Finding Carrie (22 page)

“Well, just be careful next time. I know how you two are, but you have to be careful with her. She’s not healed quite yet,” she reprimanded him as she turned and walked away. He knew what she meant, and he knew she knew what she was talking about. She knew that Carrie and Isaac loved each other so much that sometimes it was hard to keep their hands off each other.

Their relationship was more than physical; it was a lot of things. They needed one another more than anything in the world, but if they had to, they could be apart. The love that they had was true, and it was once in a lifetime. They hardly argued and they never had a fight. When they did have a disagreement, it was resolved quickly and they always, always ended up in one another’s arms. It was a perfect marriage, and everyone was envious. He always smiled when he thought about his wife. He was blessed.

“Isaac.” Nikki came out of nowhere. He focused on her face and scowled.

“What do you want, Nikki?” he asked and started to walk away. She caught his arm and swung him around so he could look at her.

“I wanted to see if you wanted to get a drink after the show and get to know each other a little better,” Nikki said as she wrapped her arms around his waist. He caught her arms and pushed her away from him.

“I don’t want to get to know you. I already know you. I am married, and I don’t want to get a drink.” He started to walk away then stopped. “And you know what? I didn’t appreciate you saying things about ‘being my wife’ when
my
wife could hear you.” Then he turned to walk away again.

“How do you know me if you won’t take the time to find out? I might be the girl of your dreams,” Nikki said, standing her ground. Isaac just stopped with his back toward her. He wasn’t going to say anything, just shake his head, but he turned around.

“I am married to my dream girl, and she isn’t you,” he said, then turned and just kept walking. Nikki dropped her head. The people in the entryway were snickering under their hands. They stopped laughing as she looked. She didn’t say a word; she just stalked off.

Isaac opened the door to his dressing room with such force that it hit the wall. He stomped over to his makeup table and slumped down in the chair. He banged his elbows on the table. The action sent all the makeup flying everywhere and onto to the floor. He ran his fingers through his hair and leaned onto his hands. “Isaac,” Maggie said, tiptoeing into the room. “Are you all right?” Isaac sat up and swung around in the chair.

“She just won’t leave me alone. I can’t take any more of her. I love Carrie with all of my heart. I’m not leaving her for anything or anybody. If she never regains her memory, Maggie, I swear, I will stay, and we can make new memories,” Isaac said. He was close to tears; he had to blink several times not to let one tear fall. Maggie leaned down and hugged him.

“I know you love Carrie. You would have to be a nutcase not to know. We were all at your wedding, and we see, all the time, the way you two are. You can cut the love you two have with a knife. Don’t worry about Nikki; she’ll get it sooner or later.” Maggie smoothed out Isaac’s hair. She was old enough to be his own mother. In fact, he thought of her as a mother when he couldn’t be with his own. Now, more than anything, he needed that mothering touch. His mother was missing and his beloved wife, the woman who could light up a room just by poking her head in the doorway, couldn’t remember him or the girls. But she was admitting she loved him. She could feel it too.

“You think she will? She is a brilliant actress, but when it comes to real life she’s a nutcase,” Isaac said, bending down to pick up the makeup he had spilled.

“That she is. And yes, sooner or later, she will get the hint. Now, you need to get ready. The show must go on,” Maggie said and left the room with her hand in the air. Isaac sat for a few moments, looking at his image in the mirror. The lights flicked, and there was a moan from out in the hallway. The lights never went out even in the most terrible of storms, but they didn’t go out, they just flicked. He looked at the picture he had of Carrie, it was tucked in the frame of the mirror. He pulled it out, pressed it up against his heart, and decided to call her, just to make sure she was okay. He took the phone out of his pocket and hit the speed dial to his apartment. The phone rang and then she answered.

“Hello,” she said.

“Hello, my love, are you all right?” he asked with calm in his voice.

“Yes, the lights flickered, but they are still on,” she answered.

“They did that here too. Are you afraid?” he asked.

“No, I don’t feel anything. The thunder feels calming,” she said. She wouldn’t; she always loved storms. She was a storm chaser at heart, so he wasn’t surprised that she felt calmed by it.

“Well, I just wanted to make sure you were okay. I have to get my makeup on, hon. I love you so much. You know that, right?”

“I know it, and I feel it. I hope you know I feel the same,” she said.

“I know it, and I feel it too. I can’t wait to get home so I can uphold my promise.” He heard her giggle on the other end of the phone.

“I can’t wait either,” she said and sighed.

“I’ll call you during intermission, okay?” he asked.

“Okay,” she said.

“Bye, my love,” he said.

“Bye,” Carrie said. After pushing the end button on the phone, she closed the photo album she was looking at and put them both on the coffee table. She sighed to herself and looked around the room. She looked at every picture on the wall and settled on the wedding picture, the one in which Isaac was kissing her cheek, and the girls were pushing them closer. “I think I’ll watch the wedding video,” she said out loud. She got up off the couch and walked around the glass coffee table to the cupboard where they kept the movies. She glanced out the window and saw the rain pounding on the window. She walked over to it. She couldn’t hear the thunder, but she could see the lightning. Sighing, she turned away from the window and went back to the cupboard. While crouched down on the floor, she thumbed through the movies until she came to a video marked
A match made in heaven: Isaac and Carrie’s wedding, December 24
^th
. She pulled it out, and on the front it said:
An Isaac Walsch Production
. She smiled and shook her head. “He amazes me sometimes,” she said out loud. She took the DVD out of the case and shoved it in the player then went to sit on the couch. She sat and watched.

It began with a shot of a door. It was a dark brown door with intricate carving. Suddenly, the door opened and snow blew in along with Carrie who had a suitcase rolling behind her. “Hi, Chuck,” she said, shivering. “Are you covering me tonight?”

“Yes ma’am,” a voice said from behind the camera. Carrie rolled her suitcase over by the wall and slipped off her coat to lay it on top of the case.

“Why are the doors closed?” she asked, walking back over to the camera and rubbing her hands up and down her arms.

“He doesn’t want you to come in yet. He has been working all day,” Chuck said from behind the camera.

“Does he know I’m here?” Carrie asked.

“Yes, I told Jack, who is covering Isaac; he said he will be out in a minute.”

“Do you know what he is doing? He wanted it to be a surprise,” Carrie said, looking at the man behind the camera and not at the camera. Before he could answer, the door to the auditorium opened slightly, and Isaac slipped out. Both Carrie and the camera turned to see. “Isaac,” Carrie said, throwing herself into his arms. They kissed each other for a while before the cameraman cleared his throat. They parted and wiped off their mouths as they looked at the camera.

“How was Vegas?” Isaac asked, still holding Carrie in his arms.

“Vegas,” she said, leaning her head into his neck. “You know—all lights and money. Oh, by the way, I got married while I was there,” she said, smiling. She lifted her head to look at his face.

“Oh really? Anyone I know?” he asked, smiling down at her.

“I think it was my agent this time,” she said, giggling.

“Yes, I think I heard that one,” Isaac said. His smile widened.

“So, can I see the room now?” Carrie asked biting her lower lip.

“Are you sure you want to, being already married and all?” She smacked him in the chest and pushed him away. “All right, all right. I’ll show you, if you insist.”

“Yes, I insist,” she said, nodding her head.

“All right, close your eyes,” he said, reaching for the door handles. She put her hands up to her eyes to cover them, and Isaac pushed open the doors. He went around her and pushed her slightly into the room. “Now open them.” She opened her eyes and she grasped. The room had white cloths draped everywhere, wrapped around the columns and draped from column to column. The columns also had white Christmas lights wrapped around and draped on them. Up the aisle, he had flowers and candlesticks with white candles lit in them on every pew. The pews also had white cloth draped between them so the guests would have to go around to be seated. Carrie walked up to the front of the church. There it was filled with roses and candles were lit everywhere. She turned around in a circle with her hands clasped together and up next to her heart.

“It looks just how I dreamt it, Isaac. It’s beautiful,” she said, then ran and jumped into his arms.

“It is just how I dreamt of it too,” Isaac said. Then the video jumped to a time by the beach. You could hear Isaac talking to Carrie but couldn’t see them.

“Come over here, sweetheart,” Isaac’s voice said. Then Carrie got into the line of the camera. She was wearing a long, white beach cover-up dress. It was night, and the light from the beach made her dress look transparent. You could see the silhouette of her legs, as the wind blew slightly it moved her dress. Her hair looked like she had been swimming and it was dried in the wind. Suddenly, Isaac came into the line of the camera, and he was playing a guitar. He had on a white beach shirt and he was wearing khaki shorts.

“What are you doing?” Carrie asked as she smiled and watched Isaac. He walked up to her playing the guitar. He bent down on one knee and he started to sing. Carrie put her hand over her mouth. In the background of the video, you she could hear Amy and Dave talking.

“I hope she says yes,” Dave said.

“She will,” Amy said, sure of herself. Then you could hear what Isaac was singing. As she watched the video, Carrie recognized the song Isaac was singing. Tears started to burn behind her eyes.

“You write the words to my song, and I’ll sing them. You write the words to my play, and I’ll say them. You write the words to my heart, and I’ll love them. You write the words to my soul, and I’ll keep them. You marry me, and I’ll be happy. Stay with me, always true. So tell now, if you will, and I’ll love you.” He stopped singing and pushed the guitar aside and pulled something out of his pocket. He lifted it up so Carrie could see it. “Will you marry me?” Carrie didn’t say a word. She just fell forward into Isaac’s arms. He held her there for a minute. Her knees were about a foot off the ground. In the background, you could hear Amy and Dave were talking again.

“Did she answer him?” Dave asked.

“I don’t know. I didn’t hear anything,” Amy said. Then Isaac said something.

“So? Will you?” he asked.

Carrie lifted her head up and screamed. “Yes!”

“She said yes,” Amy said from the background.

“Thank God,” Dave said. Just after he said that, the video jumped to Isaac standing in the front of the church, and he was greeting people who were walking in. He was dressed in a tux.

“Are you nervous?” a voice behind the camera said.

“Oh yeah,” Isaac said, smiling and nodding slowly. Then, a woman stopped in front of him and gave him a hug.

“Congratulations, Isaac. I’m so happy for the two of you,” the woman said.

“Thank you, Chrissie,” Isaac said to the woman.

“Has she hurt herself yet today?” Chrissie asked, laughing softly.

“Not that I know of,” Isaac said laughing. Then the video changed again. It was in a room full of women. Carrie came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her hand. As she watched the video, she looked down at her hand.
That must have been when she cut her arm,
she thought to herself.

“What did you do?” a woman she recognized as her mother said.

“Oh, I cut myself. I dropped something between the wall and the sink, and I scraped it on a nail,” Carrie said, holding her arm up so her mother could examine it. “I’ll call Chrissie and see if she is here yet.”

“I am so glad you have a friend that is a doctor. I don’t know why you’re always getting hurt. You always have, even when you were a baby,” her mother said, sitting back down on the chair as Carrie dialed the phone. The scene switched back to Isaac and Chrissie in the front. Chrissie dug in her purse to find her ringing cell phone.

“Oh, it’s Carrie.” She stepped away, but Isaac just went with her. “Hello, Carrie,” she answered the phone. The scene switched to Carrie.

“Hi, Chrissie, are you here yet?” Carrie asked.

“Yes, I’m just in the front. I was talking to Isaac.”

“Oh, don’t say a word to him. I don’t need him coming in here, but I cut my arm. I might need stitches,” Carrie said. She ducked her head and walked toward the door.