The morning songbirds sat in silence on their branches and porchboxes. The tolling of church bells echoed through the streets. Had it been any other morning the residents of this small town would be fast asleep. But this wasn’t just any other morning. Today they’d all be meeting to see two lovers in a church.

To have and to hold

The woman was dressed in a white gown at the right hand of the priest. If her mother was there she would laugh. There is no reason for her daughter to be wearing white in the house of God. Her partner was a simple man, not dressed in an expensive suit and hat like his father had worn, but rather, a white shirt and black slacks. It was the nicest he could afford on a fisherman’s salary.

From this day forward

It is no coincidence that their story continues in the same church where they first met. Years ago, when wildflowers covered the field out back, two teenagers snuck away from bible study. They laid on the grass and watch the clouds dance over the sun. The boy grabbed fistfuls of calla lilies and made a halo around her curls.

“You think I’m an angel?”

“I think you could use some saving.”

She pulled a hand-rolled cigarette out of the pocket of her overalls. They smoked it together until the sounds of sneakers on the front steps told them class was over. He watched as the girl squashed the amber roach on the bottom of her shoe and tossed it over her shoulder.

“Will I see you tomorrow?”

“If you’re lucky.”

Now the field has since been paved over and turned into a parking lot. It was made to welcome the new members of the church who only bothered to show up when it was time for penance. And sometimes, if you come to service early enough, you can catch the priest smoking cigarettes out back.

For better or for worse

Whoever did her makeup should be fired. She was a natural beauty all her life, its what her lover adored about her. But now under the harsh lighting in the church, her cheeks were caked in pink rouge, her lips a glossy red. This was not the woman her partner had fallen in love with. This woman was someone almost completely unrecognizable to everyone in the church. But who was going to speak ill of her on a day like that?

For richer or for poorer

More and more people came into the church and took their seats in the pews. There was an announcement in the paper. It was a last minute service that no one had planned on yet everyone dropped what they were doing to attend. A balding man sat hunched over the organ, the pipes bellowed out the low notes that ricocheted off the stained glass windows. Had it been silent, you could have heard everyone’s hearts beating in unison.

In sickness and in health

They got married in the church as soon as they both turned twenty one. Her father held her hand when he walked her down the aisle. She cried when she saw her lover waiting for her next to the priest. It was the day she had been waiting for her entire life. That was the first time the entire town sat before the couple in that church. This was the second time, they laid next to each other in coordinating caskets. Their hands crossed over their chests. Their mouths sewn shut. Dozens and dozens of calla lilies lined the rows of pews.

To love and to cherish

Her mother was a preschool teacher. Her father was a veterinarian. She didn’t have a bad bone in her body. Her husband was stubborn and often lost his temper. She pestered him with too many questions when he came home from a hard day’s work. How was your day? Did Stewart work with you or was it Bart? Were the waves a problem-I hear a storm is moving in. Why are you coming home so late? That’s not the shirt you were wearing this morning.

He was sick of her jumping down his throat every time he walked through the door, and frankly, he was sick of her. She wasn’t stupid, she knew this. They had been together for twenty four years and she knew that she was boring him. She didn’t know what to do. He went out every night after work and found entertainment in his own ways. Like routine, he would leave the docks each night, spend a few hours at the house at the end of the street, and then join his wife in bed. Eventually she found out. She could smell another woman on his clothes. She prayed it was a fluke and told herself he had a month to cut it off. But it continued. One night she waited up for him in the kitchen. A glass of brandy and a revolver were splayed out on the table in front of her. When she heard his key in the lock she said a prayer, finished her drink, and picked up the gun. She was tired of smelling that whore’s perfume on his collar and she didn’t want to wait for his excuses. As soon as she saw his silhouette in the doorframe she shot him right between his eyes. When she was younger she would go hunting with her grandfather, he always said she was a good shot. She took out a pen and paper to leave a note to the priest that they would have their funerals together. Then she called the police to report a break in. She knelt down next to her husband, kissed his cheek, and put the gun up to her temple.

“Till death do us part”

– Em Mingus