“I don’t think she cares if I’m happy. She needs to find peace in herself before she can care about others,” Emma said.
“Amen, darlin’ girl, amen!” Rebel nodded.
Josh and Teddy stepped out of the trailer at exactly ten o’clock and made their way to the arch. Arty had set up chairs so that Rebel and Jonathan, Teddy’s father, who was the image of Teddy, only thirty years older with a little gray in his hair and maybe thirty pounds more on his frame, could have a place to sit during the ceremony. He and Filly took their places in the other two chairs. Josh hit a button on a remote control, and Shania Twain’s voice filled the park with “From This Moment On.”
Josh’s pulse raced when Emma stepped out onto the porch and walked slowly down the stairs. She looked so beautiful in her flowing light-green skirt and matching tank top. She wore a necklace that Filly had designed with a hummingbird on a special stone that Josh had found that very week when he and Emma had been out walking. Her dark hair had been braided into a crown with yellow daisies that seemed to float in between the folds of hair.
Sophie came out next in her pretty off-white sundress that swept the ground. Teddy stepped to the bottom of the stairs and took Sophie’s hand in his. Together, they walked up to the arch. Sophie handed her bouquet to Emma and took Teddy’s hands in hers. She said her vows loudly and clearly. Rebel and Filly both sniffled when Teddy put the wedding band on her hand. Then he said his vows, and danged if Josh didn’t have trouble keeping the tears at bay.
Josh pulled the remote from his pocket and hit another button. Naomi and Wynonna Judd sang “Mama He’s Crazy” as the couple stepped through the arch, and together they jumped over the broom Emma had decorated with lace, ribbons, and flowers in light green and bright yellow.
Josh took a couple of steps forward and looped Emma’s arm in his. “You are beautiful today.”
“Thank you, but what I am mostly today is jealous,” she whispered as they walked through the arch to be the first ones to congratulate the newly wedded couple.
“Well, the decorations are up, and I’ve got a pretty good idea of what I’d say to you,” Josh whispered.
“This is Sophie’s day,” Emma said as she wrapped her arms around her best friend.
“What are you talking about?” Sophie asked.
“I was thinking that, since everything is already decorated . . .” Josh shrugged.
“I can’t steal her thunder,” Emma said.
“Honey, I can’t think of anything I’d love more than making this a double, but only if you’re ready,” Sophie said. “Here, you take my bouquet and give me yours.”
“But . . .”
“Hey, Filly, will you please go in my trailer and bring me the broom?” Sophie yelled.
“What for?” Filly asked.
“This ain’t the time to ask questions, woman.” Arty got up and brought out the broom.
Sophie picked up her broom and laid it to the side, then laid the undecorated one in its place. “Josh and Em have something they’d like to say to each other.”
“Holy smoke!” Filly gasped.
Josh and Emma followed Sophie and Teddy back through the arch, then turned to face each other. Josh leaned forward and kissed Emma on the forehead. “Like the song says, from this moment, life has begun for us, Em. Fate brought you to me at a time when I thought I’d be lonely the rest of my life. I love you, and I give my hand to you right along with my whole heart. I never want to be apart from you.”
Tears flowed down Emma’s cheeks when she said, “My heart belongs to you, and I love you because you have helped me to find myself and to stand strong on my own. I look forward to our journey through this world together, and I never want to be apart from you, either.”
She kept one of his hands in hers, and together they jumped over the plain old kitchen broom to the applause of everyone else in the park.
“And now you grooms may kiss the brides. Be sure you’ve got the one that belongs to you,” Teddy’s father called out.
Josh tipped up Emma’s chin with his knuckles and started to give her a sweet kiss when he noticed that Teddy had bent Sophie back in a true Hollywood kiss. That was way out of