How Men Are

I could never understand what he saw in her.  My brother Charlie gazed lovingly at his bride as they made their way out of church to the sound of the wedding march.  The bride was blushing mainly due the fact that she was five months pregnant.  She seemed so plain to me but Charlie loved her and that was all that mattered.  I backed away from the milling crowd as some people took snaps of the couple.  Others threw confetti.  I had to laugh to myself.  My own divorce was imminent; half the guests had split from their former spouses yet here they were again wishing good luck and lifelong happiness to the couple! I stepped back a few paces and nearly tripped over a gravestone.
   "Mind how you go Mark", It was my sister's best friend Deborah.  "Hi Debbie", I said, "Where's my little sister?"
   "I think she’s left already", Debbie was playing with the back of her hair.  Her big brown eyes were sparkling with youth.  
    "When are you getting hitched again, Mark?"
    "Never", I said and meant it.  The pain and anguish I'd endured in the last couple of years had sometimes been unbearable.  It was like going to hell and back.   "One broken heart is enough for any man", I carried on.  She smiled and said,  
   "You are not giving up women altogether I hope."  
   "For now yes."
   "But you're still young."

At twenty-nine, I felt like I hadn't done anything and seen nothing.  The six-year marriage had been a mundane existence.  Nothing accomplished except two lovely daughters.  They were the reason for the heartache.  The court still hadn't lifted the injunction against me.  I had accepted the fact that life and the authorities can truly kick a man when he is down.
    "We are going to a nightclub after the reception.  Do you fancy it later?"  Deborah was still flirting.  She was only nineteen and had the looks and body of a catwalk model.  My sister Lorna had played with her since the age of three and I'd watched her grow up from a beautiful curly haired kid to a teenage sensation.
    "Maybe, I said.  "See you later".
Just then my brother Charlie came over. I said "Congratulations Bruv and good luck".  You will need it, I thought.  At twenty-five, he was four years younger than me, a little shorter than my own 5'11 frame but had the same blond hair and blue eyes from our Germanic grandmother.  He'd met Mary in high school and for him there had been no one else. 
   "You are a bit young for this, Charlie“ I said quietly. 
   "You were even younger Mark", he said. 
   "I had to get married".
   "So did I".
   "I didn't want to".
   "I do".
   "It's your life", I said finally.
   "I'll see you at the reception then" Charlie winked over his shoulder.