Haley stood in front of the mirror, checking her makeup one last time and smoothing her hands down the narrow skirt of her bridal gown. She grinned at her reflection. As it turned out, she had found a use for a nearly used silk gown with an empire waist, and hers was a more traditional use than as silk bathroom curtains.
Just three months after her original wedding date—the third Saturday of June instead of March—she was wearing the dress to marry the love of her life. As it turned out, she would be the first Scott sister to marry after all, but she found that it didn’t matter to her as much as it once had.
She’d insisted on keeping the guest list shorter this time. There was a certain discomfort about inviting some of the same guests to whom she’d recently returned wedding gifts, though it did help that many of those guests from the first ceremony would have been on the groom’s side of the aisle. Amy Warren and Trina Scott tended to share the same friends anyway, church friends, and those friends couldn’t have been happier about this wedding.
When the restroom door opened, Haley expected to see her sisters in the lilac bridesmaid dresses they’d reclaimed from the bridal shop’s consignment racks, or even their mother, who’d be beautiful in her light pink dress. Instead, her future mother-in-law stuck her head inside the door.
“Haley, are you ready, dear?” Amy stepped to the mirror and patted her hair with nervous hands. She straightened the waist of her rose-colored mother-of-the-groom gown.
“I’m ready. How about you?”
Amy continued to fuss with her appearance though not a single silver hair was out of place. “You know me. I’ve been waiting for a day like this one for years now.”
Haley grinned at her in the glass. If only everyone could be as blessed as Haley would be in the mother-in-law department. She’d loved Amy Warren like a mother since she was a little girl.
“Matthew tells me you’ll be going back to college in the fall.” Amy reached in her purse and touched up her lipstick.
“Just part-time. Lizzie finally wants to go to preschool now, so I’m going to try to work around it. Matthew doesn’t want me to give up my dreams for us to have a life together.”
“That sounds like my son.”
“What he doesn’t realize is that all my dreams have already come true.”
“That sounds like you.”
When Haley glanced over at her, she had to blink back tears. It wouldn’t do to mess up her makeup now. “This marriage has to be great for you and mom, having another way to connect your families.”
“Are you kidding? This proves that Trina and I are amazing matchmakers after all. And you kids doubted our abilities.”
Haley glanced sidelong at her. “So you’re going to stick with that story, then?”
Amy chuckled and then hugged the bride, careful not to get makeup on her gown. “Well, it didn’t happen the way we planned, but it just goes to show you that God has a sense of humor.”
“Good thing when He’s dealing with the Warrens and the Scotts.”
They shared another laugh as Amy helped Haley slip the combs of the veil into her hair and settle the blusher over her face. Arm in arm they emerged from the restroom to find some of the other women waiting in the hall.
“About time,” Caroline said. As usual, she looked amazing, this time with her light brown hair in an elegant updo.
Jenna came down the hall to join them. “They’re calling for the mothers to get in there. It’s time for the ushers to seat you two.”
After a round of hugs that left everyone misty-eyed the best friends headed off hand in hand, leaving only Haley, her sisters and Lizzie to line up and follow them into the church vestibule.
“You look so pretty, Miss Haley…I mean, Mommy,” Lizzie said as she touched the skirt of Haley’s gown.
“So do you, sweetie.” Haley was pleased that the bridal shop had located a flower girl dress that closely matched the bridesmaid dresses they’d already purchased. “Don’t worry about calling me—”
“Mommy. I like to call you that.”
Haley liked hearing it, too. Pretty soon it would even be true since Matthew’s ex had agreed to relinquish parental rights, clearing the way for Haley to adopt her. For a third time in only a few minutes, Haley felt tears threatening again. If she allowed her thoughts to dwell on her late father, who couldn’t be there to share this moment, she would lose the battle with her tears altogether. Her father was there in spirit, anyway.
The processional music began then, and Lizzie hurried to her place so she could drop rose petals to lead the way for the bride. Haley’s sisters followed her in, Caroline escorted by Dylan and Jenna by Logan.
The serious moment faltered when Lizzie dropped her basket, sending a few of the petals to shower wedding guests. Jenna followed that moment by tripping noticeably, requiring Logan to help her right herself so they could continue down the aisle.
Chuckles filled the sanctuary as Haley stepped to the doorway leading into the room. As she’d predicted, a knot formed in her throat over her father’s absence, but one look at the man waiting for her at the altar caused all her sadness to drift away.
Matthew’s shoulders lifted and dropped. His smile was contagious, and the love and trust in his eyes took her breath away. What had she ever done to deserve such a blessing as Matthew Warren? Their life would be filled with wonderful, messy and loud moments, and Haley couldn’t imagine anything she would want more.
As she took her first few steps toward the husband and the future she’d dreamed of, a calm of certainty settled over her. Thank You, Lord. When she reached him, Matthew took her hand and settled it in the crook of his arm. The love so visible in his eyes filled her heart with joy. She and Matthew were so different, and yet their differences had drawn them together as nothing else ever could have. They’d found completion in each other’s arms.