Chapel of Love

Set just before the attacks on Pearl Harbor. A guy convinces his girlfriend to marry him then gets shipped out. It's not finished yet.

 

Chapter 1 – Going to the Chapel of Love

 

When I wake up in the morning, I have a routine; pour myself a glass of coffee, get the newspaper, mow the lawn and take a shower. It’s always been the same as long as I can remember.

Well, one day I meet this handsome, studly young fellow. He’s about three years my junior. We’d been seeing each other for a while and one night he comes home with me and never leaves. And now my routine has changed. Instead of pouring one glass of coffee, I pour two. I read the paper while he mows the lawn and then we shower.

He was special, almost dog-like – loyal, beautiful, sweet. I suppose I loved him, but I always assumed that the day would come when he’d leave as fast as he’d shown up. No such thing ever happened. Instead, one day, we’re lying in bed and he turns to me and asks, “Do ya wanna get married?” It’s been about six years that he’s been sleeping with me and this is the first time it’s ever come up.

That word “marriage”, well, it doesn’t scare me, but I never really thought about it until he mentioned it. “Marriage”. We’d basically be doin’ the same thing we do now. It’s not like a marriage certificate says that we can do something special. I guess it wouldn’t hurt to be married.

And then I started thinking. If we got married, it’s not gonna stop him from cheating on me when he gets and itch I can’t scratch. I’ll turn into some crazy little housewife who’s always keeping tabs on him, just cause that’s what housewives do, they keep tabs on their husbands. He’ll come home after a long day at work, crack open a beer and start orderin’ me to “fix dinner, honey!”

Plus weddings cost money. My man ain’t poor, but he ain’t rich either. I guess if we really wanted to get married, we could elope (it would defiantly cost less.)

“So, what do you say?” he asks me, kind of propping his head up on his arm so he can get a better look at me.

“I don’t know, Danny. It’s a big deal. Why all of a sudden are you interested in marrying me? We’ve been doing good the past six years.”

“That’s just it; we have been together for a while. I think it’s time we make things permanent.”

“Well, if you really want to, I guess it couldn’t be too bad,” I said, not really sure if I meant it or not.

“Maybe we could start a family?” Now this idea I liked. I had the names of my future children picked out since I was 10; for a boy it would be Lukas James and for a girl, I’d name her Madeline Grace. I’d like to have kids; I just don’t see the point in getting married before hand.

“So are you saying if we don’t get married, we can’t start a family?” I asked.

“Not at all. I’m just saying that one day I’d like to introduce you to people as “my wife” rather than “my girlfriend of six years, who doesn’t believe in marriage”.”

“It’s not that I don’t believe in it, but I don’t see the point. Not right now at least. I mean, what if we get married and it changes everything between us?”

“It won’t,” he said, like he was so sure of himself.

“How do you know?” I climbed out of bed to get dressed.

“I just do.” He always was a very calm person, never getting upset or angered. Today was no different. “There’s nothing about me that you don’t already know.”

“That’s not what I mean. Right now there’s nothing tying you to me. If you wanted out all you have to do is say so; no legal issues, lawyers being hired, fighting over who gets what.”

“Oh, I get it. You’re afraid that after a few months or so, I’m gonna get tired of you and want to leave. That’s not gonna happen.” Now he gets out too, and walks into the bathroom, relieves him self and turns on the shower.

“You don’t know that,” I said, as he’s half undressed, wearing only boxers, with his hands on his hips. He just stares at me, giving me this “know-it-all” look. He has this beautiful set of bright blue eyes, which just by looking at them, makes you week at the knees. There’s my answer. After just a moment of looking into those eyes, “Yes.” It just came out, like someone else was in my body, answering for me.

He seemed surprised.

“Really? You mean it?” He walks over to me and takes my hand in his.

“Of course. After looking into your killer eyes, I can’t lie to you.” It’s the truth; I can’t lie to him. Especially when I look into his eyes. He kissed me like he never had before. I could sense a change in him, but I couldn’t quite figure out what it was.

 

We had lunch that day at a little restaurant in Glendora called Fender Benders. My fiancée, as I should appropriately be calling him now, was a non-stop jabber mouth the entire time.

“Do you want a big wedding or a small one?” was his first question.

“I think small is okay. We don’t know many people.”

“How many people do you want to invite?” he asked as he took a bite of his burger.

“Only the important ones. Moms, dads, brothers, close friends.”

At some point I think I spaced out. I saw this mother, maybe mid-20s, my age. She was holding a little girl. She held her tight, like she was afraid of letting go because something terrible would happen if she did. I kept watching this woman. Her eyes lit up when she looked at her daughter. When the girl laughed, the mother’s eyes twinkled.

“Louise?” He noticed that I was distracted and turned to see what caught my attention. “One day, Louise.” I turned to find him staring at me again. With those blue eyes, his perfect lips, he just stares at me.

“Why do you think we waited so long to finally do this?” I asked him, still looking at the mother and her child.

“Maybe we were just caught up in the moment, wanting to have fun.”

“Afraid it wouldn’t last forever.” The waiter brings the check.

“Do you trust me?” Danny asked me, he had a devilish look on his face.

“You’ve given me no reason to feel other wise.” I was a little skeptical.

“Good,” he says, paying the bill and taking my hand. “Come on. There’s something I want to show you.”

“What is it?”

“Just wait. You’ll see in a minute.” We ran down the street like Jack and Rose running through the boiler room on “Titanic”. He acted like he had to show me before it was too late, before it dispersed into thin air. When we finally stopped running, I looked up, and there was this beautiful house standing in front of me. It had to be three stories tall, with blue shutters and blue trim, while the rest of the house was white. It had a large patio with a swing big enough for two. There were flowers lining the walkway to the door.

“You didn’t?” I asked, hoping he did. He nodded. “You did! It’s beautiful; just like the home I dreamed of as a girl.”

“I know; I’ve read about it in your work.” I ran up to him and jumped into his arms and hugged him. This house has made an appearance in most of my writings. I just love the way the navy blue contrasts with the white.

“When can we move in?”

“When ever you want; it’s ours now, it’s not going anywhere.”

I turned to look at the house, “It’s ours…it’s beautiful.”

“Do you want to look inside?” We walked inside. Off to the right was a doorway with no door. Inside led to the kitchen. The kitchen had an island. The island itself had a mix of blue and white tiles. However, the cabinets surrounding the island were white with blue tiles.

The next room was the dining room. It was beautiful. It had a crystal chandelier hanging from the center. There were two tall windows opposite the front of the house. Next to the dining room, there was a large family or living room, separated by a staircase. In between the dining room and the living room was a door, leading out to a very large and spacious backyard, with a patio that wrapped around the house and connected to the one in the front. Up the stairs were four bed rooms and three bathrooms; one in the hall and one in each of the large bedrooms, which there were two of.

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I’ve imagined getting married, buying a house and starting a family for years, but I was too afraid of ending up alone. Now I’m standing in a hallway, with my fiancée not too far away, standing in this house that was ours. I couldn’t explain it but I had a feeling like if I were to die tomorrow, I’d die happy.

“Come on, let’s go start packing,” I had almost forgotten he was there.

“This is our place, our home.” I looked at him and he had that same “week in the knees” look in his eyes again. I’ll never get tired of that look.

 

A few days later, we were still moving stuff from apartment to beautiful home, but I decided to take a break and let Danny and his friends have some time to themselves. I called up my best friend who would also be my maid of honor.

“Of course I’ll help you look for dresses!” I have known Audrey since third grade. That’s a hell of a long time to know someone.

So, we went, and looked, and tried on so many dresses. Just as I was about to give up at finding the perfect dress, we walked past a bridal shop called “That’s My Bride”. And in the window was this beautiful, floor length, off-white wedding gown. It was strapless, and even though the wedding wasn’t until December, everything was indoors. It was the dress. It had a baby pink sash around the waist, and the greatest part was it was my size! I couldn’t believe it. It was as perfect as the house Danny bought. When I tried it on, it looked perfect. It made me rethink my whole idea on getting married. Maybe it won’t be as bad as I originally thought.

Once we found my dress, we looked for a maid of honor dress, which wasn’t too hard. We found a beautiful summer dress, made of satin, and it was the same baby pink that the sash was on my gown. The dress was strapless just like mine and went down to her knees. She looked beautiful. It seemed as though everything was coming together perfectly. I couldn’t wait for the day to come when I’d be Mrs. Daniel Sutherland.

 

So the day finally came. It was beautiful – trees were covered in snow and there were the little girls and boys of the bridal party were running around, playing and laughing. My parents were there. Danny’s were there. It couldn’t have been any better.

“It’s perfect,” I told Audrey, “I really can’t believe it.”

“You look beautiful,” she said. “Absolutely beautiful.”

“Nothing can ruin this for me now. I have my wonderful husband, a beautiful home, perfect friends and family. There’s nothing in this world that can turn this day upside down.” I realized that I should have kept my mouth shut.

 

Slowly, like the buzz of a bee, getting louder and louder, we heard a rumble coming from behind the hills. It took us all a while until we realized what they were, but Danny figured out that they were Japanese fighter planes. President Roosevelt had mentioned it was possible that the United States may be brought into the war, but I never believed him. Until now, that is.

We ran inside and turned on the television. On the screen was the most horrible sight I have ever seen. Most of it was black smoke, but every so often we’d see a man or two jump into the water. The naval base, known as Pearl Harbor, had practically been destroyed. President Roosevelt came onscreen to announce the shocking events. “Today is a day which will live in infamy,” he said.

So, now the United States was officially in the War. It was completely unexpected.

 

Danny was drafted, but we were able to get a short honeymoon, at least. He seemed so calm through everything, knowing that he’s getting shipped out, that there was this huge war going on all over the world, yet he was still so serene.

 

 

Chapter 2 – Goodbye Blue Sky

 

One day, about eight months after Danny was shipped to Italy, I received a letter from him. He described the country as being the most beautiful place he’d ever seen. It’s hard to image that a place so beautiful can be just one of the many fighting points of the war. After Italy, he was sent to South East Asia.

 

Dear Louise,

 

I miss you so much, words can't even explain. I hate being away from you. You have the most beautiful blue eyes that I have ever seen, even at night here, when I close my eyes, I can see yours as if they are the stars in the sky. Last night I dreamt that this stupid war never happened and you and I started a family. We had beautiful children – they looked like you.

It’s lonely over here. I have made some friends, but it still doesn’t compare to the moments I shared with you. It seems so long ago that I last saw you.

 

I’ve been sleeping in a trench for the past few weeks. I was in training before that. We’re set up in partners here – one of us sleeps and the other is a look out for snipers, planes, that kind of stuff. Since I’m in an infantry division, we had to trek through mud and heat until we reached our destination. Then the commander had us dig our trench. At first the smell was so bad, our food tasted like the smell of the mud. But now, I can't smell anything.  

 

Ever since I read this letter, I always spray my perfume on the paper that I use to write to Danny. I don’t know if he notices it, but I hope he does.

 

One of the other men, who I’ve become real good friends with, his name is James DeLuca, said that his wife lives just a few miles away from us – or you, rather. All he talks about is her, and from the way he does, I think you’d really like her. Her name is Rosemary. I told James that you’d probably like to talk with her, keep her company. James says she’ll be expecting you.

Well, I hate to cut my letter short, but we’ve got to relocate now. I love you. I can't tell you enough, I love you. If you talk to Rosemary, James is fine. He loves her. I love you. I miss you. I can't wait to be with you again.

 

            Your loving husband,

            Danny

Reviews

[Wildecat]

This is a fantasic write, reminds me of how life was when I was a young man. I do remember Roosevelt. Thanks for the read. Brought back some very pleasant memories.