May 21, Monday

Our marriage ceremony at the civil office is moving, though brief and simple. My sons sign as witnesses and we all go out to lunch afterward at a beachfront restaurant. After we get back to the apartment Carlos and Kai head out for a drive to the beaches north of the city. I gave Cirlene a three-day weekend so Michael and I are alone. He pops a champagne cork and we toast our official union.

“So, I don’t have a physical wedding gift for you, but I wrote you a song. It’s called ‘The Moonlight In Your Eyes’.”

I sit back as he tunes his guitar and wish this precious moment would never end.

The moonlight in your eyes

Pulling me out to sea

That’s how you happened to me . . .

The mellow calm of his voice and the feeling behind the words envelop me and I’m transported somewhere beyond time and space. He puts his guitar to the side and I stand and wrap him in my arms, kissing his neck as he nuzzles his face between my breasts. The flames engulf us and we don’t make it back to the bedroom.

Lying on the floor as I come to my senses, I notice a champagne glass on the rug and it strikes me funny. “This marriage thing is messy.”

We lie together on the damp rug laughing, and then in peaceful silence.

“Michael?”

“Yes?”

“I love you.”