The music outside changed. Checking her watch, she peeked out into the backyard. “Well, boys, I think this is your big moment. Are you ready to walk out there and get your brother married?”
“Yes, ma’am,” we answered.
“Good. Then get out there and have the best time,” she said, shooing us toward the door.
Bowie paused in the doorway. “You’ll sit up front, won’t you?” he asked her. “You and Jimmy Bob? You can sit across the aisle from the Tuckers.”
She pressed her lips together. “I’d be honored,” she whispered.
We exited the den, and I dropped a kiss on the top of her head. “Thanks for being here, Mom.”
“I love you, Jonah Bodine.”
She was the second woman to tell me that today.
And it was the first woman I was thinking of when I took my place next to Jameson to the right of the trellis Gibs had finished in a burst of energy. Mayor Auggie Hornsbladt took his role as officiant seriously. He was wearing a shirt and tie under his best overalls.
Misty Lynn, the man-eating Venus flytrap, was dateless in the front row with her father and my mother. The way she was eyeing Gibson made me think there might be trouble later.
But I didn’t have time to worry about Misty Lynn and whatever scene she’d undoubtedly cause. I was too busy looking at Shelby. I’d spotted her immediately a few rows back on the aisle next to her parents. Her thick bangs framed those watchful hazel eyes. The rest of her dark hair was pulled back in a low bun behind her ear. She was wearing a sunshine yellow dress and a smile that brightened my entire world.
Shelby gave me a little finger wiggle, and I returned it.
It was a good day. Not only was my brother tying the knot, but Shelby Thompson told me she was in love with me. And tonight I’d tell her that the feeling was mutual. That I didn’t want this summer to come to an end.
“Here come the girls,” Jameson hissed at me.
Reluctantly, I dragged my eyes away from my girl. Leah Mae, June, and Scarlett, eschewing the traditional aisle, saunter-strutted down the grassy expanse in blue. Scarlett blew Devlin a kiss when she passed him, and you’d have to be blind to miss the pride and love that beamed off him. My sister was loved. My brother was getting married. And I was starting my own future.
June, more dignified than the rest, gave GT a polite nod and the slightest of smiles as she passed him. GT looked like he wanted to jump up from his seat next to his mother and squeeze her tight. I had a feeling there was another engagement in the works there. Leah Mae, instead of taking her place next to Scarlett, be-bopped over to the man-side of the aisle and planted a kiss on Jameson that had the assembled guests cheering.
“Oh, what the heck,” she said. She planted a kiss on me, then Gibson, and finally a resounding smack on the lips for Bowie.
Love was a physical presence here.
I’d been to weddings before. I’d watched brides and grooms share their vows over the murmured complaints of guests who didn’t really want to spend their day celebrating. But today was different. Every single person in attendance was here because they loved Bowie and Cassidy and wanted to be here. To celebrate with them. To shed tears with them. To be there on the most special day of their lives.
The music changed, and I chanced a glance at my brother. Bowie’s eyes were squeezed closed.
Cassidy appeared on the arm of Sheriff Tucker, a vision in blush and lace. She floated rather than walked to the head of the aisle. And when she arrived, when she paused to take in the moment, Bowie opened his eyes.
The moment was so powerful, so moving, I heard an intake of breath rise up from the chairs. Followed immediately by sniffles. Mayor Hornsbladt blew his nose noisily into a handkerchief.
When Bowie bent at the waist to catch his breath, I found Shelby again in the audience. Beaming through tears. I remembered back to when I thought maybe there was a possibility that I could see myself as the faceless groom in Rene’s Pinterest vision.
This was different. This was real.
I wasn’t some guy trying to fit himself into someone else’s ideal. I was a man in love with a woman. And I wanted what Bowie and Cassidy had. What Scarlett and Devlin found. What