Something Old - Dianne L. Christner [134]
“Don’t worry,” Lil said. “We won’t let you forget anything.” She reached out to give Katy a hug and knocked her covering askew.
With her heart swelling with fondness for her friends, Katy reached up to straighten it, suddenly realizing that neither of her friends wore theirs, and it didn’t hurt her any longer. She said with choking emotion, “Once Jake and I find another place and you guys live here, if Jake ever has to take an out-of-town job, I’m joining you for a sleepover.”
Lil scowled. “Duh? That’s just a given.”
EPILOGUE
Katy and Jake faced each other for the first time as husband and wife. She drank in the masculine planes of his clean-shaven face, his fresh haircut, the softening of his dark eyes, and three things struck her at once: the intensity of his love for her, its sincerity, and that it was hers for the taking. She stood on tiptoe. His head lowered to give her the traditional wedding kiss. When she heard clapping, she drew away blushing.
“I love you,” he whispered.
“Love you, too,” she replied.
A white rose petal drifted down and landed on the grass at their feet.
Their kissing tree had become their wedding tree. Katy’s idea of placing satin bows of purest white and sprinkling white primroses throughout the weeping willow branches made it a lovely altar for their vows. Since they’d had their first kiss beneath it, and since Jake had proposed there, the Byler farm had been deemed the perfect place for their June wedding.
They turned and looked out over their guests. Jake had made benches for the ceremony, and together they had painted them white. The picturesque white sparkled clean against the lush summer lawn and the more distant green cornfields. Their friends and family brightened the benches with color and laughter.
Holding hands, they moved down the center aisle, greeting guests as they moved along. Her gown swished over the freshly mowed grass, but for once, Katy wasn’t worried about stains.
Her gown was everything she’d ever dreamed it could be. Her mother had sewn the satin dress in a simple, yet elegant style with a high neck and quarter-length sleeves. She had embroidered the neck and the hem. Now it glistened in the late afternoon sunlight.
The mothers of the bride and groom had conspired to find a stringed head covering that Minnie had once made—when she designed and sewed bonnets for extra income. Mrs. Yoder had removed the strings and added longer, wider satin ribbons that now streamed down Katy’s back, serving as her wedding veil.
Katy’s hair was twisted and pinned up beneath the covering. Before the wedding, when she’d fixed her hair, she daydreamed of her new groom removing the pins. For once, she wouldn’t slap his hands away, like she had so many times before when he was just a mischievous little boy who took pleasure in yanking her ponytail.
Now as they edged forward, Katy’s left arm held her bouquet so that the white roses nestled in the hollow of her skirt, adding the perfect adornment to her plain gown. From her tiny cinched waist, the fabric draped elegantly over the slim curve of her hips to the ground. Having taken a good look at herself in the full-length mirror Lil had purchased for the doddy house closet, she’d felt more of a Cinderella than she had the night of the ballet.
She blushed now to remember the silk white negligee that was packed in her suitcase. It had not been cut with such modesty. Thankfully, it was not being captured on film. It had been a gift from Lil. And Katy had wondered if Jake had put his cousin up to it.
Beside her, Jake looked handsome in his new black suit. He wore a white shirt and a vest made from the same material as Katy’s wedding dress. But it was the possessive look in his eyes that made Katy’s heart turn somersaults. She hoped the photographer would catch that look as well as the lopsided grin sometime before the day was over.
Their attendants trailed behind them. Lil was paired with Cal, and Megan with Chad Penner. Karen walked with their