Anchor - M. Mabie Page 0,64

saw him and then sped up wanting to go to his daddy.

Then Mr. and Mrs. Warren walked. Blake’s mom was already crying, but her smile proved they were tears of joy. He kissed the top of her head as they took their seats near us.

The gravity of everything began to swim around me. Moments and memories flooded my head.

I don’t know how I’m going to do it, and it might take me the rest of my life, but I’ll see to it that you and that bait of yours catch this fish.

You fill me up with so much happiness and you move me forward. NO, I go where you go. Because that’s where I belong.

I likened it to the moments where right before you die, memories flash through your mind: How beautiful she looked the first time I laid eyes on her. The first time I heard her say my name. The first time I heard her say my name from pleasure.

Her tears, which I’d misinterpreted so many times, had been callouts for me when our situation had looked so bleak. How her body had wept when forced to be separated from mine.

The look of wonder on her face every time she came to climax. The flush of her pink nose.

Seeing her in a hospital bed, confessing she wanted to be my wife.

Every single fucking time she told me she loved me.

When she’d said yes.

At lightning speed, they raced through me.

Then around the corner I saw my youngest sister. Morgan was becoming such an incredible woman. Audrey who looked at the ground, smiling, followed her, but didn’t look up to where we stood. I looked down at the guys and Troy’s face was fixed down as well. He swayed side-to-side, then looked up at her.

She blossomed before she even saw him do it. I watched as she found his eyes and she winked. I’d never paid any attention, but things started to click in my head. Had I missed the change in their friendship? Or, had it quite possibly, already changed?

She looked at me, realizing she’d been caught. She smiled. I‘d be having a talk with her later. I didn’t want her to get hurt. Not that Troy was a bad guy, but he was just so much older. He wasn’t an angel and she deserved one.

But, then again, who was I to judge?

Blake only had three bridesmaids and seeing Micah turn the path that led to us, a rush of excitement hit me like a hot summer’s breeze, snapping me out of my thoughts. Micah blew Cory a kiss as she walked past us and took her spot alongside my sisters.

The air smelled sweet like freshly cut grass and the lights twinkled all around. It was like a movie. Oscar-worthy, in my opinion.

The music stopped. It was so quiet I could hear the frogs bellow along the water’s edge. I wasn’t sure what was happening. Seconds felt like ages, but at the same time it was like my prayers had been heard and time slowed just for me.

A lone violin.

And, ironically, it was the sweetest sound I’d ever heard, the beginning bars to a song that had become more like our anthem.

The violin played. Then another. And then a third.

They walked up the aisle as their bows slid over strings and erased all the agony violins had once caused me. Then it got to the part where the lyrics started. Everyone began singing softly.

“Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.”

My heart swelled with emotion as she turned the corner and stopped. I pinched my lips together tightly, knowing if I didn’t secure them they would shake right off my face.

Fireworks.

The Mona Lisa.

The Sistine Chapel.

The Grand Canyon and all of the other wonders of the world didn’t hold a candle to her. She was effervescent. Breathtaking. Life changing. This was nothing new.

Our families and friends hummed all at once to our Led Zeppelin song and the sound infiltrated my skin. The trio of violins stood just to the side where there was open space.

She was the most magnificent thing I’d ever seen. She wore a long silk gown that almost looked yellow from where I stood, but it could have been the lighting. The front dipped low and was held up only by two thin strings over her shoulders. She wore her anchor next to her heart.

My honeybee. My Betty. My only.

I begged God that I could make her as happy as she made me. Hot love spread through my body and