[Anima Sola]

(Fortsetzung von Kapitel 1)

He then led Rory away with him, looking at her.
“Are you alright, love? You’re so quiet.”
“I’m just tired. It was a long day, a long special day…”, she whispered.
“Do you regret this?”
“No!”, she said quickly. “No, I don’t regret this.”
They just passed Rory’s grandparents, so they both fell silent, as Emily came forwards to hug Rory.
“Take care, dear”, she said. “Have a wonderful time in Australia!”
“And you take care of our granddaughter”, Richard chimed in, looking at Finn.
“I will, sir”, he replied, straightening.
“We’ll see you two in two weeks”, Emily said with a smile, before Rory and Finn walked to the next family pair.
“They’ll see us?”, Finn asked under his breath.
“Yes, they’re expecting us for Friday night dinner.”
“Darn!”
“Hear, hear”, Rory whispered, before she smiled at Finn’s parents who approached them.
They said goodbye and promised them to visit them once they landed in Australia. Other goodbyes followed and after a lot of hugging and tear shedding and congratulations and best wishes, they finally walked up the stairs to their honeymoon suite.
Finn just closed the door behind them and turned to Rory, who stared at him, standing by the bed.
“Rory?”
“I can’t do this”, was all she said.
He frowned and walked over to her. “What do you mean?”
“This!”, she said and pointed at the bed.
“But, love, we did this countless times before!”, he grinned.
“But not like this!”
“What?”
“They are all expecting us to do so!”
Finn raised an eyebrow.
“It’s our wedding night, Finn. They know what we’ll do.”
“So?”
“Well, this is so weird! We should have chosen another hotel to stay!”
“Rory, relax –“
But Rory was far away from relaxing. “Oh my god!”, she then squealed and began pacing around the room, while Finn sat down on the edge of the bed, watching her. “Finn! We are married! How could we marry? We are too young! I still have to finish school and ooh! I wanted to be a journalist, how can I be a journalist when I am married? Oh! And what about the kids?”
“The kids?”, Finn asked, his jaw dropping.
“The kids we are now bound to have! I can’t travel around as a journalist when I’m having kids! And I am too young for kids, anyway! I am much too young! How could I possibly think I would be old enough to marry? I –“
It was then that Finn got up and pulled his arms around her, stopping her from pacing.
“Finn, I’m scared”, she whispered against his chest.
“Me too, love”, he replied.
“So why did we do this again?”
“Because we wanted to.”
“We wanted to? But why? What’s the fun about being married? Did we have to get married?”
“Rory –“, he began but was yet again interrupted by her.
“Why did we have to change our life? Just because your parents wanted to move to Australia? And –“
“Alright, enough, darling!”, he said with finality and pushed her gently onto the bed, where she sat, looking up at him with her mouth open. “Listen, will you?”
She didn’t move a muscle.
“First, I can’t believe we’re having this conversation after our wedding! But well, anyhow. I thought you wanted to marry me. You seemed so sincere and I was sure we could do this. It seemed right. And I was happy you agreed, even though I was worried you could change your mind because I somehow jumped at you with this whole thing. I’m sorry for that; I should have given you more time. But, you know, love, I didn’t have time.”
“What?”
“Well, I told you my family wanted me to move with them to Australia. To be honest, my father made clear to me that I had to go back with them – unless I finally grow up. Meaning I had to marry, become a man, graduate, find a proper job, live my life like my parents always wanted me to. I freaked, Rory. I didn’t want to leave this country, with all my friends – and with you. So I had to jump on you like that. Now I saved my reputation and can stay here, with my father satisfied about what I did. He won’t bother me again, so I don’t even have to grow up. I just had to marry.”
Rory stared at him. “So I’m – I am – what am I, Finn? Am I the evidence to your father that you finally did something with your life? Am I your leverage? The perfect opportunity? The fat chance to get out of the grip of your parents? Tell me, what am I?”
Finn lowered his head and sat down beside her. “You’re my wife, Rory”, he said, looking at her.
“Am I, huh? And behind that whole ring exchanging thing?”
“Rory, I would never have married you if I wouldn’t want to be with you. I want to be with you. This thing with my father just made me think – and I, me alone, thought about how it would be to marry you. Yes, it was an opportunity, an opportunity for me to think about how I feel for you. Logan was right, you tamed me, missy, for more than a year the only girl I dated has been you. Unbelievable, I know, I was very afraid of my reputation too, but now I don’t care anymore. I came to this point where I had to question my life, my lifestyle. Life isn’t always about girls and drinks, it’s so much more, I think. Yes, at least I think it is, I’m not sure about it yet. But what I am sure about, is, that, with saying ‘I do’ today, I am ready to discover what else life is about. And only you can help me, Rory. I know this sounds cheesy, oh hell, I am aware of what a loser that might make me, but –“
“Oh my god”, she finally interrupted him, having listened to him with a raised eyebrow. “Don’t get me wrong, Finn, I like your voice, but damn, what did you drink tonight?”, she then laughed, tilting her head.
“But I mean it –“
“I know you do”, she whispered and pulled her arms around him. “I’m sorry I freaked…”, she added after a while.
He turned his head to her and smiled. “It was cute”, he then grinned.
“Well, your monologue was cool as well”, she replied with a smirk.
“So?”
“So?”
“What about us?”
“We’re good”, she said. “We’re fine, hmm, I think we are very fine”, Rory added, kissing his cheek.
“Nice”, he grinned. “You still want to be my wife?”
“Of course”, she smiled against his skin. “Your speech made me think”, she added, leaning back a little to watch him. “We’ll figure out what it means to be married, right?”
“Right”, he nodded.
Rory smiled and grabbed his hand, playing around with his ring finger, before she placed her own ring hand next to his. “I was never into jewellery, but this is nice.”
“Same here and yes, it’s nice”, he replied, locking eyes with her.
She bit her lip, before leaning in to kiss him passionately.
“Idea!”, he suddenly said and pulled away from her, with her gaze following him puzzled.
“Idea?”, she asked, watching how he grabbed their coats. “Finn?”
“Brilliant idea, love”, he just said and handed her the white coat she had been wearing to their wedding.
“Well?”
“Come on”, he continued, slipping into his coat and then grabbing Rory’s hand.
“Where are we going?”
“Out.”
“I’d like to buy some more syllables, Chuck”, she mocked.
“Just follow me”, he said and opened the door to leave their room.
“Hey, wait up! I’m still in my wedding dress if you might take a look. I can’t run that fast in this thing!”
“Don’t worry, you won’t need it.”
“What?”, Rory blurted out, laughing.
Finn just grinned. They then walked quietly down the staircase and out of the Inn into the snow covered front yard. Finn looked around and then headed to the barn. He opened the door and looked inside. Rory could hear Desdemona and Cletus, the two horses of the Inn, in their boxes.
“What are you doing?”, she hissed, watching him, as he grabbed a tack and walked over to one of the horses.
“No, not Cletus!”
“Why not?”
“He’s Mom’s favourite.”
“So?”
“We can’t just take him for a ride or something.”
“Why not?”
“Because –“
“What? We’re not stealing him or anything, just borrowing without permission. Don’t worry, he’ll be fine”, Finn said and opened the box to begin saddling the horse.
“Where did you learn that?”
“You know, I have other qualities than just drinking and whatever else you might think of me”, he winked. “I used to have my own horse back in Australia.”
“Really? Aww, that’s nice.”
“Yes, well, I had to give her away when we moved to America.”
“Sad. What was her name?”
“Dorie.”
“No way!”, Rory laughed.
“Yes, the coincidence”, he grinned, patting the horse’s neck gently after having saddled it.
“Now that makes me want to watch Finding Nemo with you again.”
“First we take a ride on this lovely lad!”, Finn said and guided Cletus out of his box while Rory backed away. “You ever rode a horse?”
“Actually I am afraid of horses.”
“You are?”, Finn asked, frowning.
Rory nodded.
“Why’s that?”
“Long story”, she just whispered. “Let me just mention that I’m bad luck for horses or ponies…”
Finn watched her with a grin. “Anyhow, don’t worry, love, I’m with you. This fellow won’t do you any harm and you won’t do it any harm either.”
Roy looked at the horse rather apprehensively. Finn, however, grabbed her waist and quickly lifted her up onto the horse’s back.
“Oh no!”, Rory whined, desperately clinging onto the saddle.
Finn quickly sat down behind her, his arms around her. He then grabbed the reins and motioned Cletus to move. Rory now clung onto his arms, leaning against him.
“Try to relax, love”, he whispered into her eye. “This is fun!”
“Hmm”, was all Rory managed to say.
Finn motioned the horse out of the barn onto the field behind the Inn, before spurring Cletus. A shriek emerged from Rory’s throat as the horse fell into a fast trot, but she soon leant against Finn and watched how the night-time, snow-covered landscape rushed past them. Finn slowed the horse down finally.
“Where are we?”, Rory asked, cuddling against Finn’s arms.
“You’re cold?”
“A little.”
“I think I have the perfect place for us to stay then”, he said and motioned towards an old cabin right beside the lake.
“Ooh, how very down to earth”, Rory mocked.
Finn moved Cletus towards the cabin and then jumped off his back, holding out his hand to help Rory down too. She clumsily got of Cletus’s back, mostly because her dress wouldn’t want to go the same way she did. Finn then bound the horse to a tree, getting off the saddle. Rory watched him, before she looked at the cabin.
“It’s abandoned”, she stated.
“It better be”, Finn said and walked to her, grabbing her hand, before he lifted her up on his arms and carried her towards the door of the cabin. He opened it with his foot – whilst Rory’s jaw dropped.
“You planned this!”, she laughed, looking at the inside of the cabin that was decorated with flowers and butterflies and a large mattress in the middle. There was even fake snow and icicles and small white lamps shaped like daisies. “You planned this!”
“You caught me”, he grinned and carried her over the threshold.
She smiled at him as he lay her down on the mattress and then closed the door, before he sat down beside her on the mattress.
“This is so sweet”, she whispered, tilting her head.
“I knew my back-up plan would work”, he smirked.
“I’m glad you had this back-up plan.”
“Me too.”
“Nice”, she chuckled and leant against him.
“Alright, now we have to get you out of this enormous dress!”
She giggled as he dove for her, knowing that it had been right to marry him after all. Whatever it meant to be married, Rory and Finn were about to find out – even if they had to find their own definition.

...to be continued...