His Naughty Lessons

** Eli **

They were supposed to meet up with Harper’s parents right before the ceremony, and it surprised them both to get the unexpected company much earlier than planned. But Eli didn’t mind. The presence of family meant something special on a day like this, which brought him a peaceful sense of joy even more so than the excitement of the portraits.

And he found it somewhat funny and touching at the same, when Harper’s mother reacted to her first look of the bride almost exactly the same way he did himself, hands flying to her mouth as she burst into tears. Only that she did it with much less reservation than him, closer to a full-on wail than just one uncontrollable teardrop.

"Oh look at you ... so gorgeous, so happy." The mother cried and pulled the daughter into a big hug, while the father looked at them tenderly before stepping forward to pat Eli on the shoulder.

"Hi Zack, Laura." Eli greeted them both with a heartfelt smile. And as he watched the loving scene unfold in front of him, the familiar feeling of surrealness was back, enveloping him like the blessing it was that he never thought would become real.

Harper’s family had always meant the world to him ever since the first day they met. Aside from the siblings being his closest friends, the parents had also filled an empty hole in his life in ways that they probably never realized themselves. Looking at the couple standing before him now, he was reminded of all those times when they invited him over for Christmas, when they included him on weekend vacations, when they helped him out at school events when his own father wasn’t there for him ... During those hard years in his teens, this beautiful family was his home, and to think that a day would come when he’d become a real part of it through the bonds of love—

"How does it feel to be a real part of the family soon, Eli?" As if knowing what he was thinking, Harper’s father asked with a wide grin. "Less than an hour to go and I’ll be handing Harper to you at the end of the aisle! Ha, can barely believe it myself. I could have taught you a lot of things back in the day, if I knew the quiet boy across the street was going to become my son-in-law in the future!"

"Oh come on Dad, don’t make him any more nervous than he already is." Harper pulled away from her still teary mother, hastily turning back to the proud father of the bride. "It took him a whole hour of photo posing to stop worrying about things like smearing my makeup or stepping on my train. No need to remind him again about the ceremony!"

"Really?" Hearing the honest complaint, her father gave Eli an impressed look. "Ah, being nervous on a wedding day is actually a good sign. That means he wants everything to go perfectly for you, like a good husband should."

"And that means he’s super excited about it too." Her mother, now dabbing at her wet cheeks, smiled with equal pride. "But speaking about knowing it back in the day ... You know what, I should have seen this coming all along when we took all three of you on those trips together. You two always got along so well and were so sweet to each other — I should have expected it all this time!"

"Eh, don’t be creepy Mom. We were kids ..." freēwēbηovel.c૦m

"You were childhood sweethearts. A little different from your own parents, who were high school sweethearts, but we get the feeling all the same."

Harper snorted, though the uplifted corners of her lips betrayed how much she liked that term.

"Seriously, we are so happy for both of you." Her mother let out an emotional sigh, taking one hand from each of them and clasped their palms together between hers. "It’s a day worth celebrating ... But at the same time, Eli, there’s no need to feel nervous about anything at all. I was that way on my own wedding day too, you know. I was scared from beginning to end that the weather would turn out badly, or the event staff would run behind schedule, or any of the ten thousand trivial details wouldn’t turn out exactly the way we planned ... But guess what? Everything went perfectly, except I was so anxious myself that I stuttered while saying my oath."

"... Wait, really? You never told me that!" Harper gasped, her eyes widening in shock. "That sounds—"

"Hilarious," her father chimed in casually before she could say "terrible", and her mother threw him a glare that made him cackle.

"I even stuttered twice," her mother continued. "I was mortified and thought the world was going to end. But now that I look back on that moment ... So what? Thirty years have passed, and we are still happily married like anyone could ever hope to be. Messing up the oath didn’t ruin that perfect moment for us, and we even get a good laugh out of it once in a while these days. So in the end, there really is nothing worth worrying about at all. Just be happy that both of you have finally gotten to where you are today, and that is what truly matters. That is enough."

The simple words tugged at a string hidden so deep inside him that Eli almost felt his eyes turning misty again. He nodded, tightening his hand around Harper’s within her mother’s grip.

"Thank you, Laura," he said softly. This was the life wisdom one could only learn from a true family, and he was fortunate to be able to receive it on the most important day of his life.

"Anyway, Harper was right, let’s all stop being so sentimental." While the three of them all clasped their hands together sentimentally, the bride’s father cleared his throat. "Where’s your dad, Eli? We haven’t seen him all day, is he coming?"