Keeping the faith
There before Maria stood her 23-year-old daughter, dressed in an ivory gown of gingham lace with silk ribbon. The exact dress she had worn on her wedding day thirty years ago to the day. Honored that Tara had not only chosen the same day to get married that she and Emery had, but she had also wanted to wear her wedding dress as well.
“Mom, I want to be as happy as you and Dad have been. I don’t know any other couple that I would want to be more like, than you and Dad. You’ve both been through so much, yet you’ve managed to still love and respect each other.”
“Oh sweetie,” Maria choked back tears, “I so want you and Jack to be happy. You have so much to look forward to.”
Tara hugged her mother. “I love him so much Mom. It makes my heart almost burst when I think about becoming his wife. But I’m scared a little too.” Smoothing out her gown she continued. “What if I can’t make him happy? What if he gets board with me or he gets fat and goes bald and we lose that spark we have for one another? What if –“
Maria gently sat Tara down on the velvet bench by the mirror. “Don’t dwell on what might be, or what could happen. Don’t try to second-guess what each other is feeling or thinking. Baby, you need one thing, and one thing only. You need faith; faith in each other. Faith that Jack is gong to be the man you know in your heart he is. Don’t doubt your love. Give it the credence and sureness it deserves.”
Maria wiped a tear from her daughter’s face just as the organ began to play. Looking into her daughter’s eyes she saw a glimpse of the little girl that had been gone for so long, but she felt as if it were just yesterday she heard her giggling with friends, singing songs as she colored. Could that little girl now become a wife and then a mother? She too had to have faith.
“I love you Mamma.”
“I love you too sweetheart.” Maria took her hand as they walked out together towards the men they loved.
