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Really, it shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise at all.
After all, Alice was maddeningly, wildly, ferociously in love with Faith; even despite their differences, even at the height of the war, in sickness and in health, all of that. And besides it, Alice wasn’t exactly one to sit on a golden opportunity. So really, if all factors were given their due consideration, it shouldn’t have been much of a surprise when, in the golden, sleepy sunset, in the trees where the war had been fought, in the effervescent glow of young and unbridled love, Alice had decided she’d had enough of waiting in this temporary phase.
Temporary. Temp-orary. Temps, as the word was in French; time. Something they hadn’t had nearly enough of, and something that would only continue to be scarce and vacant. The war had been temporary.
This shouldn’t be.
Alice, in her usual dramatic fashion, had been waiting for the moment when she could turn something temporary into something permanent. The moment when she could use a tiny metal circle to encompass the whole world.
Circles. The shapes of infinity. A shape that could not be harnessed, ended, or begun.
Fitting.
And on the note of fitting: it did. Perfectly. Alice knew Faith’s hands like they were her own, so it shouldn’t have been as enthralling as it was when the ring slipped on as if it had been created with only Faith in mind.
The ring hadn’t left Alice’s left pocket since the day after the war ended. It was strange that rings were still available in Hope County. Things were available here now, now that it had been opened to the rest of the world once again. But, for all its charms, Hope County had remained a soft place full of hard memories, and no new inhabitants were willing to come.
Just as they didn’t come, Alice didn’t leave.
Too much of herself was here. She couldn’t leave the dark parts behind. Not yet.
But the heavy shadows lying in Holland Valley and in the Whitetail Mountains, shadows made of blood and bullets, were like the waning moon next to the new, bright, burning sun that was carried in the gold of the ring. The ring was new life. A new life. The first scent of the rebirth of the county.
With that word, yes, the one that had been erected on the mountain; with the softness in two eyes that had seen death, but promised joy; with the hope of a kiss, and the light of the sun, a new page was written.
-
Even with the new phase, from “girlfriend” to “fiancee,” Alice wasn’t satisfied. Faith seemed to be happy with it. Then again, since the war had ended, Faith had been happy with everything. The first months had been difficult, but with Alice, Faith had found the belonging that had driven her to Eden’s Gate in the first place. No obstacle was too great and no comfort too petty.
But Alice ticked down the days with precision that could only be born of a promise. Fiancee was even more temporary than girlfriend. It was a stage that was meant to be passed, and Alice could hardly wait for it to be over. Of course, every day was a blessing with Faith- and not a blessing of the Bliss-induced variety. A blessing like starlight on the ocean. Divine. Irresistible. Subtle, and easy to take for granted, but stunning at the same time.
Pastor Jerome agreed, like Alice had known he would. The cabin was a while away, but after what she had done for him and his people, the pastor would do just about anything for Alice. He had even found it in himself to trust her choice of partner when no one else would. Driving a bit to officiate her wedding was hardly a request he would refuse.
They chose to perform the ceremony alone, as the sun came up. Just like the ring, like the rebirth, here was a dawn. It made sense to celebrate it as such. Pastor Jerome hadn’t been keen on it at first, but even he wasn’t immune to the soft enchantment spreading over the cabin. It may have been from the little fairy lights, suspended above them on near-transparent threads, or it may have been the grass under their feet, the forest spreading over the hills, the pink sky that very nearly matched the cherry-blossom hair Alice took so much pride in. Magic was everywhere. A siren and a mechanic’s daughter. A Seed and the renowned Junior Deputy. The union was against all odds, but wasn’t that the stuff love stories were made out of?
Alice looked into Faith’s eyes (green and soft and neverending) and felt a sense of everything. That she was joined with infinity. Who needed Eden’s Gate? Who had ever needed the Bliss, when true bliss lay behind her eyes?
Pastor Jerome stood facing them, his figure framed by the roses that climbed and covered the wall of their cabin. Faith and Alice stood before him. The anticipation in the air was only growing.
Until those words, better even than the glorified YES, came out to reach them.
"Do you, Alice Riley, take Faith Seed to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until death?”
The words were hardly there, reaching out to her, when Alice breathed out the answer. “I do.”
“And do you, Faith Seed, take Alice Riley to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until death?”
Faith took a moment longer to answer. Alice’s stomach flipped and twisted. What if she changed her mind? What if all of this was a play? What if-
“I do,” Faith said firmly. Her eyes met Alice’s again, and they washed away everything. The memories, the worries, the fear and the doubts.
Pastor Jerome smiled. Alice shivered, her heart racing, hardly able to comprehend so much happiness within a body that suddenly seemed so much smaller than the love that it contained.
“Then by the power vested in me by God and man, I now pronounce you Alice and Faith Riley, bound to one another as wives.”
The only thought that crossed Alice’s mind as she leaned in, gently pressing her lips to Faith’s- her wife, she thought to herself again, giddy- was those singular two words.
Holy shit.
The sun glowed over the forested hills.
The roses glittered in a crystalline coating of dew.
And somewhere in Hope County, the wheel spun, the fortunes shifted.
Begin again. Be born anew.
Another page is turned.