THE VOW - PART III

Jerry was, of course, devastated. Thinking for sure that she would reappear over the next weeks and months he kept thinking that he spied her in a crowd or heard her voice across the room. With every door knock he was convinced it would be her on the other side of the door and every time the phone rang he answered with the question, “Mary?” But Mary had thoroughly disappeared. Nobody had seen hide nor hair of her.

Many friends stopped by to console Jerry. Even Mary’s friends would drop in but often made things worse by reminding him, “Well, Mary was different after all.” One girl in particular made it her mission to heal his love sick heart and one day; one long day afterward Jerry realized that he had come to love her. Not in the same way that he loved Mary, but he loved her none-the-less and so asked her to marry him. She gladly accepted and the a year later at the stately Sacred Heart Parish church a wedding was once again staged with twice as many people in attendance (for who knew what might happen this time) and a new priest just for luck.

Nothing out of the ordinary occurred however and the guests were not entirely truthful in their stated relief that the day went about as well as such days can for each of them had been secretly awaiting a new development in the whole drama. So whole wedding day, the honeymoon, and even the settling into their new home went pretty much without a hitch.

Another year passed and Jerry was home alone when the doorbell rang. He felt a familiar tingling sensation in his stomach though he was not sure why. His heart raced. He opened the door and there on the stoop was Mary, (still?) in her wedding gown, still radiant and hopeful looking. Next to her was the priest who was to marry them. “I’m ready now Jerry. I’m ready to say my half of the vows.”

Later he could only imaging how he must have looked; mouth agape, eyes bugged out, arms hanging limply. “B – b – b – but Mary! You left me at the altar.”

“That was the test silly! I warned you it would happen before I said, ‘I do.’ And now I am ready to forsake all and give my love to you fully for the rest of our lives!”

“Oh gee Mary. I don’t know how to . . . you see . . . well gosh Mary, I’m married now.”

“I don’t understand.” She said it though with a wry smile as if she really did understand. “You promised publically to love me, and honor me, in good times and in bad forsaking all others for the rest of your lives. Did you falter in that so quickly?”

“But Mary! What was I supposed to do? I didn’t know!”

“But you said you were sick in love with me. That no matter what you had to have me and I told you that I would say ‘I do’ did I not? Can your true love only last a year and half?”

He opened his mouth but nothing came out.

She laughed. “Don’t worry my sweet Jerry. I knew you wouldn’t wait. You didn’t really love me like you thought you did. You wanted love from me, your new desire is to love your wife. You are going to be happier now than you know as long as you choose to love your wife in good times and bad, sickness and health, all the days of your life. I would have (and did!) eventually disappointed you and your dream would have been ruined, but with her you are building a dream together.” With that she stepped backwards into the yard – really walking this time not just fading away. When she reached the middle of the yard she lifted her hands and as she did so she was transformed into a giant magnolia tree that over the years always seemed to be in blossom. Though people would comment on its beauty nobody ever questioned its blossoms. And on occasion when Jerry was standing out on his front stoop eyeing a pretty young lady passing by a branch might fall from the tree and clunk him on the head at which point he would remember that he was happy, turn back into the house where was his wife and he would love her.

THE VOW - PART DEUX

Jerry heard the words but they seemed not to make sense. He sputtered for a few moments and then, still on his knee and a bit dazed said, “No Mary. You’re wrong! I’m sick in love for you and there’s nothing for it. You are stuck in my heart like an indelible mark. I want you in my life forever Mary. I’ll do anything. Just say that you will be mine or I think I’ll die!”

They stayed mute, staring at each other for what seemed like eternity, the only sound was the rumbling of bowling balls and pins in the back ground. Finally Mary sighed deeply and said, “I’ll tell you what. I’ll say yes under one condition.”

“Whatever it is Mary, I’ll gladly endure it.”

“Oh, I know you believe dearest.” She paused for a few more moments. “Here it is. We will continue from this day forth as if I said yes. But at some point before I say, ‘I do’ I will subject you to a test of your undying love and if you pass, I will choose you and love you for the rest of our lives.”

Jerry positively beamed! He knew quite instinctively that he could pass any test his sweetest could devise and so over the next six months they went about the process of planning their wedding. Every day Jerry would wake and wonder if that day would be the day that Mary would try her test of his love till finally it was days before the wedding ceremony and he had begun to think that perhaps the test had already occurred and he had passed it so easily that he had not even noticed it.

The wedding day was a glorious fall spectacular and even the trees were in their finest form. Not to be outdone the attendees came to the wedding Mass dressed in their Sunday best and packed the beautiful old gothic Sacred Heart Parish church. The magic moment came for the bride to walk down the aisle and the mighty pipe organ, roused from its too long slumber of inept players by the finest organist money could persuade to play for the marriage rites, began the bride’s fanfare. Mary appeared at the end of aisle. Jerry’s breath escaped him and tears filled his eyes. The congregation gasped. As she passed each pew the people’s hearts were moved in love by her beauty. She placed her hand into her intended’s and electricity shot through his body. Everything was a blur to him until it came time to exchange their vows.

They stood holding right hands before the priest in front of the high altar and the priest began, “Do you Jerome Waverly take Mary Malloy as your lawfully wedded wife? Do you promise to be true to her in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, will you love her an honor her all the days of your life?”

With great emotion Jerry responded, “I do!”

The priest then turned to Mary. “Do you . . .”

“Wait,” she interrupted him. Jerry’s heart began to beat wildly. Turning her eyes to the man who had just publically declared his undying love for her she asked, “Do you mean that Jerry?”

“This must be the test!” he thought to himself. So mustering all of his will he definitively declared, “Yes, Mary. Absolutely.”

“In good times and in bad? Sickness and health? All the days of your life no matter what?”

There was a certain amount of trembling in his heart and with just a slightly less assured voice responded, “But of course Mary.”

“Then remember our deal.” And with that she left. Well, she didn’t exactly walk out as much as it seemed she faded away - or perhaps back. In any event she was gone. Oddly enough nobody seemed to think it terribly strange. Mary was, after all, different.

THE VOW

I need a little a break from blogging as I've a lit of work to push through this week so here is something not done here for a very long time. This is a story in three parts that I wrote as a seminarian. It is a little silly but here is PART ONE.

Jerry Waverly met the love of his life in Mary. In fact, everyone loved Mary to one degree or another. That being said It was a strange point of fact that when describing her the first adjective anyone would use was, “different.” Not even would Jerry wax eloquently on her beauty, her intelligence, her honesty, her virtue, or any other of her outstanding qualities but simply state that she was different. Even when asked by his brother over the phone to describe this person that had so thoroughly stolen his heart he found himself saying, “Well, Harry, I guess I would have to say that Mary is, well, different.”

Mary was indeed different and difficult to encapsulate with common descriptions. That would have to be the job of a poet. And though Jerry had the heart of poet he lacked the words. The closest he was able to come was to say that “when she was in the room it was if the sun were shining” and though it seemed short of the mark he was satisfied with his poetical effort. For like the light of the sun there was still something not quite substantial about her. You never really possessed Mary, you enjoyed her light when she was with you and when she left the warmth of her presence stayed with you but if you wanted to somehow hold on to a piece of her it more likely left an achy hole in your heart.

Despite this Harry loved her with all his heart – or so he thought. He did what he could to demonstrate to her his great devotion. Of course he employed all of the traditional means such as sending flowers with love notes, making minor repairs around her humble but charming cottage, and making sure that he always looked and behaved his best whenever he even thought he might see her. There were also the less than usual means of demonstrating love that he tried. When he was painting her parlor he first painted, “Jerry loves Mary” on the wall. And then, fearing that the message needed further clarification quickly added, “and Mary loves Jerry.” Before Mary could see what he had done he quickly painted the wall completely over with the hope that somehow that subliminal message would get through to her and reinforce her love for him.

Soon he grew sick in his adoration of her. Whenever Mary left (it is difficult to say that she ever left, she seemed to just fade away) and the warmth of her visit had dissipated Jerry would mope around droop-should shouldered, unable to eat, unable to sleep, neither satisfied sitting around nor being distracted by activity. The ache in his heart was extreme. “I’m sick in love with her!” he declared to himself. “There’s no helping it. I must have her! I am going to ask her to marry me as soon as I can.”

He had hoped that this decision would somehow assuage his passion for a spell but it only made it grow worse. So one day in a fit of unquenchable passion, quite out of character for him since he was usually given to romantic and picturesque declarations of his love, he fell on one knee at the bowling alley – right on the lane where Mary was picking up her ball! - and presented the ring that he carried around in his pocket just in case something like this would happen and pleaded, “Marry me Mary!”

Mary’s eyes beamed and a beatific smile graced her lips, but there was something wrong. “Oh, Jerry,” said Mary, “I do love you. I love you with all of my heart. I could spend the rest of my life loving you. I would easily choose you among all possible suitors to be the object of my marital love. But even though you do not realize it, you do not love me in that manner. So because I love you so much, I say no, Jerry, I will not marry you.”