~ Twenty-six ~

She’s gone country, look at them boots
She’s gone country, back to her roots.

—ALAN JACKSON

“Gone Country”

On November 17, Juneberry was abuzz with the delight of a rare double wedding.

Pastor Brian Collins was preparing to perform the ceremony at Hope Community Church. Ladies from the church had decorated the front of the sanctuary with bouquets of fresh-cut roses. Noel Connor sat in the back room, tuning his guitar. “He sounds just like George Strait,” Emma had told Michael when they were making plans for the wedding music.

“Isn’t it wonderful, Will? Your daughter is getting married. And she’s come back home,” Beverly Williams was smiling, her words spilling out with a joy shared by many in the small town. “This has been the most wonderful fall.”

Will escorted Beverly to her seat on the bride’s side of the aisle. Emma had asked her father to wear a black tuxedo because she’d always wanted to see him in one. Will obliged.

Bo, fresh from a cast-removal procedure, wore exactly what Christina had asked: a black Pierre Cardin suit, white shirt, black bolo tie, and brand-new cowboy boots. His hair was slicked back like an actor from an ’80s movie.

Michael asked Emma if she had any special requests for his wedding-day attire. She suggested a black designer suit like Bo’s so everything would match, but with one addition: the white Stetson he had worn to the Whitfields’ farm the night of the party. He was happy to comply.

A double wedding meant double the guests. The parking lot filled up half an hour before the ceremony was to begin. The sanctuary was packed. In the bridal room, Christina, Emma, and Samantha spent the morning getting their hair, makeup, and beautiful white dresses just perfect.

“This is going to be the most wonderful wedding of all time,” Samantha said. “I just can’t believe how beautiful you both are.

“So nice to see you, Mr. and Mrs. Whitfield,” Will said, doubling as an usher for guests. “We’re so delighted you could come.”

“We wouldn’t have missed it, Will. You know, this is what it’s all about. These kids really do know the value of community.”

Jim Connor walked in with baby Jimmy. Big sister Beth followed close by. Emma had shared with Will all about Beth’s decision to enroll at Clemson instead of going to California, her original plan upon graduation in the spring. In the end, the panache—and wisdom—of the Juneberry women won her over.

Will sat them on the brides’ side, finding a spot on the end of a back pew by Janette Kerr and her sister Claudia.

“It’s nice to have you and your sister here today, Janette. Nice to see you both.”

“Your day must already be off to a grand start, Will Madison.”

“I have a lot to be thankful for.”

“So do we all,” she said. “Hope to see you later at the reception.”

Will looked up to see a distinguished lady step inside the front doors of the church. She wore a beautiful winter coat and a matching hat from another era, but she wore it with such class and dignity that people turned to stare. Will knew her instantly, though it had been many years since he’d seen her. He walked to the front of the church to greet her.

“Hello, Annette,” he said to the grand woman. Her eyes turned slowly to Will’s and he knew that she recognized him. “We’re so glad to have you with us today. May I show you to your seat?”

The woman moved her head in a measured sway. She wasn’t strong enough to get around much on her own, and rarely left the assisted living center.

Will offered Annette his arm, she accepted it, and he escorted her to her seat next to Jim.

“It’s been a long time, Annette. I hope you’re feeling well.”

She didn’t answer. She just continued walking as if that activity took all of her concentration.

“Annette, Emma came back. After all these years,” Will told her. He sensed that she was listening, even though she didn’t respond.

“You were Hannah’s favorite sister. You took care of all of us in such a special way. I have to believe what you did for us all so long ago has made today possible. I want to thank you for that.”

Annette still didn’t react but continued to walk with Will.

“Your seat’s not far away, just a few more steps.”

Will helped maneuver her around the end of the pew and helped her sit on the cushioned bench. Once in her seat, Annette turned her head and looked directly at Will.

“She … loved … Emma,” Annette said, her eyes lined from the effects of a recent stroke. “She loved you.”

Will felt a chill go through him as if his Hannah were speaking directly to him. Hannah did love Emma very much. He wished she could be there on this, the day of their only daughter’s wedding. Will squeezed Annette’s heavily veined hand, the past and the present inextricably tied in that touch. She had been there the day of his wedding, more than thirty years ago, helping Hannah in the bridal room with her beautiful wedding gown.

“Thank you, Annette,” he said, wishing she could know even half the ways he meant it.

She turned her eyes back to the front, and Will walked away, wondering if somewhere in her mind she still thought of him and Hannah as “the kids.”

Emma’s cell phone buzzed on the vanity in the bridal room.

“Oh, who is calling me today!” she shrieked in mock frustration.

“No one’s calling you,” Christina told her. “That means you’ve got a text message. Don’t you know anything cool?”

“I knew that,” she said.

The women laughed and Emma flipped open the phone. She pressed all the buttons until the message appeared.

Marriage rocks! Congratulations!

Love, Lara

“Oh, well that’s nice,” Emma said.

“That reminds me, Emma,” Samantha said. “Did you see the flowers from your firm? Someone named Robert Adler signed the card.”

Thanks, Robert, Emma thought.

Samantha looked at the clock on the wall.

“You guys, it’s almost time. They’re going to start the music soon.”

Christina and Emma stood and saw themselves for the first time in the full-length mirrors.

“Now, don’t cry or you’ll mess up your makeup,” Samantha told them.

“Oh my gosh!” they both said of each other. “You look beautiful!”

Brian Collins knocked on the door.

“Ladies, are you ready? It’s time.”

Noel strummed his guitar and the music filled the sanctuary. The doors at the rear of the church opened, and the two most beautiful brides in Juneberry stood ready to be walked down the aisle.

Christina reached for her dad’s arm and they began their unhurried promenade toward Bo. She concentrated on every step, wanting to always remember everything that happened that special day. She would never forget how they got there.

“Okay, honey. Are you ready?” Will said to Emma. He looked at her and found her eyes already staring at him, beginning to cry.

“I love you, Daddy. Thanks for waiting for me.”

“You’re the most beautiful daughter in all the world,” Will said, smiling. Every prayer he’d ever prayed had been answered.

“Let’s go,” he said.

They strolled down the aisle together, Emma looking toward Michael in his cowboy hat. She loved him and was thrilled to spend the rest of her life with him. She couldn’t imagine how she ever came to be so wonderfully loved.

When she reached the front, Emma whispered to Michael, “Knowing that you love me and that you waited for me fills my heart. Makes me want to be a wonderful wife to you.”

Michael whispered back.

“You’re in luck. We’re getting married.”

Pastor Brian Collins performed a magnificent ceremony; the couples exchanged their vows.

Michael thought about the other vow he took—to look after Emma. And he knew that Samantha was thinking about her vow, too. He wondered if a vow could ever be rescinded, if love could ever be taken back. Michael looked to Emma again, standing at his right, lost in her beauty and grace. He knew then, that this vow—the one they were making today—was forever.

“By the power vested in me by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and the great state of South Carolina, I now pronounce you husband and wife, and husband and wife. Gentlemen, you may kiss your brides.”

Michael took Emma in his arms and kissed her.

Bo kissed Christina and then she offered a whispered prayer of thanks to God.

The crowd stood and applauded, whistled, hooted, and howled.

Noel started playing the song “Blessed Be Your Name” and began to sing as the married couples made their way back down the aisle. Cameras flashed and the townspeople shook the couples’ hands and wished them well.

Christina, Emma, Michael, and Bo poured out the front of the noisy church celebrating in the cold, crisp November air. All the leaves had fallen, and all the trees were bare.

“What a fall it’s been,” Christina said. “What a beautiful fall.”

“Who can think of the fall at a time like this, Christina?” Emma said. “We just got married.”

The brides held their husbands for warmth as they took in the gorgeous bright blue day.

“But it all happened in the fall. When it all started, we didn’t know anything this glorious was about to happen.”

“I know what you mean,” Emma said. “It’s like the seasons. When they start, you’re one kind of person, and then when they end, you’re somebody different.”

“That’s exactly what I mean.”

“Would you say you’re a different person, Emma?” Michael asked.

She thought of her last conversation with Noel, before the wedding was planned.

“I’m a completely different person,” she said, looking at Christina, Bo, and Michael, seeing the tears in everyone’s eyes. “A new creation, and I’ll never be the same.”

o o o

A week later, everyone came over to Will’s house for a different kind of get-together: Thanksgiving dinner. Michael and Emma, Christina and Bo, Samantha and little Jimmy, Jim, Noel, Beth, Janette and her sister, Claudia, and Will sat around the long dinner table and ate, and talked, and laughed. They prayed, and they praised God, thanking Him for everything that He’d done in this season of their lives. They each had a lot to be thankful for.

Just before dessert, Emma excused herself for a moment. She climbed the stairs, stepped into the room she’d known so well as a child, sat down on the bed and looked over at the picture resting on a small white shelf. Traces of mud still coated the corners of the ornate gold frame. She had considered cleaning the frame, but in the end, decided to let it be. The photo had earned its dings and scars and she saw no reason to hide them. After all, she thought, we all have them. Emma kissed her fingers, then pressed them to the photo.

“I love you, Mom,” she whispered. Emma listened to the sounds coming from downstairs and smiled. Everything was in its place. She turned an old engagement ring around her finger, next to the diamond ring from Michael, her true love found. Her husband, her father, and her best friends were down there, missing her. She stood and walked to the stairs. They wouldn’t have to miss her any longer.

She was home.