Their eyes locked when the lyrics “I wanna grow old with you” played romantically through the wedding hall. Their stare was so focused and their touch so electric, that to them they were really the only people on the dance floor. The meaning of the lyrics permeated the air between them, signaling that they both knew that they wanted to grow old with each other, just as was being sung by the singer-songwriter. It didn’t even need said. They both felt it and saw it in each other’s eyes.
As the song began winding down, Nikki cut the silence by focusing on the boyishly handsome but confident man in whose arms she wished she’d stay all night.
“So, Luke – tell me something interesting that I don’t know about you yet.”
A sly smile crossed Luke’s face. He didn’t even have to think long to respond. “Okay, but if I do, you won’t believe it.”
“Try me.”
“No, I mean it. You’ll think I’m making it up. But I swear it’s the truth.”
Nikki gave Luke a look like she didn’t want to have to repeat herself for him to say it.
“Well, the musician who wrote this song is called Guy + Guitar, but his real name is John. And I knew him. I was in an orphanage with him back when we were growing up.”
“Shut up,” Nikki said shocked, pushing him away briefly on his chest in her shocked reaction. “Really?” She asked rhetorically as they began to slow dance again to the next song.
The idea of fate was again forefront in her mind. She didn’t really know what it all meant, but the fact that their first dance together was to a song written by someone he’d been in the orphanage with just seemed too coincidental to not have been guided by fate. And Luke had felt it too. In fact, he’d felt it the entire dance.
The song playing made him think back to his desperate circumstance growing up in the orphanage and how far he’d come since then. His entire life he’d been pretty much on his own. Now he’d found love. He’d met a woman who he felt himself around, but also made him want to be better. Someone who he felt understood him and, in return, someone whom he would accept no matter what shortcoming she felt she had. He wasn’t really looking for love, but he felt like the most humbled, grateful man to have found her. And hearing this song seared in his mind that the tides of fate had brought them together. That was why this song was playing.
But thinking about his days in the dreadful orphanage years ago instantly made him gasp out loud like a light bulb of realization had just illuminated in his mind.
“What is it?” Nikki asked.
“I know where I recognize the bride – Savannah – from.”
“What? You recognized her?”
“Yeah, oh man. I can’t believe it’s her.”
“Who?”
“Savannah from the orphanage.”
“You mean …?”
“Yeah, she was in the orphanage back in the day.”
Nikki’s emotional high paused for a moment as fear naturally overtook her. “Luke, do I need to be worried?” She asked bluntly.
Luke’s glance moved from thinking about how he couldn’t believe that it was the Savannah he’d known back as children, to now realizing that he needed to quickly reinforce things with the woman he loves.
“No, no! That’s not it at all.” Luke quickly kissed Nikki on the lips, signally that her thoughts didn’t need to go down such a worrisome path. “Not at all. Nikki.” The lightbulb of realization continued to burn as bright in his mind as the feelings inside of him burned brightly while they danced slowly. Luke continued: “I gotta be honest with you. Remember the other night when I told you that I needed to take things slower?”
“Yes …”
“I was wrong. I just didn’t know it until dancing with you to a song from a guy I knew in the orphanage, and then until I saw a girl from that same orphanage getting married. I’m not the same person as back then. And having all of these coincidences – or maybe it’s fate, I don’t know – but having all these things make the orphanage come back to life inside of my mind has helped me realize one thing. I’m ready. I’m ready to move on. I’m ready for love. And I’m ready for you. I always thought that I needed to move slower finding someone to love and trust in life just because I’d pretty much always been on my own. But I was wrong. When you find the right person, you know. And now, I’ve found you, and now all I can think about is you. You make me want to be better. You make me happy. You make me optimistic. And you make me want to make you feel the same way….
“You do!?” The words leapt out of Nikki’s mouth. She wanted to continue to listen to the man of her dreams pour his heart out to her, but those words needed said. She needed to let Luke know how she felt and that she’d undeniably felt all of the things he’d just described having felt as well.
But just then, the slow song ended on the dance floor and the father of the groom took to the microphone.
“We’d like to thank all of you for coming out to Cody and Savannah’s wedding celebration tonight, even those who maybe weren’t invited.” The audience chuckled, but Nikki and Luke knew the off-handed comment was directed toward them. They snickered at each other, but quickly gained composure when their chuckling stood out from those standing nearby. “We’ll now have the newlyweds cut the cake and would invite you each to enjoy some.”
Right before the couple went to cut the cake, the groom’s mother took the microphone to make sure to say something before she forgot. “Oh, and we’d especially like to thank Ms. Delia Gand’s wedding company for designing the cake and tonight’s desserts. I’d also like to especially thank her for coming tonight. So, if you have a chance, please be sure to give your regards to her about the beautiful cake and desserts.”
“Oh no!” Nikki squeaked out loud in surprise. “That’s how she recognized Delia’s name!”
This only caused Luke to chuckle. “I mean, what are the odds?”
“I’d say even less than the fact that neither of them went to college, and that you’d end up knowing the bride. I mean, seriously?!”
Nikki and Luke continued their inside joking while the couple cut the cake and did the ceremonial first bites. But just as it ended, Nikki saw the groom’s mother look right at her and begin to walk across the reception hall toward her.
“We gotta go,” Nikki said hastily, “or our cover will be blown. Follow me!”
The two of them quickly made their way to the exit and hurried out of the building. Once outside in the safety of the city, Luke’s humor once again kicked in. As they strolled down the streets under the lights of the big city, Luke joked: “Hey, what’s the one food which will instantly kill a woman’s sex drive?”
Nikki knew the answer from having catered countless weddings. But she thoroughly enjoyed hearing Luke’s humorous side. It had been the main thing that Ryan had which she felt Luke hadn’t quite warmed up to show yet. Now, she wanted to bask in his jokes even though she’d known the answer. “What’s that?” She asked while walking alongside Luke, hand in hand, toward their car under the light of the city’s nightlife.