He shrugged like a big twelve-year-old. “I dunno. When were you gonna tell me?”
“Today.”
“Why today?”
“Because I’ve decided to be brave today. I’m wearing high heels, I curled my hair, and I’m going to the party with moss on my antlers.”
Mark sighed dramatically. “And you’re supposed to be the grown-up one. Where is this present supposed to go?”
She wasn’t sure, but they both thought the cabin was the most likely place, and they headed that way. Sure enough, there was a big table on the deck full of wedding gifts, and a couple chairs to catch the overflow. She was looking for a safe place to set it and not finding one when she heard the door creak open. “Pssst! Meg!”
She turned around to see Leah peeking through a crack in the door. “Come here! Oh, hi, Mark! Go away, you can’t see me yet.”
Mark chuckled and headed off the deck, hands raised in surrender.
Meg didn’t realize she still had the painting in her hands until she tried to go through the door and had to open it wider to fit. Once she was in, she turned to Leah and tears sprang to her eyes. She set the painting down and leaned it against her own leg. “You look so beautiful,” she said. “Oh for heaven’s sake, I’m crying already. I’m hopeless.”
“You’d better stop that, crying is contagious!” Leah gave her a big hug. The painting tipped over and landed on the floor with a thud. Meg jumped, but she didn’t hear anything crack or tear. “Oops.”
“Is that for me?” Leah said. She sounded genuinely surprised. Meg wondered what she would do when she saw the horde of presents out front.
“You have to share with Joshua. In fact, I’m sorry to say it might be more of a present for him than you. But that’s because it has to do with you.”
“I can’t wait, Meg. I know what I hope it is, so we’ll see. And you look incredible. Did you design that dress?”
Meg had to laugh at that. “If I had, it wouldn’t have looked anything like this… maybe like a potato sack.”
“It looks like you. I’m guessing that you’ll be a little more comfortable in this than the green dress.”
“I will never say.”
From down the hall they heard the sharp snap of high heels on wood and Brie’s voice saying, “Are you sure you don’t want to try this color?” She came around the corner brandishing lipstick. She stopped when she saw Meg and gave what seemed to be a very stiff smile. “Hi, Meg. Is everything okay?”
Brie was stunning. The green dress wasn’t tight on her, it actually moved and draped. It was so much shorter on her that her long legs showed well above the knee. The dyed-to-match shoes didn’t look contrived, they looked couture on her. She wore a simple gold necklace with a gold locket on it, a gold bracelet, and—the only other accessory—her long, shining, brilliantly red hair.
Meg went from feeling lovely to dumpy in nothing flat. She pushed the thought aside. That kind of comparison was nothing but coveting, and it was wrong. It made her feel wrong. She pushed back her shoulders and smiled. “Brie, you look stunning. That’s a beautiful color on you. Now I can’t wait to see Cadence’s dress. As a matter of fact, where is she?”
“She’s in the back with Catherine,” Brie said. “She’s trying to get her mom to shorten her hem.”
“Not likely,” Meg and Leah said at the same time. Meg glanced down the other hall. Where were Joshua and Gage?
When Meg heard the door behind them open, she turned to see a thin woman wearing a red sheath dress and lots of jewelry walk in. Meg thought she looked like a woman with an important and public job, some powerful executive whose age was difficult, or even dangerous, to guess. “I had no idea there would be so many people here!” she said, fanning herself with her hand. “I can’t imagine why Joshua hasn’t put air conditioning in this place. Or toilets, of course.”
“Meg,” Leah said, “This is my mother, Brittany. Mom, this is Meg.”
Meg reached for her hand, and Brittany’s cool fingertips barely brushed her palm. “Pleasure,” she said. She looked over Meg’s shoulder to see Brie. “Look how sexy! You did such a good job of picking this dress out. You and Leah, I mean. You can wear this dress again, for sure. I know a club in Vegas that’s difficult for most girls to get into, but the moment they saw you in this, you’d be at the front of the line.”
Meg glanced at Leah and saw a stiff smile painted on her lips. She leaned a little closer. “You know, if he had any idea how to describe it, I bet your wedding dress is exactly the dress Josh would have picked for you.”
Leah snickered. “I asked him what he wanted a while back. He thought and thought and finally said that it should probably be white.”
“He’s a big help, isn’t he?” She turned to Leah’s mother. “Are you going to stay with Catherine and Jacob, or do you have someplace else to stay?”
Leah’s mom shot her daughter a sideways look. “Well, that was an option, but I hate to be a bother. I looked into renting a car and driving into Chico, but it is such a long way to go, back and forth. And then I thought, well, the last person Leah wants hanging around on her wedding night is her mother! And since tonight is the first night in our Santa Fe time-share, it seems a shame to spend it in Montana. So wouldn’t you know it, these little airports around here actually have some red-eyes. I’m flying to Salt Lake, catching a flight to Santa Fe, and I should be there no later than if I’d been out dancing all night.” She laughed lightly. “It’s the best of everything. I get to see my lovely daughter get married, and then when everyone else sneaks off to sleep, I’ll be having a nightcap in the clouds.”
“Mom, remember, there’s a service here in the morning. Josh’s Uncle Jeffrey will be presiding. I was really hoping you could stay for that,” Leah said.
Brie stepped forward and slipped a slim arm around Leah’s waist. “Brittany, we would all love it. If you are worried about the flights, I have a travel agent friend who owes me a favor. She can work wonders, even switching airlines.”
“No, no, don’t worry yourself, I wouldn’t want to be a burden. No, you won’t even miss me, will you, Leah? I didn’t think so, honey. It’s going to be a wonderful day, isn’t it?”
Her mother hadn’t given her a chance to answer one way or the other. Meg saw Brie’s arm squeeze Leah a little closer, and she was glad once more that Brie was here. Leah still needed all the people she could get on her team.
And as Meg stood there in a small, awkward silence, she realized just how much she would rather be abandoned for orphans than for a vacation.
The silence was over in a flash. Cadence came clomping and eye-rolling down the hallway in her own green dress, Catherine came after her, and from down the other hallway she heard Gage calling, “Can we come out now?”
“No,” Catherine said firmly. “You’ll be free to mingle in a moment, but first we have to round up the bride. Leah? It’s about time for your finishing touches.”
“What finishing touches?”
“Whatever busywork will keep your nerves steady for the next ten minutes, dear. Brie, you are perfection. Cadence, get over it. Meg, you look like a 1940s movie starlet. Brittany, I have some iced lemonade hidden in the back room, would you like some?”
As the other women started to move into the bedroom, Leah turned back and took both of Meg’s hands. She looked pale. “Ten minutes.”
“And then you’ll be one of us. Muah hahaha.”
A change on Leah’s face made Meg turn around. Jacob was coming closer, shaking his head. “You look like a million bucks, Miss Leah. My son is a lucky man.” Meg stepped to the side as Jacob cleared his throat. Very softly he asked, “No chance your father will come?”
“He doesn’t really play a big part in my life, Jacob. But that’s okay. God’s gonna walk me down the aisle, anyway. He plays a very big part in my life.”
Jacob was not a big talker. It seemed to Meg as if his pastor brother and Meg’s own father had gotten all the talking genes, but their
eldest brother had missed out on them entirely. He fidgeted and coughed and seemed like he was gearing up for a long time before he began speaking again. “Leah, I don’t know for certain, but it seems to me your Father in heaven would like you to have a real hand to hold when you walk down that aisle. I know I’m not your dad. And I’m certainly not Him. But since you will become my daughter today, I sure would be honored if you’d let me be the person holding your hand.”
It was the longest speech she’d ever heard from her uncle. “Thank you,” Leah whispered. Meg turned to Leah, who was crying, and after wiping away a tear of her own, she started laughing. “Oh, I am such a crybaby.”
Jacob did a quick nod, which was a kind of cowboy bow, and headed back down the hallway again without another word. Meg thought it might be another week before he had something else to say.
“I love you guys,” Leah said.
“Stop it. I actually have mascara on,” Meg said, trying to sop up the extra tears with her fingertips before they fell. “We love you too. I’m so glad you picked Joshua so I get to have you in my family forever.”
From down the hall, a little louder and with a trace of a whine, Gage called, “Can we come out now?”
Meg gave her a quick half hug, trying not to mess anything up, and slipped out the door as Leah went into hiding. Outside, the sun was blinding after being in the cool darkness of the log cabin. Meg spotted her brother talking to one of Joshua’s prettier friends. Now was probably not the best time to ask him about that cryptic comment he’d made about being a Bible scholar, but she would have a chance to ask him later.
She walked to the edge of the deck. Her parents were talking Uncle Jeffrey’s ears off. Jeffrey was in a suit, a real one, with a tie. He looked very official, and she wasn’t used to that. She thought of him as Uncle Jeffrey, not a pastor, and somehow he looked a little less fun to talk to this way. And what had he and Gage been talking about, anyway? She got the impression that Gage was the one who had asked to talk. She wondered if it had anything to do with Brie.
She wandered across the deck, scanning the crowd for familiar faces.
The door opening behind her made her freeze. She hadn’t gotten off the deck fast enough. The heavy sound of cowboy boots caught her attention and she turned around. All the lovely dresses and fancy suits couldn’t hold a candle to one particular Texan in the right pair of jeans, a crisp white shirt and bolo tie, and a suit jacket with a little western flair. And the hat. What was it about cowboy hats? She clamped her jaw shut, hoping he’d just walk by.
Although he had looked like he was in a hurry, he stopped short when he spotted her. He took two steps toward her and stopped again. “Meg,” he said, as if she was the last person he had expected to be at this wedding. “You… you look…” He pointed at the meadow. “I have to go.” Then he turned around and left.
In the rush of emotions and embarrassment she felt next, Meg decided that she really, really needed to stay away from that man.
Caleb came out next, loping off the deck. “Head ‘em out!” he yelled. Joshua followed, looking pale. He caught sight of Meg, and she met him halfway for a hug. He hung off her like a wet towel. “I’m gonna pass out.”
She pushed him off and took him by the shoulders. “If you do I’ll tell Catherine about what you did to her rose bush.”
“You wouldn’t.” She could see the smile playing at the edges of his mouth.
“Oh yes, I will. Cowboy up.” She gave him a slow motion punch in the arm.
“If this wedding only took eight seconds, I could do it.”
She turned him around and shoved him in the back, and he headed out, giving her a quick smile over his shoulder.
In the meadow, Gage and Caleb were leading people to their seats, rows of camp chairs, wooden chairs, and deck furniture cobbled together on top of a rented dance floor. Down the center of the aisle was a beautiful white runner, and the final streamers of tulle had been strung from tree to tree exactly where Leah and Meg had decided they should be. It looked better than Meg had imagined. God’s creation was the chapel, and the details were straight out of a fairy tale.
Meg walked out to the meadow, hoping to sneak in from the outside, but Caleb spotted her. He offered his arm like a pro and led her around the outside of the chairs to the end of the aisle. Ahead of her she saw Gage helping Sonya’s mother into one of the better chairs. Meg wished he had been her usher. “Where do you want to sit, Meg?” Caleb asked.
“Wherever you need me to go.”
“Okay, we have one empty seat in this aisle, that would help. Just about everyone else is here with someone.” She looked at him sideways. He had no idea that he might have said something that would hurt her feelings. And why should she feel hurt? It was just a fact stated out loud. She’d come to a wedding without a friend or a boyfriend. So had Caleb. He didn’t care, why should she?
As she sat down between two chatty groups, she knew the difference. She was older. Most of the young singles here had come alone but moved in packs, and at her age the people she knew just didn’t get together that way. They had jobs, homes, and families. A girl’s night out for her usually included a baby or two—and had to be smoke free, alcohol free, and/or gluten free.
She remembered that in college dozens of people would just hang out at someone’s house talking, drinking coffee, and studying now and then. Truth be told, the thought of doing that now made her feel exhausted. She didn’t really miss the pack.
She looked around. Her mom and dad were earnestly chatting up a couple sitting behind them, and they had the attention of most of the people sitting nearby. She scanned some more, and a woman she knew through Joshua waved at her. Her husband, who Meg didn’t know, waved too. Scanning a little more, she saw Mark. He frowned at her, then pointed at her and to the empty seat beside him. A brother was better than just about any date anyway, so she got up and moved.
The young woman sitting on Mark’s other side gave her a look that was something more than curious. Meg introduced herself as Mark’s big sister, and the woman’s face instantly changed from tentative to cheerful. Meg tried not to laugh. At least she was considered competition despite her advanced age. Just twenty-seven. “I feel older,” she muttered out loud.
Mark elbowed her. “You aren’t old. You just live like you are.”
She glowered at him. “What? I’m hip. I’m an artist, a free spirit, roaming from town to town.”
“First of all, no one says ‘hip.’ You never take a break, you’re always worried, and you haven’t had a boyfriend since college.”
“Boyfriends are overrated.” The young woman next to Mark giggled.
Conscious of being listened to, she stopped talking.
A subtle hush moved through the crowd, and Meg heard music start. She recognized some of the musicians from the contra dance the night before, but now they were arranged as a real quartet. The music conjured up flashes of other weddings in her mind, but none of those settings were as bright and cheerful as this.
Caleb walked down the aisle with his mother first. Catherine was smiling, but there were tears in her eyes already, and they were contagious. Meg blinked her own away. Caleb seated her in the front and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
Gage and Leah’s mom were next. Leah’s mom smiled at every person she passed and even waved at a few. She looked as if she was in a royal procession, and she seemed very comfortable with that. Gage seated her on the other side, without a kiss, and started back down. He looked over the crowd. He noticed her and looked away quickly.
“Did I do something wrong?” Meg mumbled.
“Shhh,” Mark hushed. Her seventeen-year-old little brother was a better wedding guest than she was.
This time Caleb walked up the aisle alone, hands clasped in front of him. It seemed to throw him off balance. Gage was next, deliberately slow and looking a little nervous. His hands were clasped in front, too, and she wondered who had given them that bad advice. When Gage turned and looked down
the aisle, his face lit up. Joshua was next in the procession.
Joshua looked like the Cheshire cat. He strolled up the aisle like he was in a hurry. Then he turned around and popped up and down on the balls of his feet. He was so ready. Like a few other people, Meg laughed. But then Joshua looked over toward the cabin, and his face changed. He radiated the happy and awestruck look of a man in love.
The crowd stood as one, and since many of the people were taller than she was, Meg missed seeing the bride come out of the cabin. Then again, she’d had her own private showing earlier. Cadence came down the aisle first. Her dress looked a lot like Brie’s, only it had cap sleeves instead of a halter top. She was carrying a small bouquet of wildflowers and pink roses and she looked beautiful. Kelly green seemed to be a color that flattered everyone but Meg.
Brie came next, looking as much like a bride herself as a bridesmaid. She was so lovely that Meg heard the murmurs as people tried to figure out who she was. At last Leah started down the aisle. She was wearing a modest veil, but her smile showed through. And so did the look of pride and concentration on Jacob’s face. Jeffrey stepped into view and asked who was presenting the bride.
Jacob coughed, stood straighter, and said, “I do.” Leah’s mom’s smiling face never wavered. Meg wondered if she was relieved that she didn’t have to walk her daughter down the aisle, or if she regretted not taking the opportunity. If it was regret, it didn’t show. Jacob sat down next to Catherine, and the show was on.
Jeffrey’s voice carried over the meadow, and with it came the feelings of love and hope that he had for this couple. When Joshua said his vows, he said them loudly, with a smile. Leah’s came more softly, but her eyes never left his, and her smile never faded. Meg watched Gage, but he was facing the other way and she couldn’t see his face. He looked as if he was staring right at Brie, and that made her stomach flutter. She focused on the bride, and her happiness.
Meg was dabbing at her eyes with a little less success now, and Mark’s friend handed her a tissue. That helped. Why did she cry at weddings? Being happy was part of it, of course, but it was something more. There was a tiny hint of melancholy underneath it all. No great new thing comes without some sacrifice. Josh and Leah’s life would never be the same, and they would surely face hardships.
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