the Sacraments."

"Hmm." Is all he says. "Perfect, so you can really wear whatever, preferably a dress, not white." He explains.

"Got it." I rush out, trying to get off the bed but he stops me.

"Ah ah." He signals to the medication.

I sigh in defeat. "I thought you forgot about it."

"Nope." He laughs.

Alonzo hands me one of the cups, and holds them together in a "cheers" motion. "Bottoms up." I say as I throw the syrup into my mouth, swallowing it as fast as I can. Once it's all down, I smack my tongue to my lips. "That stuff is so gross."

"No kidding." He chuckles. "Time to get up though. I'll call for breakfast as you get ready."

I thank him as I go into the closet, searching for a dress that isn't white. Alonzo is wearing all black, I don't want to look like I'm going to a funeral so I skip the whites and blacks, moving to the other colors.

It's August so I don't want to wear dark dark colors, so I move to a pale yellow dress that catches my eye. It has a high box-like neck with a sort-of-full skirt that should go slightly past my knees. There is a band of the yellow fabric that ties into a bow on the side of my hip. I look into the mirror and see that it looks good on my figure, that I am confident to wear it out in public. The sleeves go to my elbows and for once I'm not self-conscious about the look of my arms. Note to self, arms look good in three quarter sleeves.

I don't put on makeup other than a light swipe of mascara and some foundation to cover up the bruises that are already fading, thankfully. To finish it, I pull on a pair of nude sandals that have a little bit of a heel, my necklace that Alonzo got for me in Greece, and when I come into the bedroom, I grab my rings. It suddenly feels so natural to put them on. I turn back to see Alonzo looking me up and down.