onto him tightly. She promised she would, and Matt led the way toward the huge, light, airy dome in the center of the gardens.
Molly had wanted a winter wedding, but she knew it would still have to take place indoors. She and Hunter had wanted to be married before Christmas, but the holidays had turned out to be a popular time for nuptials, and the Chinese Gardens had been booked. She’d taken the next available Saturday, and Matt had wondered what all the fuss was about.
Now, he knew. As he walked down the cleared and salted sidewalk, he understood why Molly had wanted this venue. Why she’d brought the pictures to the lunches she came to out at the farm, and why she and Gloria had poured over them for so long and so often.
Tall, alabaster pillars lined the walkway on both sides, a delicate white rope hanging down in a smile between them. Pink, red, orange, and yellow flowers ran the length of the supports, and on every other one, a large picture of Molly and Hunter had been nailed right at adult eye-level.
He couldn’t help smiling at the photos. Molly and Hunter were some of his best friends, and he loved them both so much.
His breath steamed in front of him, and the saddle grew heavy. He finally reached the dome and opened the door so his children could enter before him.
“There you are.” A woman rushed toward him as if she’d been lying in wait to accost him the moment he arrived. “Thank heavens. Bring that saddle right up front.” She spun on her heel and marched away from him, moving fast for someone in a skirt so tight around the knees.
Matt nearly rolled his eyes, but he followed Jessa Thompson, the wedding planner. He couldn’t even imagine what she’d have done had he forgotten the saddle.
“Find us a seat,” he called over his shoulder to the kids. “Maybe up here by Elise.” He passed her, and she got up to look behind him.
He continued all the way to the altar, where he and Jessa positioned the saddle in the exact right spot. “I knew it would fit,” he said, pride in every syllable. He gazed at the saddle, which Jessa started decorating with flowers.
“The wedding starts in twenty minutes,” she said, giving him a dirty look. “I thought you were never going to show up.”
“I told you what time I’d be here,” he said. “It takes five minutes to lace flowers through the leather.” He knew, because he’d done it himself, and if he could get his thick fingers to tuck stems through the straps he’d purposefully created and looped to hold them, anyone could.
“Still.”
Still what? he wanted to ask, but he didn’t. He turned away from Jessa and retreated back to the first couple of rows. All of the Hammonds had already arrived, and Matt had a hard time telling some of Hunter’s uncles apart. He did have a set of identical twins in there, so Matt didn’t feel too badly about it.
He shook hands with Chris, Hunter’s grandfather, and sat down next to him. “How are you?” he asked quietly. Quiet enough that no one nearby would overhear. He had a special relationship with the man, almost like Chris could channel the spirit of his father.
“It’s been a busy morning already,” Chris said with a smile. “Spilled juice all down the front of one of the flower girl’s dresses, and then Ames got in a car accident on the way here.”
“You’re kidding.” Matt stood up and looked around. “He’s here, though, right?”
“He’s here. He was driving over with Colton, so they didn’t have any kids with them, thankfully.”
Matt sat back down and looked at Chris. The man had eyes the color of fresh dirt, and he wore his eighty-four years of age really well. His dark hair was always trimmed, and Matt had learned that Elise had been doing that for him for years. Today, he wore an impressive suit—probably one very much like the ones he used to wear as CEO of the Hammond family company.
Hunter was the CEO now, and Matt had seen him in plenty of similar-looking suits, as he sometimes came straight to the farm from the office.
Matt would rather die a slow death than wear a suit to work each day. Just wearing one to church each week, sans jacket, was a chore for him. He always unknotted his tie and unbuttoned that top button the moment he hit