CHAPTER THREE
“Your shoes are right here,” Cass said and waved at me from the corner of the entry to the church. The wedding guests were filing in, and the guest minister, who would preside over the ceremony, was at the front of the sanctuary. The sound of the organ boomed through the building. I knew that in the middle of the service, Charlotte, who was also an organist, would be playing a hymn. Reverend Brook and Juliet wanted to involve as many people from the congregation and the community as possible.
Aiden, in his powder-blue tuxedo, waited at the door of the church to walk his mother down the aisle. Cass held my arm while I removed my sneakers and put on my heels.
Aiden wove around the guests filing into the church to stand next to us. “Wow.”
It wasn’t the kind of wow you wanted to hear from your significant other. It was the sort of exclamation someone made when they witnessed a car crash.
“She looks like a cotton candy machine exploded, doesn’t she?” Cass smoothed her wrinkle-free dress. She was slim and sleek in her all-black tank dress and bright red heels. Her black and purple hair was perfectly styled and her eyeliner was on point. Don’t tell Cass that you can’t wear black to a wedding. Actually, don’t tell Cass that you can’t wear black anywhere, because that was all she wore.
“Well . . .” Aiden trailed off as if he was dumbstruck by my appearance. Then he said, “It’s the kind of outfit that makes you believe there just might be unicorns out there.”
Cass snorted a laugh.
I finished putting on my heels and let go of Cass’s arm. “I’m pretty sure that was the look your mother was going for.”
“Mission accomplished,” Aiden said with a laugh. “You’re a beautiful lavender and white puff. No matter what you wear, you will always be beautiful to me.”
Cass handed over my bouquet. “Oh my gosh, Bailey, if that doesn’t make you fall over dead in a swoon, you’re a robot.”
I was smiling but wasn’t swooning. “There’s no time to grow weak in the knees. We have a wedding to get to.”
“You’re right,” Aiden said. “We should all head to our posts.”
Cass saluted us and went into the church.
As she found her seat, the last of the guests, including Maami, Charlotte, and Emily, settled into theirs, and Reverend Brook stood at the front of the church with the other pastor, a man with a poor comb-over who might be pushing one hundred. Juliet had told me that the reverend presiding over the ceremony had been the former minister of the church until Reverend Brook took his place twelve years ago. I sure hoped the wedding would begin soon; the old reverend appeared to be on the verge of needing a nap.
The church was packed. It wasn’t often the village minister got married, and it was an open community wedding, which meant that everyone in the village was invited. At least half of the people there were Amish. Reverend Brook was well-respected in the Amish community because he allowed the church building to be used for Amish functions. There wasn’t a single person in Harvest who had a mean word to say about Reverend Brook, and the same went for Juliet. I couldn’t say that about Jethro. People had a lot to say about that little pig. I suppressed a sigh as an usher walked the little bacon bundle over to me on a lavender satin leash.
The wedding party was small, consisting of the bride and groom, Aiden and me, and Jethro.
“You’re taking the pig down?” the usher asked, as if he wasn’t sure I was up to the task.
I waved the bouquet that Cass handed me. “Yep.”
He shook his head, as if it was my funeral. “Get in line. It’s almost time.”
As if on cue, the organist started the wedding march. I wasn’t surprised in the least that Juliet had chosen to go with a classic tune to walk down the aisle. She had been waiting for this day for so long and it was finally here. She would want everything to be perfect. Any bride would.
I looked down at the polka-dotted, potbellied pig. “Let’s do this,” I whispered. “Make Juliet proud. Chin up. Tail high!”
He lifted his head and his tail sprang into action.
Jethro was wearing a lavender satin bow tie for the occasion. Part of my job as the maid of honor was to carry the bouquet, adjust Juliet’s train, and walk Jethro down the aisle. I took the satin leash into my hand. In the pig’s mouth was the handle of a small basket that held the wedding rings. When Juliet had first told me that Jethro would carry the rings in his mouth, I almost fell over. Even with the protection of the tiny basket, the risk of the pig losing the rings was high. However, this was one point of the ceremony on which Juliet refused to budge. Other than Aiden, Jethro was the most important being in Juliet’s life. Of course he had to have a large and important role in the wedding. As Cass said, “Being best bacon wasn’t enough; he had to be the ring bearer, too.”
He stared up at me with his brown eyes as if he understood all my thoughts and turned his attention toward the front of the sanctuary. The little bacon bundle had his game face on, and I was happy to see it.
“Go!” the usher urged in a harsh whisper.
I hesitated, but Jethro took the usher’s words as a command and moved out.
I tripped a little as I doubled my pace to walk beside him.
People smiled and chuckled softly as we made our way down the aisle. Truthfully, we went at a faster clip than was normal for this sort of thing, but I blamed Jethro for that. I liked to think the guests were chuckling at that pig with the lavender bow, but it could just as easily have been my cupcake dress arousing their amusement.
Despite the too-quick pace and my worries over the rings being lost, we made it down the aisle and stood a few feet away from the reverend. Jethro looked up at me.
“That’ll do, pig, that’ll do,” I whispered, quoting from Babe with a smile. It was something I had always wanted to say to Jethro. However, because the little pig was a bit of a troublemaker, the opportunity had never arisen. Apparently, when Juliet needed it the most, the little oinker would come through with his very best behavior. I hoped it would continue through the rest of the ceremony and well into the reception. But I might be pressing my luck to ask for good behavior from Jethro for that long.
The music picked up and the congregation stood as Aiden and Juliet made their way down the aisle. They were a handsome mother and son, and Juliet was radiant. Cass had been right about the pink hat: It was both chic and somehow classic, and with the polka-dotted theme, it somehow managed to tie everything together. Juliet was beaming and couldn’t take her eyes off Reverend Brook. I glanced at the minister’s face and saw that he was watching her intently, too. His expression was happy but far more cautious than Juliet’s, which I immediately dismissed as wedding jitters. No one in Harvest doubted Reverend Brook’s devotion to Juliet Brody.
In front of the church, Aiden kissed his mother on the cheek, and then, much to my relief, he bent down and took the basket of rings from Jethro’s mouth. When he straightened, he winked at me. I blushed.
“Welcome, one and all, to this joyous occasion,” the presiding minister said into the stand-up microphone, but only the wedding party could hear him.
Reverend Brook helped the old minister turn on his mic, and there was a bout of awkward laughter.
“Oh,” the minster laughed. “That is much better. Thank you, Reverend, for helping another man of the cloth in his time in need.” He cleared his throat. “As I was saying, welcome to this joyous occasion of the marriage of Reverend Simon Brook and Juliet Brody. We, as a congregation, have seen their love and respect for each other grow over the last several years. There were whispers before the public announcements that they were together, but they were coy with us. Now, we can celebrate with great happiness their love and felicity in holy union.”
I watched as Juliet and the reverend spoke the traditional vows of marriage. They lit the unity candle, and the ceremony was just about to come to an end when the back doors of the church, which the ushers had closed the moment Juliet was inside, flew open with a bang against the wall.
A woman in a tropical print sundress stomped down the aisle. Her dirty blond hair was tied in a messy bun on the top of her head, her skin pulled taut against her thin cheeks . . . Everyone in the sanctuary froze as she ran down the center aisle.
“Is this the time when you ask if there are any objections to this marriage?” the woman cried. “Don’t you have to ask that?” Her voice was raspy, as if she had smoked most of her life.
The old pastor blinked. “We don’t ask that question any longer. It’s not really up to anyone else if two people should marry.”
“I say they don’t get to be married!” She held her right fist in the air and then pointed at Reverend Brook. “He doesn’t deserve happiness after what he did. Did you tell them, Simon? Did you tell them what you did?”
Reverend Brook paled.
“Please, someone, do something about this disturbance,” the old pastor said.
Aiden handed the minister the little basket that held the rings and waved to someone at the back of the church. Deputy Little, who was in his sheriff’s department uniform, walked down the aisle. “Ma’am?” he began.
All the while, Reverend Brook looked like he was caught in the bright headlights of an oncoming train. All he could do was stare at the woman as if she was a ghost who’d come back to life to haunt him.
Deputy Little held up his hands in the same way I’d seen countless Amish farmers approach a skittish cow or horse. There were no sudden movements in either case. “Ma’am, perhaps this isn’t the best time to discuss whatever grievance you might have with the reverend.”
“The heck you say!”
The woman hadn’t actually cussed, but that didn’t stop the audible gasps heard through the church.
Deputy Little held out a hand. “Now, ma’am, we are going to have to ask you to leave.”
The whole congregation leaned forward, eyes glued to the spectacle. I had to hand it to Deputy Little. He didn’t have a whole lot of experience in hostile situations, as far as I knew, but he was treating this one like a pro.
“You don’t get to ask me to leave. Ask Simon why I’m here. You didn’t tell her about me, did you? What a cruel joke that she will have to find out on her wedding day—or is it a wedding day not to be?” she spat.
“Ma’am,” Deputy Little said. He looked as though he was debating tackling her. I thought that was a bad idea, because the church was crowded and guests were likely to be taken down along with the intruder.
I glanced at Juliet, who stared at the woman openmouthed, as if she couldn’t believe this was happening. My heart hurt for her; I hated the thought that this might be her clearest memory of this special day, a day she had awaited for so long.
“Ma’am,” Deputy Little said again. “Come peacefully out of the church or I will have to arrest you for disturbing the peace.”
She spun around to face him. Her back was toward the front of the sanctuary now. She then turned back to face the wedding party. She held up her fist. “Traitor!” the woman screamed and ran from the room.
After the church door banged closed with a resounding thud, the sanctuary was so quiet, you could hear a horse shake its bridle outside the building. No one moved. No one spoke.
Juliet gripped Reverend Brook’s arm for all she was worth. “Don’t stop. Keep going. Please. The wedding must go on. Please finish it,” she said.
The old pastor blinked at her.
There were tears in Juliet’s eyes. “Please.”
The pastor looked to Reverend Brook, who nodded.
“I now pronounce you husband and wife,” the retired minister said. “You may kiss the bride.”