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I want to hold you more than hold // when you stood in front of me // I think you know me more than know // and you see me more than see
Never Seen Anything “Quite Like You” – The Script
This is a ridiculous tradition.
There are a lot of ridiculous traditions about this day that everyone loves to pretend are still relevant. The thing about tossing the bouquet, being carried over the threshold, something borrowed and something blue, but this one by far is the most ridiculous. So ridiculous that he doesn’t know how he even agreed to it.
They work in the same place. They live in the same house. They woke up in the same bed this morning. He spent five minutes trying to convince her to stay in bed for twenty-five more minutes only to be left on edge when she went to shower alone and he went to make sure the flower delivery was on time. They were together all day already, until Molly showed up with a garment bag and shooed him out of his own closet.
Now, he’s alone in the guest bedroom and she’s in the master and in about twenty minutes, Conrad and Jake are going to cart him into the backyard where finally he’ll get to see her again.
Goosebumps run down his arm at the mere thought of seeing her at the end of the aisle, looking only at him.
He fiddles with his tuxedo and wonders why he ever let himself get talked into this. There is not much else to do but wait so he watches the hallway. In the past ten minutes, Molly has left the bedroom, come back with Amelia, and both of them have left again. Which, by his count of daughters, means that she must be alone.
There’s the smallest window of time before Jake will be here again but it’s just enough time to see the only person he’s thinking about and the only person he wants to spend the day with. Randolph tiptoes into the hallway and makes it as far as the closed bedroom door when a figure appears beside him.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“Jesus,” Randolph flinches. “Where did you come from?”
Billie blocks his entrance by stepping in front of the door. “Uh uh. No. There’s no way you’re going in there.”
“Please? I need t—”
“No! It’s bad luck!”
He came prepared to make sure Kit didn’t kick him out, either. “The tradition doesn’t say anything about her seeing me.” Billie scowls, but he stands tall and holds a green scarf pilfered from the guest bedroom closet in front of him. “Are you going to give me a hand tying this, or just stand there?”
The blindfold is secured a bit too tightly, but Billie finally leaves him alone with a sharp reminder that showtime is fast approaching. Being completely blinded is more of a challenge than he thought, but thankfully he has the layout of the bedroom memorized.
“It’s me.” He knocks three times, and when there’s no response, knocks again. “I’m coming in.”
He appears in view behind her with the scarf secured around his eyes, and she shuts the curtains and to keep him out of view of the backyard. “Randolph, what the hell are you doing?!”
“I couldn’t wait any longer,” he says, blindly maneuvering himself away from the door into the bedroom.
“It’s bad lu—”
“Enough with the superstition! Besides, that’s for me to see you, not vice versa.”
He holds his hands in front of him, palms up, and she’s unable to resist the call to be close to him. A smile forms and she shakes her head gently. Starting at his wrists, her hands pave a path up his arm and over his chest, straightening the tie needlessly and brushing some invisible dirt from beneath the rose on his lapel.
“Technically, it does work both ways, but since the archaic ‘tradition’ has origins in a time where women were considered property, I suppose that’s why the emphasis is always on the bri—”
“For the sake of equity, I could take it off.”
She covers the flannel fabric that shrouds his eyes. “No!” She says firmly. There’s a lightness to the command, so he drops his hands and obliges. “No. We agreed not to elope so that you could see me in this dress, walking towards you and only you. I promise you, that will happen in a few minutes.”
The agreement on a proper wedding had been made just after an injection of steroids; from a place of fear and undeniable honesty. It changed the tone of that evening away from her frustration and fear towards the future that he wanted, big moments and little ones and everything in between. She intended to keep her promise to him and give him the wedding that he’s dreamed about, whether he admits to having done so out loud or not. Especially this part, because she’s dreamed of seeing him at the end of the aisle waiting for her for longer than she can count.
“You have never been more beautiful than you are right now, Kit.”
His voice cracks and the quiet sincerity cuts through her daydream and brings a blush to her cheeks. “Oh, stop. You can’t see anything.”
“I can feel it. The radiance,” he whispers, standing up taller. “No one could ever make me feel the way you do. No one ever has, and no one ever will.”
Her hands are still settled over his chest and rise when he takes a deep breath. “Save it for the vows, love.”
“That line is for the reception, actually,” he grins and holds both her hands in his own, feeling for the diamond that will soon be accompanied by a band of gold. “The vows are much more about my undying love and devotion to you.”
When he says things like that her heart thunders against her chest no matter where they are, but it’s different today. Everything is. It hits her all at once, hearing him go on about vows, standing before him in a wedding gown while he’s in a tuxedo, on her wedding day.
She didn’t realize that she had been so nervous until she was alone and peeking into the backyard from behind the bedroom curtain. The fears were not centralized on anything in particular, but the jitters that accompanied a risky surgery or important meeting were still there and stronger now that she was alone and left to fester.
But then, all of the sudden, a steadying force appeared in the doorway. He made her smile, made her laugh, and made her feel invincible, just as he always had before. He bent the rules and wrapped a scarf from the winter closet around his eyes, smiling and fixing everything she didn’t know needed fixing. Just as he always had before.
There’s a rustling down the hall and muffled calls of where did he go?, then I thought you were watching him!, followed by he couldn’t have gone far, like the gray-haired man before her is a hamster on the loose. Outside the window, she can see that people have begun to take their seats, meaning they are only minutes away from the start of the rest of their lives. Jake appears in the doorway looking frantic and relieved, and Kit holds up a hand to shush him before he has a chance to speak.
The young man nods and holds up his watch, which she acknowledges. It’s time to send him on his way.
Kit lowers her voice and steps closer. “I don’t know how you knew to come here, but you are the only person I have wanted to see all day. There is no one else that can make me feel the way you do, either.” As much as she wants to kiss him, there’ll be time for that soon enough. Instead, she squeezes his hands and whispers, “I love you.”
“I love you more.”
“Not possible.” She turns him towards the door and lightly shoves his shoulders. “Now, get on out of here so I can marry you already.”
“Okay,” he smiles as she pushes him through the bedroom towards Jake. “I’ll see you soon.”
“Yes, you will.”