Seasons In The Sun

Chapter 6: Mark

To know that I can say I love you in any given time or place

A year after I proposed to Nicola, she was still wearing that single ring, and so badly I wanted to set a date, but I knew she didn't want to. I understood. I was away half the time, and she wanted to start our lives together, together. Still, I love her and a year and a month after we got engaged, I've brought it up. I can't believe my luck - she said yes, do I have any ideas when? I told her yes, I'd love to get married sometime between our birthday's. We've decided on the sixth of June. And so, for the next few months, Georgina and Gemma were there constantly, going over preparations, going for dress fittings and fixing appointments to make sure they all looked their best. I thought it was only fair that Nicky be my best man, considering I was his, and Georgina was Nicola's best friend. Secretly, I'd have loved Shane to be my best man, he was the best friend I'd ever had. Nicky saw this and finally said to me, "You want Shane as your best man, don't you?" "No, no" I assured him "Mark..." "Okay yes, he is my best friend, but I was your best man, so-" "It doesn't obligate you to have me as your best man! Go ahead, ask Shane." And so I did. Shane was to be my best man.

With Nicola constantly rushing around trying to get things ready, and just perfect, I didn't get to spent much time alone with her. Whenever we did get a quiet moment it always seemed that Kian interrupted, and then Nicola realised that she had some important thing to check. Two days before the wedding, I instructed Georgina to check all the details, and instructed Nicola that she was to forget all about it. This was a day we were going to spend together. I stumbled out of bed to find Kian and Nicola talking in the living room in hushed, angry tones. When I entered, Nicola beamed at me and embraced me eagerly. "What are we gonna do today sweetheart?" I barely heard her.

I could see Kian's angry face staring at me. I felt a twinge in my instinct telling me ‘something's wrong'. It wasn't the first time I felt that there was something out of place in my perfect life. He got up and left before I could say anything. I spent the day with Nicola, keeping that ugly expression on Kian's face out of my mind, whatever was bugging him wasn't going to wreck my last full day with Nicola as boyfriend and girlfriend. We went walking through the park in Dublin, watching petals from blossoming flowers blowing in the breeze. We walked under some cherry trees and sat down on a bench, picking petals from each others hair. It didn't feel like an ending, only the beginning of something wonderful: the rest of my life.

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Chapter 7

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