Doorways to Infinity (54 page)

Larry escorted Fred up on the dais and took his place next to Rollie and Bryce, and Reverend Doyle began the ceremony.

The ceremony
, Rachel thought blankly.
It’s actually starting
. Rachel heard
Friends and family, we are gathered here today,
and then everything seemed to blur. She tried to listen to the words but couldn’t really hear them; they were sounds that would not register their individual meaning, only their overall purpose. She wanted to grasp every significant instant and hold them to her heart, but they passed through her like a breath through a lace cloth.

She was dazed by the poignant momentousness of it all — Jamie and Fred facing each other, wearing wedding clothes, preparing to exchange rings.
The rings!
She gave her head a tight shake. “Oh, Lisa, they’re really doing it.” There was a sting of tears again, and a lump filled her throat. She heard sniffing all up and down her row, and she glanced at Carl and saw that his cheeks were damp, his lips pressed tightly together. She caught his gaze for a second, and in his eyes she saw happiness and sadness in equal measure, and she felt a fresh pang for him, too, and another for herself. Their son, their only child, making this giant step. It was a good thing, a wonderful thing, but still hard on them in a way that only a parent could understand.

Fred held out her hand to Jamie and he slipped a gold band on her finger, then she placed one on his. And, just like that, the minister pronounced them husband and wife. The entire ceremony seemed to pass in a heartbeat.

Wait
, Rachel wanted to say.
It’s ending too soon
.

Reverend Doyle smiled and said, “You may kiss the bride.”

Rachel and Lisa and Carl and everyone else in the church held their collective breath and sat forward in their seats. They knew something fantastic was about to happen.

Jamie pressed his lips gently to Fred’s, then he put his hands on her narrow waist and she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him tightly to her, and their kiss deepened.

And Jamie and Fred glowed.

A barely perceivable nimbus surrounded them at first, golden and shimmering. It grew more intense and radiated outward in all directions, an expanding sphere of light. It flowed past the dais and grew brighter as it washed over the audience in the church, a glorious, hope-filled luminosity that filled the room. Music played from somewhere, but not from the organ — bells and violins, an orchestra, sweet and rich, in harmony with that special moment.

Rachel felt something singing inside her, and heard other voices join in, a chorus, though there was no choir.
How is this happening?
Then she remembered something Sammi had told her that Mrs. Malley liked to say — Love has a very powerful magic of its own.

She was witnessing love in its purest, visible form, a powerful wave of sheer magic that emanated from Jamie and Fred. She felt it. She heard it. She resonated with it, mesmerized. She couldn’t look away.

Just when she thought she couldn’t bear any more, the light flared to utter whiteness, the room no longer able to contain it, and it pushed through the cracks in the doors and burst through the windows in an explosion of joy, out into the world and the universe beyond.

Epilogue

When the opportunity arises, will we race past the distant stars, heedless of cost or consequence?

I am not afraid, because I know that there is someone who will lead us across the vast threshold.

A special one, a sorcerer.

A Wizard Born.

About the Author

Geof Johnson lives in Georgia with his family, a dog and a cat. He enjoys running, watercolor painting, and playing guitar a little too loud and a little too much.

You can contact him at: [email protected]