I Promise (27 page)

Authors: Robin Jones Gunn

Glancing at her dad, Christy noticed he was tearing up. She only remembered seeing him like this a few times before. “Daddy, are you okay?”

“I will be.” He offered her a lopsided grin. “It's not every day a man walks down the aisle with his only daughter. I guess you're not my little mouse anymore, are you?”

Christy felt a lump in her throat. He hadn't called her his little mouse in years. When she was growing up on their Wisconsin dairy farm, one of her favorite pastimes had been to follow her dad around in the barn. He was so big she could easily hide behind him. He would scoop her up in his arms, lift her over his head, and bellow for the cows to hear, “Look, I've found a little mouse! Listen to her squeak.”

“I promise, Daddy,” Christy said softly, “I'll always be your little mouse.”

“And I'll always be as proud of you and thankful for you as I am at this very moment.”

“That's my cue,” Katie said over her shoulder as she exited. “Get ready now, you two.”

Christy reached under her veil and dabbed the corner
of each eye with her grandma's handkerchief. She linked her arm through her dad's and adjusted her bouquet.

“All right,” Dad said, composing himself. “This is it.”

20
Right on cue, Christy stepped out of the cool chapel into the brightness of the May afternoon. The guests shifted in their seats, and she could feel their eyes on her, watching her approach the end of the white runner with her arm linked through her dad's. She couldn't see Todd yet and guessed he couldn't see her, either.

Christy and her father came to the end of the rows of chairs. At her feet, a straight white runner led directly to the arch. She knew that under the decorated arch stood her groom, dressed in a classy black tux waiting for her, just as he had promised he would be that enchanting morning in December right after she had promised she would be his bride.

Christy drew in a deep breath. She lifted her eyes under her veil and looked beyond the long white runner to the groom, her groom. And, oh, the look on his face! This patient, relentless man waiting for her at the end of the long aisle was so deeply in love with her
that he didn't even attempt to wipe the tears that were coursing down his cheeks.

As Christy watched Todd, he surprised her by lifting his arms and holding out his hands, inviting her to come to him. Those familiar hands that still bore the scars of his accident were welcoming her.

Christy put one foot in front of the other and kept walking.

Doug began to strum his guitar. That's when the next unexpected “random factor” occurred. Instead of Doug's singing a familiar wedding song as he had done at the rehearsal, Todd began to sing to Christy. His rich voice swirled around her, wooing her, beckoning her.

“I have come into the garden, seeking you,
There is no one else I desire, only you
How beautiful you are, my love.
Your eyes, watching from behind your veil
As here I stand, calling for you to come
Take me into your heart. Be with me
Forever.
How long have I waited for this moment,
For this day. I will never leave you.
My heart is ever toward you.
Come into the garden, my beloved.
Come, be my bride,
Take my heart in yours,
And I will be yours
Forever.”

Christy's last footstep brought her to the trellis just as Todd sang the word
forever
. Her heart
pounded wildly. She recognized the tune. Todd had been humming it for months. This was the song he had been working on since the night they had become engaged; yet all these months she had only heard him hum or play the melody. She recognized the words were based on Scripture, from the Song of Solomon. When Todd had worked on the song, she had thought it was a worship song directed toward the Lord. And knowing Todd, ultimately it was.

But today, it was her song. She was his bride. He was her bridegroom. This was their forever moment. And Todd hadn't taken his eyes off her.

Pastor Ross spoke into the great chasm that separated Todd from Christy and said, “Who gives this woman to be united in holy matrimony with this man?”

Christy's father cleared his throat. All he was supposed to say was “Her mother and I.” But Christy's dad apparently had a bit of the random factor at work in him, too. “Just as God, in love, gave Christina to us, now her mother and I, in love, give her to Todd.”

Katie reached for Christy's bouquet, and with a squeeze, Dad placed Christy's hands into Todd's warm, strong, familiar hands. Todd ran his thumb across the gold Forever ID bracelet she had worn on her right wrist all these years.

“At last,” Todd whispered.

That's when Christy started to cry. She had managed
to keep the tears back all the way down the aisle. That was probably because so many surprises had kept her off guard and because Todd had been so fixed on her. But now she caught a quavering breath and felt a tear tip over the edge of her lower eyelid and trickle down her cheek. An entire flock of tears followed.

Todd's gaze remained fixed on Christy as hers was fixed on him. They barely blinked. They barely moved. The pastor spoke about the sacredness of this union. A song followed. Doug, this time. Christy barely heard. She was lost, swimming in the depths of her love for the man who stood beside her under this holy trellis and held her hands so tenderly.

The song ended, and Pastor Ross asked Christy to repeat her vows after him. Suddenly she was relieved she wasn't relying on her memory to repeat the long, elaborate vows she had written to Todd.

With a clear yet small voice, she repeated, “I, Christy, take you, Todd, to be my lawfully wedded husband. I promise to love, honor, and cherish you for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, till death do us part.”

Next came Todd's repeating of the vows. “I, Todd, take you, Christy, to be my lawfully wedded wife. I promise . . .” He squeezed her hands tighter. “To love, honor, and cherish you for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, till death do us part.”

“Now will you pray with me,” Pastor Ross said.

Todd helped Christy to kneel down on the padded bench under the trellis. They bowed their heads as the pastor prayed for God's blessing on their marriage and on the children God may choose to bless them with.

“As you wish,” Christy and Todd both whispered at the end of the prayer. Todd's strong grip held Christy by the elbow as they stood up.

“What token do you give as a symbol of your love for Christy?”

“A ring,” Todd answered. His dad stepped forward and handed Christy's ring to Todd.

“Repeat after me,” the pastor said. “As evidence of the promise we now make before God and these witnesses, with this ring, I thee wed.”

Todd repeated the words and slid the wedding ring onto Christy's finger. In another surprise, he then lifted her ring finger to his lips and sealed his promise with a kiss.

“Christy,” the pastor said, “what token do you give as a symbol of your love for Todd?”

“A ring,” Christy said.

She turned only slightly and saw Katie's steady hand right there, holding out Todd's wedding band. Christy took the ring and repeated, “As evidence of the promise we now make before God and these witnesses, with this ring, I thee wed.”

She slid the ring onto Todd's finger. Then she followed Todd's example and lifted his hand under her
veil, where she sealed her promise with a kiss on his finger.

“In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride.”

Christy stopped breathing. It seemed as if the whole world, including the dancing palm trees, had come to a sudden hush.

Slowly, tenderly, Todd took the ends of her delicate wedding veil and lifted it over her head. He looked on her as if he had never seen anything so wonderful, so beautiful, and so amazing in his life. Todd paused. He seemed to be drawing in the fragrance of the flowers that crowned her head. Moving closer, he slid both his hands along her jaw line until her hair was entwined in his fingers.

Christy tilted her face toward his and closed her eyes.

With all the tenderness of a patient man and all the passion of nearly six years of waiting, Todd kissed Christy. And she, with equal passion and patience, kissed him back.

As they lingered in their embrace, a gentle breeze came dancing toward them, snatching the fragrance from the flowers in Christy's hair and scattering sweetness across the meadow. The wind swirled through the palm trees. It almost sounded as if they were applauding.

In the holiness of that timeless moment, Todd whispered, “I love you, my Kilikina. Forever.”

“And I love you,” she whispered as silent tears raced down her cheeks. “Forever.”

Then stepping from under their trellis, Christy heard a strong, steady voice behind her announcing the words that she knew would change her life forever. Until that moment, this one sentence had only echoed in the corner of her heart where she stored her most precious dreams.

Today, the words were real. All the stars of heaven were in her eyes as she gazed at the man who now stood beside her and the pastor said,

“It is my privilege to introduce to you for the very first time, Mr. and Mrs. Todd Spencer.”

ROBIN JONES GUNN loves to tell stories. Evidence of this appeared early when her first-grade teacher wrote in Robin's report card, “Robin has not yet grasped her basic math skills, but she has kept the entire class captivated at rug time with her entertaining stories.”

When Robin's first series of books for toddlers was published in 1984, she never dreamed she'd go on to write novels. However, one project led to another and
I Promise
is Robin's fifty-first published book. Other series include T
HE
C
HRISTY
M
ILLER
S
ERIES
, T
HE
S
IERRA
J
ENSEN
S
ERIES
, and T
HE
G
LENBROOKE
S
ERIES
. Combined sales of her books are over 2.5 million, with worldwide distribution. Many of the titles have been translated into other languages.

Robin and her husband, Ross, were involved in youth work for more than two decades and have two grown children. They have lived in many places, including California and Oregon. Currently they live in Hawaii.

Visit Robin's Web site at
www.robingunn.com

From Robin Jones Gunn

T
HE
C
HRISTY
M
ILLER
S
ERIES