Jesse Teller

I woke up at about one and she hit me right away.

“I want all the bridesmaids to wear white!” Bekah said.

I sat up. This was my favorite way to wake up. She had started doing this almost instantly when we had gotten engaged but as we got closer to time it picked up speed.

“No one wears white except the bride,” I grunted. This waking up thing was not easy. “How am I wrong?”

“Well I have been doing the research we talked about. And I found something out today. Used to be that the people were afraid that an evil spirit would come and curse the bride so they had all of her closest friends and relatives dress up the same as her so the evil spirit would not know who to curse,” Bekah said. “I am thinking we let all of the bridesmaids wear white.”

“No evil spirits,” I said as she handed me coffee and a plate of biscuits and gravy. “Wedding dresses?”

“Well I don’t know really, I guess not wedding dresses.”

“What if they all wore a different dress but they were all white?” I said.

“Oh my God, that is amazing!” she said. “We will let them all pick out their own dress but they have to be white.”

“Right.”

“We need a unifying piece though. Something they can wear to unify them all,” she said. It did not take her long to figure it out. “How about that scarf I loved so much. The white silk one? What if I bought one for each girl and they had to somehow incorporate the scarf into their ensemble?”

I stabbed biscuit and pointed. “I love it.”

Like this we were putting together the most unique wedding anyone would see.

The groomsmen were traditionally guards. The groom had gone to a nearby village to steal a bride. Taken her away with a bag over her head back to his tribe and they were married. The groom had a group of armed friends and family with him for if the bride’s tribe came back to get her.

So, we treated my groomsmen like knights and guards for the wedding. They were all told that if any of my family showed up, especially Rose or Grasp that they were to escort them out using force if necessary. They were told to keep order at the wedding if things got out of hand. And they were armed.

I bought each and every one of my groomsmen a sword. One sword that was uniquely chosen based on their personality and heritage. Swords that would reflect their life and their soul. Each sword was battle quality and each sword was paid for by me. We did not ask her parents for this. This was us. It cost a fortune but each groomsman would walk away with a real sword as their gift for standing up for me.

Robert asked if he could have a tomahawk and carry his grandfather’s knife. He wanted a Native American sash to stick the weapons into and we got it for him.

My groomsmen were Burg, Bell, Job, Robert, and D as my best man. They had each won a spot beside me by devotion and longevity. Each was a man I could count on and they were all honored to be there.

We decided on the Lynch family lake house as the spot for our wedding. We would be married out on the point under some trees and surrounded by loved ones.

I wanted to be standing on a piece of rock when I said my vows, not grass, so we bought a huge piece of stone at a lawn and garden place and had it hauled out to the spot we wanted for it.

We found a resort not far from the lake house and went to them to see their package for weddings. We fell in love instantly.

They had a room called the Crystal Ballroom and it lived up to its name. It was huge and they promised a dance floor, a stage and a head table set up on a riser over the entire crowd. They had a package where if we paid for the meal they would throw in the ballroom, the chairs, all the decor and they would set it all up for us. The meal was expensive but not considering what they were willing to do. It all hinged on one thing though.

I looked at the wedding planner and I said, “My groomsmen will be carrying swords. We want to make our entrance and walk to a weapon stand that we will bring with us, unsheathe our swords and place them on the stand. We want the swords displayed so that people can look at them. This is a deal breaker for us.”

“We can do that. We will set up a riser for them and stairs to the weapon stand. Everyone can walk up, place their swords and move on,” the man said.

“This is the most important part of this. Under no circumstances can anyone touch any of the swords. They are to be touched by the men that carry them only. And they cannot be taken out of the room.”

All was agreed upon.

We decided on a DJ and karaoke option.

We had ribeye steaks.

We had champagne and a pay bar.

We got a free room in a suite at the resort with our package.

And Hymnal and Vigil paid for everything without a moment of hesitation. After Bekah had said her peace about our beliefs being different than theirs, they had stopped in all ways trying to direct us or stop us. Not another word was said in opposition to us. They happily paid for all of it without complaint.

See this is where they made their change. This is where things turned. They stopped trying to get involved and just stood back. They started watching and stopped trying to say one way or the other how things would be or how they would go.

I’m not sure they believed in me yet. We cannot say because they said nothing else at all negative. It would be years before they vocalized their opinion but for now Bekah and I were set free.

We were the masters of our own fate.

And things were looking so perfect.

The rehearsal dinner was put on by us with heavy help from her family.

The basement of the lake house was huge and had been used as a catch-all for years. It was not open to the family at all. One weekend at least a dozen family members showed up and together they pulled out, sorted through, and carried away all of the things that had accumulated over the years.

One of her uncles had bought twelve gallons of bleach and he was intent on using every drop. When we had made one mop water and mopped a good section of the floor, he poured it out and made another. The whole place reeked of bleach and everyone got watering eyes but after a while with the doors left open the place aired out.

We bought the food for the rehearsal dinner and her aunt and uncle prepared a meal for about a hundred people.

When we ran through the wedding to let everyone know exactly what the next day would look like, the guys all carried practice weapons. I had bought bokkens for most of the men to stand in for their swords. I had bought a Native American club for Robert and I carried an ornate practice Chinese long sword. We ran through everything and when we did, Bekah and I stood on our newly purchased rock.

It snapped right down the middle. But her great uncle is a badass and he was able to dig enough of a hole and place the two rocks close enough together to fix the whole situation.

D had prepared a night of Dungeons and Dragons and I ran a tournament game. Before we get to that let’s talk snacks. D and his love of me is wrapped up in this moment right here.

Before we went to his lake house to have our party, we stopped at a grocery store. I pushed the cart and guys just threw stuff in. Soda, candy, Pizza Rolls and more Pizza Rolls. We bought cookies and I think a cake. We bought an entire cart full of crap that we were never going to eat and D paid for it all without complaint. He would not hear of anyone else dropping even a dime to help.

When we got to his house, we found a note on the table.

D,

We stocked for the party. Check the freezer and the cabinets. Good luck with the game.
Jesse, we can’t wait to see you tomorrow.

Love,
D’s Mother

We had far too much to ever eat. Every cabinet was stuffed with something. There was no room for a credit card to be slid into the cracks of the stacks of snacks.

See at his heart D is the most generous person I have ever met. He loves providing for people and he prides himself on being the perfect host. He is also one of my best friends and will be for life.

Now back to the game.

All of the groomsmen’s favorite characters over the years would battle it out in an arena for the top spot as the most powerful character ever run at any of my games.

I was not happy with the outcome. I thought that Barric should have won. But because of a rule that was a little unfair and a bit of a technicality, he was knocked out quickly.

Burg, in my eyes Barric was the most devastating warrior there that day. That is why I put him in this book.

But to be honest I put almost all of them in one book or the other.

When the game was over at about two in the morning, I climbed into bed to try to sleep. I failed miserably. I wanted to call Bekah just to hear her voice and tell her that I missed her. But this was her last day without me as her husband, I would not step on it.

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This chapter is from Reality of the Unreal Mind, Vol. 2: Normal Street.

Vol. 1: Teardrop Road is available now on Amazon.