Chapter 35 – Grace
“Stop batting each other with your puffed sleeves, you weirdos.” Jessica came over and separated me from her sister.
In this cute upper room in the church where Jessica and Simon were about to get married, there wasn’t a whole lot of space for us not to run into each other, but we stopped our war so she could finish getting the final touches added to her makeup and hair. That, and it was getting stuffy up here. For the first time on the island, I was overly warm. A lace collar halfway up my neck would do that.
Jessica’s dad opened the door a crack. “We’re ready for bridesmaids whenever you are.”
“We’re so ready, Dad. You gals are all flushed in the face. Get out of here, and let’s get me married.” Jessica jumped up and threw her arms around each of us. “You all look amazing, and I love you so much.”
“Same, Jess. Same.” I squeezed her back and then followed her sisters out and down the spiral staircase. Breezy, glorious air caressed my face.
We lined up with the groomsmen, and when the procession music started, we slowly walked down the aisle like we’d practiced yesterday. Dean had told me where he’d be sitting, and I tossed him a saucy look as he took in my dress for the first time. He’d seen it hanging up, but it was another thing to see it on me, especially with my hair up and big, with lots of tendrils falling.
Yes, it was a lot, but I was part of a club of women who loved Jessica so much that we’d cosplay Anne of Green Gables for her. We each passed by Simon in his white pinstriped suit and took our places.
Piper came through the door next, tossing flower petals out of a basket with a serene gaze. Her dress matched mine, except she also had on a lavender sailor hat with the ribbons tied under her chin. When she reached Dean’s pew, she stopped to wrap one arm around his neck in a quick, strangling hug that made him laugh.
Dang it, I was getting teary already. My makeup was prepared for it, but I wasn’t. I had purposely kept things light and goofy while we waited upstairs with Jessica for this very reason.
My gaze swept over all the guests until I focused on Henry sitting on the same pew as Dean. In this little old church, his voice carried as he told the person sitting next to him, and the rest of us, that Jessica and Simon got up early this morning to watch the sunrise together on the first day of their marriage.
I did not need to know that, because now actual tears fell from my eyes, and that was before Jessica and her dad entered the chapel, waiting for everyone to stand up so they could walk down the aisle. She looked so ready for this. I was in love with her dress. White satin, with perfectly tight sleeves all the way to her wrists. She winked at Simon, and he smiled back. The biggest smile I’d ever seen on him.
At that moment, a joke came to mind. Not one of Rob’s. Something the internet had gifted me. That of all the mistakes I’d ever made, adding too much cheese to a recipe wasn’t one of them .
I wasn’t used to being this tenderhearted. It was new for me to not hold it in, only sprinkling out bursts of sentimentality when it felt safe to do so.
But could you enjoy a moment too much? Feel too much happiness? Could you tell someone you loved them too much? Show it too much? I didn’t think so. I might as well dump all the cheese on the goodness of this day and love it.
I studied Dean. He had his hands clasped tightly in front of him. His focus was on Jessica, watching her make her way to Simon on the arm of her dad. Once she and Simon were standing together, the congregation sat back down, and Dean looked at me, breaking into a slow smile.
He’d been up early, steaming the wrinkles out of his suit. I’d walked in on him just as he’d gotten to the chorus of “Unchained Melody,” quietly singing to himself.
“I love you,” I mouthed.
He stared back with a gaze that set my insides quivering. “Marry me,” he mouthed.
My eyes widened.
Simon and Jessica began reciting vows, and all eyes were on them. Except ours. He did not just do that.
“Marry me,” he mouthed again.
I nodded. Of course I would. I would marry him right now if I wasn’t in the middle of someone else’s wedding day. We’d have to figure out our own where, when, and how. But having Dean with me for the rest of my life? Working with me? Loving me? Letting me love him back with everything I had? “Yes.” Oops. That was out loud.
There was a slight pause in vows before they continued. Jessica would kill us. Talk about upstaging.
Next to me, Jessica’s sister nudged me with her arm. “Did he just…? Did you just…?”
“Shh.” I turned my body towards Jessica and Simon, but I couldn’t keep my eyes off of Dean. Now he was the one getting teary. The second Jessica and Simon ran down the aisle with their clasped hands in the air after their I-Do’s and kiss, Dean ran at me and swung me around.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and pressed my cheek to his. “What were you thinking, asking me that in the middle of their ceremony?”
Dean put me down. “I was hoping for a yes. That was a real yes, right?”
“Was it a real proposal?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“Then that was a real yes, Mr. Kinney.”
He gave me a quick, fierce kiss before we got herded outside to go help throw birdseed at Jessica and Simon. They were leaving in a carriage, although we’d see them again in a few hours to dance the night away at their reception. I was looking forward to it. Well, after I changed out of this dress.