by Rachel Hauck
“Dearly beloved, it’s a joy to be gathered here today . . .”
Jimmy peered at Colette. Now he knew. At last their two hearts had become one.
COLETTE
The strange look on Jimmy’s face concerned her. He jerked, clutching his chest, his lips moving in silent recitation.
“Darling?”
He turned his gaze to her, smiling.
“Dearly beloved, it’s a joy to be gathered here today . . .”
Reverend Stebbins’s words drew them together, facing forward.
But she pressed her shoulder to Jimmy’s, clinging to his broad, strong hand. “Are you quite all right?” she whispered.
“Never better, Lettie. Never better.”
“Colette and Jimmy, will you face one another?” the reverend said.
Turning, Colette fell into Jimmy’s eyes, the love she had for him so many years ago maturing in this moment.
They repeated their vows, properly this time. “I, Colette Elizabeth Greer, take you, James Allen Westbrook . . .”
“I, James Allen Westbrook, take you, Colette Elizabeth Greer . . .”
They exchanged rings and bowed their heads for another prayer.
“Well, it gives me great pleasure to introduce to you Mr. and Mrs. James Westbrook. By the power vested in me—”
“Might I have a word?” Drummond was on his feet, hand in the air.
The reverend checked with Jimmy, who nodded.
“Go on.”
Drummond smoothed his hands over his suit pockets, visibly nervous. “I learned this week that these two are my parents.”
The collective gasp was small. Colette surveyed the sanctuary. Most everyone knew already, save for those few members of the Always Tomorrow family who were able to fly in.
“I’ve spent this week working through the news. Wearied these two with conversation after conversation. I’ve concluded the commercial had it right: life comes at you fast. Jack, I guess that phrase was a bit of brilliant advertising.”
The small ripple of laughter broke the tension.
“Colette asked me to walk her down the aisle, but I declined. In fact, I wasn’t sure I wanted to come today.” He pressed his fist to his lips, clearing his throat. “The more I thought about it, the angrier I got. Mom’s dead, Dad’s dead, and I had no one to rail at but God.” His emotional monologue had the room captive. He’d have been a good actor. “The more I ranted, the more He showed me my own life, my own mistakes.” He pointed to Taylor. “I got some mending to do with this girl. And, like finding out I was adopted, I didn’t know she’d been hurt by something I’d done.”
Colette reached for Taylor’s hand. They were going to be good friends, she just knew it.
“I guess I just want to say it’s easy to feel wronged. To hold a grudge. Until we take a look at our own life. Colette here made the best decision in the moment to give me up to her sister to raise. She was a good mother who gave everything for me, so I can’t fault her. And Coach here practically raised me on the football field, so I feel kind of blessed to know I got my athletic genes from him.”
Colette could not imagine a more fitting, more beautiful wedding. It was honest and real, without pretense or the trappings of tradition.
Drummond stepped toward the altar. “I just want to say, I’ll be there for you both. Any hatchets that might be remaining, I want to bury.”
“I met a lovely young heiress once,” Colette said. “Corina Del Rey. She’d recently married a prince. And she told me that what God taught her through a very tremendous ordeal was to love well.” She peered at Jimmy. Then back to Drummond. “Shall we do the same? Love well. That doesn’t mean it will be perfect, but we’ll be like the Lord. Love anyway.”
“I reckon that’s the best we can all do.” Drummond kissed Colette on the cheek and shook Jimmy’s hand.
When he returned to his seat, a serenity passed through the chapel. It was finished. The pain, the heartache, the lies, righted toward love, peace, and healing.
“Jimmy, Coach, you may kiss your bride.”
To cheers and a standing ovation, Colette received the kiss of her beloved, felt the sweetness of her tears blending with his.
“I love you, Jimmy.” She wiped the water from his cheeks.
“And, Colette Westbrook, I love you!”
As they turned, the photographer stepped into the aisle, hitting the shutter, and the first day of the rest of their life began with a kiss and a photograph.
EPILOGUE
CHRISTMAS, ONE YEAR LATER
HEART’S BEND, TENNESSEE
Taylor, you ready?” Daddy called up from Granny’s living room. “Your carriage awaits. Emma and the girls have already gone to the chapel.”
Ready? Yes. She was ready. Wait, diaper bag. Where was the diaper bag? With Ardell. Check. Who also had baby JJ. Check.
Because today Taylor was not a mama.
She was a bride. Check.
Emma had her bag of supplies—makeup, hair spray, water, bobby pins, toothbrush and toothpaste, second pair of shoes—and was waiting for her at the wedding chapel.
Her gown—a gift from Colette and her designer friend—was silk and tulle, trimmed in fur, and the wide, simple, creamy white skirt reminded Taylor of a first snow.
While she would always treasure her beach elopement, she was glad for this day to affirm her love and commitment to Jack in front of their friends and family.
“Tay?” Daddy’s voice moved up the stairwell. “About time. You ready?”
With a final glance around the upstairs master suite in the house she and Jack spent the last year renovating, Taylor exited the room. She was ready.
From the bottom of the stairs, Daddy smiled up at her, looking dapper in his tuxedo, the lights from the Christmas tree bouncing over the gleaming hardwood.
“You look beautiful.”
“I’m nervous!” She used the sleek polished banister to hold her steady, one hand gripping her skirt as the enormous folds glided over the stairs. “And I feel so empty without JJ in my arms.”
“Enjoy it while you can. Besides, by the time Ardell, Sarah Gillingham, and your mother get done with him, he’ll be so spoiled you might not want him back.”
She laughed. “You have a point.”
Daddy walked Taylor to the door, pausing before stepping onto the porch. “Thank you. For this past year, for giving me a chance to be your daddy again.” His eyes glistened as he cleared his throat, glancing down at his new shoes. “Means everything to me.”
“I’m the one who needs to be thanking you for this year. For helping Jack and me return to Heart’s Bend, renovating Granny’s house, and for forgiving me for being—” It still hurt to remember how wrong and bitter she’d been.
He wiped the dew from the corners of his eyes and reached for the door. “Come on, it’s your wedding day. Besides, we’ve been through all this. You’re my girl and I never stopped loving you. I’m glad we finally got to the truth. Now, don’t make your old man cry.”
“Okay, but you started it.” Taylor shot him a sly grin as she moved across the threshold, holding her skirt high while Daddy gathered her train.
Colette and Jimmy’s journey had righted a lot of relationships this past year and set a course for new ones. But not without the tears that came with confession, repentance, and forgiveness.
Mama admitted to the affair and repented, seeking forgiveness from everyone. She and Daddy got along like old friends now, and Ardell finally took her place as a member of the family, playing the doting stepmother and grandmother.
Forgiveness went a long way in healing body and soul, and splashing the world with joy.
Like they agreed, Jack turned down London, and as they started collecting baby gear, they realized a cramped New York apartment was not where they wanted to raise little Jack James Samuel Drummond Gillingham either.
Back in January, Sam and Sarah Gillingham legally adopted Jack. What a beautiful day at the courthouse, watchi
ng God weave His tapestry of their family together, in spite of weakness and failings.
After that day, Jack changed. He’d been adopted, given a new name, and those old pains from his natural father began to shrivel and die.
FRESH offered Jack a job as vice president of advertising, but he didn’t want the corporate grind so he launched out on his own. It was hard to do top-level advertising outside New York, but he found clients he adored who never would’ve fit under the 105 umbrella.
As for Taylor, she did work for Jack as he needed, but weddings and birthday parties became her primary photography venue, and—shocker—she loved it. It was the most fulfilling work she’d ever done.
She and Jack had come a long way in twelve months. It wasn’t an easy trail, but one that was well worth it.
For the first six months, they decided to counsel with Jesus every morning, waking up to pray and read Scripture.
It was the least romantic endeavor Taylor ever tried. But the most glorious and rewarding.
Sometimes she and Jack sat across from each other in stony silence. Sometimes they prayed together or shared a verse. Sometimes they continued the argument from the night before. But they determined to stay faithful.
One morning, along about the six-month mark, the atmosphere changed. Their prayers came easy. Love blossomed between them.
There were a few times Taylor had heard the whoosh-thump heartbeat of God, but mostly she walked in faith. As she drew closer to Him and Jack, the need for a tangible reassurance began to fade. Like the removal of training wheels or a crutch.
But the day she heard baby JJ’s heartbeat at their first ultrasound, she knew . . . The heartbeat she’d heard as a kid musing on God, those few times in the wedding chapel, was the sound of life. Of love.
After the ultrasound, she knew she’d not hear it again. It was God’s last word to her on that particular matter.
He loved her, and He loved life.
“Let me help you now.” Daddy offered Taylor his hand as she started down the porch steps, on her way to the—
“A horse and carriage?” There was supposed to be a limo parked by the curb.
“A gift from the Gillinghams.”
At the edge of the walkway, Daddy and the driver assisted Taylor and her grand gown into the carriage, tucking her in with a thick blanket. Daddy climbed in next to her as the driver chirruped to the horses, the rhythm of their hooves trotting them into the crisp pink layers of twilight.
She’d see Jimmy and Colette for the first time all fall. They had arrived back in Heart’s Bend just in time for the wedding. They’d been on a worldwide book tour to promote Colette’s new memoir. Her story hit the New York Times number one slot the week it debuted. She and Justine changed the story to focus on the rekindled love of her life, and how being married at eighty-two proved God was in charge of the impossible.
With Him, love is never too late.
News spread about a little wedding chapel in the Tennessee woods and Jimmy handed the management over to Emma, who selectively booked weddings.
The carriage driver turned down the chapel lane, the bare winter tree limbs leaving the stone structure exposed and in view. The shining mocha geldings tossed their heads so their harness bells rang out.
At the steps, Taylor descended the carriage, her hand in Daddy’s, the fur-lined hem of her skirt swishing against the sidewalk.
Emma met her at the door, beautiful in a red fur-trimmed gown with the same full skirt and fitted bodice as Taylor’s. She handed Taylor her Christmas bouquet of red roses and baby’s breath. “Go time.”
“Is it in there?” Taylor motioned to the flowers.
Emma made a face. “Yes, but I don’t know why—”
“Shush, and walk down the aisle.”
The music of “Because” wafted toward them on stringed notes. Emma clutched her bouquet and glided down the white runner.
Taylor leaned on Daddy, taking it all in. The chapel seemed to embrace her, welcome her, dancing over her with flickering candlelight. Fresh wreaths hung from each of the twelve pews, releasing the fragrance of Christmas pine.
The atmosphere was beautiful and serene.
“Happily ever after does exist, doesn’t it, Daddy?”
“As long as you know it is sometimes disguised with trouble.”
She laughed for him only. “You can say that again.”
When they arrived at the altar, Taylor slipped her phone from her rose bouquet and snapped a picture of Jack’s handsome, smiling face. “To remember.”
He shook his head, grinning, and pulled his phone from his pocket. “To remember.”
She slipped her hand into his and faced the preacher, ready for whatever came her way because she walked life with this man.
Jack, marriage, family were all pictures of God’s love and she was going to frame them in her heart forever.
Not the End
Just life continuing . . .
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Communication is one of the threads of this book. Jack and Taylor struggle to share their true hearts, and Jimmy and Colette lost sixty years of their relationship because they didn’t press for the truth. Same with Taylor and her dad. What are ways you’re weak in communication? Have you given up in some ways?
2. Taylor believes she saw her father cheating on her mother. But it wasn’t what she imagined. The room was dark, draped in shadow. Talk about how we misunderstand each other and situations because we don’t “see things properly.” What are ways to combat these misunderstanding? What would you have done if you were Taylor?
3. Young Colette and Jimmy loved each other so much they said vows to each other before Jimmy shipped off to war. Were their words valid? Or does a recognized official have to pronounce a couple married? Talk about the power of words.
4. While I’d never advise young people to casually make a pledge of marriage without witnesses (that’s the power of a contract or covenant), I would remind them the things they say to each other in their youthful zeal do matter. How can we teach our kids, or ourselves, to be mindful of our words?
5. Jack didn’t have a great childhood. But Sam Gillingham reached out, wanted to be his father. But Jack refused to see his effort, so ingrained in the pattern of the foster care system. How can we access the Father’s love even when we’ve had a bad, or a great, earthly dad?
6. What did you think about Jack being adopted at age thirty? What’s the significance of that event?
7. Taylor and Jack jumped into marriage before considering the cost. Often people “do,” then “think.” We condemn ourselves for making a mistake. But can God be in those moments too? Talk about a time in your life, or in the life of someone you know, when a supposed mistake worked for good.
8. Peg was a villain throughout the book but tried to make up for it in the end. Did her motivation make sense? The war and her parents’ deaths seeded bitterness in her heart. And jealousy. What are those places in your life where envy, bitterness or jealousy have come in? Can you use the picture of Peg to realize how dangerous those attitudes can be?
9. Do you think love can last sixty-plus years without two people ever seeing each other? I wondered about that as I wrote this book, but then I’d hear a story or read something online where love endured the decades. Is there a Christlike picture here? We are waiting for the One we love to return too.
10. The Branson family seemed to have a track record of divorce. Sometimes families seem to perpetuate certain traits or situations, such as bad relationships, alcoholism, or financial woes. But God is a God of new life. How can we defeat those negative patterns in our families when we are in God?
11. The book has a happy ending. Was it what you expected? Wanted?
12. Who was your favorite character and why?
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I grew up with a great example of marriage, with kind parents who loved each other and us kids. There was warm light, laughter, and sweet aromas in our home as I grew up.
Home was always a safe place to be.
My dad is with the Lord, but to my mama, I acknowledge and honor you for your life, your heart for the Lord, your worship, your devotion to family, and your visible and invisible demonstration of love for others. All with a gorgeous smile.
Love you, Mom.
This book started on a Tennessee vacation with my husband. I needed a “next book” idea and while driving down a hill to get enough bars on my phone for a phone call with my publisher, Daisy Hutton, I drove past a wedding chapel perched high above the road, surrounded by lush green trees.
I tossed out the idea to Daisy, “How about The Wedding Chapel?” And a story idea was born.
I appreciate everyone who walks with me on the publishing road. For those who help me live my dream, and above all, do what I sincerely believe God created me to do. I feel His presence when I write. I could not do this without Him or those who walk this walk with me.
Here’s my humble appreciation to those people.
My husband, who listens, tosses out plot and character ideas, gives me time and space to meet deadlines, prays for me, and loves me. He is such a gift and blessing. Love you, babe!
My writing partner and all-around best girlfriend, Susan May Warren, who plotted this book with me one afternoon over the phone and I pretty much stuck to it. I know, shocker. Thank you for always being on the other end of the phone, Suz, to help me out of the ruts and get moving again. You make me laugh, inspire me, speak the truth to me when I need to hear it, and call me to be the best writer I can be. I thank the Lord for you.
My other writing buddy, Beth K. Vogt, who is a FaceTime call away whenever I need to talk. I’m so grateful for you and the blessing you are in my life. Thank you for being there to help with the story and writing process, even on a Saturday night. And I love seeing the wonderful author you are becoming.
My agent, the renowned Chip MacGregor. It took a dream and a glockenspiel to put us together, but here we are six years later. I’m grateful for you. Thanks for everything!
