SERIAL FICTION

Finally, They Celebrate Their Big Day

Shadows Of Mayday #20: Joe and Mattie #4: Surrounded by their children, the couple vowed to be together for the rest of their lives

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Joe and Mattie were inseparable. They knew their time together would never be as long as the time they had with their first partners.

Just ten months into their relationship, Joe asked Mattie to marry him.

After lunch, they sat together at the small table he had made for her. Mattie had just poured them each a cup of coffee when Joe took both her hands in his and looked at her with a serious expression on his face.

She instinctively knew what words would follow.

“Mattie, will you marry me?”

“Yes! Yes, I will, Joe!”

She answered almost before he had asked the question.

Joe kissed her softly on her lips. Excitement filled the air as they talked about how they would do it, where they wanted to be married, when to tell the children, whether they wanted to have a honeymoon and, if so, where they wanted to go. They also had to decide whether they wanted a new house or if the one would move in with the other.

They told the children that weekend.

It was late summer, and the weather was good enough to have a barbecue in Joe’s back garden. They had invited all their children and grandchildren.

Right after dinner, Joe rounded everyone up in his living room. Some of them sat on the two couches, other stood behind the couches or around Joe and Mattie. Joe held his arm around his soon-to-be wife’s shoulders. He cleared his throat and looked at Mattie.

“As you all know, Mattie and I have been together for close to a year now. We want to be together every day. Since we don’t know how much time we have left and we want to do that sooner rather than later, I have asked Mattie to marry me and she has accepted.”

He waited for the protests. There was only silence.

Joe didn’t dare take his eyes off Mattie to look at their children. Mattie kept her eyes fixed on his face too, waiting for the reactions.

The silence lasted for a long three seconds before the applause started. Joe and Mattie looked at their children with love and surprise. There were smiles all around, and all the children clapped their hands. Even the little ones clapped along, though they didn’t understand the reason for it.

The love and happiness in the room enveloped all of them. Joe turned to Mattie and saw the tears in his own eyes mirrored in hers. He pulled her closer and hugged her tight to his chest.

“I love you,” he whispered before he let her go and they accepted hugs, kisses and congratulations from their children.

In the coming weeks, Mattie moved in with Joe. Some of her furniture replaced furniture in Joe’s house. Either it was pieces she didn’t want or they were due to be replaced. The small table and chairs that Joe had made for her, and that were symbolic to the start of their love, received a special place in their kitchen. They called it their ‘breakfast table’.

Joe and Mattie had decided she would give up her apartment up. It was too small to house all their children and grandchildren during festivities and it didn’t have a garden.

Mattie had never lived in that apartment with her first husband, but she knew Joe’s first wife had decorated the house she would move into. She made some subtle changes, keeping Joe’s children in mind and not wanting to upset them. Their bedroom changed and in the living room, she replaced some decorations with her own.

By the time they were done, she was happy and content in her new home without feeling like she would live in the shadow of Joe’s first wife. Joe’s children were also happy. They expected her to change a lot more and actually encouraged her to do so, but she assured them it was good the way it was.

Now that Mattie was living with Joe, it was time for them to plan their wedding day and honeymoon. Neither of them wanted a huge happening when they got married, but with all their children, grandchildren and some close friends attending, it turned out to be a bigger occasion.

Joe and Mattie married in the local town hall. Joe wore a gray suit, white shirt and a burgundy colored tie. Black shoes and burgundy colored socks completed the picture. Mattie looked beautiful in a light pink dress with long lace sleeves. Her shoes perfectly matched the color of her dress and on her head she wore an informal hat, draped with the same lace she had in her dress.

Joe and Mattie looked stunning together. Their love radiated and filled the hearts of all of those around them.

That evening, they dined and danced together as husband and wife for the first time. Their children surrounded them and witnessed their first marital kiss, their first marital dance, and their obvious love and happiness. Their feet hurt when they arrived home after a lovely evening of celebrating their wedding.

For the first time, they lay together in bed and made love as husband and wife. They felt like two young people who had their entire life together ahead of them.

The next day, the packing for their honeymoon started. While planning their wedding, they also talked about their honeymoon. Joe and Mattie were realistic about their age and that they should make a trip of a lifetime while they could still do so in reasonable health.

They had chosen to travel to South Africa. It was the one country they both found fascinating and wanted to visit. Once they landed in Johannesburg, their adventure of eight weeks would start by boarding a touring bus. The trip would take them to various wild parks, under which the well-known Kruger Wild Park, but they would also visit Cape Town and take a trip up Table Mountain, drive along the Garden Route to visit Mossel Bay, Knysna and Port Elizabeth. The Addo Elephant Park was another wild park on the traveling schedule. Joe and Mattie were excited about this trip. It would be their first and last trip outside of Europe.

On the morning of the third day after their wedding, Joe and Mattie were ready to leave for their honeymoon. The previous evening, all the kids had visited them on and off, to hug and kiss them and wish them a wonderful honeymoon.

Joe’s oldest son drove them to the airport, a drive of just more than an hour, and accompanied them to the desk where they checked in. Once their suitcases were on the conveyor belt and they had their boarding passes, Joe and Mattie joined Joe’s son for a cup of coffee in a restaurant nearby. Their coffee cups were still hot when they stood up to leave.

Joe and Mattie were both nervous. They wanted to get to the gate, to make sure they boarded the plane on time. They both hugged Joe’s son and waved at him once more after they had passed through customs.

Continued: Shadows Of Mayday #21

Find all chapters here.

This story is a work of fiction, and the author’s tribute to all victims of air crashes. Names and characters are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

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