Once everyone was home, Brie decided to get down to business. There was a wedding to plan and she was tiring of the young couple dragging their heels. “Jeremiah, Jona; come here please”, she called from the living room one afternoon before Hanukkah.
The young couple came down the stairs hand in hand and sat down on the love seat. “Yes, ma’am?” Jeremiah said. The look on his face said that he knew he was in trouble. Little did he know he couldn’t have been further from the truth.
“Have we done something wrong, Mrs. Draiman?” Jona asked.
“Oh, no, Jona dear. Far from it. I just wanted to talk to the two of you about your wedding”, Brie said with a soft smile. “You’ve been engaged for five months now and haven’t started planning anything. I think it’s about time we start getting this whole thing together.”
Jeremiah visibly relaxed. “Oh, thank goodness”, he said with a sigh. “I thought that we were in trouble or something.”
Brie smiled at her son. “Hardly, Alexander. Now, what were the two of you thinking as far as the time of year?”
“I don’t care, Mom”, Jeremiah said.
“Neither really do I”, Jona said.
Brie chuckled softly. “Lovely. Ok, Jona, what do you want in your dress?”
“Just something simple. Strapless, preferably; with a subtle tapering out of the skirt at the waist.”
“I don’t see you with a train on your dress or a really long veil, either.”
“Whatever you think is best, Brie.”
“Who do you want as your bridesmaids?”
“Do you think that your daughters would do it?”
“I’m sure they would. My girls all seem to LOVE weddings. What about the flower girl and ring bearer?”
“Why don’t we just have one of ‘Miah’s nieces or nephews do that. We can make if sort of like a contest to see who’s on their best behavior that way they see getting to be in the wedding as a reward?”
Brie nodded as she pulled out a legal pad and started making notes. “I’m going to take a guess and say that neither of you want something big.”
“You’re right on that one, Mom. Nothing huge. Family and that’s it”, Jeremiah said as he sat back against the love seat and relaxed. He really didn’t care if it was a big event or not. He was just happy to be able to make the angel sitting on his left his until the day one of them died.
“’Miah, honey, why don’t you participate in this a little too?” Jona asked. She and Brie had been discussing the possibilities for the bridesmaids’ dresses and how Jona didn’t want to pick a maid of honor. She didn’t want it to seem like she was picking favorites when she loved them all equally.
“What would you have of me, love?” he asked with a smile on his face. He was just sitting there chilling and relaxing.
“Why don’t you decide when and where to have the wedding?”
“If it’s left up to me, I say outside in the summer. But, it’s not about me that day. I know that.”
“It is our wedding”, Jona said with a smile.
“That it may be, but it’s the day that your father gives you to me to make you my wife. It’s the day that Daddy’s little girl becomes another man’s wife. The wedding is really all about the bride.”
She smiled. “But it’s OUR day.”
“Well, like I said. If left up to me, I’d say outside during the summer.”
“Then outside during the summer it is”, she said as she kissed his cheek. “See? That wasn’t so hard, was it?”
---------------
“Hey Mom!” Jordan called when she walked into the house.
“Kitchen, Jordan”, Brie called back.
Jordan strutted into the kitchen. At 5’7”, that’s all she really could do was strut. “Where’s Dad?”
“He’s secluded himself in his office for the morning. He’s trying to get ahead on that book so that he can dedicate time to recording with you next month, as well as recording one final album and going on tour one last time before Disturbed officially retires.”
“Is he going to come down for lunch anytime soon? I wanted to talk to him about shooting the video for ‘The Animal’.”
She checked her watch. “He’ll be coming down in three, two, one…” and there was the sound of a door opening and closing followed by heavy footsteps coming down the stairs and across the living room floor. “How’s the book coming, baby?” she asked her husband when he walked in the door as she fixed him a glass of iced tea.
“It seems that once I sit down and shut everything and everyone out, I can knock out several pages in the matter of a few hours”, he said as he sat down at the bar for lunch. He took his glasses off and put them on his shirt. “You know, I’m kinda feeling it today”, he said from out of nowhere.
“Feeling what, honey?”
“My age”, he chuckled. “The more I write, the older I start to feel.”
Brie laughed. “Don’t let any of your sons hear you say that.”
“It’s just the recounting of my rather eventful life thus far that’s making me feel so old.”
“You’ll be ok, Daddy”, Jordan said with a smile. “Are you still going to shoot a video for ‘The Animal’ with me?”
He took a sip of his tea. “I said I would, didn’t I?”
“Just wanted to be sure. I have an AWESOME concept in mind for the shoot.”
“Here’s a thought, Jordan. Why don’t you tell me what you have in mind while I eat lunch so that I’ll hear the entire idea out before I start asking my questions?”
“Ok, Daddy. I’ll wait on Mom to give you your lunch so that I can talk.” Once Brie had set David’s plate in front of him and he’d started eating, Jordan started talking. “Ok, Dad. Here’s the idea I had, and if you think I’ve lost my mind say so. The idea I had was you’re the more seasoned ‘hunter’ and you take us young pups out into the woods to show us the ropes. You know; show us how it’s supposed to be done. What do you think?”
David swallowed the bite of his lunch he was eating. “I think you’ve lost your mind”, he said quaintly. “Do you honestly think I want to chase four grown asses around in the woods on my own; let alone AT ALL?”
“Daddy, it would be fun, and you wouldn’t have to do a lot. I promise.”
He gave his daughter a look of skepticism. “You’re out of what’s left of your mind, Jordan Hannah.”
“Do you have a better idea?”
“Yeah… feature your Uncles as well.”
“You mean, have ALL of Disturbed in the video?”
“Yes. Each member of Disturbed with the member of Reckless Disregard that does what they do. The rest is negligible.”
Jordan leaned forward and rested her elbows on the counter. “There’s a thought”, she said.
“Get your elbows off of the counter top while I’m eating. You have better manners than that, Jordan Hannah.”
“Oops, sorry, Dad.” She moved to rest her forearms against the edge of the counter. “That’s a really good idea, actually. Can you give me some time to run it past the guys before I say yes or no?”
“You have until we actually shoot the video to decide, Jordan. There’s no rush.” He took another bite of his lunch. Once his mouth was empty, he asked his next question. “Did you have an idea of how you wanted to break this down? Who’s going to sing what part?”
“Well, for ‘Darkness’, I was thinking that you should do the first verse, I’ll sing the second verse and we can sing the third verse together and I’ll sing harmony. For ‘The Animal’, I want the first verse; you do the second verse, the bridge- we’ll break down somehow. We can discuss that in the studio if you want.”
He nodded. “You’ve really thought this out, haven’t you?”
“Oh, yeah. I’ve wanted to do this for twelve, almost thirteen years, now. You had better believe that I’ve thought this through.”
---------------
“I’ve found a lot of really nice property in the Holy Land that I want us to look at here soon, baby”, David said as he helped clean up the kitchen after dinner.
“Really?” she asked. “Where at?”
“There are a few places in and around Jerusalem that looked really nice. I think we ought to go out to Jerusalem sometime soon and take a look at them.”
She smiled. “We could go around your birthday for a week or so. Hell, we could even expand that into a month long trip.”
“I could take you diving in the Red Sea this trip too.”
“That sounds like it would be a lot of fun”, she smiled.
“So, do we want to make arrangements to do it this coming March?”
“I wouldn’t have suggested it if I didn’t want to do it then. It will be nice to celebrate your birthday just the two of us.”
“Do you have plans of some sort that I don’t know about?”
“Not at the moment, but I’m sure that can be arranged.”
He laughed and shook his head as he wrapped his arms around her waist. “You’re too much sometimes. What am I supposed to do with you?”
“Love me, protect me, spoil me, and let me do all those things for you”, she said with a smile as her arms wrapped around his neck.
“How are you so perfect for me?”
“I know you. How are you so perfect for me?”
“Luck”, he said with a laugh as he kissed her. “Sheer luck.”
---------------
“Mom and Dad are so fucking cute together”, Delilah said with a laugh. “They’ve been together for nearly thirty years and they’re still so in love.” She flopped down on the couch next to Jake. “Do you think we’ll still be as in love as we are now when we’re their ages?” She sighed wistfully.
“No”, Jake said simply. When Delilah looked at him like she was about to start bawling, he smiled. “I think we’re going to be even more in love than we are right now. I’m more in love with you now than I was when I married you and I’m sure I’ll be more in love with you this time next year than I am right this moment.”
She smiled up at him from where her head rested on his shoulder. “That had better be your answer, Mister.” She pressed her lips to his cheek. “I love you so much, Jacob. More than life itself.”
“And I love you the same, Delilah. Nothing will ever change that. Not even the event of one of our deaths.”
“You know, I had a weird thought the other day after an appointment. I wonder if Mom and Dad are going to do together. They do everything else that’s important together. I wonder if they’re going to make their trip to the other side together.”
“That’s really fucking morbid, Delilah, my dear”, Jake said with a surprised chuckle. “But, to be totally honest, I’ve wondered the same thing on several occasions.”
“So, I’m not the only one of us that’s been morbid.”
“Oh, I can guarantee you that you’re far from being the only one in the family that’s morbid. We’ve all thought it on occasion.”
“That’s really fucked up.”
“Well, when your parents are perfect as perfect for each other as mine are, it makes you wonder if one would be able to live without the other. I’m just the only one amongst my siblings that’s got the balls to admit it.”
It wasn’t often that Jacob managed to render Delilah speechless; but this was one of those times that it happened and there was nothing that could have been done about it.
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