A Brush of Wings (34 page)

“Yes.” Sami stared at the expanse of blue. “She needs full-time help. Just to believe God really has a plan for her. Even now.”

They were quiet for a moment. The tragedy of that night was something Lexy would live with forever.

After a while, Sami turned to Mary Catherine. “We need to remember this moment. Just before getting married.” She smiled.

“Definitely.” Mary Catherine used her phone, and the two of them grinned for the picture.

Sami looked at the photo for a long time. “I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you.” She gave Mary Catherine a side hug, holding her phone up so they could both see the picture.

“I remember when you were dating Arnie. You were actually going to marry him.” Mary Catherine sat on the nearest wedding chair and patted the seat beside her. “Sit for a minute.”

“Dear old Arnie.” Sami sat next to Mary Catherine. The bluff was quiet, serene. Just the two of them and the gentle breeze off the Pacific. “So very safe.”

“I kept telling you to break up.” A soft laugh slipped from Mary Catherine. “Your heart was never into Arnie. Not once.”

“And what if you hadn’t pushed me to see Tyler, during that business trip to Pensacola?” Sami smiled at her friend. “I’ll be forever grateful for that.”

“It was your way of skydiving. Taking a risk.” Mary Catherine tilted her face to the early-afternoon sky. “You had to see him.”

Sami could hardly get her mind around all the changes that had happened since then. Tyler had gone from injured and homeless to one of the top pitching coaches for the Dodgers. Just last week he’d gotten word that his position was permanent. “I would’ve loved him anyway . . . till the day I died.” Sami leaned back in the chair. “I just didn’t know it. Not until you pointed it out.”

A peaceful feeling settled around them. Mary Catherine grinned. “That’s what friends are for.”

“And what about you? Going off to Africa and nearly dying.” Sami still couldn’t believe the miracle of Mary Catherine’s healing. The fact that she was alive at all. “You should’ve told me.”

“I should have.” Mary Catherine nodded. “I knew you’d tell Marcus.”

“Good thing I did.” Sami felt the depth in her smile. “You wouldn’t be here.”

Mary Catherine stood and drew a deep breath. “I guess we’re both here because of each other.”

“And the grace of God.” Sami rose to her feet and for a moment the two of them stayed there, side by side, facing the ocean and looking at the place where they would say their vows later that day. “It’s going to be a perfect day.”

“Yes.” Mary Catherine linked arms with Sami and they headed back into the resort toward the bridal room. Mary Catherine looked back just once. “The most perfect day of all.”

SAMI DIDN’T OFTEN THINK
about her parents. She was so little when they were killed. But today in the bridal suite, she couldn’t stop wondering how it would feel to have her mother here, beside her. Helping her into her dress.

The way Mary Catherine’s mother was helping her a few feet away.

At first Sami had thought about asking her grandmother to take her mother’s place. But that didn’t feel right. Her grandmother was a special person, a kind woman who had given up much of her life to raise Sami. Still, they weren’t particularly close. And so Sami had simply asked her bridesmaids to join her a little earlier.

Their hair and makeup was already done. Now all that was left was the dress.

“It’s time!” One of Sami’s friends nodded to the pretty white dress hanging elegantly from a hanger on a hook nearby. “Let’s make you into a bride.”

Across the room, Mary Catherine’s mother was fastening a row of thirty small buttons down the back of her gown. As she finished, Mary Catherine turned and held out her hands. “Well? How do I look?”

Sami felt her heart melt. There would never be another friend as dear to her as Mary Catherine. “You’re the most beautiful bride ever.”

“The two most beautiful brides.” Mary Catherine’s mother smiled at Sami. “Your dress is stunning, dear.”

“Thank you.” Sami held her hands up while her friends lifted her dress and let it fall into place. The room had mirrors everywhere, and already Sami felt like a princess. “I wish we could wear these dresses again.”

“Like once a month for a special date night.” Mary Catherine twirled around, swishing her long skirt back and forth.

Sami laughed. “Exactly.”

“Every girl should feel like this at least once in her life.” Mary Catherine smoothed her lacy dress and the layers of taffeta beneath it. “I’ve never felt so alive.”

That was saying something for Mary Catherine. Sami held her arms up while one of her friends eased her zipper up. “Better than skydiving?”

A smile lifted the corners of Mary Catherine’s mouth. “So much better.”

Her friends finished with her zipper, and after fluffing out her train, Sami turned and faced Mary Catherine. “Here I am!”

Mary Catherine had been fixing her hair. Now she turned to Sami and gasped. “You look absolutely stunning.” She walked closer. “Tyler won’t be able to take his eyes off you.”

The bridesmaids were all ready and they’d taken dozens of photos. Now there were just ten minutes before the wedding was set to start. Sami took hold of Mary Catherine’s hands and smiled at the group. “Let’s pray before heading out.” She felt a surreal sort of peace surround her and the others.

“God is with us, His presence is here.” Mary Catherine smiled at the faces around her. “This wedding . . . marrying Marcus . . . I’ve never felt so sure about anything in all my life.”

They all held hands and Mary Catherine’s mother began the prayer, asking for God’s blessing over the two weddings and the marriages that would begin today. Several of the girls prayed, too. Some of them thanking God for bringing them all together, and for the gift of marriage, others asking for His continued presence in the lives of Sami and Mary Catherine and the men they were marrying.

Sami closed her eyes and suddenly she was there again. Sitting on her grandparents’ roof, looking at stars next to the cutest boy she’d ever seen, and he was looking into her eyes and asking her to be his girlfriend. And they were sharing a million happy high school moments and then she was watching his bus drive off as he left to play for the minor leagues.

And she was walking through the doors of Merrill Place Retirement Center, seeing Tyler for the first time in years and wondering whether that would be their final goodbye, and she was opening her laptop one night and seeing a letter from him and knowing she would never love any man the way she loved Tyler Ames.

And she was standing on the beach meeting him again for the first time since his return to Los Angeles. And he was taking her hand and telling her he couldn’t live without her and she was learning that because of a sweet old woman named Virginia, Tyler had changed. He was real in his faith and his character, and he forever would be. And like that the year flew by and Sami was once more on the rooftop of her grandparents’ house and Tyler was asking her the only question that remained between them.

And she was saying yes. Yes, a million times yes.

In a single moment she could see it all.

As the prayers ended, Sami whispered to her friend, “Thanks for helping me find my way back to Tyler.” She hugged her. “I love you, Mary Catherine.”

“You, too.” Mary Catherine grinned at Sami. “You taught me how to love. Otherwise I would’ve run from Marcus forever.”

The photographer stood on a nearby chair and captured their hug. Sami was grateful. She could picture herself some far-off day, ninety years old, sitting in a rocking chair and having the photo from this moment somewhere nearby.

A reminder of the forever friend who had taught her how to live.

How to really live.

TYLER HAD HEARD
from a few of his married friends that a man’s wedding day was the most profound page in the story of his life. Now that he and Marcus were standing inside the back foyer of the Ritz-Carlton, dressed in their tuxes, ready to walk out and meet their brides, Tyler could only say he agreed.

All day God had brought to mind images of His faithfulness. The way He’d loved Tyler through his minor league days and His grace in healing his arm and restoring his career. And even the way God had connected him with Virginia Hutcheson.

Tyler had thought about her today, too.

Virginia had taught him about love and grace and second chances. Despite the dementia she faced in her final days, the two of them had shared many beautiful, profound conversations. And in those conversations dear Virginia had thought she was talking with her son. All of which made Tyler miss his own parents. Virginia believed in family. And how a family was forever, no matter what.

Joy filled Tyler’s heart. His parents were here this evening because of Virginia Hutcheson. More than that,
he
was here today because of her. Even when Sami walked back into his life, he would’ve been too embarrassed to ever talk to her again if it weren’t for Virginia. And something else the woman did for him.

She helped him find his way back to God.

Waiting for the cue to walk out to the ocean bluff, Tyler lifted his eyes to the blue sky beyond.
Maybe you can give her a window tonight, God. So she can know how much her words mattered to me.
Tyler smiled.
Every one of them
.

Marcus took a quick breath. “Any minute now.”

“Feels like forever.” Tyler peered out the window. The wedding coordinator was within sight. She would signal to them when it was time. After the guests were seated and the violinists were in position. “I’ve waited for this day since I was a junior in high school.”

“You’re lucky.” Marcus patted Tyler on the shoulder. “I only wish I’d known Mary Catherine that long.”

“True.” He nodded, his soul full. “I hadn’t thought of it that way.” He slipped his hands in his pants pockets. The wedding today would be followed by dinner, and then both couples would take off for Shutters, a beachside hotel in Santa Monica.

Tomorrow morning Marcus and Mary Catherine would leave for the Bahamas. Tyler was taking Sami to Maui. Their bags were loaded in the vintage car Marcus had rented for the occasion. Everything was set.

Tyler couldn’t wait. He steadied himself. “Earlier . . . I was thinking about Virginia.”

Marcus’s smile softened. “Sweet Virginia. Such a wonderful person.”

“She was just what I needed.” Tyler nodded. “I don’t know where I’d be today without her.”

“Mmmm. God definitely lined up all the right people.”

“At just the right time.” Tyler thought about the pastor who gave him a bag lunch and then sent him looking for a job at Merrill Place. “In some ways it feels like God has been working behind the scenes this whole time. Otherwise this day would’ve been impossible.”

Marcus nodded. “What if that volunteer hadn’t pushed me out of the way of that bullet? That night at the Youth Center?” He shrugged, as if he had no words. “The odds of Mary Catherine and I being here today? Beyond impossible.”

“You rescuing her from Africa?” Tyler chuckled. “They make movies about stuff like that.”

“I had help.” He hesitated. “Did I ever tell you about the Jeep?”

“In Africa?” Tyler shook his head. “Tell me.”

“I needed a Jeep to get her out of the orphanage. At first the guy behind the counter said there wouldn’t be one for a day or so.” Marcus leaned against the nearest wall, the story clearly still very real to him. “But you know how sick she was. I didn’t have that kind of time. I needed a Jeep immediately.”

Tyler had heard much about Marcus’s time in Uganda. But he hadn’t heard this. “So what happened?”

“All of a sudden this mechanic comes in and says he’s got a Jeep. He’d fixed one that was broken.” Marcus’s laugh showed that he still couldn’t believe what had happened that day. “Things like that. Over and over again.”

“A series of miracles.”

“And that Ember girl,” Marcus added. “The one who helped Mary Catherine at the orphanage.”

“The one who convinced her to fight for her life.”

“Yes.” Marcus’s eyes grew distant. “Mary Catherine called her . . . to let her know about the surgery and to invite her to the wedding. Just in case she could make it.” He looked at Tyler. “The woman who answered the phone said she’d never heard of an Ember. No one by that description had ever worked there.”