Where the River Ends - Charles Martin [117]
The river shone all around us. In the time we’d been standing there, it’d risen another few inches.
Abbie rested her head on my shoulder, her arms around my neck. She came to and whispered, “I can stand.”
“You sure?”
She nodded, so I set her down. I unfolded the sheet I’d carried down from the house, folded it in half then wrapped it around her and tucked it inside itself like a towel. The blue bandana hung loose around her head so she retied the knot then looped her arm inside mine. Her sheet-train floated behind her. We made a motley crew.
Bob held a small red leather-bound book. He turned a few pages, stared at us, then back at the book. Finally, he closed the book and set it on the altar behind him. Rocket stared at it, then sat obediently.
I nodded at the book. “Don’t you need that?”
He shook his head. “I remember.”
Bob cleared his throat. “You have come here today to seek the blessing of God and”—he looked around the dim room—“his Church upon your marriage. I require, therefore, that you promise, with the help of God, to fulfill the obligations which Christian marriage demands.”
He turned to me. “Doss, you took Abbie to be your wife.” He whispered out the side of his mouth. “How long ago?”
I leaned forward. “Fourteen years.”
Bob cleared his throat a second time. “Fourteen years ago. Having here expressed a wish to recommit your vows, do you promise here in the presence of God and”—he glanced over his shoulder at Rocket and Petey—“these witnesses, to love her, comfort her, honor and keep her…” I saw his lips moving but his words sounded somewhere down deep within me. I watched Abbie out of the corner of my eye. She had straightened. Chin high, her face reflected the light off the river. He paused, then continued, “In sickness and in health, and forsaking all others, to be faithful to her as long as you both shall live?”
I rewound the tape of the last four years. Playing and replaying the video in my mind. It was difficult to watch. We’d known good, bad and the unthinkable. His echo disappeared off down the river.
I grabbed both of Abbie’s hands. “For as long as I shall live.”
Abbie exhaled, leaned against me and tucked her arms inside mine. Bob nodded. “That works, too.”
Petey fluttered his wings and began bobbing his head up and down. “Hell yes. Hell yes.”
Bob looked at Abbie. “Abbie, you have taken Doss to be your husband. Do you promise to love him, comfort him, honor and keep him, in sickness and in health, and forsaking all others, to be faithful to him as long as you both shall live?”
She nodded. “I do.”
Bob crossed us and raised his hands. “Lord, please bless…” He started to say something else, but shook his head. He tried to recover and couldn’t. Finally, he closed his eyes, squeezing tears out each side. He whispered, “Amen. You may kiss your wife.”
Petey flapped his wings and settled back on Bob’s shoulder. “Kiss the bride. Kiss the bride.”
Abbie stared up at me. There was a lot I wanted to say and do. A lot I still wished for. But none of that would come out of my mouth. She nodded and said, “I know.” I placed her narrow cheeks in my palms and pressed my trembling lips to hers.
Abbie turned in the water and spoke to the empty pews. “I’d like to thank you all for coming. Especially on such short notice.” A lizard on the windowsill bobbed its head up and down. Then she turned to me and poked me in the chest. “After fourteen years, I finally got married in a church.” She stared through the hole in the roof and laughed. “At least, what’s left of one.” She looped her arm inside mine, hanging as much as standing. “Come on. You owe me a honeymoon.”
We waded out through the front doors and swam back through the trees to the cabin, where we spent the evening wrapped up in a blanket, staring out the window at the rising water.
Annie floundered