Chapter 14
CHAPTER 14
If this was what Zane Bellamy could do in five hours, Sam thought at four o'clock that afternoon, the man must be a magician when he had time to spare.
All of his kids had made it: a bemused Chase had just walked up the 'aisle'—plywood laid down over the mucky ground, as Charlee had promised—bearing a cushion with the rings on it. Sam's daughters Ellen and Stephanie walked together on their brother Tony's arms, and Charlee's mother Jennifer, whom he'd met minutes before, walked after them with an expression of bewildered happiness and a huge bouquet of winter flowers as she came up to take her place across from his kids. All of the youngsters looked nice—dresses and suits and quickly done-up hair for the women who wore it long—and all of them, thankfully, also looked warm, because somebody had set up a remarkable number of space heaters around the gazebo, blowing hot air at the wedding party.
Judge Owens had arrived early enough to go over the ceremony with Sam, not that he or Lola had any clear idea on what it should be other than "do you, do you, now kiss," which was how Stephanie had usually conducted weddings with her dolls. She—the judge—looked pleasantly resplendent in her robes, and also warm enough.
No one else looked warm enough, but a truly astonishing number of people had shown up to stand on the plywood platforms, bundled in winter coats against the snow that had started falling. There were no extravagant dresses, no tuxedos besides the one Sam was in, no high heels or fancy hats. Instead there were shining, happy faces that tilted toward one another, murmuring as people pointed, laughed quietly, and took in the whole setup. Sam had no idea how so many people had heard about the wedding, and even less why they would care, but it filled him with joy to see them coming together for himself and Lola.
Especially Lola.
She'd come out of the tailor's shop, escorted by Charlee, followed by two men he didn't know, and wrapped in a large, fluffy…blanket, apparently. Sam assumed that wasn't her wedding dress, but then again, he knew nothing about haute couture.
But no: as they reached the plywood 'aisle', the men behind her accepted the blanket when Lola lifted it off, and an admiring gasp that turned to cheers ran through the crowd. Sam's vision blurred so badly he could barely see as Charlee walked Lola the first few steps toward the gazebo, and he dashed the tears away, his heart breaking with joy.
His bride wore a tea-length dress in ice blue, off the shoulder with a wide, dimpled boat neckline that zigged, then zagged back the other way down the bodice with ice-white statement buttons before falling into thick, satiny pleats in a full skirt. Her tiny diamond jewelry glittered at her throat and ears, and she wore a dinky veiled hat in the same heavy pale satin on her white hair. Sam wiped his eyes again, all but speechless, though he managed to whisper, "You're so beautiful," as a beaming Chef Charlee transferred her grandmother's hand from her own arm to Sam's.
Lola's eyes shone. "Not bad for an old lady, huh? You look wonderful, too." Her eyes widened. "Foxy, one might say."
Sam choked with laughter and pulled her into a hug, mumbling nonsense into her hair. "God, I love you."
"I love you too," Lola whispered. "But we're supposed to do this part after the judge has done her part."
"Oh, take your time," Judge Owens said with a suspicious sniffle of her own, before lifting her voice to welcome the unexpected audience to their wedding.
The ceremony itself was brief, beautiful, and completely outshone by Lola. Sam could only gaze at her, stunned and overjoyed, and obediently repeat what he was told to say, until the moment came when he was able to put the ring on her finger with shaking hands, and then kiss his bride. Another cheer went up as they embraced, and Sam was vaguely aware that everyone around them was crying, just like he was, just like Lola was. His kids and hers hugged, first each other, then them, until even the space heaters weren't enough to keep the cold at bay and the snow was starting to pile up on the plywood walkways.
"All right!" Charlee called. "Everybody back to Hold My Bear! Nana, make sure you don't fall."
"I'm pretty sure I can fly right now," Lola said happily, but she clung to Sam's arm, and he swore he would never, ever let her fall.
"Where…that dress… how ?" Because even Sam could tell the gown was not one that had been thrown together in a few hours. "You're the most beautiful woman in the world, Charlotte 'Lola' Nelson Brown."
"He's making one for some young woman here in town," Lola whispered. "This was an early direction they decided not to go with, but it was nearly finished anyway. He made some adjustments and…" She gestured at herself, obviously astonished. "Todd."
Sam mock-groaned. "Oh no. Not Ted Todd again."
"Lola Todd," she said, and Sam's knees nearly stopped working.
"Really?"
"I've been waiting a very long time to be Lola Todd, Sam. Yes, of course, really."
He made an incoherent noise and crushed her into his arms again, not caring that they were supposed to be making their way to the pub, not caring that half the town was standing around beaming at them. "Mrs Todd?"
"Mrs Todd," she agreed gleefully. "It's about time, don't you think?"
"I wouldn't have presumed," he whispered helplessly. "I love you so much, Lola."
"Me too." Lola glowed as she looked up at him. "A whole lifetime. Nothing could be better, Sam. I'm so happy. I love you so much."
"I love you so—" He realized they were repeating each other, and laughed, but couldn't stop himself. "I do, though."
"Oh good," a child's authoritative voice said. "Everybody's here for the statue contest."
"Oh, God, " a woman said immediately. "No, Noah. It's too cold and this is someone's wedding ."
"I know," Noah said cheerfully. "I met them yesterday. They're good statues. And everybody's here! It'll be fast! It's not that cold!"
"You're six, " the woman—presumably his mother—said. "Your idea of cold is different from an adult's."
Sam, Lola, and almost everyone else had turned to look at the pair by then. A purple-haired woman managed to look at the little boy with both exasperation and fondness, while Noah stood arms akimbo, an expression of hopeful, slightly confused defiance on his face. "How can my idea of cold be different from a grown-ups? Isn't cold… cold ?"
Lola laughed, drawing his attention as she shook her head. "Older people feel the cold more. But…" She glanced at Sam with a smile. "I bet not very many people have statue contests at their wedding."
"Yessss!" Noah leaped up and punched the air, then tried to arrange himself with an air of dignity as his mother gave him a sharp look. "I mean, that would be very nice!"
"Ten minutes," Lola warned him. "The world's shortest statue contest. Or all of us old people will freeze."
Noah giggled. "I'll be the world's shortest statue in this contest! Okay! The rules are, everybody hold as still as you can and I'll judge your stillness!"
His mother groaned. "Noah…"
"It'll be fun !"
His mother mouthed I'm so sorry at Sam, who shook his head and smiled. "Lola's right. How many people have a statue contest at their wedding? How about we do statues by family, Noah? That way people will be grouped together and you can judge them as a whole more quickly?"
Noah beamed. "That's good! You stand with your son and daughter and I'll stand with Mom—" A frown appeared between his eyebrows as he realized that wouldn't work, but people started grouping up anyway as Sam chuckled and said, "These are all my sons and daughters. Well, not Jennifer," he added with a nod toward Lola's daughter, a pretty woman in her forties who looked a great deal like her mother.
"Oh. Well, you look like her and he looks like you." Noah waved his hand at both Lola and Jennifer, and, to Sam's surprise, at himself and Chase, then went on, "So you all stand together with your families and be statues, and Mom, you and Dad can stand together, and Judge Owens you can go stand with Robin and—" He marched off, giving orders that people obligingly followed, while Sam's heart knocked around in his chest so hard he felt dizzy with it.
His daughter Ellen was smirking with amusement at her brother Chase and Sam himself. "You two do look alike. More now that Chase is getting ooooooold than you used to, and I wouldn't have noticed it, but the kid's not wrong."
"You're only two years younger than me," Chase said, offended.
"Yeah, but I dye my hair." Ellen tossed her hair, which did not, Sam admitted, have a single streak of grey in it. Chase made as if to ruffle it and Ellen shrieked obligingly, while Tony snickered and Stephanie rolled her eyes, just like they were all kids again.
But Sam's eyes were mostly for Chase in that moment, trying to see if Noah was right. His hand found Lola's, and then his gaze did. Her eyes were as huge and wide as his were, and she shook her head a little, as if denying the possibility they both suddenly saw. Sam, almost voiceless, said, "He is a fox shifter. The first one I ever fostered."
Lola's knees cut out and Sam caught her weight, holding her close as they both studied the man goofing around with his siblings. Lola's daughter Jennifer was grinning hugely as she watched them, her arm tucked around her own daughter Charlee's waist. Sam could so very easily seem the family resemblance between the three of them: the large brown eyes, the sweetness of their smiles, the shape of their jaws and noses. Charlee had a heavier bone structure than her mother or grandmother, and carried more weight, but they looked very much like a family.
And Sam, heart beating so hard his whole body shook with it, thought maybe there was some of that same family resemblance between Chase and Jennifer. Mostly in the shape of their smiles, and maybe through the cheekbones, which reflected the apples of Lola's own cheeks. She whispered, "He can't really be…?" and Sam, shivering, shook his head.
"I don't know. What would the odds be, Lola? I know there aren't that many people who foster shifters, but…"
"Lola and Sam are already winning !" Noah yelled from the plywood surrounding the gazebo. Snow was falling faster, thick white flakes that landed in the little boy's hair and eyelashes only to be wiped away impatiently. "Look at them! They're FROZEN! And you guys are all wiggly!"
His purple-haired mother, glancing upward at the rapidly-falling snow, said, "And you know what? I think that means they win! Congratulations, Sam and Lola! You win the statue contest! Now everybody needs to get inside before they freeze to death!"
Noah's jaw flapped a couple of times as the reins of the contest were taken away from him, but at a warning look from his mother he relented, yelling, "Yay Sam and Lola! The next statue contest will be at the fair and everybody can practice until then!"
Someone nearby laughed. "There's never been a 'statue contest' at the fair, Noah. You have to get in touch with the people who run the fair to organize something like that."
Noah said, "Okay," with casual confidence, and bounced off with his mother, leaving the original speaker to mumble, "I bet we'll have a statue contest at the fair," to the general agreement and laughter of those around them as the crowd began to break up. A number of people came up to congratulate Lola and Sam, both on their wedding and winning Noah's impromptu contest, and then they were on the way to the gastropub, with no time to discuss the idea that had left them reeling.
It wasn't impossible , Sam thought. Just unlikely…
The world is made of unlikely things, his fox said easily. Shifters, for example.
I know, but… It was too much to hope for. Still, as they shuffled into the warm pub, breathless and smiling, Sam did hope, and from the shine in Lola's eyes, he knew she did too.
Still, for a while, they couldn't help but be distracted, both by the reception party and by each other. Sam remembered the last time he'd danced with Lola so vividly. The idea that he could again took his breath away. He called a glowingly excited Charlee over, murmured to her, and let out a startled grunt when she hugged him enthusiastically and scurried off to behind the bar. A moment later she was on a stool or something behind it, getting above the crowd so she could call, "We need a dance floor, folks, let's clear a space for the bride and groom!"
Lola gave him a startled look as the floor did clear—completely with several people moving tables and chairs out of the way—and then laughed, a shy sweet sound as he offered his hand. She stepped out onto the impromptu dance floor with him as the first strains of Nat King Cole's 'Unforgettable' began to play, and though tears filled her eyes, her smile was the brightest thing Sam had ever seen. Those tears spilled over as Natalie Cole's voice joined her father's in the famous duet, and through a tight throat, she whispered, "You couldn't have chosen a better song. You always were, Sam. Unforgettable."
He whispered, "In every way," and tucked her close to sway to the music, finally together, as they'd always been meant to be.