“I couldn’t miss my only child’s wedding.” Collin Holliday hugged her to him for several moments.
Colleen returned his warm hug. “I’m so glad you’re here, Daddy.”
He pulled away from her and held her at arm’s length. “You are so beautiful.”
She felt her cheeks grow warm under her father’s green eyed gaze. “Thank you.”
He smiled, at her, and then tucked her right hand into the crook of his left arm. “Are you sure about this, honey?”
Colleen smiled at the protective question. She squeezed the muscles in his arm. “I have been waiting all my life for Adam Walker. I’m ready.”
He patted her white-gloved hand. “I wanted to make sure.”
She smiled. “I’ve never been surer of anything in my life.”
Her father nodded. “Then let’s not keep your young man waiting.”
Colleen’s heart pounded in her throat as the pianist began playing the wedding march on the upright piano in front of the sanctuary.
Jenny glanced over her shoulder, raised an eyebrow as if to say, “This is it,” then proceeded down the aisle.
“Time to go.” Colleen’s dad squeezed her arm.
He took a step, and they turned the corner.
She’d been down this aisle many times, but it had never seemed to take this long. Adam stood in front of an arch decorated with red poinsettias and white mums. To her, he appeared at least a mile away, and her legs moved in slow motion. Adam wore a black tuxedo. It complemented his dark complexion and soft blue eyes. He would always be the most handsome man she’s ever seen.
A smile tilted his lips, and love lit his eyes with a shinning glow. His love drew her down the aisle.
“Who gives this woman?” The minister asked.
“I do,” Colleen’s father answered.
Colleen gave his arm one last squeeze before he released her and placed her hand in the groom’s.
Adam’s palm felt warm in hers. Colleen listened to the preacher and followed his lead. When it came time for the rings, she glanced at the ring bearer standing beside Adam. She knew he was a cousin on Adam’s mother’s side of the family. The little boy looked about three years old. He held in his hands her scrapbook.
Her scrapbook! She checked the child’s hands again. Sure enough, it was her scrapbook.
Tears of happiness filled her eyes. Jenny had asked if she could pick the pillow for the ring bearer. Colleen had no idea Jenny would use the scrapbook. The very item that brought her and Adam together today helped bind them for life.
Adam untied the ribbon that held their rings to the coat-of-many-colors that covered the photo album. The memory of her great-great-grandmother’s letter floated through her happy thoughts as Adam slipped the ring on her finger and they repeated their vows.
With certainty, Colleen knew theirs was a love to last a lifetime.
Scraps of Love Page 7
