As I cracked open a beer, I spotted another party guest grinning at me.
‘I love your bottle opener,’ he said. ‘That’s the “Bat Signal” from Batman, right?’
‘Yes!’ I said, smiling back. ‘Are you a fan too?’
We got chatting and he told me his name was Andrew.
Not only did we have comics in common, but it turned out we were on the same political science post-graduate course.
And the two of us were both avid readers.
We became firm friends and always ended up deep in discussion at parties.
Whenever we met up, we’d swap reading recommendations.
Though we developed a close friendship, it took us five years to actually start dating!
By then, both Andrew and I were moving away for work, and we agreed to do long distance.
We’d take it turns to make the three-hour journey to visit each other every month.
Two years later, we both found jobs at the same university.
Finally, we could be together!
Before the move, we visited all our favourite places around his city.
‘Why don’t we visit Brazos?’ he said as we passed a bookshop we loved.
‘Sure!’ I replied, always eager to browse books.
We scanned the shelves and, after a few minutes, Andrew wandered over to me holding a hardback of The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo.
‘This seems like your type of thing,’ he said. ‘And wait, look here, someone’s written a message inside!’
He passed it over and my heart leapt as I recognised his handwriting.
Maricruz, you’re drop dead gorgeous but you’re also the smartest and most empathetic person I know. Your sense of empathy is contagious. It makes me want to be a kinder and stronger person, it read.
On the next page he’d written a question, Will you marry me?
And underneath were boxes for ‘Yes’ and ‘No’.
‘Of course I will,’ I said, tears in my eyes.
Then I borrowed a pen from the bookshop staff to tick the box labelled YES!
It had been the perfect proposal.
Now we just needed to pick a venue for the nuptials.
Neither of us wanted a big ceremony, preferring to invite a few close friends and family.
My thoughts went straight to one of my favourite places in our new hometown – the library!
I’d often grab a coffee in the café downstairs, before heading up to pore over books.
When I pitched it to Andrew, he thought it sounded ideal.
And the library staff were enthusiastic too.
‘Of course you can get married here,’ the manager said when I rang. ‘But just to warn you, it’s a public space so we wouldn’t be able to reserve it for you exclusively. You’d have to be all right with other visitors coming in and out.’
'Look at the lady's pretty dress!'
‘That’s totally fine with me!’ I replied.
So, we reserved a gorgeous wood-panelled reading room for the ceremony.
Our friend from university agreed to act as officiant as we tied the knot.
When the day arrived Andrew and I, and our nine guests, gathered in the library.
Luckily, we weren’t shushed by a librarian as we read out our vows!
As we’d been warned, there were a few ‘wedding-crashers’, in the form of families with their kids.
‘Mummy, look at the lady’s pretty dress!’ whispered one little girl, staring at my white wedding gown.
Afterwards, we all headed out to a local Nepalese restaurant for a meal.
Then we jetted off to New York on honeymoon!
Now, Andrew and I have been married for six months.
He makes me coffee every morning, even if I end up sleeping in and letting it go
cold!
And there’s no one in the world I’d rather chat to about my favourite books.
I hope all those bookish kids – like us – know their person is out there for them somewhere!
Maricruz Osorio, 34