Helen tried to stand still while Edna worked on all the buttons of her wedding dress. Why on earth her mother picked such a dress, she didn’t know. But her father had sent it after he received news of her and Daniel’s wedding. It was an honor to wear the dress, just a pain to stand still for so long.
“Daniel’s going to have fun trying to get all of this unfastened,” Edna quipped.
“It’s time, Helen,” her father said through a closed door.
“Just about done,” Helen answered. “It’s all these buttons.”
Her father snickered from behind the closed door. “I remember,” he mumbled.
“Finally,” Edna said. “That was the last one.”
“Thank you, Edna. Thank you for everything.”
“You’re welcome, dear. And I’m so glad Daniel decided to stay here at the university. You’ll still be around.”
“I am too.” Helen hugged her good friend. Decades separated them in age, but their hearts were bound together in the Lord and His plans for their lives. She’d learned so much from Edna. “Come in, Daddy.”
Her father entered, handsomely dressed in a sharp black suit and perfectly framed by the fluted white doorframe. “Oh my gracious, you look just like your mother. She was so beautiful I had a hard time standing up when she came down the aisle.”
Helen smiled.
He held out his elbow and escorted her out of the pastor’s office and into the vestibule. Edna hustled down the aisle before them. The pastor’s wife began playing the piano.
“Are you certain, Helen?”
“Yes, Dad. He’s a good man.”
He patted the top of her hand. “Good. I couldn’t ask for anything more. Shall we?”
She nodded.
They stepped through the vestibule and turned down the aisle. Daniel stood tall, his brothers standing beside him. The small gathering had turned into a much grander affair. Several members of the local school board were there, as well as several professors and their families from the university. Daniel’s smile glowed brighter as she focused on him, on the love they were beginning to share. As Daniel put it, they were beginning their lesson in love.
She giggled, remembering it.
Daniel winked.
She might no longer be able to teach other people’s children in a formal way, but she would be giving private lessons to some of her former students, since Warren hadn’t found a schoolteacher yet for the upcoming year. One day politics might change, but for now she was content to join her life with her husband’s and begin the mystery of love.
Her father took her hand and placed it in Daniel’s. Within moments they would be pronounced man and wife, and they would be one, forever and always.
Joy filled Helen’s heart. Daniel’s eyes sparkled. Yes, it would be a great lesson in love.