Kelly lined up each of the two bridesmaids ahead of the bride, placing Carly just in front of the entry door she’d open in a few minutes. The sounds of the church organ filled the building, and Kelly sent up a prayer of thanksgiving that the power had been restored. Last night she’d feared she’d have to ask Marvin to bring his accordion.
“Miss Tina looks beautiful, doesn’t she?” Carly said.
“She does. And so do you.” Carly did look adorable.
“I love my headband.” The child posed like a princess with her birch wood basket of flower petals.
“That makes me happy.” Kelly glanced down the entranceway to ensure that the two bridesmaids were ready in line. Bruce and the maid of honor had been given the rings to hold since the ring bearer ended up stuck in Indianapolis. Everything was as ready as it would ever be.
“You look beautiful, too,” Carly added.
Kelly hoped the rush of warmth she felt in her cheeks didn’t show. “That’s a nice thing to say, Carly.”
“Has Daddy told you he likes you? I know he does. Lots.”
Kelly leaned down to Carly’s height. “How about we concentrate on the wedding right now, sweetie?” She pointed to the basket. “Get some in your hand. We’re going to start.” Kelly pulled open the door that led into the sanctuary, and sent the final groomsman to his post beside Bruce and Darren. She pointed down the aisle. “There’s your daddy, and you drop these petals along the aisle as you walk toward him nice and slow just like you practiced. Are you ready?”
Carly held up a tiny handful of red petals. “Yep.”
Kelly looked over to the side of the sanctuary where Samantha’s photographer was stationed. The man had kindly offered to use his equipment to record and live-stream the ceremony to Darren’s parents still stranded in Ohio. Really, there wasn’t a single person in the valley today who hadn’t pitched in in some way to make this wedding happen—even the out-of-towners like the photographer. Today of all days, this town earned its name of Matrimony Valley.
The processional music began. Carly’s adorably nervous smile led Kelly to give the girl a kiss on the top of her head as she waved her on her way. There was no denying how fond she had grown of Carly. Lulu had made some casual friendships with valley children before, but the near-instant and sister-like bond she’d made with Bruce’s daughter truly seemed rare and special.
Carly made her way down the aisle, earning coos and whispers of “Isn’t she adorable?” from the valley residents and wedding guests who had gathered to fill the church. The only person who wasn’t here was Yvonne, because she was back in her shop. She’d launched into a furious surge of baking once the power came back on in order to have a wedding cake ready by the time the reception started.
When Carly was halfway to Bruce, Kelly sent the first bridesmaid down the aisle. The second followed, and then the all-important pause as the congregation stood and the organist began the “Bridal Chorus.”
For all the stress and strain, for all the compromises and makeshift preparations, Tina looked glorious and glowing with happiness as she stepped into the doorway. As Mayor Jean had advised, Kelly held a gentle hand out to Tina’s father to ensure that Tina paused, then looked at the top of the aisle to see Darren’s face transform at the sight of his bride.
Jean always said that moment was the fuel that kept her going, and Kelly could see why. It was nothing short of wonder, a little piece of everything that was still right in the world. A pure moment of love’s power to conquer all.
She tried not to let her gaze wander to Bruce as she touched Tina’s father’s elbow as a signal to begin. Still, it was as if she couldn’t help but catch Bruce’s eyes as the bride went to meet her groom. This day had become such a mix of emotions between them; work and joy, fear and accomplishment, remembered love and endured loss. She saw it all in his expression, just as she was sure he could see it in hers.
What they were feeling was true, wasn’t it? Not just a product of today and all the chaos that had led up to it? It felt true—powerfully true—but so did all the reasons why it ought to be impossible. She was too tired to trust how his gaze sent her pulse dancing. Too swept up in the moment to believe how his compliments and admiration felt as if it made her skin glow.
She was tearing up because she always teared up at weddings. Not because some defiant part of her had started to believe another happy ending might be possible for her. That disobedient hope had slipped out of her control, unstoppable as the water down Matrimony Falls.
“Dearly beloved,” Pastor Mitchell began, “we are gathered here to celebrate the victory of love over just about every hurdle we can imagine.”
While everyone laughed, Kelly was surprised to see the bridesmaids and groomsmen break into jubilant applause. Applause? Now? Congregants often applauded when the bride and groom were announced as man and wife at the end of the ceremony, but then again, didn’t Tina and Darren deserve congratulations for simply making it to this moment, as well? She felt new tears slip down her cheeks as she joined in the cheerful display. It was unconventional, but what about this wedding had ever been conventional?
“Now,” said Pastor Mitchell, raising his hands to quiet the ovation, “shall we get down to business?” And with that, he began the happy, long-awaited task of joining Darren and Tina as man and wife before God, some of their friends and family and nearly all of Matrimony Valley.
* * *
Bruce felt someone tug on his sleeve while he waited for Carly to finish up her photographs with the bride and bridesmaids. He turned to find that Lulu had seated herself on the pew next to him.
“It was bee-u-tiful, wasn’t it?” she asked, stringing the word out with little-girl glee.
He knew valley residents had filled the pews out of kindness to the newlyweds, but he couldn’t deny how right it felt to have Kelly and Lulu in the church to watch the ceremony. He’d told himself it was because of the huge part they’d played in making the wedding happen, but it was more than that. Too much more than just professional investment. He simply couldn’t bring himself to squelch the warm glow that filled him when they were around. Kelly most certainly, but Lulu, too. “It sure was beautiful,” he answered.
“I really like weddings,” Lulu said, swinging her legs. With a smile, Bruce noticed that she’d swapped out her own bootlaces for strips of sparkly purple fabric so that her footwear mimicked Carly’s. Lulu’s spunk amused him in so many ways.
“That’s good, figuring what your mom does and where you live.” He sat back, relief mixing with fatigue. He could count the number of hours he’d slept this weekend on one hand—that had to be part of the reason for all this new emotionality messing with his composure. “Once word gets out about how the valley pulled this one off, I expect you’ll be one busy town.”
“Do you like weddings?”
No. Or I didn’t. More scared of them, maybe, until today. “Oh, they’re fine enough,” he replied. “I’m happy for Darren and Tina.” It was true. Last week he wasn’t sure he could get through the ceremony without feeling like a numb imposter on the fringes of someone else’s happiness. Then Kelly caught his gaze across the sanctuary as the wedding started.
Those eyes. That slightly nervous hint of a smile. The tender way she bent down and kissed the top of Carly’s head. How on earth does a man get taken in by the curve of a woman’s cheek from clear across a big room like that?
For a few seconds, he almost forgot where he was, or how to breathe, or that he used to be numb. Or even that anyone else was in the room. Something inside him that had started to crack open shoveling his way into that cabin last night split wide open today. Something he wasn’t sure would—or should—come to life ever again. An uneasy sense of impending—what? Doom? Happiness? Change?—raced up from behind him like a storm he had to outrun to stay on course. He’d had the sense of something changing all weekend, and during today’s ceremony he’d realized what it was: the return to living in a world where happiness was once again a possibility.
“I’m glad we get to come to the party,” Lulu went on, leaning up against him as if they’d been friends for years. “It’s gonna be fun. It’s great that Mom and I get to sit with you and Carly.”
So the matchmaking was still going full force. He’d been meaning to put a stop to that little scheme to have them sit together, but never got around to it. And it wasn’t hard to work out why. The idea of sitting with Kelly at the lantern-lit dinner he knew Tina and Darren had planned felt as tempting as Marvin’s sundaes. To watch the candlelight play across her face the way it had back when the power was out. To see her without the stress of the wedding winding her tight and devouring her time. He wanted to have one—just one—leisurely dance with her. This mountain of chaos and obstacles had actually worked itself out into a wedding—wasn’t that worth one dance?
“Mr. Bruce?”
“Huh?”
“You sure do go away in your head lots.”
He looked at Lulu. “That’s what Carly said she calls it,” she went on. “Mom does something like that. Thinks real hard for a long time. She’s been doing it loads since you showed up.” She looked up at him with wide, “trying to look innocent” eyes. “What do you suppose that means?”
Bruce was grasping for an appropriate answer when Samantha’s photographer clapped his hands. “Thank you, everyone,” he called. “I’ll see you over at the inn for the reception.”
Carly came bouncing over to the pew. “Let’s go. Miss Tina says I get to have our dance together first thing, even before dinner.” She looked at Lulu. “We’ve been practicing and everything.”
“Mom likes to dance, too,” Lulu offered.
Carly grinned with the same “not quite innocent” look. “You’re gonna dance with Lulu’s mom, too, aren’t you, Daddy?”
Bruce began to feel outnumbered and outmaneuvered. “We’ll see.” He forced himself to coat his tone with enough doubt to squelch this little campaign.
Lulu pouted. “My mom says it just like that, too.”
“Where is your mother?” He tried to sound casual, as if he hadn’t noticed the minute she left the sanctuary and felt the void left by her absence. He’d flown rescue squads with firefighters that required less strategy than the two girls currently flanking him.
“She had to take the church flowers over and turn them into things for the party tables ’cuz there wasn’t enough for both,” Lulu said, picking up her coat and handing Carly hers in alarmingly big-sister fashion. “I’ll help you with that. See?” she said as she finished up Carly’s jacket zipper. “Just like sisters.” And with that, the two girls skipped up the church aisle holding hands.
He was grabbing his own coat when Tina and Darren came up behind him.
“Tina...” Bruce started.
She only smiled the blissful, dreamy smile of a new bride. “See you over at the inn.”