Page 98 of Steel & Jenna
The Chief just smiled.
Jenna chuckled, shaking her head. “I want to thank you. After everything with my mom, I just… I feel like Mrs. Zarin was more of a mom to me than my own and after losing her…” Jenna had to blink quickly to dash away her tears. “Well, I’m extremely grateful to you and Mrs. Cunningham.”
The Chief stepped forward. Gently, very father-like, he pressed a kiss to Jenna’s forehead. “I am very blessed to have been on this journey with you and Jack. The two of you gave a lot of people in this town hope. You were the love story they were rooting would beat the odds.”
Jenna blushed, not sure if she believed that. Most people in town didn’t know her, except as her father’s daughter.
Mrs. Cunningham poked her head out the door. “Tim, we’re ready for her.”
Chief Cunningham offered Jenna his arm. “Ready to get married?”
“You know,whenever I have to do one of these courthouse weddings for a young couple such as yourself, it’s usually a much different story. However, I’ve had the pleasure of speaking with your witnesses here today, and a very chatty little girl told me your entire story.
“Jack, Jenna, a pair of used books and an act of kindness might have introduced the two of you, but that’s not enough to make a loving relationship. Before me today, I see a young couple so deeply in love that they were willing to face time, distance, and controversy to continue to be together. To face down the odds with such force that it makes me believe that nothing is beyond your reach so long as the two of you have each other.
“You are an inspiration and it is an honor to bring the two of you together in matrimony. Do you have the rings?”
Jenna opened her mouth to answer ‘no’ but Jack reached inside his jacket pocket and pulled out two gold bands. They weren’t new. Jenna could see they’d been recently cleaned but there was still evidence of wear and tear on the metal. The one was a solid gold band while the smaller one had a diamond ring fitted inside a slitted gold band.
“Jack,” Jenna gasped. “Where did you get those?” Had he bought them with the money her father had tried to bribe him with?
“From the best couple I know. A couple that couldn’t be separated even though one of them is gone.”
Jenna’s eyes flew to Mr. Zarin in his dress uniform behind Jack. His hands were clasped before him. The ring from his left hand was missing.
Her eyes wide, Jenna looked back to the rings on Jack’s palm. “Oh, no, we couldn’t. I mean,” she looked to Mr. Zarin. “Those are… They’re yours.”
Mr. Zarin stepped forward. Much as Chief Cunningham had out in the hallway, he took Jenna’s head gently between his hands and kissed her forehead. “And now they’re yours. She couldn’t be here today to celebrate with the two of you. Now you get to carry her with you always and remember how much she loved you.”
Tears streamed down Jenna’s face. She pulled Mr. Zarin into a hug, her bouquet of lilies that Lilly had insisted she carry pressed into his back. “Thank you,” she said into his uniform.
Mr. Zarin’s lips brushed lightly against her intricate hairdo before he gently moved Jenna backward to her place before the judge.
No one, not even the judge, had been unaffected by the display. Mrs. Cunningham had come prepared with tissues though and started to pass them around.
The judge cleared his throat. “Did the two of you write your own vows?”
“Yes,” Jack and Jenna said together.
“Jack, place the ring on Jenna’s finger and proceed,” he prompted.
Jack handed Jenna Mr. Zarin’s ring in her right hand beforepicking up her left. Mrs. Zarin’s rings fit perfectly. Jenna had to wonder if Jack had had them resized.
As he started to speak, Jenna lifted her gaze to meet his gunmetal-gray eyes. “Nine-hundred and sixty-nine. Do you know what that signifies?” Jenna shook her head. “How many days since we met, which means it’s been nine hundred and sixty-nine days since I fell in love with you. That’s two years, seven months, and twenty-seven days. When we met, I had a different countdown in my head that couldn’t come fast enough and for an entirely different reason. I never thought that I’d be happy to make that number larger, but that’s what you do to me, Jenna. You change my perspective, my outlook, and you make itbetter.
“A part of me can’t believe we’re finally here, Jen. We’ve been counting down for so long that it makes me wonder what the hell we’re supposed to do now.” Jenna laughed softly with him. “I know I’m supposed to be making a vow now that declares my love and devotion to you. But you don’t need those vows. You already have them. You’ve had them for nine-hundred and sixty-nine days.
“So here’s our new number, Jen: zero. There is no countdown, no deadline, no end date. We are forever and eternity. From now on, we only countup.”
Tears flowed down her cheeks like a dam had broken. “Jack…” Jenna sniffled, trying to get her emotions under control. “You jerk, what am I supposed to say that can compete with that?”
Chuckling, he reached forward to help wipe the tears off her cheeks. “There’s no competition, Jenna. Only the knowledge forevermore that my vows kicked your vows’ ass.”
Their audience shared in their laughter.
Jenna grabbed Jack’s hand. Mr. Zarin’s ring fit perfectly on his finger too. It had to have been resized. Mrs. Cunningham stepped forward to take her bouquet and hand Jenna her vows.
“Thank you,” Jenna mouthed to the older woman. Opening the piece of paper, the words blurred before her eyes from her tears. “Damn,” she muttered, hastily wiping at her eyelids.
