April moaned, “This can’t be happening!”
She strode out of the house and stomped down the steps toward the wooden swing. She plopped down with frustration. The tears streamed down her face and all she wanted was her mother.
This was absolutely ridiculous. How could everything fall apart like this? She had everything so well planned, so well thought out. She considered calling her mother but then she would cut her trip short and come home. No. Kelly needed her. Besides, there was nothing she could do to help, anyway.
April wiped the tears from her cheeks but the thoughts of the lovely silk flowers and her wedding plans made her depressed. What an unreliable company! Why had she trusted them? She was teetering between frustration and self-pity when she felt a hand touch her shoulder. When April looked up and saw Matthew, she gave a crooked smile, trying to hide all her aggravation but it didn’t work.
“What’s wrong, sweetie?” asked Matthew in a gentle voice.
“You don’t want to know.”
The corners of his mouth gradually turned up as he said, “Of course, I do.”
“I miss Mom…” and before she could say another word, she burst into tears.
Matthew quickly walked around the wooden swing and sat beside her. He pulled her into his arms as she snuggled against him. He didn’t know exactly what to do. He had never comforted a woman in this much distress before, so Matthew did the only thing he could think of. He smoothed her hair and kissed her forehead.
After a while, Matthew asked, “Want to talk about it?”
She pulled back, looked into his eyes, and then burst into tears once again as she clung to his shirt and buried her face in his chest.
He patted her back and then took a wild guess. “By any chance, does this have anything to do with our wedding?”
April nodded.
“Hmmm. We’re getting somewhere. Okay. Does it have something to do with the reception?”
She gave another nod.
“Want to elope?”
April looked up at him and then took a deep breath. “Maybe.”
Matthew chuckled. He knew she was depressed. “I’m listening.”
She straightened up and said, “The first thing this morning, I received a phone call about the invitations. The manager said the samples were ready and I needed to approve it before printing the order. So I hopped in the car and went down to the store. Do you want to know what happened?”
Matthew gave a nod.
“The color was wonderful. Everything was perfect. I really love ‘em. The few they printed looked so professional.”
“Great! When can we pick them up?”
“I asked her if we could have them ready by tonight. She said that someone came in yesterday and bought up all the ivory colored paper. I was surprised. Shocked was more like it.”
“Why didn’t they have some in stock?” asked Matthew.
“She said they didn’t realize they would be getting such a huge order and wasn’t prepared. In other words, they have to order more. She said it will take about a week to get the paper in.”
“So, we’ll have to wait. That’s okay. We have plenty to do,” he said soothingly.
“You don’t understand, Matthew. Everyone’s going to get their invitations late. We’re going to be married in a few weeks. It’s only proper to send them four weeks early.”
“Don’t worry so much. It only takes a few days in the mail. And I’m sure your relatives are already planning on it.”
April sighed as she leaned her head against his shoulder. “That’s not all.”
“It isn’t?” he asked with surprise.
“Nope. The flowers…” She took a shaky breath. “I ordered them from this company because they had the prettiest silk flowers I had ever seen.”
“You ordered them? Why not just get them from a local store?”
“Because no one had the variety I wanted and this company did. Not only that, you can’t even tell they’re fake. One of my friends had a bunch in a vase and it fooled me. I went up to it and smelled it, thinking they were real. That’s when I made my decision.”
Matthew nodded. “Go on.”
“The company doesn’t know where the order is. It’s been lost.”
At this statement, her chin trembled but she tried to be brave so she could finish telling the terrible details yet to come.
“It’s lost?” he said with confusion.
She nodded.
“How does an order get lost?”
“I guess it had the wrong label on it or something. I don’t know. They said they did a trace on it and found it in Houston, Texas.”
“So it’s not lost?”
“I’m not done. When they got in touch with that store, they said they shipped it to Tennessee.”
“Tennessee? What on earth were they thinking? Why did they do such a fool thing?”
Hearing Matthew become so emotional about it made April laugh.
He smiled. “Okay. I suppose you have more.”
She nodded. “When the company got in touch with the Tennessee store, they said they sent it to the firm in Florida.”
“Florida? What the…”
“And it didn’t arrive.”
“Oh my gosh!” Matthew immediately pulled her into his arms. “Don’t worry, sweetie. We’ll just have them send us new flowers and put a rush on it.”
She pulled back and said, “They can’t.”
“What?”
“They said it would ruin their paperwork and we would end up with two orders at our doorstep, so we have to be patient until it arrives.”
When Matthew saw some stray tears trickle down her cheeks, he felt helpless.
“What a bunch of jerks!” Matthew said with annoyance. “We’ll show them. We’ll demand our money back and then elope.”
April stared at him with disbelief and then started giggling. After a few seconds, it turned into uncontrollable laughter. Before long, Matthew began laughing, too. He wasn’t sure what she was laughing about but it was much better than what she was doing a moment ago.
When April finally settled down, she wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a big hug. “Thank you, Matt. I needed that.”
“Uhm… You’re welcome. For what?”
April wiped the dampness from her cheeks and said, “Your sense of humor.”
“What did I say?”
She giggled. “We’ll teach them! We’ll elope!”
Matthew grinned. “But I was serious. I wasn’t joking.”
April gazed into his eyes with affection. He was so gentle, so affectionate, and so witty. She would do anything for Matthew…except elope. That was out of the question. She had dreamed of this day for years. How could she abandon her dreams?
When Matthew saw April’s hesitation, he pulled her into his arms and said, “I love you so much, April. You just have to realize that I hate seeing you like this. If we elope, then we won’t have any of this fuss.”
“Eloping does sound kind of romantic in a way.” She smiled. “But what would my parents say? What would my relatives say?”
Matthew took her face in his hands and gave her a lingering kiss. When she melted in his arms and sighed, he pulled back and smiled. “It’s up to you, sweetie.”
“I’ll think about it,” she said as she relaxed against him.
He pulled her close, pushed the swing with his foot, and they glided back and forth. A soft breeze touched their cheeks and he smiled. How he adored this sensitive woman!