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ANYONE FOR DINNER Chapter 6
Howie surprised me one more time, by not telling me that the guys had a week off three days after he proposed. He came to see me at work, bringing flowers. I had told everyone that we had gotten engaged, but I hadn't said anything about leaving yet. Howie and I still had to discuss it. I wasn't sure if I wanted to live in Florida and be away from my family, but I couldn't ask Howie to leave his family either. And there was also the matter of where do we have the wedding? "So what are we going to do about the living arrangements?" Howie asked me one night after dinner. "I don't know. I'm not sure if I want to be so far away from my family." I stated. "But you want me to leave my family?" "No, that wouldn't be fair. I don't want to ask you to do that." I said. "So what are we going to do then?" He asked again. I sat down beside him and looked into his eyes, "Why don't we do it this way. We can keep my apartment here, we can buy a house in Florida and live in both places. That way I can be with you and at the same time if I need to see my family, I have my own place to stay." Howie was quiet as he thought about my idea. "That's a perfect idea. This way since you won't be working, you can travel back and forth between the two." I snapped my head up, "What do you
mean since I won't be working?" "I will, but I plan on finding something in Florida. That is where I will be spending most of my time. I am not going to just sit around and do nothing, living off of your money." I explained. "I ... okay. I didn't really mean it that way. But what about when we have kids?" Howie wondered. I smiled at the thought of having children with Howie, "Well that's different. Then I will stay home and allow you to support us. How many are we having anyway?" "Oh I thought, five or six." He replied. "This we are going to have to discuss. Two, maybe three. But no more." I laughed. And that is how things went for the next six months. I made plans for the wedding. We had decided to have it in Florida. Howie was going to foot the bill to fly down any member of my family that I wanted there. There wasn't too many. My parents had divorced when I was young and I hadn't spoken to my father for three years. He wasn't giving me away and there was no one from his side of the family that was invited. Howie had chosen his brother as his best man and had asked Brian, Nick and Kevin to stand up with us. AJ was going to be our emcee. I had asked my sister to be my maid of honor. Carie was going to be one of my bridesmaids. And then Howie had surprised me by asking Tracy and Hanka to come. They both were going to make it so we had a small wedding party. My nephew and Howie's niece would be the ring bearer and flower girl. I had taken some holiday time from work and flew down to Florida to find my wedding dress. I decided that it would be easier to find it down there and keep it there than to find it in Canada and then have to get it to Florida. After a couple of days of searching, I found the perfect dress. Carie had come with me, as had Howie's sister Pollyanna. They both concluded that if it had been any more perfect, I would have had it all my life. The dress was an off-white color, I never believed in the pure white tradition. The sleeves were lace and were full length, ending in a point over the back of my hands. The bodice was lace and satin with little pearls sewn in here and there. The skirt billowed to the floor in lace and satin. Before I could make a complete decision on taking it I had to know how much it cost. I almost fainted right there. "I need to call Howie. He gave me permission to use his credit card, but I can't spend this kind of money without his permission." I said to Carie and Pollyanna as I reached for my cell phone. Howie was with the guys making arrangements for limos and getting tuxes. "Howie here." "Hi honey, how's it going?" I asked. "Great. We got a couple of limos, black ones. I figured we could have three. One for you and me and my brother and your sister. One for the rest of the wedding party and then one for parents." he explained. "Sounds great. What about the tuxes?" "That's where we are now. We are just deciding what kind of jacket we want. Tails, regular, three button, two button." He laughed as he listed off all the possibilities. "Tails. I always dreamed of
marrying a man in tails." I told him. "Actually that is why I am calling. I found a dress. It looks great, Carie and Pollyanna say that it was made for me." I started. "So you are done then? What's up?" "Well, I wanted to check with you first. I know that you said I could have anything I wanted, but I wanted to double check. I thought you may want to know how much I was going to spend before I spent it, in case you changed your mind." I finished. "How much is the dress?" He
inquired. I could tell he was getting impatient, "Just over ten thousand." I whispered. Howie was quiet for a few seconds. I knew that he was going to tell me it was too much. "Howie?" "It is perfect for you huh?" he asked. "That's what they tell me." I replied. Howie sighed heavily, "Well, then I guess you have to get it. I want you to be happy and if that is the dress that does it, then go ahead." "Thank you honey." I said. We talked for a few more minutes and then hung up. I told the sales girl that we were going to take the dress and that it fit perfectly and to wrap it up. Half an hour later we all walked out of the store. The rest of the plans went smoothly. I was able to find dresses for the girls and a cute little flower girl dress. The cake was being made by the best baker in town. I had given my two weeks notice at work and three weeks before the wedding I moved to Florida. Howie and I had bought a beautiful three-bedroom house a month before, when I stepped in the door, I was amazed. Somehow Howie had managed to get everything unpacked and cleaned. The house looked great. I divided my time between making sure that everything was going perfectly with the wedding and trying to find a job. I had been a senior legal assistant at a law firm in Edmonton, there was an abundance of lawyers in Orlando, but I didn't know American law. I talked it over with Howie one night and we decided that I should go to school and take some courses. I decided to look into that once the wedding was over. For now I was going to enjoy an extended holiday. The time quickly approached for the wedding. The rehearsal dinner was perfect. I was beginning to wonder if anything was going to go wrong. Howie and I parted with one last kiss the night before the wedding. It was the last time that I would see him before I walked down the aisle. I was staying with the bridal party and my mother at our house. Howie was staying with Nick, Brian and Kevin at the apartment. When I woke up in the morning I barely had time to get myself together. I had an early appointment for the hairdresser. I had wanted my hair to be in ringlets, and with my hair that was going to take a while. By the time I got back home, it was almost noon. The ceremony was supposed to start at two in the afternoon. Once I got back home, I quickly had something to eat and then had my makeup done. Then the trick was to get into my dress without ruining my hair and makeup. It was a feat, but we managed. Everyone looked great. We had pictures done in the backyard and then we all climbed into the limo. We pulled up to the church just as the guys were walking inside. My heart skipped a beat as I saw Howie all decked out. He looked so handsome, they all did. And that brings me back to the beginning. My mom was going to walk me down the aisle. She appeared and told me that the time had come. I could feel the butterflies in my stomach, fluttering around like crazy. I wasn't nervous, just anxious. I loved Howie with my whole heart and wanted to be with him for the rest of my life. I heard the music start and then I saw the doors open, I could see Howie standing at the alter. It seemed to take forever for my time to come. The attendants closed the doors after my sister walked down the aisle. A couple of seconds passed and then I heard the wedding march, the doors opened and everyone in the church had stood up. It was my turn to walk down the aisle. I held my head up and smiled as I saw Howie. The pattern of how I was supposed to walk was going through my head. Left together, right together, left together, right together. It seemed to take only seconds before I was at the altar beside Howie. I couldn't even hear the minister. I was so focused on Howie. I was amazed that I hadn't started to cry yet. My sister was holding my flowers so that I could hold onto Howie. I was starting to get nervous. We had planned to say a few words to one another and I hoped that I wouldn't forget the words. "Howard Dwaine, do you take Aurora Michelle to be your wife. Through good times, through bad. Through sickness, through health. Through richer or poorer. For better, for worse. For all the days of your lives?" The minister asked Howie. "I do." he replied with a wink at me. "Aurora Michelle, do you take Howard Dwaine to be your husband. Through good times, through bad. Through sickness, through health. Through richer or poorer. For better, for worse. For all the days of your lives?" The minister asked me. I had to swallow back the tears that had finally come, "I do." I whispered. "As I understand it, Howard and Aurora would like to say a few words to one another." The minister turned to Howie first, "Howard." Howie looked up at me and smiled, "Rory, I will never forget the day I met you. When you opened that door for us, my heart fell to my feet. I fell for you at first sight. The last two years I have learned so much about patience and love. You taught me new things about myself that I never knew were there. It has been at times a rough road over the past two years. Wanting to be with you, but knowing that I can't. I am so glad that we are finally going to be together every night. I promise you in front of all these people and God to treat you the way that you were meant to be treated. You mean everything to me and I'm going to spend the rest of my life showing you that. I love you with my whole heart and soul, we were meant to be together. And I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you. I am giving myself to you for all eternity." Howie finished, he raised both of my hands to his lips and kissed them lightly. I took a second to compose myself and looked at Howie, "I don't know if I am going to be able to go through with this and not cry." I laughed. "I love you Howie, with everything that I am. I will admit I had my doubts at the beginning. I wasn't sure if I could have a relationship with someone that I hardly saw. The moment I knew that it was forever, was the first time that I flew out to see you. You guys were playing in Kansas, I had just gotten to the stadium and was watching the rehearsal. You didn't know that I was there. I saw you up on that stage, preparing to shake your booty for thousands of screaming girls and I realized that you were mine. Just as I am doing right now, I had to hold back those tears. It was everything that I had not to run up to that stage. I wanted to cherish that, that was the exact moment that I knew I loved you. Howie, I haven't looked back since. You have become my reason for living. I would be nothing if it wasn't for you being in my life, my life wouldn't be complete. To steal a quote from Tom Cruise, you complete me. I'm giving myself to you completely forever. I love you Howie." I finished and let the tears fall. The minister smiled at us, "Well then I pronounce you husband and wife." He turned to Howie, "You may kiss your bride." "About time." He joked, he pulled me close to him and wrapped his arms around me. Slowly he brought his lips to mine. That was the sweetest kiss I had ever had. Once we parted the minister announced, "Ladies and gentleman, I am pleased to present to you, Mr. and Mrs. Howard Dorough." Everyone clapped as we made our way down the aisle. We waited outside and greeted everyone that had come. Which took longer than I expected, we rushed out to take some pictures and then made our way to the reception. I had decided to go all out and have seafood as a main course. It was my one true indulgence for the wedding. AJ was doing a wonderful job as emcee, he was keeping everyone laughing and making sure that Howie and I actually got to eat our meal. After dinner AJ announced that it was time for the usual speeches that no one ever remembered. To my surprise all the guys got up together. Nick went first, "Well Howie, from the moment you told me that you were falling for Rory, I knew that it was going to be forever. I am happy for you man." Kevin was next, "Howie, congrats man. You are going to be very happy. Now let's get cracking on those kids." Everyone laughed. Brian stepped up for his turn, "Howie, Rory, I wish you all the best. I will admit I wasn't sure that this was going to work, but you proved me wrong. You have nothing but good times ahead of you." AJ was the last one, "Well Howie, I knew that you were going to marry Rory from the moment that you told me about her after that dinner. There was a sparkle in your eye, something that hadn't been there for a long time. You guys are great together. All the best for you." The guys all raised their glasses and toasted us. My sister got up to say a few words and then Howie and I got up together. I went first, "Okay, well first off I want to say, Kevin, can I enjoy my husband for a while before I have the kids?" Kevin shook his head no as we all laughed. "No seriously, Howie and I want to thank everyone for coming. All of my family that flew down for this. It wouldn't have been the same had you not been here." I turned to all the guys, "Brian, Nick, Kevin, AJ. I love you guys. You are all like the brothers that I never had. Over protective at times and big pains in the you know what at others. But I want to thank you for everything that you have done over the last couple of years. Keeping Howie safe when I wasn't there. Keeping me safe when the fans got a little jealous. You guys are the best and I love you." I finished. Howie stepped up to the microphone. "Aurora is right, I have four of the best friends in the whole world. I am so glad that you were here to share this day with me. Brian, you were the one that I could turn to when I wanted to talk about love. You were the one who told me that I was in love with Rory. Thank you for that. Nick, you keep me young. You make sure that I still have fun with my life. For that you will never know how much I appreciate it. Kevin, I know that you hate being called the "Father" of our group, but that is what you are to me. When I was getting too young with Nick you were right there to keep me old. You know just when things need to be serious and when we can have some fun. And finally AJ, you've known me the longest. You know how much I have been waiting for this kind of love. I am glad that you have been with me over the last few years to help me find it and share it with me. I love you guys." Howie finished. Al got back up to the microphone, "I love you too Howie. Okay, enough of this sappy stuff. It is time to party!!!" AJ yelled into the microphone. At that moment the music started and the party began. I made my way around the dance floor with all the guys. I didn't stop from the moment the music started. By the time that Howie dragged me away from the dance floor it was well after three in the morning. He was tired and wanted to get to the hotel. My mom and sister were staying at the house, so we had gotten a hotel room. We were leaving in two days to go to Australia. Howie had planned a three-week trip through Australia. I was so excited. My pen pal of thirteen years hadn't been able to make it for our wedding. This was the first time that we were to meet. Our honeymoon was fantastic. I spent the time with Mel and going around Sydney. We spent an entire day at the Opera House and then Howie surprised me with a scuba-diving trip to the Great Barrier Reef. I was thrilled. By the time that we were supposed to go home I didn't want to leave. I was glad to get home though. It took me a couple of days to get all of our things washed and straightened out, but I got things settled.
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