A Hickory Ridge Christmas (18 page)

“Are you saying it's inappropriate for me to marry the woman I love in front of God and all our friends?”

“Maybe something small and in the parsonage would be better. It wouldn't be so—”

“So what?” Instead of waiting for her to answer, he pressed forward again. “Is that the wedding you've always dreamed of…at the parsonage?”

She shrugged and then finally shook her head. “But it's different for us—”

“Is it?” He reached for her hand on the table. “Aren't we a young couple in love, ready to make lifetime vows before God?”

She wanted to believe, wanted to smell the floral scent filling up the sanctuary, wanted to speak those precious words and feel her Lord's blessing on their vows. “I just don't know if we should.”

“Can you name a single member of Hickory Ridge who would object to us making our wedding a big celebration for the whole church?”

Hannah said nothing, only pressing her lips together and trying not to smile.

“Okay, I take that back.” There wasn't a church around that didn't have a judgmental member or two, and he'd already met Laura Sims at Hickory Ridge. “Would
most
of the members of our church be thrilled to celebrate with us?”

“Yes, but—”

“Then we should give them a reason to celebrate.”

“I don't know.”

“Sure you do. What would Reverend Bob want you to do?”

“He would tell me to follow my heart.”

“Are you going to?”

And suddenly Hannah realized that she was going to do just that. She knew deep in her heart that Todd was the man God intended for her. She wanted her whole church family to be a part of the beginning of their life together. Love like theirs deserved to be celebrated.

“We'd better get busy. We have a wedding to plan.”

H
annah stood outside the glass separating the vestibule from the sanctuary on the first Saturday after Valentine's Day. On the other side of the glass, a wedding scene very different from the one she'd pictured in her dreams was unfolding. Different but just as nice.

In keeping with the season of love, the church was adorned with red and white roses and white tapered candles. Small red hearts blended with the fluffy bows on the ends of the pews.

She brushed an unsteady hand down the front of her ivory satin wedding gown, her fingers smoothing over the stitching from one of the appliqués just below the fitted waist. It was a beautiful dress, and she should have been feeling like a princess wearing it, but the band around her neck felt too tight and the seams on the bodice itched.

“Do you need some sneakers? Are you going to make a run for it?”

Hannah looked up to find Serena Westin standing before her in her crimson-colored bridesmaid gown. The dress had been let out to allow for Serena's advanced pregnancy, but she still looked darling in it, her skin rosy and glowing.

“I'm not running anywhere. But you can if you need the workout.” Hannah fussed with her veil, only managing to make it go cockeyed on her head.

Tricia Lancaster stepped forward to right the thing, resecuring the headpiece with the bobby pins Hannah had pulled loose. “What are you so nervous about, anyway? This wedding has been a long time in coming.”

“Too long, but this isn't exactly how I pictured it.” She pointed to the glass doors leading to the outside, where a mid-February snowstorm raged. Though most of the guests had arrived only in the last fifteen minutes, their cars were already covered with a thin layer of snow that would build during the next few hours of the wedding and dinner reception.

Steffie Wilmington looked up from where she was adjusting the strap of the satin sling-back shoe that matched her bridesmaid's dress. “Look in there. This storm didn't stop anybody from getting here.”

“At least Roy and Sharon got here a few days early,” Hannah said. “I would have hated it if their flight had been delayed and they'd missed their son's wedding.”

“Are you kidding?”

Hannah turned to see the woman she'd just spoken of had come up behind her. “Oh, hi.”

Her future mother-in-law leaned close and air-kissed Hannah so she wouldn't muss her hair. “We wouldn't have missed this for the world.” She scanned the vestibule, looking past three of Hannah's bridesmaids. “Where is that beautiful granddaughter of mine?”

Hannah looked around, for the first time noticing her daughter's absence. “Oh, no, where is she?” Wedding or no wedding, she should have been watching. What if something happened to their little girl all because she was distracted?

“Relax, sweetie,” Charity McKinley called out as she emerged from the ladies' room in her bridesmaid's dress. Charity stood holding hands with Rebecca, in her frilly, crimson flower girl dress, and Max Williams, in his tiny ring bearer's tux. “Remember, I was supposed to take the junior members of the wedding party for a last potty break before the ceremony.”

“Oh. Right.”

“Hi, Nana,” Rebecca called out, rushing into Sharon McBride's arms, as if they'd known each other years rather than days.

Sharon gave her granddaughter a squeeze. “Oh, it's time for the usher to seat the mothers—” She wore a pained expression when she turned to Hannah. “Oh, I'm sorry, sweetheart.”

“It's all right.” But that wasn't completely true. Hannah hadn't realized how putting on this gown and
preparing to stand before these people with her own daughter would make her miss her mother more intensely than she had in years. Her father was here and she should have been satisfied with that, especially after how close she'd come to losing him, too, but part of her still longed to share her wedding day with her mother.

Sharon cocked her head and studied Hannah for a few seconds as Tricia handed her son, Max, his ring bearer's pillow and gave Rebecca her basket of flowers. Finally, Sharon drew Hannah aside, and lowered her voice.

“You have to be missing your mother a little today. I didn't know her well, but she seemed like a kind woman. I would never want to try to replace her, but I want you to know that I would feel privileged if you would think of me as a mother to you as much as to my son.”

Hannah's eyes burned, and she sensed her nose was in danger of dripping right on her wedding gown. Still, she pressed her cheek against Sharon's. “Thank you.”

Because she couldn't say more and not be the first to cry at her wedding, she left it at that. The organist chose that moment to begin playing “The Wedding Song,” by John Lennon, and she had to hold her breath to keep from smearing her makeup.

“Well, ladies, how about we get started with this little shindig,” Andrew said as he came out to be with the wedding party. He indicated for Sharon to go with the usher waiting to escort her down the aisle.

At the same time, the door at the right front side of the sanctuary opened, and Reverend Bob, Todd and his father, whom he'd chosen as his best man, filed out and took their positions at the front of the church.

And suddenly the day became perfect after all.

Todd. Always Todd.

In his black tuxedo, he looked more handsome than in her best dream, though he was already tugging at his tight collar. He turned toward the back of the church, seeking to see her face from behind the crowd in the wedding party.

She was so grateful to him for seeking her out in the first place, even when she'd been perfectly content to hide behind her wall of anger and secrets. He'd given his heart to her, and she felt so unworthy of the gift.

Her gaze drifted to the other man she loved most. He still looked frail, far from the robust hero of a father she'd either known or imagined. But it warmed her heart to see him standing there in front of the altar, his well-worn Bible clasped between his hands. First, he stared down at the book as if in prayer, and then his gaze traveled up and off to his right. Hannah didn't have to look far to discover who held his attention. There'd been a lot of secretive glances lately.

Mary sat discreetly in the fifth row, needing no place of honor as the minister's lady friend. Hannah didn't even have to worry that her dad would overdo on her wedding day, not with Mary keeping a careful watch over him. Like Todd and Hannah, her father
and Mary had been given another chance at love, and Hannah was so pleased to see that they saw it for the gift it was.

As the music changed for the processional, groomsmen Roy McBride, Grant Summer, Rick McKinley and Brendan Hicks took their places next to the bridesmaids. Hannah couldn't be more pleased that Todd included her friend in the wedding party. It was another reason to love Todd, as if she didn't have enough already.

Andrew stepped next to Hannah and tucked her hand in the crook of his arm.

“Thanks for standing in for my father, Andrew.”

He smiled down at her. “I'm honored.” He helped her lower the blusher of her fingertip veil over her face.

Hannah watched as her sweet little girl traveled down the aisle, scattering flowers from her basket and somehow managing not to run to her daddy as he stood near the altar. She was pleased that the paperwork had already been filed for Rebecca to eventually carry her father's name.

“Doesn't it seem like we've traveled an awfully long journey to get here since that night when you and Serena let a scared, pregnant teenager cry on your shoulders?”

“Sometimes the best destinations are found at the end of long journeys.” Andrew turned back to watch little Max and the rest of the wedding party proceed down the aisle.

Again, the music changed, and the crowd rose
and turned back to the entry where only Hannah and her escort stood.

Hannah turned to her friend once more before she took her first step toward the man she loved. “And sometimes that end is just the beginning.”

 

Todd's heart squeezed and his throat clogged as he watched his bride marching to him in a lovely gown that still paled next to her beauty.

To him.
He loved the way that sounded. After all this time, after all the emotional miles she'd traveled away from him, they were there together walking toward their future.

Hannah smiled at him, her gaze never leaving his, as she continued down the aisle. As much as he'd longed for the years they could already have spent as husband and wife, he wondered if he would have cherished the gift of a life with her if it had come easily.

When they reached the front of the aisle, Andrew placed Hannah's hand in Todd's, and they turned to face Reverend Bob. Instead of beginning with the “dearly beloved” speech they'd all come to expect, the minister stopped and lifted the front of Hannah's veil to kiss her on the cheek.

“Over the years, I've married dozens of couples,” he said, slipping one hand inside his Bible to hold his place. “But this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me as a father. I get to marry the daughter of my heart to the young man who claimed her heart so many years ago.”

Reverend Bob turned his attention to his Bible.
Soon Todd found himself speaking the words he'd only dreamed about in the five years he'd waited to return to Milford and to Hannah. She smiled at him, love so clear in her eyes that Todd could barely recite his vows without his voice breaking.

So this was what it felt like when a man received everything he'd ever wanted. He was amazed and humbled by it.

Todd turned to his father, who lowered the wedding band with five tiny inset diamonds into his hand. Holding her left hand, Todd slipped the ring on her finger.

“With this ring, I thee wed.”

Once she'd slipped the plain gold band on Todd's finger, Reverend Bob told him he could kiss his bride. As Todd touched his lips to hers, he felt a wonderful peace of completion, as if God's will finally had been done.

“I love you,” he murmured against her mouth.

Hannah's lips turned up. “Right back at you,” she whispered.

The minister motioned for Rebecca to join her parents before the altar. “I would like to present to all of you for the first time, Todd and Hannah McBride and their amazing daughter, Rebecca. And I'm not the least bit partial here, either.”

Applause and laughter broke out in the auditorium, and even a few whoops could be heard coming from the back of the room. For a relationship that had borne its share of sadness, it was only right that its new juncture would begin with cheers.

 

Hannah wiped the last bit of white buttercream frosting off her cheek from the smear Todd had given her when he'd fed her their wedding cake.

“Sorry about that,” Todd said, using a napkin to help her. “I didn't know you were going to turn your head.”

“A likely story,” she said with a grin.

All across the open area of the church's Family Life Center, guests sat at tables eating huge quantities of homemade dishes that church members had provided for the reception. Indulgence was the order of the day, and that was even before they reached the cake with its white roses and intricate piping. Of course, there were several heart-healthy selections for her father to choose from, and he had been allowed the tiniest sliver of wedding cake.

“Are you sharing any of that cake?” Brett Lancaster asked as he swiped three plates from the table. The state trooper took a few steps away before turning back to Hannah.

“Did Reverend Bob tell you the good news?”

“What news?”

“Police caught up with Olivia yesterday in Jackson. She'd already picked a little Friends church there as her newest target and had just started a job in the church office.”

Hannah shot a worried look at her father who was sitting at one of the red cloth-covered tables next to Mary. News of Olivia's arrest hadn't been too hard on his heart apparently if he could find that much to laugh about this afternoon.

Todd came up behind Hannah and dropped kiss on top of her head. “Did I hear someone say good news?”

“They've arrested Olivia,” Hannah explained before turning back to Brett. “Any word on the missing money?”

Brett shrugged. “We're unlikely to recover much of it for any of the churches. Olivia apparently had a gambling problem, and she was always looking for a new mark to pay her debts.”

“That's too bad,” Todd said.

“Are you serious?” Hannah asked, but then she shook her head. “Sorry. Forgiveness is a bit tough for me. I didn't know whether you knew that about me or not.”

Todd stepped up beside his wife and took her hand. “I've heard tell.”

Several members of the wedding party crowded around them then.

Julia Sims was the first to speak up. “Brett, are you sharing your good news with everyone who will listen?”

Hannah looked at the other church members quizzically. She felt guilty enough about her eye-for-an-eye reaction to news about Olivia's arrest without having to see her fellow church members have a veritable celebration over it. “He's already told us about the arrest.”

Brett shook his head, drawing Tricia under his arm when she came near him. “We have more good news. We're expecting!”

Hannah looked back and forth between them. “You, too?”

Todd stepped forward and shot his hand out to Brett. “Congratulations, buddy. What do the kids think about it?”

Tricia shrugged. “Rusty Jr. and Lani are pretty excited about it, but Max isn't sure how he feels about giving up his position as the youngest.”

“They're all excited that we're going to have to move to a bigger house, though,” Brett added.

Steffie seemed to be getting a big kick out of the announcement. “You see, I told you not to drink the water.”

“I know,” Tricia said, shaking her head and feigning a sad expression. “I should have listened.”