Chapter 21
They got the licenses without incident, and Amy decided that she would do the unusual thing of taking a bath rather than a quick shower, after she made their bed, and take her time getting ready for the wedding.
She just had one nice dress, and it wasn’t exactly a Christmas dress, but she put it on anyway. It would look more like spring than winter, and with a storm coming the next day, she felt a little foolish, but she found a sweater that didn’t look too bad with it and decided that she’d rather have a pretty dress on and be a little bit chilly than wear a sweater and a skirt and feel a little underdressed for her own wedding.
She finished her bath, got the bed made, and had gotten her dress on, and she was in the process of blow-drying her hair, when there was a frantic knock at the door.
It was a little before five, and at first, she thought it might be Jones, but then she realized he wouldn’t have made it back from the clinic yet. He had said he had patients up until five, so he might be a little bit late. They were planning on riding together so that they wouldn’t have two vehicles at the church.
“Amy! Amy!”
She recognized her sister Terry, and she sounded panicked.
She ran to the door, yanking it open.
Her sister spoke before she could say anything. “We found a dog alongside the road. It’s been hit. It doesn’t have a collar on, and I’m pretty sure its leg is fractured... I know that we’re supposed to be going to our wedding, but Judd and I just couldn’t drive by.”
“Of course not,” Amy said emphatically. “Take it to the clinic, I’ll follow in my car, and I’ll text Jones. As far as I know, he’s still there.”
“All right. I’m so glad I got off work a little bit early. We were able to move it off the road and into my car, and otherwise... I don’t know what would have happened to him. Maybe there are internal injuries. I don’t know.”
“Just go. I’ll be right there.” They didn’t say how they had gotten the dog in or whether it was even conscious.
Amy grabbed her phone off the bathroom sink where she had left it and texted Jones on her way through, shoving her feet in her boots and feeling even more ridiculous with her pretty white flowing dress and her muck boots coming out underneath.
She grabbed her heavy coat, threw her arms in the sleeves, and checked her phone to see if Jones had texted her back.
Bring it.
That was all she needed to see.
She knew he would say that. And he knew that she would be there to help him. He would probably let his regular help go home.
He might have left the clinic. He didn’t say. But he would be turning around immediately and getting the operating table sanitized and ready.
She drove so fast, she caught up to Terry and Judd as they pulled into the clinic.
Barely waiting until her car was stopped, she jumped out and ran up to their car.
“How is he?” she asked as Terry got out of the front. She didn’t want to open the back door in case it was awake and scared and tried to get out .
“We have a towel underneath it. I just did laundry for Isadora, and Judd put it in my car so I could give it back to her today, and unfortunately, I...used a few of her towels. We wrapped his face in one, so he wouldn’t bite us. It was hurting him, and he was struggling a good bit.”
“I see. Good thoughts. Sorry about Isadora’s towels.”
She supposed, if the ten million dollars really did materialize, they could probably replace Isadora’s towels, but she also knew that her sister wouldn’t mind donating them for such a good cause.
Jones moved to her side, his hand resting lightly on her back. “Let me in. I can get a hold of him, if Judd can reach in and hold the towel that has his head in it.”
“All right. I’ll go open the door and hold it for you guys so you can go right in.” Then she gave Judd quick directions to get to the operating room. The clinic wasn’t that big and wasn’t complicated.
She opened the door and held it as they practically followed her in. Jones spoke as they maneuvered in the door. “I was just locking up for the night. Everyone else is gone.” He paused. “I’m going to need you.”
Then, he noticed that she had her old coat on over the top of her pretty white and blue dress and her muck boots.
“You look...interesting. I might have been a little stunned as you walked down the aisle.”
She allowed the door to close and hurried after them, walking beside Terry. “This was not what I was wearing to the wedding.”
“I know, but it’s so much fun to tease you.”
They grinned at each other over the squirming bundle, and she knew that he enjoyed it, and she loved that he did. Even at a time like this, where she felt like every second was imperative, and she was concerned about the welfare of the dog, she liked that he was able to keep things light enough so that she didn’t get lost in her head.
They made it into the operating theater. Jones didn’t have a whole lot of fancy equipment, but he did have a portable X-ray machine, which he had gotten set up.
Jones started murmuring low, describing what he was going to do.
He paused for a moment, and Terry said, “If you don’t mind, I’m going to text the pastor and our family and just tell them everything that is going on here.” She paused, then added, “And we’ll just get married here, if that’s okay.”
Amy blinked and met Jones’s gaze over the whimpering dog. He gave a slight shrug.
“Sure. That’s fabulous.” It wasn’t in her plan, but since they didn’t have a whole lot of plans, it wasn’t that hard to adjust her mindset. “Thank you.”
And then, as Terry turned to leave, Amy added, “Would you text Jones’s parents, please? I don’t know if they’re planning on coming. I haven’t heard from them.” She looked at Jones, who shook his head and lifted a shoulder before looking back down at the dog and paying attention to what he was doing.
“Of course. I have her number. Don’t worry about it. We’ll be in the waiting room if you need us.”
“Thank you,” she said and turned back to Jones. “Thank you for doing this. I’m sorry I screwed up our wedding.”
“You didn’t screw it up. You made it so that it’s totally a part of what you and I do.”
“I didn’t mean to, but I guess it worked out.”
They worked on the dog for forty minutes or so, until Terry came to the door and said that everyone was crowded in the waiting room and any time that they could take a break, the pastor was ready to do the nuptials.
Jones finished up what he was doing and then looked at the dog. “I think he’ll be stable until we get back. I hate to tell the pastor to hurry, but... I might. ”
For some reason, that made Amy want to giggle. “I think he’ll understand,” she said. “Or we could just have him do the vows in here, while we work.”
“That would probably be the weirdest wedding he’s ever officiated, wouldn’t it?”
“Well, your choice.”
“I think I want to hold your hand while I say my vows. If that’s okay with you. He’ll be okay here.”
“All right. That sounds good.”
She had blood on her dress. Jones had changed into a button-down shirt and dress pants before he left the clinic, and they were covered in blood as well. Neither one of them had taken the time to put a lab coat on.
But it was okay, the clothes were expendable, but the dog’s life was not.
“Shall we?” he asked, pulling his gloves off and holding out his hand for her.
“Yeah. Let’s do it.”
“Also, before I forget, I think you should become a vet tech. When we build our new facility, we’ll just put a nursery right beside the operating room, which also will face the back of the receptionist area, and we’ll both be able to see the kids wherever we are, and we’ll be in here together every day.”
“That’s about the best idea I’ve heard in a long time.”
“Better than the idea of marrying me?” he asked, and maybe there was a note of insecurity in his tone, she wasn’t quite sure. Regardless, it wasn’t necessary for it to be there.
“No. That’s the best idea I’ve ever had.”
“Hold up there. Kiddo. I’m pretty sure that was my idea.”
“No way. It was mine. All the way. I don’t even know why you’re trying to take the credit. You would never in a million years have thought of it. ”
“That’s not the slightest bit true. I was on the verge of figuring this out, and I was going to—”
“Guys. Maybe not on your wedding day.” Marjorie stood, her hands full, holding one grandchild on her hip and holding the hand of another one beside her, but still, she had that mothering look that she used on both Amy and Jones to good effect.
“Sorry, Mom,” Jones said.
“He started it,” Amy said.
And everyone laughed.
Terry and Judd were already at the makeshift altar, with the pastor standing beyond them, so Amy and Jones made their way there and stood in front of the pastor.
“You ready?” The pastor looked at both couples.
They all nodded, and the service began.
Amy had been to more romantic weddings. She’d been to weddings with a better message. She probably had even been to weddings where the decorations had been more sparse, but she had never been to a wedding with more love in the room. And she figured that was the most important thing.