Always the Baker, Finally the Bride

by Sandra D. Bricker

  “You’re more beautiful than I’ve ever seen you,” Sherilyn told her, her turquoise eyes glistening with moist emotion.

  “Really?”

  Emma nibbled the corner of her bottom lip as she looked at them both in the mirror.

  “Really,” Sherilyn sniffed.

  “Dude. You’re an MGM movie,” Fee added.

  “Your mother’s earrings are your something old, the dress is something new. But this is your something borrowed,” Sherilyn told her as she clasped a two-strand diamond bracelet around her wrist. “It’s the bracelet I wore at my wedding.”

  “Ahh, Sher. Thank you.”

  “Do you have something blue?” Fee asked.

  “Her garter,” Sherilyn said, wiggling her eyebrows until Emma laughed.

  A knock at the door drew Fee away to the other room, and Emma sat down on the corner of the bed. “Just half an hour until I finally marry Jackson,” she said on a sigh.

  “And look!” Sherilyn exclaimed as she pointed out the window. “Clear skies. No rain, no wind.”

  “I’m so relieved that something’s gone right,” she replied with a smile. “I was starting to think—”

  A gasp drew their attention to the doorway, where Audrey and Kat stood, and the expressions on their faces told Emma everything she needed to know about how she really looked in her gown.

  “Audrey, you made it.”

  “My flight landed an hour ago,” she told her. “I couldn’t miss seeing you in that gown. You look exquisite, Emma.”

  “Thank you both.” She crossed the room toward them and took Audrey and Kat into her arms. “For the dress, for the beautiful headband . . . for your friendship.”

  “You’re welcome,” Audrey cooed. “We adore you.”

  “Ooh, I saw Jackson,” Kat chimed in. “He looks delicious!”

  “I knew he would,” Emma said with a giggle.

  Sherilyn joined the circle and placed one arm around Emma and the other around Kat. “You see, Em? I told you it was going to be fine! Everything is rounding out beautifully.”

  “Did you have doubts?” Audrey asked.

  “Oh!” Sherilyn exclaimed before Emma could answer. “I forgot to tell you. Pearl’s here!”

  Emma lit up a little. “Really? That’s great. But Russell . . . you know. And my father is in the hospital . . .”

  “No!” Kat exclaimed.

  “. . . and Aunt Sophie can’t come . . .”

  As if on cue, Emma’s mother sang out a greeting from the other room. “Emma Rae? Are you in there?”

  “Avery, wait until you see this daughter of yours in her wedding gown,” Sherilyn called out as she headed through the doorway, but her words trailed off, replaced by a gasp.

  “Emma Rae Travis,” her mother declared when she saw her. “Look at you! You’re a vision, darling.”

  Emma beamed. “Thank you, Mother.”

  “And she brought a surprise for you,” Sherilyn sang as she danced past the etched-glass sliding door into the bedroom. “Look who’s here!”

  Emma’s spirit soared for a moment, burgeoning with hope that her father had made it after all. But she wasn’t as disappointed as she might have been when her aunt Sophie stepped into the doorway and smoothed the skirt of her beautiful pastel dress.

  Emma gulped down a bubble of air as she rushed toward her. “Aunt Soph? You’re here!”

  “Of course I am, child. You know I love your weddings to Jackson.”

  Emma looked over her aunt’s shoulder into the loving eyes of her mother. “She felt better today than she has in days, and her nurse thought it would be all right for her to come.”

  “Nothing could make me happier,” Emma told her aunt as she kissed her cheek. To just her mother, she softly added, “Almost.”

  “I know.”

  “At the risk of reminding you that I told you so, just one more time,” Sherilyn gloated with a broad smile, “I did tell you everything would work out, didn’t I?”

  “You did,” Emma replied. “But don’t make me say out loud that you were right, okay?”

  “Consider it a wedding gift,” she commented. “Now I’m going to call downstairs and ask them to bring the bouquets up here while I slip into my dress.”

  “You got one for Aunt Soph?” she whispered to Sherilyn.

  She nodded, and then she leaned in toward Emma, looking her squarely in the eye. “Are you feeling good?”

  “Perfect,” she said on a sigh. “I feel like everything is right in the world again, and I can hardly wait to see Jackson waiting for me at the end of the aisle.”

  “Help me with this, will you?”

  Jackson set the ring box on the desktop and crossed his office to where Andy stood facing the full-length mirror Sherilyn had sent up. Once he’d clasped both cuff links, Jackson smacked Andy’s shoulder and grinned at him before reaching for the black tuxedo jacket on the hanger in the corner and holding it for his friend.

  “I don’t know why I seem to be more nervous than you are,” Andy said as he slid into it.

  Jackson slipped into his own jacket and adjusted the satin lapels before tightening the solid black tie around the self-top collar of his starched white shirt. He tugged at the hem of the black vest before fastening the single button on his jacket and standing next to Andy in front of the mirror.

  “We look pretty sharp,” Andy remarked. “You ready to do this thing?”

  “I was born ready.” Jackson tucked the ring box into Andy’s jacket pocket and tapped it. “Don’t lose that.”

  Andy pinned a lavender rosebud to the lapel of Jackson’s jacket. Once he’d reciprocated, Jackson opened the office door and waved Andy past. He took a few deep breaths as they waited for the elevator.

  When the car doors opened, the two of them just stood there looking straight ahead at the unexpected sight before them.

  “Come on in,” said the man occupying the glass elevator car, and he tugged on the neon pink leash wrapped around his hand. A short, fat pig glanced up at them and snorted. “Justin won’t bite.”

  Jackson didn’t have a lot of fears or phobias in life, and he normally enjoyed the occasional dog or cat. But at that moment, he felt certain of two things: Pigs should not be walked on leashes; and if The Tanglewood hadn’t already established a pig-free rule, one needed to be implemented as soon as possible.

  “Go ahead,” he said with a nod toward the pink pig. “We’ll catch the next one.”

  Andy cackled at him as he stepped aboard. “He’s kidding,” he told the old man. “Come on, Jackson. It’s go time.”

  Jackson puffed out a sigh and followed Andy. He tapped the button for the lobby several times before he turned and peered through the glass as the vibrant courtyard moved slowly closer. Guests had already begun gathering beneath the twinkling white lights, and candlelit chandeliers dotted the flowering tree branches above their heads. Rows of clear Lucite chairs shimmered with rhinestone-embellished ribbons and tufts of beautiful flowers.

  Suddenly, the pig screeched as the elevator car thumped to a stop, and the force of it propelled Jackson backward into Andy.

  “What was that?” Andy asked him.

  “Looks like this old elevator has seen better days,” the pig’s owner offered. “Kinda like me.” He clucked with laughter that sounded more like a free-range chicken than a man with a leashed pig.

  The pig pulled on the leash and circled Jackson’s legs before retreating behind his owner’s. He attempted to step over the noose to no avail, and Andy finally helped free him.

  “Excuse me,” Jackson said, more to the pig than the old man, and he reached over and pressed the call button on the panel. Opening his cell phone, he quickly pushed #7 on his speed dial.

  “Thank you for calling The Tanglewood Inn. This is Mason. How may I help you this evening?”

  “Mason, it’s Jackson Drake.”

  “Yes, Mr. Drake. Shouldn’t you be getting married right about now?”

  “Yes, Mason,
that’s the plan. However, I’m trapped in the elevator with my best man. Can you call for some help, please?”

  “Oh, my. Yes. Yes, sir, I’ll do that.”

  “And will you page Sherilyn Drummond and let her know immediately, please?”

  “Yes, sir. Right away.”

  Jackson looked down at the pig staring up at him with one eye, the other eye hidden behind its owner’s leg. The thing’s glare was black and distrustful, and Jackson tried not to imagine the aggression level of a pig that didn’t trust him.

  “Morton Kuntz,” the old man said, extending his hand with the leash still wrapped around it.

  “Jackson Drake,” he replied as he shook the proferred hand. “This is Andy Drummond.”

  “And you’ve met Justin.”

  “I have indeed,” he said, glancing back at the one-eyed pig with the short, screwy tail.

  “Is there a pet policy here at the hotel?” Andy asked softly, leaning toward Jackson.

  Before he could answer, however, Morton Kuntz piped up. “They allow dogs,” he said, pausing to suck something out of his yellowish teeth. “Don’t know why Justin would be a problem.”

  Jackson shrugged at Andy. “There you have it.”

  “One of you fellas gettin’ hitched?”

  Jackson raised his hand slightly. “That would be me.”

  Morton sized up Andy for a moment before asking, “Best man?”

  “Yep.”

  “My grandboy’s followin’ suit here in this hotel tomorrow night.”

  Andy and Jackson exchanged glances before they both nodded politely.

  “Congrats,” Andy added.

  After a couple of silent moments—aside from the snorting, of course—Morton gazed at Jackson and said, “Hopin’ the bride won’t mind waiting around.”

  “Yeah,” Jackson concurred. “I’m hoping that myself.”

  “I knew better than to say everything was perfect! I did. I knew better. Why did I say that out loud?” Emma ranted as Audrey and Kat looked on in silence. “I just had to go and tempt fate that way, didn’t I?”

  “Sherilyn and Fee will know what to do,” Audrey reassured her. “Don’t worry about anything. Ten minutes from now, you’ll be looking into Jackson’s eyes as he slips a ring on your finger, and this will all be forgotten.”

  Emma hiked up the skirt of her gown and tossed herself back on the bed with a groan. “Everyone’s already down there waiting,” she exclaimed. “They’re going to think we eloped! Or worse, that we’re having second thoughts.”

  “Emma,” Kat said. “Anyone who has met you will know neither of you has had second thoughts.”

  “You think?”

  “We know,” Audrey stated, and Emma decided to cling to her friend’s confidence.

  “You know what, I think I’m just going to take a stroll down the hall, see if I can find out what’s going on with the ele—”

  “No,” Audrey sliced into her words. “You’re going to stay right here so that no one sees the bride before she walks down the aisle.”

  “And . . . when will that be, again?”

  “Like ten minutes,” Audrey promised with a wave of her hand. “Fifteen, on the outside. Be patient.”

  Emma eyed the living room through the doorway. The sliding etched-glass door sat partially open on its track. For a moment, the thing appeared to shift, and she examined it more closely.

  “You know, I think I need to take my glucose reading.” Kat and Audrey exchanged panicky glances, and Emma raised her hand. “No, no, don’t worry. Stress kind of makes things fluctuate a little, so I may need to nibble on some more cheese or something. It’s fine. I’ll be fine . . . Does anyone have any aspirin?”

  The elevator groaned, and the pig jerked toward the sound, its snout gyrating as it sniffed the air. The screech of metal on metal inspired a painful grimace, and Jackson watched as the car doors slowly opened a few inches.

  One turquoise eye peered at them from the very top of the opening.

  “Sherilyn?” Andy exclaimed.

  “Hi, baby,” she replied, blinking. “You okay?”

  “I’m trapped in the elevator with a nervous groom and a pig,” Andy answered. With a quick glance downward, he told the pig, “No offense.”

  “Andy, be nice!”

  “No, honey, there’s really a pig in here.”

  “A . . . pig? Really?”

  “Yeah, he’s on a leash. His owner is here for—”

  “Sherilyn!” Jackson interrupted, gripping the partially open doors and staring up into her bright turquoise eye. “Is there any word on how long it’s going to take to get us out of here?”

  “Well, it could be an hour or two before they can get here,” she told him, and Jackson felt his heart drop past his stomach.

  “That’s not—”

  “Hang on, hang on,” she cut him off. “We have a hotel guest in town from Kansas to attend another wedding this weekend, and he builds combines . . . those things they use to harvest wheat . . .”

  “Clayton?” Morton called out, and he and the pig moved closer to the door as he attempted to peer through the small opening.

  “Morton, that you?” someone returned.

  “You gonna help get us outta here, or what?”

  Jackson’s sentiments as well, but he didn’t say so.

  “Clayton suggested we might be able to pry open the doors and see if you were stuck close to the floor,” Sherilyn told them. “He thinks you’re close enough that, if we can get the doors open a little more, you might be able to climb up.”

  “Let’s do it!” Jackson exclaimed.

  “Let’s do it, Clayton!” Sherilyn concurred.

  Just ten more minutes with what looked to be a crowbar inching in from the other side, and some real progress had been made. Andy and Jackson helped it along as each of them grabbed hold of one of the doors and pulled back. Just when it looked as if the opening they’d created might allow them to pass through it, Sherilyn stuck her head through and grinned at them.

  “Oh!” she blurted suddenly. “You really do have a pig in here.”

  “Sherilyn,” Jackson said with a clenched jaw. “How’s Emma?”

  “She’s fine. She’s with the girls, and all ready to join you once we get you out of there.”

  “Justin goes first,” the old man piped up. When he picked up the pig and thrust him toward the open doors, Sherilyn shrieked and the pig oinked.

  Once Justin disappeared through the opening, Jackson turned to Morton Kuntz. “You’re next, sir. Let’s go.”

  “Nah,” he said with a yellowish grin. “Animals first, then wedding parties. You g’on and get hitched.”

  “You don’t need to ask me twice,” Jackson replied. “Thank you.”

  “No, wait!” Sherilyn cried. “Wait, wait. Take off your jackets first and hand them up here to me.” Jackson shook his head as he slipped out of the tuxedo jacket, folded it neatly and raised it toward the top of the opening, where Sherilyn’s manicured hands awaited. “I want yours too, baby.”

  Andy complied, and Jackson clasped his hands together and nodded to Andy. “Let’s go.”

  “Okay. Be careful,” Sherilyn cooed as Andy stepped into the leg-up Jackson offered and thrust himself over the edge of the second floor.

  Once Andy’s feet disappeared through the opening, Jackson looked back at Morton. “Are you going to be able to get yourself up there without a boost?”

  Disappointment dawned in the old man’s eyes. “Not sure, to tell you the truth.”

  “There’s no shame in that,” he reassured him. “Let me help you so I can go get married, okay?”

  Morton fumbled a bit, and they made three tries before Andy could grab him from above. It took the efforts of the both of them, but he disappeared through the opening at last.

  “Okay, Jackson. Your turn,” Sherilyn called.

  Jackson made one jump, grabbed the edge of the floor and pulled himself upward. He tried not to let on how
difficult it really was, but with a picture of Emma in his mind’s eye to spur him upward, he got a foothold against the side of the elevator door and shoved himself through the opening.

  He lay there on his stomach just long enough to catch his breath as Sherilyn stood over him, cell phone in hand. “Fee, the groom is on the move,” she said as she tugged at Jackson’s arm. “Wait five minutes, and bring Em down.” Helping Jackson into his jacket, she added, “Oh! And make sure you take the stairs.”

  Welcome to the Wedding Ceremony

  of

  Emma Rae Travis & Jackson Drake

  Prelude music

  Processional:

  Canon in D—Johann Pachelbel

  The Travis Family

  The Drake Family

  Best Man, Andrew Drummond

  Matron of Honor, Sherilyn Drummond

  Bridal Entrance:

  Mendelssohn’s Wedding March

  Introduction & Prayer:

  Reverend Miguel Ramos

  Uniting Family Honors:

  From the Bride & Groom

  to the members of their families

  The candle at the altar burns in loving memory of Desiree Drake.

  Bride & Groom Address:

  Poetic readings between the Bride & Groom

  Bride & Groom Exchange:

  Exchange of the vows

  Exchange of the rings

  Pronouncement & Blessing of the Marriage

  Presentation of the Married Couple

  25

  Emma ran across the lobby in bare feet, her Benjamin Adams four-inch pumps looped over two fingers, Kat and Audrey sprinting close behind her. At the courtyard door, she pushed her size six-and-a-half feet into the size-six shoes as Audrey pressed the bouquet into her hands. Four stems of perfect lavender-blue hydrangea, the stems wrapped in rhinestone ribbon that matched the Swarovski crystals adorning her designer shoes, the flowers just exactly like the picture she’d chosen with Sherilyn at the beach.