Chapter 20
The next two months pass quickly.
We had a wedding cancelation for the morning of a Saturday in August, and Natalie has been secretly holding on to it in case Wes and I need it.
We do.
So our wedding is scheduled for the first Saturday in August.
I would have expected the weeks to drag, but they don’t. There’s been so much to do that I barely have a spare moment to breathe, much less brood over my relationship with Wes.
He’s been pleasant and dry and controlled whenever I spend time with him, which isn’t much because I’m so busy with wedding plans.
It’s not only the actual planning that leads to the whirlwind of activity. It’s all the partnerships and collaborations Natalie is arranging with wedding influencers and businesses.
The publicity we’re getting is off the charts. We’ve had to raise our prices astronomically for everyone who doesn’t get our friends-and-family discount (locals and previous customers). The higher pricing is the only way to keep from getting swamped by inquiries and requests.
Our social media has ballooned to ridiculous proportions. Natalie actually had to hire a friend of hers to do part-time work, helping her manage the accounts.
And our daily visitors to the garden have doubled—so much that our weekends are always at full capacity. People even drive from distances to visit for the day. The local businesses have all testified that they’ve had a significant boost as well.
The Plan might be silly—even ridiculous—but it’s done a lot more than help my family. It’s been a gift to the entire town.
Whenever I start to question myself or get slightly hurt by Wes pulling back when I want him to get closer, I remind myself of that fact.
I might have started off the downward slide for Blossom Park, but I’m also helping to bring it back to life again.
The morning of the wedding is warm and sticky.
I’ve checked the weather a million times this week, and there’s been no sign of rain in the forecast. There might be some clouds, but they won’t get in the way.
I wake up at four in the morning because we’ve decided something quite daring for our wedding ceremony, something that might really make a statement.
We’re getting married at sunrise.
I went to the salon with all five of my sisters yesterday so we could get manicures and pedicures. I also got waxed and plucked and beautified with a facial and skin wrap. So all I have to do this morning is my hair, makeup, and dress.
At five thirty, Natalie is finishing up my hair, which we’re leaving down in big, beachy waves with a few sweet peas pinned in. Audrey is sitting next to me and offering matter-of-fact encouragement anytime my nerves get out of control, and the younger girls are fluttering around, being annoying.
I’d like to send them away, but I wouldn’t hurt their feelings for the world.
When there’s a tap on the door, Aunt Grace comes in, looking gorgeous with her long white hair loose, in a soft, flowing dress in a dusty rose, a darker version of the color my sisters are wearing as the bridesmaids.
Grace has been up since three to make sure the event spaces are all perfect. She sends out the younger girls by telling them it’s time to put on their dresses and get their bouquets, and then she waits for Natalie to finish my hair before she says, “Can I talk to Ella alone for a minute?”
“We need to get our dresses on too,” Audrey says, standing up and smoothing down her hair.
We’ve all decided on natural looks for our hair, so hers, a lighter brown than mine, is straight and shiny, hanging down to her waist. “We’ll see you down there.
” She hesitates. Then leans over to give me a quick, careful hug.
Natalie does the same before she leaves too.
I get up to face Aunt Grace. “You think I’m making a mistake?” I ask since her face has gotten serious.
“No.” She shakes her head and steps closer. “Of course not. I love Wes, and you couldn’t choose better. But I want to hear from you again that you’re making a free choice.”
“Of course I am! You don’t think Wes would try to bully me into—”
“Not at all. But sometimes I wonder if you might bully yourself. Because you’ve always taken responsibility for the family—even when the responsibility wasn’t yours.
We’re doing fine. Even if we didn’t have the boost from you going viral, we still would have been okay.
Everyone is fed and safe and happy. You don’t have to do this. ”
Her earnestness touches me since she’s always had a breezy gentleness that avoids intense emotions.
My eyes burn slightly, but my makeup has been done to perfection by Natalie. Soft and natural and flattering. I’m not going to mess it up with tears right now.
“Your mom and dad would be so proud of you for everything you’ve done to take care of us, but you don’t have to do this.”
Oh no.
I blink and sniff and turn away momentarily to compose myself.
Then I clear my throat and tell her, “Thank you for checking. I mean it. But I’m doing this freely and not out of guilt. And everything connected to this wedding is miraculous for Blossom Park. I want to ride the wave for as long as it lasts. I want to marry Wes. I like him. I really… like him.”
She studies me in that covertly sharp way she has.
Seeing everything there is to see inside me.
Then her expression relaxes and she smiles.
“Okay. I see. I believe you, and I won’t ask again.
I feel like things might have happened more naturally without the intrusion of this circus, but who’s to say this isn’t the right thing? ”
I frown. “What things would happen naturally?”
“Don’t be coy. You know what I’m talking about.”
I do. She’s talking about me and Wes. “It’s not like—”
I cut off my own words because maybe they’re wrong. Maybe it is exactly like that.
Maybe this wild, unnatural wedding scheme is what’s going to bring us together.
And, despite all the emotional games I’ve been playing with myself, maybe that’s exactly what I want.
Grace helps me on with my dress, and my image in the mirror might have been transported directly from my best daydreams.
I’ve always known I have a pretty face, and I’m used to seeing it smiling back at me in mirrors, but I never imagined I could look like this.
“Beautiful,” Grace says, smoothing down the flounces although they’re already hanging perfectly. “And you still look like you and not like you’re playing dress-up. You’re comfortable in the dress?”
“Yes. It’s a little more fitted in the bodice than I’m used to, but the skirt is easy and there’s no train, so I don’t even feel like I’m a huge production.”
She chuckles at my choice of words. “Good. I’ve always thought if I would’ve gotten married, I’d want to go in the same direction. So I could move without fearing catastrophe.”
“Why didn’t you ever get married?” I ask, genuinely curious. She’s been single my whole life. I’ve never even known her to have a boyfriend, although I assume she must have dated some while she lived in Europe.
She shrugged. “I think because I’ve been happy my whole life. Every day, I feel like I’m doing exactly what I want to do and making the choices I want to make. I’ve never met a man who was worth risking that for.”
I smile at her. Then I lean over to give her the same careful hug Natalie gave me. “Thank you for choosing to be here for us.”
“It’s been the best choice of my life. Honestly. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”
I believe her, and I love her even more for it.
“Okay,” she says. “Any more emotion and our hair and dresses will pay the price. It’s time to go down.”
My sisters are waiting in the entry hall of the original colonial mansion, which is where the reception is being set up. They’re all dressed and smiling and beautiful in their pink dresses with gorgeously rounded bouquets of pink peonies tied off with simple ribbons.
My bouquet is white roses.
Since the ceremony is in the English garden and it’s not far from the cottages, we’re planning to walk over instead of driving.
Natalie floated getting a horse-drawn carriage, but I nixed that idea pretty quick.
No hoopla, as Jake would call it.
Nothing to make me more nervous than I already am.
The wedding is a small one with only a few dozen of our closest family and friends.
A local string quartet is providing music, and the pastor from the church both our families have always attended is officiating.
There will be a lot of professionals on the periphery.
Influencers and photographers and representatives of the businesses we partnered with, but I’m hoping I can avoid focusing on them too much.
The primary feature of the wedding will be the beauty of the garden, and that’s where I want most of the attention.
I’m half excited and half terrified as Grace lines up my sisters and makes sure Tessa is holding her bouquet the right way. It’s not quite time to start walking, but I want to get going anyway.
Whether I want to get married or just want to get the whole thing over with, I’m not sure.
I’m standing near the staircase when I hear a familiar male voice.
“No!” Parker squeals. “Go away! You can’t see her!”
Tessa runs in front of me, taking a blocking stance, and Natalie tells Wes loudly he needs to be back in the garden right now.
“If I have to talk through a wall, I’ll do it.” I hear Wes’s voice clearly, although I can’t see him at the moment. “But I need to speak with her. I’m not leaving until I do.”
My stomach drops. “I’ll talk to him.”
“No, you can’t!” Tessa is adamant. “The groom can’t see the bride before the wedding!”
“Maybe we can get a sheet or something to hold up,” Parker suggests.
“Oh my goodness, we don’t have time for any of that. You all stay here. Wes, I’ll talk to you in the dining room.”
I have to push through my sisters to get through, but eventually the girls give up on their crusade to save me from the bad luck of the groom’s eyes before the wedding.
Wes is standing in the dining room when I step in.
He blinks. Stares. Stands perfectly still and keeps staring.
I swallow over my dry mouth. “This is me.”
He opens his mouth to speak, but no sound comes out. He tries again. “You look pretty.”
With an amused huff and a small smile, I say, “Thanks. You look good too.”
He does. He’s wearing a modern suit but not a classic tuxedo since it’s a morning wedding in a garden. He’s got a pink boutonniere and very shiny shoes. And a gray-and-pink argyle sweater-vest I’ve never seen before. “Thanks.”
“I like the vest.”
“Grace knit it for me for today.”
“It’s perfect. So what’s going on?”
“Sorry to do this, but I didn’t think you’d mind my seeing you since this isn’t a normal marriage. I’ve been hearing it from Dad this morning, and I promised him I’d double-check with you.”
I let out my breath in a whoosh of relief. “I’ve heard the same from Aunt Grace. She wanted to make sure I really want to do this.”
“Yeah, that’s what Dad was on about too.” He meets my eyes with his sober gray ones. “So tell me the truth one last time, Ella. You want to do this, right?”
“I want to do this.”
“And it’s not out of guilt because you feel responsible for the debt we’re in.”
He’s always said “we” when talking about Blossom Park even though the only tangible tie he has is the financial help he provides his father on a volunteer basis.
Recognizing it now makes my heart thump a few times.
“I am at least partly responsible for the debt,” I say, determined to be truthful. Before he objects, I go on, “But that’s not why I’m doing this.”
“You’re sure?”
“I’m sure.”
He nods, dropping his eyes. “Okay. I’m sure too. So let’s do this then.”