Authors: Mandy Baggot
“We have drinks and refrigerator say low on beer. It
is amazing, I want,” Henrik said as he, Bob, Cole, and the twins
came out onto the deck.
“Robyn, we made you a card,” Sierra said, bounding up
to her with it.
“Mom said Brad’s going to jail,” Sienna added.
“I didn’t tell them the whole thing, you know…” Pam
started.
“What did he do to you?” Sienna wanted to know.
“Well, he told a lot of people a lot of lies, and if
you don’t tell the truth, you get in trouble,” Robyn said, looking
at the card.
It had a picture of a girl on ice skates wearing a
Portage Panthers shirt.
“Logan Hamilton at school tells lies; he says his mom
has a girlfriend. Mom’s don’t have girlfriends!” Sierra exclaimed
with a roll of her eyes.
“Will he go to jail?” Sienna asked.
“No,” Robyn answered.
“Beer and pickles?” Cole offered as he held out the
jar and a fork and Bob held out a bottle of Bud Light.
“You remembered to forget the plate,” Robyn said,
smiling at him.
“Yes, I did,” Cole replied.
October in Michigan is usually a mixed bag. One day
it could have a month’s worth of rainfall in two hours, the next it
could snow. Throw in a tornado and showers of leaves and you’ve
pretty much got it covered. But the twenty-second of October broke
like a summer morning, and the blue, cloudless sky looked set to
last all day.
As Robyn sat in Bob’s boat and slowly sailed across
West Lake, she smiled. Here she was, back where she belonged, with
all the people she loved, on her way to get married to a man who
knew everything about her and still adored her.
“Daddy, shouldn’t Robyn be wearing a life jacket?”
Sienna called out, lifting the shield of her helmet.
“Yepper,” Bob replied, steering the boat.
“Then why isn’t she?” Sierra questioned.
“I don’t want to crease my beautiful dress,” Robyn
answered them.
“But what about safety first?” Sienna shouted over
the boat’s engine.
“No safety for me today, just fun,” Robyn replied
with a grin.
“Relax man, stop looking at your watch, she’ll be
here. Well, that’s if Bob’s boat doesn’t break down or anything.
One time he took me fishing and…” Mickey began.
“Not helping,” Cole replied with a nervous sigh.
“Listen, are you sure you want me as your best man? I
mean, your brother’s just over there and you know, things are cool
with you two now, right?” Mickey asked.
“I guess.”
“And he’d have to be a pretty fast worker to like
steal Robyn between now and the altar,” Mickey added.
“Mickey!” Sarah hissed from behind him.
“Sorry,” Mickey said.
“Have you got the rings?” Cole asked as Bob’s boat
came into view on the horizon.
“Actually, I gave them to Bryn,” Mickey admitted with
a swallow.
Bryn stood up from his seat and made his way up the
shore to where Cole and Mickey were standing with the wedding
party.
“Hey,” Bryn greeted.
“Hey.”
“Look, I’ll just sit down here with my pregnant
fiancée. If you need any help, just holler. Oh, and when it gets to
the speeches, we can have five minutes each,” Mickey bargained
before being pulled down onto a chair by Sarah.
“So, you’re getting married,” Bryn said, patting his
brother on the back.
“Yes, I am.”
“I’m so happy for you,” Bryn said sincerely.
“Yeah, I’m happy for you, too,” Cole replied, looking
over at Veronica.
“She come! She come!” Henrik announced as Bob began
to steer toward the jetty.
Cole watched as Bob moored the boat and helped Robyn
and the twins alight.
She stopped for a second, saw him waiting for her,
and her stomach turned over. He was going to be her husband in a
few minutes. Her whole life was starting over.
And there in front of her was her dad and Max, sat in
wheelchairs. Both were dressed in matching suits, a white orchid in
their lapels, waiting for her on the shoreline.
“Buttercup,” Eddie choked as his daughter came down
onto the sand to join him.
“How do I look?” Robyn asked, holding out her dress
and doing a twirl.
“Have I ever seen you out of pants?” Eddie
questioned.
“You look a million dollars, gal,” Max responded, a
tear in his eye.
“A princess,” Eddie said, wiping at his eyes.
“Pull yourself together, man, this is a wedding not a
funeral. Let’s get this gal to her Prince Charming,” Max said,
trying to push on his wheels.
“I didn’t know that when I offered to help a girl
with a broken bag I was going to end up marrying her. I don’t know
whether to thank American Airlines for putting us on the same
flight or thank the bag manufacturer for producing poor goods.
Robyn, I don’t know what to say. I hope you know how I feel about
you. I’m going to love you my whole life, and I’ll honor you every
single second of every single day,” Cole said.
Tears fell from his eyes as he held both her hands
and made his vows.
“Cole…well, I had it all prepared…what to say…but it
wasn’t right. Your dad is up there with Old Man Harrison and Mitzy,
and I don’t want to let them down by saying something stupid.
You’re everything to me, Cole, and you’re the only person who’s
ever been everything to me. You’re special and I’m very lucky.
Cole, I marry you today because you met the real Robyn Matthers at
Chicago O’Hare. You brought her home and…you put me back together
again,” Robyn said as she looked up at Cole’s face.
There was a collective sound of appreciation as Cole
drew her into him and held her protectively against his chest.
“Cole and Robyn have exchanged their vows and given
rings as a symbol of their marriage. It is now my absolute pleasure
to pronounce them husband and wife. And let’s hear some applause!”
the minister ordered as Special Guest’s drummer kicked the band
into action.
“So, how does it feel to finally have a connection
with Meg Ryan?” Cole asked Robyn as he handed her a bottle of
beer.
“What?”
“Robyn, you share a last name with her now,” Cole
reminded her.
“Ah, well, we never actually discussed which name to
take, did we? I’ve been trying Cole Matthers out over the
loudspeaker at the arena and you can get a really good, long rah
sound at the end. I like it,” Robyn replied with a grin, running
off toward the party tent.
“No way, absolutely, no way,” Cole said, chasing
her.
“And now we party, yes? Julha!” Henrik exclaimed,
punching his hands in the air excitedly.
“Joola? What does that mean?” Mickey asked.
“Is Finnish for party. We have party, yes?” Henrik
said, slapping Mickey on the back.
“He’s Finnish,” Mickey said.
“What?” Sarah queried, confused.
“He’s freaking Finnish! Hey! Robyn! Henrik’s
Finnish!”