by Amy Vastine
He was beyond infuriating. “We won’t be getting divorced, so it’s not going to matter.”
“I’m not going to argue with you. Benjamin will send me the draft when he’s finished and I will email it to you. Please think about what I said about slowing things down. I feel like you’re caught up in a lot of emotion and following your heart, not your head.”
“Maybe you need to follow your heart a little more and your head a little less,” Piper proposed.
“I always follow my heart where you’re concerned.”
He had a way of disarming her at the most unexpected moments.
“I love you, Daddy, and I’ll see you in a couple days.”
Piper hung up the phone and placed both hands on her belly. “Don’t worry, little buddy. Your dad and I have everything under control. We’re going to be the family you deserve.”
She meant it. Even if all this felt a bit surreal. There was a lot to do and very little time to do it. Of course, all that mattered was that they said “I do.” Whether she had the perfect dress or not wouldn’t impact the outcome of the day. All she needed was for Sawyer to stand before her and promise to love her forever.
The baby kicked, and an overwhelming sense of fear ran through her. Sawyer had never used that word. Not even when he’d asked her to marry him. He must love her, though. It was one of his conditions to marry her. He’d said he wanted to be in love before he took the plunge.
She pushed those feelings of fear aside. They would not sidetrack her from the things she needed to get done today. First up, finding a dress. Hopefully Faith would be willing to take her shopping.
* * *
SAWYER CLIMBED OUT of his pickup truck. Main Street was looking a bit less festive now that the winter holidays were over and spring was still a bit off. A few store windows were decorated for Valentine’s Day, but it was nothing like it had been a couple months ago when the Christmas lights lit up the whole street.
“Sawyer Stratton, is that you?” Pastor Kline had a box of doughnuts in his hands.
Sawyer couldn’t believe his luck. This wedding was meant to be. Why else would the good Lord put the pastor right outside Harriet’s flower shop so he could kill two birds with one stone?
“It is, sir. How are you this morning?”
“I’m good. I’ve been following you in the news. You seem to be having quite the adventure.”
“I am, sir. It’s been very exciting traveling the country, meeting a ton of people and getting to sing my songs almost every night. I’m truly blessed.”
“Well, make sure you remember who to thank for that,” Pastor Kline said, making his way to his car.
“Pastor, I was actually going to call you today,” Sawyer said, jogging up alongside him. “I’m sure if you’ve been following the news about me, you’ve heard I’m engaged.”
“I have. Congratulations, son.”
“Thanks, but I was going to call you, because Piper and I were hoping you would officiate at our wedding.”
“Me? Well, I’d be honored. Why don’t you call me when you have a chance and we can schedule a meeting so I can get to know your fiancée? From there, we can talk about setting a wedding date and get you enrolled in the Prepare and Enrich program we run for couples looking to marry at the church.”
“Oh, we already have a date and we’re planning to get married at my family farm, not the church. Is that a problem?”
Pastor Kline shook his head. “If you want to get married at home, we can definitely make that work. Like I said, you give me a call and we’ll set up that first meeting.”
“Well, sir. There’s just one other thing. We were hoping you would marry us two days from now. We’re heading back out on tour at the end of the week, and we were really hoping to get this all done quickly.”
The pastor’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. “Two days? Sawyer, that’s awfully soon. I know you’ve been engaged for a bit, but have you done anything to prepare for marriage?”
Sawyer contemplated lying for about half a second. The last thing he wanted was to curse the marriage by deceiving a man of God.
“We haven’t had any formal preparation. We would absolutely be willing to meet with you in the future, but we really want to get married as soon as possible.”
Pastor Kline’s forehead was creased and his mouth was in a straight line. “I’m a huge proponent of having these conversations before the wedding, before you’ve said your vows and made the commitment before God.”
“I’m only getting married once, sir. You know me. You know how seriously I take my commitments. I promise you that Piper and I are on the same page about a lot of things. We’ve spent hours talking about what’s important to us, especially with the baby on the way. The baby is another big reason we’d like to do this sooner rather than later.”
“I heard about the baby, as well.” Pastor Kline set his box of doughnuts on the roof of his car and pulled his keys out of his pocket. “If you promise me that the two of you will come in and do some faith sharing with me in the near future, I will perform the ceremony in two days.”
Sawyer exhaled in relief. “Thank you so much, sir.”
“You must really love this woman,” he said, opening his car door.
Sawyer felt his smile falter. He nodded rather than say anything out loud. “Thank you again. We’ll be in touch.”
One down, one to go. He hurried back to Harriet’s. The bell above the door rang as he entered. Only it wasn’t Harriet standing behind the cash register—it was Gretchen. She had the money drawer open and a stack of bills in her hand.
“Faith does the books here. She makes sure Harriet knows where every nickel and dime goes. You might want to think about that before you do something you regret.”
Gretchen set the bills back in the register with an annoying grin on her face. “I think there’s only one of us at risk of having some major regrets soon.”
“I need to talk to Harriet. Is she upstairs?” Harriet lived in the apartment above the shop.
“I know you’re mad at me, and you have every right to be.” Her expression softened. “I’m not here looking for your forgiveness, because I haven’t earned that. I’m here because I see you and you’re so much like me. You deserve to be young and free. I’d hate to see you make the same mistakes I made.”
Though she’d sounded sincere at first, Sawyer’s anger started in his toes and crawled up the entire length of his body until it felt like flames were shooting out the top of his head. “I’m nothing like you. I’m like my father, a man whose first instinct is to take care of his family and do what’s right for them above everything else. Don’t think for a second that you know me. You gave up that privilege long ago.”
“Hello there, sugarplum.” Harriet came down the stairs wearing a bright red dress and a wide-brimmed red church hat with red feathers and a giant flower on the side. “Why don’t we take a walk down to the Cup and Spoon Diner and you can buy me a coffee while we chat.”
“We don’t have to leave on account of her,” Sawyer said, waving a hand in Gretchen’s direction. “I am not afraid to say what I have to say with her standing right there.”
“He’s not like me at all, Harriet,” Gretchen said with obvious sarcasm. “He’s got no angst.”
“You don’t need to get him any more fired up than he already is,” Harriet chided.
“I’m getting married,” Sawyer announced.
Harriet didn’t flinch. “I know. I’m happy for you.”
“I’m not,” Gretchen threw out.
“Hush,” Harriet said. “Are you here to officially ask me to do the flowers? Because you know I will. It would be my honor and it will be my gift.”
“I’m getting married in two days,” he said dropping the real bomb. “I need to know if you think we can use the flowers from the bus to make so
me bouquets and centerpieces.”
“Are you nuts?” Gretchen shouted as Harriet’s jaw dropped. “What are you thinking? You can’t marry that girl in two days. This is not the 1950s. You don’t have to have a shotgun wedding because someone tells you to. You can raise a child together without being married.”
“Oh, because that worked out real well for you, didn’t it?” Sawyer said. “You were a big help to Dad all those years. Oh, wait. That was Harriet. My bad.” He turned back to Harriet. “What do you think? Can you make it work?”
“I don’t see why not,” she replied, having regained her composure.
“Great. Feel free to stop by anytime to repurpose the flowers however you see fit. The bus is at the farm. It’s going to be a small wedding. Only family and close friends. I don’t think you’ll need to make more than two bouquets and a couple centerpieces.”
“I’ll make it work.”
“Gretchen is not invited, in case you were wondering. She’s neither family nor a friend,” he added.
“You know what’s a great reason to get married, Harriet?” Gretchen said. “To spite the mother who abandoned you. Don’t you think?”
Sawyer refused to engage with her. Maybe there was the tiniest shred of truth in her accusation, but he didn’t care. He had enough good reasons to marry Piper. One bad one wouldn’t spoil everything. Plus, Gretchen was like a cancer; he didn’t want to feed her malignance. With nothing but a goodbye for Harriet, he was out the door.
* * *
PIPER STRUGGLED WITH the zipper on the dress she’d found at Hugo’s, the only department store in Grass Lake. They’d had one white dress in the maternity section. One. Piper began to question if it was even acceptable for her to wear white. It was obvious she and Sawyer had done things out of order.
“Faith, could I get your help?” she asked through the door.
Faith had reluctantly agreed to take Piper shopping. Not that she’d said she didn’t want to go; the look on her face had given her hesitation away.
“Sure,” Faith answered. Piper opened the door to let her in the tiny dressing room.
Faith got the stubborn zipper up in one try. The white lace dress was knee-length and had a simple scoop neckline and short cap sleeves. The empire waist was elastic, most likely to accommodate a growing belly. It wasn’t Piper’s dream wedding dress by any means, but it fit.
“That looks nice,” Faith said without much gusto.
“I always pictured myself in something with a long train and detailed beading. I also imagined my dress would accentuate these curves—” she ran her hands down her sides “—not this curve.” She pointed at her baby bump.
“I tried on what felt like a hundred dresses before I found the right one,” Faith said.
Dean and Faith were getting married this summer. Piper hoped Faith didn’t resent the fact that Sawyer was doing it first. “I don’t have that kind of time. This one will have to do,” she said. “Unzip me?”
Faith obliged. “I feel bad about that. Don’t you want to have a wedding the way you always dreamed about? It’s not like getting married in a year would really change anything between you and Sawyer if you’re both so sure you want to be together forever.”
Piper had suspected Faith was not in favor of the timing of things. “That’s true, but I also think—why wait? What is really going to be different in a year? I’ll be able to fit in a better dress? That’s not the point of what we’re doing. We’re getting married because we want to be committed.”
“Commitment is a daily act, it’s not something you agree to once and then it’s over with,” Faith argued.
“I know. The day is simply symbolic. I suppose we’ll have to agree to disagree.”
Faith was about as confrontational as Piper. She let it go and left the room so Piper could change. Piper tried not to let her thoughts linger on Faith’s point, but failed. What she couldn’t tell her future sister-in-law was that she feared Sawyer would change his mind if she waited. She believed him when he said he only wanted to get married once. If they did it now, he’d stay committed to her. If they put it off, she might lose her only chance.
None of this was ideal, but it was as good as Piper was going to get. She wanted her son to have two married parents. They bought the dress and headed back to the car.
Downtown Grass Lake consisted of one main road. Piper thought it was adorable. There was a theater with a big marquee announcing the one movie being shown there, a hardware store with a couple of rocking chairs outside where two old men sat and greeted customers as they came and went, and then there was Harriet’s Flower Shop, with a window full of roses in every color on display.
“Should we stop in and say hi to Harriet?” Piper asked, pushing the door open before Faith could answer. A bell chimed, and the fragrant smell of hundreds of flowers hit her all at once.
“Maybe we shouldn’t,” Faith said, chasing after her.
“Oh.” Piper hadn’t meant to assume Faith had the time to kill. As she turned to leave, her eyes connected with the woman behind the counter. Sawyer’s mom.
“Well, it must be family and friends day,” Gretchen said. “Don’t worry, I promise I don’t bite. You okay? You’re pale as a ghost.”
Piper felt a bit light-headed and her heart pounded. “I—”
“She didn’t know you were staying here. We’re going to go,” Faith said, gently pulling Piper toward the door.
“Don’t leave on my account. Your brother came in and informed us there’s a wedding to plan. You must be running around checking things off your list. Buy a dress—check. Order flowers—check. Trap a man into marriage by getting knocked up—check.”
“Mom, stop,” Faith pleaded.
“He’s not ready to get married. You said so yourself, Faith.”
Piper wanted to run away, but her legs wouldn’t move.
“Sawyer and Piper are adults who get to make their own choices,” Faith said. “It’s not our place to tell them what to do or to judge them.”
“What kind of trouble are you getting yourself into now?” Harriet came out of the back room with a roll of pink tulle. She stopped short when she noticed Piper. “Oh, boy. What are you doing bringing the poor girl here?” she asked Faith.
“I couldn’t grab her fast enough.”
“You all act like I am going to hurt the girl,” Gretchen complained. “I don’t want to hurt her, I want her to stop making plans to hurt my son. Is that too much to ask?”
“We’re going to go,” Faith said, resuming their retreat.
“I’ll be by the house later today to make some arrangements for the wedding out of the flowers on the bus,” Harriet said. “Everything will be beautiful, I promise, Piper.”
“Thank you,” Piper managed to mumble. Faith got her out of the store before Gretchen could make her feel any worse.
They walked in silence to the car. Piper’s head was spinning with a million questions. She spun her engagement ring around and around. “Do you agree with your mom?” she finally asked.
Faith didn’t answer right away, which led Piper to believe she did but didn’t want to upset the apple cart. They got to the car and Piper opened the door. “Not completely,” she said before getting in.
Piper climbed into the passenger seat. “Not completely, but a little bit. You agree with some of the things she says. Like what? Like I trapped your brother into marrying me?”
“No! Not that. I know you did not plan for this to happen. I know the baby was unexpected.”
“You don’t think we should get married.”
Faith placed both hands on the wheel. “I don’t think you should get married in two days. I don’t object to you two getting married at some point in time. I think you’re a very lovely person and my brother would be lucky to have you as his wife. I just feel like everything is moving at light sp
eed, and that’s not the way I want this to be for either one of you. Rushed, impulsive, without the full support of all your loved ones.”
Piper pressed her fingers to her eyes to keep herself from crying. Was everyone right? Was this wedding a mistake that would haunt her forever?
“Please don’t cry. My brother will never forgive me if he finds out I made you cry.”
Piper waved her off. She would do her best to hold it together. Why did two days feel like not nearly enough time to prepare for a wedding but more than enough time for someone to convince them to cancel it?
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
HEATH EMAILED PIPER the prenup the next morning with a warning that he and Piper’s mother and brother would be arriving this afternoon. She had waited to open it until she could do so with Sawyer. The whole thing made her feel sick.
“When your brother gets here, I want to ask him if he’ll stand up for me. Did you ask Faith if she’d stand up for you? I like the idea of our siblings being our witnesses.”
Piper had not asked Faith, because she knew Sawyer’s sister did not approve of the marriage in the first place. “How about I ask my brother and you ask your sister? This wedding is already nontraditional, why not mix it up?”
Sawyer seemed puzzled. “You mean Faith would be my best woman and Matty is your man of honor?”
“Why not?” Piper asked.
“No reason. I think it’s a great idea. I’ll ask Faith the next time I see her.”
Piper put her feet up on the chair next to her as they sat at the kitchen table in Faith’s kitchen with Scout lounging close by, hoping they’d drop some food. Sawyer scratched the dog’s head.
“Do you want to forward this prenup to your lawyer?” she asked.
“Why? I’m going to sign it. I’m sure it says I can’t have any of your money or property if we get divorced. I don’t need your money or property, so I might as well sign it and get Heath off my back.”
“Well, someone needs to read it,” Piper insisted. “Your lawyer’s job is to make sure you aren’t signing something that gives me all your money and property.”
