Chapter Twenty-One
The day dawned clear and crisp, with the final colors of the season visible, waiting on the next windstorm to divest each tree and bush of its adornment.
Reveling in the final days of autumn before winter’s fury came the morning of Cheyenne’s long-awaited wedding.
She knew today would change her forever, bringing its own tremulous misgivings as well as its own joy.
All morning her mind flitted between uncontained exuberance and unfathomable apprehension.
Siobhan reviewed the program with Cheyenne over her last breakfast as a single woman. Siobhan laughed as she tried to help Cheyenne to level her emotions to no avail.
“I’m a mess. So sorry but I’m hopeless today.”
“My dear,” said Da, “We have raised seven willful children who didn’t always get their way. A little crying is a comforting sound around here.” He patted her hand. “See you soon, my dear.”
Cheyenne didn’t move in when Quinn had wanted her to, making him wait to live with her. She smiled as she acknowledged that he took the compromise pretty well, since he had asked her to wait on sex. Quinn had stayed at Andrew’s house last night to help them since Caoimhe had gone into the hospital.
“Now, let’s go over every detail on our page. Then we will be happy as larks the rest of the day,” declared Siobhan.
Cheyenne laughed nervously, “If you say so, Mom.”
The bright November sun met the men of the wedding party as they entered the church from the side door.
The small stained-glass windows were a riot of color.
Quinlan was nervous in ways he had never been before.
He was never one for much showmanship, but today he was anxious to get things going.
It made him uncomfortable to acknowledge his unease.
He envisioned his wedding night finally arriving, but more than that, he would finally publicly claim Cheyenne as his forever.
There were some who doubted it would happen, and he was happy to prove them wrong.
Liam slapped his brother on the back and said, “Well, the church is ready, the pews are filling, and your bride is dressed. We have the rings set up with Hunter, the flowers with Bailey and éiren, the minister and Da are standing in the back to make sure that the boys are ushering properly. We need to go to the front of the church now to be ready to greet the women heralding your bride.”
Quinn checked his pocket for his handkerchief and his vows, then nodded that he was ready to go and went to take his place in the front of the church awaiting his bride.
Liam’s sons appeared to have seated everyone, and then they seated the family all together, along with Cheyenne’s mother.
The family filled three rows in the small church sanctuary.
Liam was Quinn’s best man, and two of Quinn’s longtime friends stood up with him: the infamous Master Josh and Ace.
Asking Dr. Carter could have been a disaster if he had been called out on an emergency.
He had no partner to cover for him, but he was considering changing that now that Susan had come into his and Josh’s lives.
Cheyenne had chosen Da as her one family member to be part of her party and three of her friends to stand up with her.
It was decided that it was more acceptable and less problematic if Cheyenne chose only friends.
She didn’t want any woman in the family to be upset or to be left out, and Quinn chose Liam as the eldest because the brothers wouldn’t care at all.
The women had small children and had all put in their own special touches to make the wedding perfect.
This made it easier for everyone. No one felt anything but satisfaction at the end result of their labor.
As the harp music changed to signal the bridal party’s arrival and the pianist took over the musical accompaniment, the flower girls walked down the aisle with very serious expressions that interchanged with big grins for they felt this was a very important job for five-year-olds to do.
The ring bearer brought the rings in quite somberly and was not to be distracted from his task, even though he didn’t want to do it.
Liam told him it was an honor to carry the rings.
His uncle and new aunt would wear them forever.
Liam also pointed out that it was an honor to be the one chosen worthy of that task.
His grandda followed that up by promising him five dollars to stay the course.
Grandda Sean also gave the older boys who were ushering ten dollars each, for he found that if you want a boy to do a good job, the rewards needed to be tangible sometimes.
Grandda then proceeded to give them a stern lecture on family pride when they balked at the tartans they were asked to wear.
Quinn had given each of the boys a pocketknife and offered them a compromise: loincloth or kilt, both being their heritage now. The kilt won.
He even gave a penknife to seven-year-old Hunter.
Hunter was quick to point out that he was almost eight.
However, Jocelyn demanded Liam confiscate it before the evening was out, for he was carving everything in sight.
That included Grandma Siobhan’s leather purse, trying to tool a new design in the leather.
Siobhan was complimentary of his artistic attempts; however, his parents were not impressed.
Cheyenne was beautiful in her wedding dress as she walked down the aisle on Sean’s arm to meet her groom.
The dress had an all-lace veil over a beautiful hand embroidered Irish lace mantilla and satin under the dress that every woman who meant something to Cheyenne had a hand in.
She was carrying her Irish bouquet with silver accents tied with a blue and gold ribbon to match Quinlan.
The kilt that Quinlan wore was stunning.
His shirt, an electric blue, was complemented by a gold tie that picked up the thin blue and gold running through his tartan.
Cheyenne almost swooned when she looked at her handsome man in the tailored black jacket with all the trims and accessories that a well-dressed Irishman would wear.
While Quinn would happily have married in jeans, the women in the family would not have let him.
When the traditional white shirt was vetoed by Cheyenne, he gave up and did what he was told, with one stipulation “No pinks, no purples, and no powder blues anywhere.”
In this wedding, Cheyenne dominated, a fact that had all the women laughing at the irony. However, Cheyenne was careful to pick a bright blue she knew would match the kilts and that Quinn would be comfortable in.
When the minister asked, “Who gives this bride away,” Sean said loud and clear, “The Clan Sterling, gives their daughter,” and in response to who receives this bride, he replied equally strong, “The Clan O’Connor receives their daughter.”
While the ceremony was simple, it was elegant and peaceful, with many tears shed when Quinn read his vows. The tears and looks between them while saying their vows after Ciarán tied their wrists and hands together told the whole story
“I forever vow my undying love to you, Cheyenne. I would lay down my life in staunch protection of you, and I vow always to be the cornerstone in the foundation of our home. I’ll be a good father to our children and a loving husband to you.
Please accept all that I have, all that I am, and all that I will be as my commitment to you now and into eternity. ”
Cheyenne couldn’t wipe the tears from her eyes with the handkerchief that Siobhan placed in her sleeve because of the symbolic binding, so she allowed them to flow.
“I vow to love you always, honor you in our home and our lives,” she hesitated a moment before grinning at Quinn. “I promise to obey you, always to rely on your leadership to guide our home well. I accept your love and protection for my life.”
The story of Quinn’s commitment to Cheyenne and Cheyenne’s ultimate relinquishment of her final vestiges of control to Quinn as her ultimate act of loving trust was understood by all.
Quinn’s eyes told her he knew it for what it was, and he accepted it with gratitude as the sacred thing it represented, while secretly preparing for the battles that would rage ahead.
Cheyenne may have given her purest control, but on a daily basis, the practical result would not always bear that out.
Quinn smiled. The word obey was freely committed but open to interpretation in daily life.
It was the challenge she would always present that he loved deeply about her.
Cooper and Hunter described the reception as the best part of the wedding, and the room was overflowing with well-wishers.
The children and O’Connor wives were shooed away from the groom’s cake more than once, but they relinquished on the mead.
Liam stated he had enough children for now and steered Jocelyn away after one cup.
Jocelyn shook her head. “Wine is more potent than this mead. It’s the experience we are partaking of, not the actual alcohol content, which, if my research is correct, is more sugar than alcohol.”
“Don’t care.”
“Of course not,” she replied drolly.
Cián forbade Molly from even sampling the brew, which Molly took as a challenge, drinking two cups to the cheers of Cheyenne.
Both associated men, Cián and Quinlan, took that opportunity to bend their women’s ears, taking them to the dance floor for further conversation.
Ciarán said the more the merrier, which sent Katherine to the other side of the room moaning and shaking her head with her little round belly.
Kelli was quiet during the whole conversation, not joining in on the teasing or the sampling, giving Parker more than pause.