Epilogue

The following June

As Megan adjusted Juli’s wedding veil, Juli stood in the bride’s room and watched the beads wink in the sunlight streaming through the window. She loved the fitted bodice with more beadwork and the flow of the white dress around her feet. As a little girl, she’d longed to be a bride, and today her dream was coming true.

She turned toward the door, expecting her mother to appear any minute with their wedding bouquets and last-minute instructions. She knew it would be another time for tears, but now she wept tears of joy. She couldn’t believe how amazingly her life had evolved; even her sprained ankle last July had given her dad proof the Garlic Garden could get along without her. She’d begun her classes in late August the previous year, and on her birthday she and Alan had become engaged. He’d given her a beautiful wristwatch as a birthday gift, and beneath the box’s velvet lining he’d hidden the marquis diamond engagement ring that had now been mounted into a gold filigree ring jacket to form her wedding band.

Everything had flown by before her eyes, meeting Alan’s wonderful mother then later his brother, who was to be their best man, and his sister. Juli couldn’t wait to meet his other sisters when she and Alan honeymooned on the East Coast.

“You’re absorbed in something.”

Megan’s voice jolted her back to the present, and she turned from the door to face her longtime friend. “I’m thinking how fast the time has flown since my engagement.” She gazed at Megan’s floor-length gown in summer green with a cummerbund waist of embroidered pastel flowers. The gown looked perfect with her blond hair and slender frame. “You look lovely, and it won’t be long before your wedding.”

“Soon, but today it’s yours.”

Her sweet smile touched Juli. “I’m happy for you and Tom. See what God can do when you give Him a chance.”

Megan nodded. “And when you do it His way. Look what the Lord has done with Tom. He’s become a Christian man with a new heart, Christian morals, and new goals.”

They embraced, and as they parted, Juli recognized her mother’s quiet rap on the door. She came into the room, her eyes moist with happiness. “Everything’s so beautiful, and the church is packed.”

Concern skittered up Juli’s arms. “Didn’t the flowers come yet?”

Her mother smiled. “Your dad is bringing them to you. He wants to be here.”

Tear’s blurred Juli’s eyes as another soft tap on the door answered her question. When her mother opened it, her father walked in with Megan’s bouquet resting on top of a floral box. Juli grasped the maid of honor’s flowers and handed them to her.

Megan gazed at the blossoms then at the similar smaller design adorning her waist. “Perfect. This is beautiful.”

Her father held the floral box and looked at Juli. “This isn’t exactly what you ordered.”

Her father had been trying to hide his grin, but his comment concerned her. “What do you mean?”

“Alan bought these flowers especially for you.”

“Alan?” Juli lifted the box lid and let out a little cry. On top of the tissue she found a card written in Alan’s peculiar scrawl. “Special flowers for a special lady. When all else fails we can laugh our cares away.” They had certainly done that, but the cryptic message added to her curiosity. She pushed back the tissue, and inside lay an arrangement of white roses with sprigs of long-stemmed scarpes, delicate white flowers on curling stems, and small lavender allium, both grown from garlic bulbs. Tears blurred her eyes. “He’s amazing.”

As she pulled the bouquet from the box, her father’s chuckle greeted her. “It’s a rose and garlic bouquet.”

She held the arrangement against her beaded dress. “But this one I love.”

“I thought you would.” He stepped to her side and kissed her cheek. “We’d better get out there, little girl.”

He grasped her arm, and today she loved hearing him call her his little girl. Sometimes she was. “Let’s go, Daddy.”

Her mother and Megan left first, and Juli held back as the others went down the aisle. When the “Trumpet Voluntary” began, she knew it was her cue, and she and her father moved into the archway and began the long walk down the aisle. Ahead of her she could see Alan, looking so handsome she could hardly contain herself. His blond hair appeared even blonder against his black tuxedo, and those dusky periwinkle eyes she loved followed her as she walked toward him.

At the front her father released her to Alan’s care and settled beside her mother, and the pastor began, his words wrapping around her heart.

Alan squeezed her hand, and she heard him murmur, “You’re too beautiful for words.” Today she felt that way. As they spoke their vows, she saw the sun stream through the magnificent stained-glass windows and tint her dress with its hues. To her it was the Lord’s way of sending His blessing as she stood beside the man God had given her to respect, love, honor, and trust always.