Graceful Deception

24. Every Story Has A Beginning And An End...I Just Don't Know Which One This Is

Chapter 24

Every Story Has A Beginning And An End…I Just Don’t Know Which One This Is

 

 

I’d never thought that I could pretty much be turned into an emotional wreck because of a wedding that wasn’t even mine, but somehow, Elena and Grant’s did.  After the wedding ended and John and I followed arm-in-arm down the aisle behind the bride and groom, I finally let the tears that had threatened to fall throughout the ceremony spill down my cheeks.  Almost everyone noticed since they started to fall before we even passed the second row, but they hopefully thought that I was just extremely happy for the newlyweds and not upset like I really was. 

I didn’t think that excuse got past John, though, especially when I saw the look of confusion and fear in his eyes when I finally made myself look at him.  He didn’t know the real pain behind my tears.  No one did…except for Ed, whose eyes I met next when I looked back at him in the front row of the bride’s side. 

John knew that we were supposed to follow the rest of the wedding party to where we were set to take pictures, but he decided that the two of us needed to go somewhere else for the time being so I could get myself together.  It was just a matter of time before my tears turned into sobs.  So instead of following everyone down one hallway once we got back inside, John pulled me down another until we reached a powder room big enough to fit a few dozen more people.

“Emmy love, what’s going on?” John asked in a panic once he turned around after locking the door behind us.  “Why are you crying?”

“I’m sorry!” I blubbered.  “I just…I don’t know what’s wrong with me.  I’m just kind of emotional right now because of the wedding, I guess.”

John’s frightened expression at the sight of my tears turned to a relieved smile as he stepped toward me, picking me up so that I was sitting on the marble counter by the sink.  He stepped forward again between my legs, wrapping his arms around my waist to pull me even closer to him.  I closed my eyes as I wrapped mine around his neck, trying to ignore the sparks flying through my body at the intimacy of the moment, remembering what had happened just a few nights before back in D.C.

“Everything’s going to be okay,” he whispered into my ear. 

“But…what if it’s not?” I whispered back.  “Everything’s going to change…and I don’t want it to.” 

He wouldn’t realize just how truthful my words were.  He probably thought that I was saying it because of the wedding, but something else was going to happen later in the night that was going to change everything for the two of us.

And just like I said, I didn’t want it to.

But it had to be done. 

“Nothing’s going to change,” John said, this time pulling back to put his forehead against mine. 

“You can’t honestly say that.”

“No, I can’t now that I think about it.  But the change that’s to come…it’s going to be great.  Nothing bad will come from anything that’s got the two of us there together.”

My eyebrows furrowed as I searched his eyes for whatever he was trying to say.  “What are you talking about?”

He smiled, shaking his head as he looked down for a moment.  “Nothing that can’t wait a little longer.  But I’m serious when I say that nothing bad can come from it.  Ever since I met you, we’ve been put through some terrible things, that’s for sure, but good always came from it.  But the absolute best thing that came from everything is that I got to meet you.”