Saturday Evening

"You're Catholic," she said in disbelief.

"Uh, yeah! It's not just micks and dagos in the mother church, there's a few Yoopers too... what's so funny?"

"I haven't been called a dago since I was twelve," said Maria who was now laughing hard but working harder to hold it back and was losing the fight.

"I was going to use mackerel snapper but I thought was a bit dated."

"I never heard that one."

"It's what they used to call Catholics. I'll get Father Ewen over here day after tomorrow, can you get a gown in time?

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Steve's estimate was a bit optimistic; it took two weeks for Steve's priest to prepare for the wedding. Father Ewen MacCailein came over to the address Steve gave him, and he brought a deacon as a witness at Steve's breathless request. Father Ewen doesn't like to do last minute weddings, there's formalities in the Catholic church like the Pre-Cannan Conference, a series of meetings with the priest, but when a war hero asks, former USMC chaplain Ewen MacCailein responds ASAP. With him he had all the forms that needed to be signed to make their wedding legal for the state of Florida. To make it a binding marriage in the church will take some effort after their honeymoon.

"Where is my couple?" asked Father Ewen with just a hint of a Scottish accent.

"This is me," said Steve. "My bride is still in hiding." He was wearing the only suit he owned, his Army dress uniform. When he put it on he was shocked, he was expecting it to be small but it was large on him. He was bigger when he wore it last, more muscular. He's lost body mass since then; he hasn't lifted weights seriously since before his last deployment that ended his service.

Just then his bride came out of the bedroom along with her home healthcare nurse Darlene. Maria was wearing an ivory colored dressing gown that did little to hide those magnificent breasts of hers. Darlene was wearing a pale blue dress that she was still tugging into place. Steve will never remember Darlene's dress because he only had eyes for Maria. She had threatened to put her hair up but she knew how Steve loved her long flowing coal black locks.

As for Maria, Steve was doing introductions but she didn't hear a one. She knew that Steve was in the Army but she didn't pay too much attention, he never told her any "war stories" and she remembers him talking about OTS once which sounded like basic training on steroids. When they talked about their past he mostly talked about his youth in the forests and fields of the Yoo Pee. Now he looked like Audi Murphy, covered in ribbons and badges. She glanced again at the engagement ring he got her last week it cost far too much and she was sure he wiped out his savings account for it but he answered her complaints with "you are everything to me and that ring symbolizes that sentiment even more now."

She touched the ribbons and badges then asked Darlene to take pictures of them together, then she whispered, "there's a suit for you in Nadia's bedroom."

"You don't like my uniform?"

"That's a little out of date for us."

Steve nodded and agreed with her, "but if the suit is ugly I'm going to wear this," which made Maria laugh. This truly is the man she will spend the rest of her life with... suddenly her heart leapt with joy at that thought.

"Honey, Father Ewen asked you a question," Steve's soft voice burst through her dazed mind.

"Oh! I'm sorry Father, I was... brides nerves... I just..."

"That's all right, it happens to more brides than you could believe, even widows. I asked where your usual parish is and who do you feel most comfortable with for confession."

"Oh, Sacred Heart, I see Father Sarducci."

Father Ewen smiled. Steve had told him he was marrying a woman from New York City, her saying she went to Sacred Heart proved she was from New York, Sacred Heart attracts many replants from the Big Apple, especially the Italian American community so Father Sarducci was a good pastor for them. And Father Ewen didn't appear to be startled at Maria's age; she could be eighty five, Steve clearly was madly in love with her and both appeared to be in sound mind. "Are you ready for confession?" Maria nervously looked at Steve and Darlene, then Father Ewen said, "Darlene, could you wait outside?"

As Darlene stepped out to the patio Maria asked, "What about Steve?" Father Ewen give Steve a scolding look and Steve shrugged and followed Darlene out to the patio. There they met Father Ewen's Deacon Alfeo Gronchi.

"Sorry, but we're not going to need you as a witness," said Steve to Alfeo. "We have Darlene and we want this tiny,"

"Any reason for that?" asked Alfeo.

"Maria and I both have family and we will be buried under a barrage of demands that start with "Why wasn't I invited?" so nobody is being invited. We will send out pictures and answer their questions in person."

"Who is your photographer?"

"Darlene said she would take pictures."

"How is she going to take pictures if she's in the ceremony?" asked Alfeo. When Steve looked embarrassed Alfeo said, "I'll take pictures for you and send you both the pictures."

"Cool, thanks!"

Finally, Father Ewen came out to the patio and said, Steve, are you ready?"

"Let's do it padre, where's Maria?"

"She's waiting in the bedroom, Darlene, could you join her? And we'll start right after you're finished."

Steve followed Father Ewen into the living room where Father Ewen sat in a chair and near him was a pillow to kneel on, the traditional Catholic posture for confession. Instead, Steve took a chair from the dining room and placed it facing Father Ewen and sat. Making the sign of the cross Steve started, "Forgive me father for I have sinned, it has been..." Steve rolled his eyes and thought, "it's been way too long since my last confession..."

"It's been about eight months, my son," said Father Ewen.

Steve rolled his eyes and thought back. "I guess you're right. There's been a lot of sins I missed in previous confessions, either I forgot, or most likely I was afraid to say them out loud. Just about any sin you can commit with a mouse and a keyboard I have committed... my excuse has always been loneliness but that's a lie too..."

"I'm not here to judge my son, that's God's job we've been through this, have we not?" Steve and Father Ewen had famous discussions on the teaching of the church compared to the teaching of the bible. "To save time, why don't you think of me as a buddy and you're telling me of what is on your heart and we'll let God deal with the sins."

"Well, that's how I've always approached confession Father. We both know that confession is about being forgiven and not about being judged."

"It's also about forgiving yourself my son. Let's proceed, start with what lays heaviest on your heart and we'll go from there."

Steve nodded and cleared his throat. "Well... I've murdered several men..."

Father Ewen listened to Steve's confession praying that he hid his horror at the sins he heard as Steve continued. He was such a nice guy; how could someone have carried this on his heart for so long? His response was always the same as it is for so many other emotionally shattered soldiers, "it was a war my son, sometimes we are ordered to do things that go against our teaching Steven..."

"Yes father but I was a medic and I was ordered to treat our prisoners, these were guys who murdered noncombatants, raped then murdered homosexuals, I took over for God and removed them from the gene pool... and my full name isn't Steven, it's Stephaton."

"Stephaton?" Father Ewen asked, "you were named for the bystander who offered crucified Christ a sponge filled with vinegar to pacify his thirst?"

"It wasn't vinegar!" Steve nearly shouted. "It was wine. Water wasn't drank and the only wine available was a cheap wine, everyone drank it, it was bitter but the water there was poison, the Jordan was a urinal for every sheep and goat and human being in Palestine." Suddenly Steve was quiet. He slid out of the chair and his knees hit the pillow. "For that one act of kindness, for giving a drink to a dying man, Stephaton was beaten, expelled from the legion, and left in the desert to die."

Father Ewen wanted to raise his voice at the young man, they've had theological discussions in the past that got heated, but both enjoyed the chance to flex their mental muscles, but this wasn't an argument, it sounded like he was recalling a past injury, what is going on in his mind? He reached forward not knowing that Maria hasn't revealed her past to her future husband and gently placed his hand on the back of Steve's bowed head. "It's ok son, that battle is long over, your fight is done." To Father Ewen's shock Steve burst into tears of relief.

From her bedroom Maria heard Steve weeping for the deaths he caused but not hearing the full conversation, all she knew was that her future husband was in moral agony. She had her hand on the doorknob and was ready to burst through the door and end the whole ceremony, declaring to the world that Steve was hers and pull him into her bedroom. "You had your say with Father Ewen in private, let them finish," scolded Darlene.

Maria took a deep, shaking breath and then let it out slowly. "How did you get so smart so fast?" Maria asked Darlene, who was ten years younger than she was.

Darlene shrugged and said, "I just followed your example... and did the opposite."

"I have no idea why I keep you," Maria said to her friend who has been her nurse since she was hit by a car a decade ago.

"You keep me because Domonic Calvetta hired me to keep you alive."

Father Ewen looked at the 32 year young man who was blowing his nose and working his way back into his seat and slowly shook his head. Maria was thirty years older than her groom; they were both in ruinous physical condition but both were made for each other. How did these two find each other? When they stand before the throne of judgement they will know thanks to these long, soul purging confessions that they were cleansed of their sins... but what about Father Ewen who consumed their sins?

Once their guilt purging confessions were over and the couple waited for the sacrament of matrimony, Father Ewen excused himself, retired to the bathroom, and locked himself in. There he fell to his knees and wept for all the lives that were extinguished by those two, then prayed that the horrors that Maria and Steve had kept secret, locked away in their hearts where those horrors rotted their souls were fully purged from that couple, then would be purged from his.

Ewen emerged from the bathroom wearing a simple white cassock (robe) with a three inch wide red cincture emblazoned with gold crosses. He could have worn his most "Fancy robes" (as Steve said Maria wanted) but he never wore the chasuble for weddings, that would detract the viewers eye from the bride. "Shall we begin?" he asked as he saw that Steve had put on a black tuxedo with silver waist coat.

The moment Steve saw Maria emerging from her bedroom in a peach lace floor length gown he tried to etch that vision permanently into his memory. Even the plunging neckline that amply displayed her beautiful cleavage did not distract Steve from bathing in the joy in her sparkling eyes. The only other thing he noticed was that she was walking without crutches. Her gait was slow and jerky, Darlene was there to catch her if needed, and Maria was fighting for balance the whole way but she made it to Steve's side.

"Where are your crutches?" Steve asked.

"You are my crutches now," she whispered.

"Let's get started," said Father Ewen, the emotions of her statement were getting to him too. Before either of them knew it Father Ewen was saying "I now pronounce you man and wife" It was a short kiss but the most meaningful either had ever had.

"You two look marvelous together," said Father Ewen as he folded up the cincture and zipped up his robes in a garment bag. "Where are you off to now?"

"We have the camper packed up for a camping trip, but first a short cruise," said Steve, as he held his bride tightly.

"He took two weeks off and we're not going to waste them here," said Maria, her eyes never leaving her young groom. "A week in the Bahamas then we're going up to West Virginia and explore some civil war parks."

"That sounds marvelous but what if your MS hits?" demanded Darlene.

"That's the nice thing about yachts and camping, if you want you can spend the whole time relaxing." Steve gave Maria a little kiss. "We do too much, sometimes we should just put our feet up and read a book."

Two hours later they were at the courthouse dropping off their signed marriage documents, then each received a State of Florida marriage license. She was now wearing the simplified version of her wedding gown and Steve was still wearing his tuxedo.

"When do I have to have this back?" said Steve who was starting to worry. They were heading for their chartered yacht to whisk them off on their honeymoon and he was still wearing his tux.

"Take what back?"

"This tux, when does it have to go back?"

"Honey, it's yours. We can take it back for alterations after we get back."

"It's mine?" The concept of owning a tuxedo never occurred to him.

"I made sure we can expand it," she said and she patted his flat belly. "I intend to fatten you up. There's no such thing as a skinny husband who claims that his Italian wife can cook."

"I can't afford a tuxedo!"

"I, I, I," she scoffed. "What did father Ewen say? There is no I, it's now WEEEE!" and she rigorously rubbed his belly.

"OK! I'm a potential fat guy with a tuxedo," but she wouldn't stop teasing him until he kissed her at the next traffic light.

Their honeymoon cruise was on a luxury private yacht and for a week they cruised the waters of the Caribbean stopping at tourist resorts and Nici Arcadia, a wonderful private island where they could sail and splash on private beaches to their heart's content. The island was owned by a fellow that Maria knew quite well, he owned an air transport company and his wife was a judge that Maria also knew.

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Both Steve and Maria had their phones turned off for the week, and when they got back their phones chimed all the way back to Vero Beach with messages and emails and for Steve, photos from the wedding. They got home at the time they promised even though it required a speed run up I95 which they both hate. They pulled into the driveway exactly at 11:00 AM and Maria's nurse Darlene pulled in next to them and helped haul luggage and souvenirs into the house... their house. Steve and Maria were exhausted, but so much in love. "How did the wedding pictures come out?" she asked.

"Don't know, we just got them," said Steve as he sat down on the couch next to Maria. Then he noticed she was pale and sweating, he pressed a palm to her forehead as one would do to a sick child, her skin was cold and clammy. "Oh darling, is it happening?"

"Oh shit," she groaned. "Well, at least we had a week together without MS interrupting us." She smiled through the onset of mind warping and body paralyzing exhaustion, she even got to go fishing and caught a sailfish, it was undersized but it was a sail fish and the fight was exhilarating. Years of walking with crutches made her arms strong enough to easily win the fight with that fish. "Is it ok if we don't go on that campout?"

"It's fine," said Steve. "I can move the camper back over to the pool and we can camp there."

"You sure you don't mind? I'm so sorry..."

"It's ok... it truly is." Maria's sorrowful look showed Steve she didn't believe him so he gave her a kiss and said, "There's always time for us, and if you feel better in a while we'll go up to Sebastian and you can show off your new husband to Sally Ann and Kent."

Darlene took Maria's blood pressure then sat down on the other side of her. Sometimes snuggling is despised by MS sufferers but on rare occasions it's appreciated and luckily this was one of those times. "Let's see those pictures, I want to see how fat I look," said Darlene.

"Here's the one with all of us and Father Ewen," said Steve as he handed his phone to Darlene.

"I look so fat," groaned an average sized Darlene, "but your phone takes great pictures."

Steve showed the picture to a slowly sinking Maria. "That wasn't my phone, the deacon used his phone and sent them to me, my phone has been shut off since before the wedding."

"What was the deacon's name? We should send him a thank you card," said Maria.

"He's a New Yorker like you too, his name was..." Steve thought hard for the guy's name, so much has happened this week! New Yorker... starts with A... his mind spun as he tried to remember. "Weird guy said he was from Honkers so I thought he was a goose hunter..."

Darlene and Maria both started laughing, "Not Honkers, YONKERS!"

"Yeah, he said the same thing, I like my version better... Alfredo! That was it, he was named after unhappy noodles. Alfredo Grouchy." Steve looked proud of himself that he was able to get a name he only heard once right.

Both women went silent, finally Maria said softly, "do you mean Alfeo Gronchi?"

"Yeah that's him. I like my version better."

Oh Steve, that deacon just signed our death warrant... I think I can save you... "Honey? Can you carry me to bed?"

"You must be feeling bad," said Steve sadly as he carefully scooped her up from the couch.

"I am." Oh God how could this have happened? Shit, shit, shit! "I can't even move my legs!" She started jerking in his arms and he nearly dropped her. "Nadia! I need Nadia!"

Darlene pulled back the covers of their marriage bed and Steve laid her down carefully. He was so concerned for Darlene that he didn't notice that this was the first time he's ever been in her bedroom. "Please," she begged, "If you love me you'll get Nadia for me."

"She has your car; can't she drive it?"

"She wrecked it yesterday," sighed Darlene and showed Steve a picture on her phone. He took a look at the small blurry picture and recognized that type of damage. He's seen it in the streets of Afghanistan, and Iraq, and Lebanon.

"Someone tried to kill my stepdaughter," he growled. He did feel a twinge of pain over this. Nadia is his daughter now, his responsibility.

"What? No," said Maria, then she switched to a tone of voice that she prayed Steve understood. "It was an accident darling, that's all it was." She couldn't stop lying to him, she knew he would find out about her past eventually, but she wanted her dreamworld to go on.

Steve wanted to argue, he knew bomb damage when he saw it, but Maria continued to insist it was an accident. He didn't marry her because she's stupid, quite the opposite, she's one of the most intelligent people he's ever met and he can't wait to start spending the rest of her life with her. "Ok, it's about 200 miles from here, I need to get going and see if my stepdaughter is ok."

He leaned over to kiss Maria and she whispered, "You really mean that, don't you."

"Yeah, knowing she's your daughter gives me a feeling of kinship with her, I can't wait to meet her and Jeannie."

Maria looked happy through the pain. "You really don't know how happy that makes me. Take the Rat Killers along with, she said she wants to see them."

"We should be back by midnight."

Maria reached up and grabbed Steve's shirt by the collar and pulled him down for a kiss, their lips met and their tongues danced gently together. Steve wanted to take it easy but even though her MS was ravaging her mind and body, Maria was on fire. Their kiss grew hotter and hotter, their breathing more ragged, their hands roaming over the bodies they loved so much. Finally, as the kiss ended and both of their heads were spinning. "Be back by midnight, please!" she gasped as the trauma of MS washed over her.