Iris volunteered to stand in for Alana during the rehearsal, since Matt kept to the idea that it was bad luck for the bride to walk down the aisle before the actual ceremony. Everything had pretty much been set in stone before Landon showed up on their doorstep, but Iris had insisted that he have a little part, so Alana asked him if he would do the scripture reading for the preacher.
Pax and the preacher walked down the aisle and took their places on the stage. The music began and one by one the bridesmaids came from the back of the barn, each on the arm of her husband. They slowly came down the aisle formed by the placement of a couple of dozen folding chairs reserved for the closest of their friends. They separated at the top of the steps with the bridesmaids going to the left and the groomsmen to the right.
The first run-through was a little off with the music, so Crystal insisted that they give it another try. “I want the music to end at the exact moment the last bridesmaid takes her place.”
They went through it again, and Crystal clapped her hands. “Perfect. Do it exactly like that tomorrow evening. The place will look even better for the wedding when the flowers and the food are here.”
“Yeah, and the bride will look like she stepped into a time machine and will be a helluva lot younger when you see her in her pretty dress,” Iris said. “Before we leave, would any of the rest of you like to walk down the aisle with Matt? It’ll do wonders for your looks,” she joked.
Yes, Alana thought, I’d like to step into your time machine and go back to my teenage years when I didn’t want to spend time with my daddy. I’d like a redo on all the Saturday nights when I went to the Wild Cowboy instead of staying home with him.
“No takers?” Iris chuckled. “Well, then let’s all drive to the church fellowship hall and have some dinner. The caterers have it ready for us, and, Alana, darlin’, it’s bad luck for the groom to see you after midnight. So that’s y’all’s curfew tonight.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Pax saluted and then stepped off the stage to hold out a hand to his fiancée, who had been sitting on the bottom row of the bleachers.
She put her hand in his, stood up, and asked, “Do you have your vows written?”
“Yep, and memorized,” he answered. “How about you?”
“Haven’t even started them,” she answered. “I’m worried about making vows in front of God, the preacher, and my daddy that I don’t intend to keep.”
He gave a kiss on the forehead. “Just speak from your heart.”
“Good advice, but it’s hard to follow,” she said.
* * *
Pax kissed Alana good night at the ranch house door and headed over to the Callahan Ranch. There would be cowboys in every bedroom, sacked out on the sofa in the living room, and even a couple in sleeping bags on the living room floor. He went over his vows as he drove home, went straight to his room, took a quick shower, and got into bed.
He closed his eyes, and hundreds of pictures flashed through his mind, beginning with his first solid memory of Alana. They couldn’t have been more than three years old, and she was as tall as he was even then. Mam had left him in the nursery at church that Sunday morning. Alana was sitting in a small rocking chair with a stuffed horse in her arms, singing “Jesus Loves Me” to it. The thought of someone holding a stuffed horse had seemed strange to him, but he liked the idea that she was being nice to the little brown animal.
His next memory was of when they were in first grade, and they flashed on through the years until he got to the ones they’d made that very night. “I’ve been in love with her my whole life, and I’m just now realizing it,” he said out loud.
He sat straight up in bed and held his head in his hand as his thoughts swirled around so fast they made him dizzy. “I love Alana Carey. I want to marry her for real. I want to have a family with her and grow old with her,” he muttered. He looked at the clock beside his bed—five minutes past eleven. He couldn’t write anything in the stars in