Flower Girl Bride (15 page)

“Time's up,” the art teacher called out.

Luke and I backed apart, but this time we were both grinning. I'd been caught sneaking kisses on the job for the second time in a quarter hour, but I didn't care.

“I take it she decided to give you another chance,” Stephen said.

“Better than that,” Luke told all of them. “She's taking the ultimate risk. She said yes.”

 

I stared out the window at the dark lake, beating in barely controlled fury at the shoreline. One of the white folding chairs toppled, taking a perfectly good floral arrangement with it. The weather forecaster had said the storms wouldn't hit until dinnertime, and I prayed that just this once he was right.

Turning back from the window, I stared at someone in the mirror who didn't look like me. This woman was dressed in a prairie-style ivory gown with long sleeves and a high lace collar. She wore her hair in an elegant, upswept hairdo.

Because I hadn't heard her approach, it surprised me when Aunt Eleanor appeared behind me in the glass and squeezed my shoulders. “You make a beautiful bride, Cassandra Eleanor. But it's probably just the dress.”

“I'm sure it is.” I turned and hugged her. “Thanks for letting me wear it. I'm honored.” It had taken some work, including lowering the hem a few inches, but we'd made the dress mine now.

Though she'd joked about it only a moment before, Eleanor's eyes flooded as she looked at me. “No, I'm honored that you asked. I wouldn't have been prouder if you were my own….”

My eyes burned then blurred. She didn't have to say
daughter
because I understood just how she felt. I loved her like a mother, as well, which I finally realized wasn't a betrayal to my own mother. God had given
both women to me, and I could finally appreciate the gift in both of them.

I hugged her again before we both turned back to our images in the mirror and started repairing our makeup. Eleanor smoothed down her long lilac-colored gown. I had selected the long-sleeved sheaths for my aunt and Yvonne, my matchmakers turned bridesmaids, because I expected the wind to be chilly on the beach. Now I worried we should have chosen raincoats instead.

My aunt caught me watching the steel helmet of sky.

“Don't worry, sweetie. The weather will hold out for your special day.”

I shrugged. “I guess this was kind of a romantic notion to try a beach wedding in October.”

“It's a romantic notion to have a wedding at all, isn't it?” She squeezed my shoulder. “Are you sad about leaving the school?”

I shrugged, uncertain, an ache filling my heart. I knew I had made the right choice, but that didn't make leaving any easier. “I hated having to say goodbye to my kids, but it was great that the school found another speech path to take over my caseload so soon.”

“I'm sure you would have stayed until they found someone.”

“I can always work with children in this area if I decide I miss it, but Luke I and will be busy enough just starting out.”

“Hopefully, you'll get busy, making some new grandnieces and grandnephews for me, too.”

I grinned at her because I hadn't even made it to the ceremony, and she was already clamoring for
babies. My expression changed the moment I looked back out the window. Had the sky darkened again in the last ten minutes?

“Come on. Stop worrying,” Eleanor said. “It's going to be beautiful.” She glanced out at the same threatening sky I'd been observing. “As long as we do it soon.”

Yvonne appeared at the slider then with a tux-clad Sam. “Are you ladies coming? You'd better hurry before this wedding becomes a washout.”

“Yeah, Miss Cassie, it's going to rain,” Sam announced, sounding excited about the prospect of seeing the whole wedding party drenched.

“Not on this wedding, it won't.” I hurried outside, ruffling Sam's already messed-up hair as I went.

Down below, I could see Reverend Lewis, Luke, Marcus and Uncle Jack standing at the front, waiting for us. Those four plus most of our guests kept casting nervous glances at the sky. We descended the steps as gracefully as our gowns would allow. Because the sand was cold now, we all wore shoes today, but low, comfortable ones.

As soon as “The Wedding March” began, we hurried down the sandy aisle. I marched down the aisle unescorted this time, having chosen that for my second wedding I no longer needed anyone to give me away. Sam broke out in a run, and everyone laughed. When he reached the lectern area, Marcus pulled him next to him, resting a protective hand on his shoulder.

I smiled down at the sweet little boy, but then I looked up again, and Luke was smiling at me. My breath hitched. He stared at me as if I was the most
beautiful woman he'd ever seen. In his dark tuxedo, he didn't look half-bad, either.

Would it still be like this for us twenty-five years from now? Would this amazing man still be able to take my breath away with just a secret smile or a loving look? Or would our love mellow into a warm comfort to span the years? I smiled back at him. I didn't care what the future held for us as long as I could share it with Luke.

When I reached him, Luke took my hand and leaned close to me. “Into every marriage, a little rain must fall.”

Grinning at him, I whispered, “Are you kidding? There's only sunshine ahead for us.”

 

The weather held out until just after the minister told Luke to kiss his bride. We didn't even wait for Reverend Lewis to introduce us as Luke and Cassie Sheridan but took off running hand in hand for the house. Our guests raced after us, with everyone looking spattered but not soaked.

Good thing we had chosen to have a small ceremony with only some friends from church and a few of my teacher friends from Ohio. A bigger crowd might not have even fit inside my aunt and uncle's huge house where we'd decided to have the reception. They would have been stuck out in the rain.

“Here's to the new Mr. and Mrs. Sheridan,” Uncle Jack said, already at the punch bowl handing out cups of lime sherbet punch.

Outside the glass, lightning zigzagged over the water, and several seconds later thunder boomed.

Turning the job over to one of the other guests, Jack made his way over to Luke and me.

“Now you two sure know how to plan a party with fireworks,” he said, his laughter filling the room.

Luke laughed with him. “My wife and I, we don't do anything halfway.”

He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me close to him.
My wife and I.
I liked the sound of that.

Jack turned to my new husband.
Husband.
I liked the sound of that, too.

“So how are you getting along with our Cassie's dowry?”

“Uncle Jack, I wish you'd quit calling it that. It makes me sound like a head of cattle or something, available to the highest bidder.”

“Sorry.” Luke shook his head. “You're not available at all.”

Aunt Eleanor joined the conversation then. “He's right, sweetie. You're downright off the auction block.”

“Luke here was just telling me about the new project,” Jack informed his wife.

Her eyebrow lifted. “Any new developments?”

I couldn't blame them for being interested. As soon as we'd called them to tell them that our engagement was back on, they'd told Luke about my “dowry,” as they'd insisted on calling it. Since I was their sole heir anyway, they thought it would be fun to begin giving me my inheritance early by providing the funding for Luke and me to begin a small building company.

I smiled, remembering how Luke turned down the offer at first, worried that owning his own business
would make him lose sight of family as his priority, but I'd convinced him we could work through the challenges of it, building the company together, slowly.

Now I could see the excitement in his eyes as he spoke of our plans to build a solid Christian business.

“It will be great for young families,” he said. “Once we get the land, we'll build a community of quality, affordable homes where they can raise their families. We're going to build our own home right in the middle.”

My uncle turned to me. “What about you, Cassie? Have you decided how involved you'll be in the company?”

“As involved as I can possibly be,” I told him. “It's such a worthy venture. I can't help but want to be a part of it.”

Our circle expanded as Marcus and Yvonne approached with Sam. Though we had yet to cut the round wedding cake, the boy already had frosting evidence on his mouth.

My new in-laws hugged and kissed the both of us before Yvonne moved on to Aunt Eleanor.

“Well, we did it, my friend,” Yvonne said. “We've been friends for so many years, and now we're finally family.”

Sam looked back and forth among all the adults. “Does this mean I have another grandma and grandpa, too?”

Luke reached down and squeezed his son's shoulder. “Don't mind him. He's just trying to get more Christmas presents.”

My aunt only grinned. “Absolutely, sweetheart.” She crouched down to his level. “So let Grandma Eleanor know what you just can't do without this Christmas.”

We were all still laughing at that when Sam raised
his arms for me to pick him up. I lifted him, frosting face and all, up on my hip.

“And you'll always be my new mommy, right?”

My throat clogged, and I could see that all the other adults were as affected as I was. I needed to tell him that I wouldn't want to replace his mother, that she was the one who gave him life and who would always be a part of him, but he needed to be reassured now. I had a lot of time to help him to understand the rest.

I cleared my throat. “Yes, I'll always be your new mommy.”

“Can I call you Mommy?”

“I'd like that.”

While the rest of us misted up, Sam nodded, his questioned answered. He climbed down in search of more cake.

“Oh to see the world through the innocent eyes of a child,” Aunt Eleanor said, and we all nodded our agreement.

After more well-wishing from friends, Luke finally drew me into the front hall for a moment alone. He didn't waste any time before pulling me into his arms and giving me the proper kiss that we'd missed by being chased in by the storm. Okay, it wasn't completely proper, but it was sweet and wonderful. As the kiss ended, he continued to hold me.

“I love you, Mrs. Sheridan,” he breathed against my ear.

“That's a good thing, Mr. Sheridan, because I'm completely in love with you.”

It was only right that this portion of our story would end where it began: with a wedding. I was humbled to
have received this wonderful gift from God, our own happily ever after. The road we'd traveled had been a unique one. It had begun with a basket of flowers and a ring bearer's pillow, and it had taken many detours over the years; but the road and the God who directs all paths had finally led us here…to each other.

Sixty years and not counting.

Not counting at all.

Dear Reader,

As a reader and a writer, I have always had a love for fairy-tale endings. I want there to be an antidote for Romeo's poison that Juliet discovers just in time. I want Tristan to find a way to choose both love and honor instead of only honor, leaving Isolde alone. My story,
Flower Girl Bride,
is a reflection of my love for fairy tales, but in this story, as in our lives, reality invades on the path to happily ever after.

Would the journey to love be as sweet if we didn't face the trials handed to us by our past and our decisions? Does God allow us to undergo trials to teach us to savor those moments of pure joy? I believe He does, just as I believe that God has a plan for each of us and has a person He intends for us to discover along the way.

I love hearing from readers and may be contacted through my Web site at www.danacorbit.com or by regular mail at P.O. Box 2251, Farmington Hills, MI 48333-2251.

1. Like a lot of women, Cassie Blake is a huge fan of the old Hollywood version of romances. In what ways do movies depict honest elements of romance, and in what ways do movies incorporate fantasy? Give specific examples. What are some of the movies mentioned in
   Flower Girl Bride?
   
2. What is the irony in the fact that Cassie and Luke met in a happily-ever-after scene before they ever entered kindergarten?
   
3. Why do we as Christians easily accept that God could love us without our doing anything to deserve it and then struggle to prove ourselves worthy of love from the people in our lives?
   
4. Luke is convinced that his late wife thought of him as a failure. Why would that belief affect how he reacts to the discovery that his boss is participating in shady business practices? What is Luke's dilemma?
   
5. Sam plays a crucial role in bringing Cassie and Luke together, but Luke finds himself jealous of his son. Does Cassie give him reason to believe she's only seeing him to be close to his son? What is the attraction of a young widower? Is it a true pitfall for young widowers that they might date women who only want them for their children?
   
6. Princess is a major secondary character in the story. What are some of the duties Cassie is expected to complete for the cat while her aunt and uncle are in Paris?
   
7. How does the growing relationship between Cassie and the temperamental feline, Princess, reflect Cassie's character growth?
   
8. Cassie has an underlying love-hate relationship with her late mother. What are some specific ways that relationship is depicted in the story? How does that relationship affect the type of woman Cassie has become? How can she overcome the limitations placed on her by her past?
   
9. Cassie and Luke's romance is brought about by the matchmaking of Cassie's aunt Eleanor and Luke's mother, Yvonne. What are some of the setbacks the two of them face as they try to lead the two people they love to each other?
   
10. Many little girls include “playing bride” among their make-believe games, and by the time they reach adulthood, some women have specific ideas about the perfect gown, flowers or bridesmaid dresses they would like for their wedding day. What were your dreams about your wedding from your childhood? For those who are married, how did those dreams fit with the reality of your wedding day? For those still looking forward to that day, what details do you still hope to incorporate into your special day?