Jim’s phone rang as he kicked the soccer ball around with his nephew. He chuckled a little when he had asked him to come play with him and looked around to make sure Phyllis wasn’t anywhere in sight before he said yes. He had been nervous and anxious all morning so he figured kicking the ball around for a few minutes might help him take his mind of what was about to happen. He wasn’t so much nervous to get married as he was that he was going to screw things up again. At least today, he’d just have to repeat what the minister told him. That shouldn’t be too hard, right? He thought he’d ruined it last night when he told the entire Passion Package Room that he and Pam were going to have a baby. Pam was upset but got over it pretty quickly when Michael, of all people, had fixed things with MeeMaw.
“Hey!” Jim said, when he flipped open his phone and saw “Wife” displayed on the screen. Pam had changed it in his phone on their drive up to Niagara. I think the next time I call you, we’ll be married! She had said.
“Can you come here please?” She asked him.
Jim smiled. “Is this allowed?”
Pam sniffed into the phone. “No…no but I’m allowing it. Just come here.”
Jim’s smile faded when he realized that she was really upset. Was she crying? She did certainly get emotional more these days, but something must be really wrong if she was breaking the first cardinal rule of the wedding day. She had been so adamant about Jim not seeing her before she walked down the aisle. They had gone to lunch with her mom several months ago and were talking about the wedding photos. It will save a lot of time if you just do the photos before the wedding starts and all the guests get there, Mrs. Beesly had said. Jim had been surprised by Pam’s reaction. No! She had said, almost yelling. I don’t want Jim to see me until I’m walking down the aisle. At least that’s one thing we can do right. She patted her belly as she said it.
Pam sat down on the piano bench in the church’s storage room. It was littered with chairs and stray toys from the nursery but she didn’t care. She just needed to get away from her mom. She knew that this divorce was hard on her but this was her wedding day. And her mom should have put that all aside for her daughter. That wasn’t selfish, right? Oh who cares, she had enough going through her mind without having to worry about comforting her mom. Right now, she felt like she was on the verge of an emotional breakdown and the only person she wanted to see was her best friend. And he was the one person she wasn’t supposed to see. But she didn’t care. That’s why they were getting married right? Because in times like this, they would be there to lean on each other.
“Hey,” Pam said, sadly, when Jim walked into the room. This was definitely not how she wanted him to see her in her wedding dress for the first time.
“Wow, you look….” He stopped but he just couldn’t seem to find the right word. She took his breath away.
“Terrible,” she finished for him. At least that’s how she felt.
“So beautiful,” he corrected. When her eyes began to fill with tears, he pulled up a chair and sat down facing her. He didn’t know what she was so upset about but he did know that she had been feeling very self conscious lately. She was gaining weight, which was obviously normal, but no matter how Jim tried to reassure her, she was worried that he would find her repulsive. “Hey…”
“My veil tore,” she said, pulling the thin fabric through her fingers. “I knew when we were getting married and I was five months pregnant that I’m not going to be able to wear the dress I always wanted. Or high heels.”
Jim took her hand in his. “Hey,” he said. “You look just as I imagined you. Pam, you’re so pretty.” He couldn’t take his eyes off of her.
“Ugh,” she sighed and then said, “Thank you.”
“And who cares. It’s a stupid veil. Right?” And it was just a stupid veil, but she was five months pregnant. And it was her wedding day. And between the drama with Andy and spending the first night apart with Jim since she got back from art school, she had gotten minimal sleep.
No,” she cried. “This is the one thing I was supposed to be able to control was this veil.”
Jim saw a pair of scissors and knew he had to fix this. He lifted up his tie and sliced straight through the middle.
“There,” he said, as Pam looked on in amazement. “Now we’re even.”
And this is why she was marrying him. A few tears slid down her cheeks and she took a “mental picture” of her very soon to be husband. Jim gently took her chin in his hand and kissed his bride.
“Everyone’s driving me crazy,” she sighed. “I know way too much about Andy’s scrotum. And my mom won’t stop freaking out about my dad’s new girlfriend. Ugh… this was supposed to be our wedding day. Why did we invite all these people?”
Jim took her hand in his again, and looked up at her. “I just want this to all be over,” she continued. “I just want to be your wife.”
Jim reached into this pocket and pulled out two small piece of paper.
“What’s this?” she asked, when he handed them to her.
“Tickets. To The Maid of the Mist. I was going to take you there tonight. They light it up really pretty at night and I thought it would be a perfect end to the perfect day.” Pam shook her head in amazement and smiled. “But let’s use them now,” he said. “Let’s go do what we wanted to do in Youngstown. Let’s get married. Just you and me.”
“What about all these people?” Pam asked
“They’ll wait,” he said. “But when we come back, we’ll already be married. And we’ll get married again in front of everyone but it will be our little secret.”
Pam cupped her face in his. “Why are you so amazing?” She said.
Jim chuckled. “I’m not that amazing,” he said.
Pam brought his face to hers and kissed him. “You are,” she said.
Jim stood up and pulled her up with him. “So,” he said, holding out his hand. “Do you want to marry me twice today?”
Pam put her hand in his and they headed out the door. “Absolutely I do,” she answered.
Story Notes:
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended
Author's Chapter Notes:
Just a little something to get us going... (TWSS!)
Chapter End Notes:
A "Maid of the Mist" chapter coming soon....
