After they reconnected that night, Katie and Rick fell into a steady, side-by-side rhythm of being together. She even took a job at the Dove’s Nest. The past half-year had been the most stable stretch of her life, and she didn’t want anything to change. All she wanted was a label for their relationship. She wanted to be established once and for all as boyfriend and girlfriend.
“Katie!” Christy’s aunt motioned sharply from her staging position next to the wedding trellis. David already was posed, holding up the garter. The photographer was checking the fading light with his meter.
“You’re being summoned,” Todd’s dad said.
“So I am. You want to come with me?” She reached for Rick’s arm.
“You go ahead. I told Doug I’d help him with a little, ah . . . project.”
“You guys aren’t going to mess with Todd and Christy’s car, are you?”
Rick only smiled.
Todd’s dad stepped away. “I didn’t hear that. I’m not in on whatever you guys are planning.”
“Rick, Christy doesn’t want you guys to do anything to their car. You and Doug know that, right?”
“Katie!” David’s voice interrupted them. “Aunt Marti says to hurry up!”
“Promise me you won’t do anything to their car, Rick. I’m the maid of honor. I’m supposed to protect Christy. Help me out here. Please don’t — ”
“You’d better go.” Rick pointed her toward Aunt Marti and the photographer. “Your flowers are crooked, by the way.”
She took off for the trellis, glancing at the bouquet in her hands. What did he mean the flowers were crooked? They didn’t look out of balance to her. A little fluffed up and missing a rosebud, maybe.
“For goodness sake, Katie, bend your head down.” Aunt Marti reached up and repositioned the headband of white baby’s breath Katie wore as the crowning touch of the bridesmaid’s outfit.
Suddenly Goatee Guy’s comment made sense, as did Rick’s. Her halo had slipped. Katie made her own adjustments with the two remaining bobby pins after Marti finished her attack. Smoothing back her silky red hair, Katie asked, “Better?”
“It will do.” Marti stepped aside and gave an irritated snap of her fingers, as if she were in charge of giving directions to the photographer.
David moved closer to Katie and put his arm around her shoulders.
“What are you doing?” Katie asked.
“Posing for the picture.”
Katie wiggled out from under his lumbering arm. “Just smile, David. That’s all you have to do. Smile. Like this.” Katie gave the photographer her best, cheesy-faced grin.
The perturbed photographer looked up from behind the lens. “A little less exuberance, if you don’t mind.” He took another shot. “Now give me a casual pose.”
David stretched his arm in Katie’s direction. The scent of his adolescent sweat was strong enough to wilt the flowers in the bouquet — and the trellis that surrounded them. “I’m warning you, David. Keep your paws off me.” Katie’s words leaked out through her closed-mouth smile. David lowered his arm.
“That’s it.” The photographer gave them a nod and walked away with his camera.
Katie tossed out a “thank you” and noticed Goatee Guy standing at the end of the aisle next to Tracy, the other bridesmaid. Tracy was married to Doug, and the two of them were expecting their first baby in a little more than a month.
“Are Christy and Todd preparing to leave?” Katie called to Tracy across the rows of empty chairs.
Tracy nodded, her hands folded on top of her round belly. “I came to find you. They’re in the chapel signing the marriage license, and they need you to sign as a witness.”
Katie scurried across the grass toward the small prayer chapel located on the corner of the university property. The chapel was one of Katie’s favorite hidden treasures on the Rancho Corona campus. This grassy meadow on the high mesa that encompassed the university campus usually was used for long strolls along the trail. Having an outdoor wedding in this gorgeous space had been Todd’s idea, and it was a great one. No doubt the meadow now would become a frequently requested wedding location for other Rancho Corona students.
Taking a shortcut past the palm trees, Katie caught a glimpse in the distance of the flaming sun making its nightly trek into the hazy blue field of the Pacific Ocean. The air was cooling already. Thick, atmospheric layers of peach and primrose hinted at a touch of glory soon to be viewed in the sunset.
Katie smiled. She found it easy to believe that God, in his not-so-subtle way, was adding his celebration touch to the end of Todd and Christy’s perfect day. In a whisper, Katie said, “Will you bless them, Father God? Bless all their years to come. You have been so good to them.”
With a catch in her throat, she added, “I don’t know exactly what you have in mind for me, but would you bless me too? If Rick isn’t the right guy for me, would you make that clear pretty soon? I don’t want to convince myself that becoming Rick’s girlfriend is one of your God things if it’s really only a Katie thing.”
Arriving at the chapel, Katie paused before she opened the door and added a P.S. to her prayer. “If you don’t want Rick and me to go any further in our relationship, then will you break us up? This unsettled thing of being his ‘almost’ girlfriend is killing me. Especially today.”
2
“Good timing,” the minister said when he saw Katie step inside the chapel. Todd had a pen in his hand and was signing a document attached to a clipboard. Christy signed next. Then Todd’s father, Bryan, who had stood as Todd’s best man. The pen was handed to Katie, and she felt her heart swell for a sweet moment.
“You guys are married,” she said with a grin, as she penned “Katie Weldon” on the form.
Todd leaned over and kissed Christy on the cheek. He whispered something that only Christy heard. By the way her eyelashes lowered and her face warmed with a glowing smile, Katie guessed he must have said something pretty wonderful. Something Christy probably had waited half a decade to hear him say. Something out of the ordinary for the noncommittal Todd of days gone by.
“You two about ready to go?” Todd’s dad asked.
“I am,” Todd said. “Are you, Kilikina?”
It seemed fitting for Todd to call Christy by her Hawaiian name — his nickname for her. They were on their way to Maui for their honeymoon.
Before Christy could answer, the chapel door opened and Aunt Marti blustered in, red in the face. Her husband, Bob, was with her.
“Come, come! We’re ready for you,” Marti instructed. “Everyone is in place. Big smiles. The photographer will be on your left as you head for the car so make sure to — ”
“The car!” Katie burst out. “Christy, I almost forgot to tell you guys! I’m pretty sure Rick and Doug are trying to do something to your car. I tried to stop them, but — ”
Todd gave a relaxed shrug. “Doesn’t matter.”
“Katie, they’re not taking their car to the airport.” Aunt Marti’s sharp retort was a little too loud for the small chapel. Even the pastor raised his eyebrows, and Bob took a step closer to his wife.
“How are they getting there?” Katie asked.
“In the limousine, of course. Now, why are we standing here? Come. Please. Christy, you could use more lip gloss. Katie, where is the lip gloss? You were supposed to be in charge of freshening her makeup for the photos.”
“My lips are fine, Aunt Marti,” Christy said firmly.
“Your lips are more than fine.” This time Todd’s comment wasn’t a whisper. That he said aloud what he must have been thinking seemed to surprise Todd as much as the rest of them.
Uncle Bob was the only one who laughed. Clearly, he was enjoying every moment of today’s celebration. Opening the chapel door for the blushing bride and grinning groom, Bob said, “Couple of final details for you two. The limo driver has your airplane tickets, car rental papers, and two keys to the condo. You have my cell number if you need anything else.”
“Thanks so much, Uncle Bob.” Christy gave him a big hug and a kiss on the cheek.
Marti jutted out her chin slightly, making her cheek more accessible for a thank-you kiss from Christy on her way out the door.
A few yards away the wedding guests had formed two lines with a pathway down the middle leading to the parking area. As soon as the group saw Todd and Christy emerge from the chapel hand in hand, they went to work with the wedding favors that had been provided at the tables. The guests released a volley of bubbles rather than the traditional yet messy shower of rice. At one point, Katie had tried to convince Christy to release butterflies. The bubbles now seemed like a wiser option.
Katie charged ahead of the newlyweds, who were taking their time, strolling toward their tunnel-of-love bubbles. She wanted to make sure they reached the limo with no problems. Tracy was already in position at the very end next to Christy’s mom and dad.
Christy’s mom handed Katie an extra bottle of bubbles. Instead of opening it and joining in the bubble fest, Katie looked around for Rick.
“Do you know where the guys went?” she asked Tracy.
“No, I was hoping they were with you.”
Todd and Christy entered the path that led to the parking lot. Hundreds of iridescent bubbles rose around them and danced in the air. Todd stopped and reached out his hand, allowing the enchanting moment to fall on them. He kept his palm extended the way a child would to catch a raindrop or a snowflake.
Katie opened her bottle of bubbles and added to the shower of glistening wishes.
The first agreeable bubble that came to Todd’s palm burst on impact. He kept his hand out for a second bubble, and a third and then a fourth. The guests stepped up their bubble production, each of them eager to be the one who could supply the singular, resilient bubble that would float into the open clam of his hand and become the elusive pearl he was waiting for.
Two more bubbles landed and collapsed before Christy put to use her newly endowed wifely persuasions. She leaned toward Todd and reached over, placing her hand in his. Todd turned to look at his bride. A slow smile grew as he closed his hand around her fingers. The real enchantment of the moment was clear; Christy was the pearl of Todd’s heart. He had no need ever to try to grasp wishes as thin as soap bubbles. He had his treasure in his hand, and she would be the gift that made him a wealthy man.
As Christy and Todd came to the end of the passageway of friends, they stopped and gave Christy’s mom and dad one last hug and kiss. Katie choked up when she saw Christy’s dad tearfully give his all-grown- up daughter a big bear hug.
A thin razor of pain sliced through Katie’s heart when she realized she never had received a hug like that from her father. As quickly as the razor showed its edge, she fled from it. She was good at moving away from pain in record-breaking speed. “Call us when you can,” Christy’s mother said to the newlyweds.
“We will.” Todd gave his new mother-in-law a hug.
Christy paused in front of Katie, and the two of them reached for each other’s hand. The warm smiles they gave each other were all that was needed for these two best friends to convey their feelings for each other at this moment of farewell. Then, with quick hugs for Tracy, the new couple waved to the rest of the guests and hurried to the open door of their waiting limo.
“I wish Doug and Rick weren’t missing this,” Tracy said.
“What do you mean missing it? We’re right here.” Doug came up behind them. Rick was with him.
“Where were you guys?” Tracy asked.
Rick slipped his arm around Katie and murmured in her ear, “You look nice with bubbles in your hair.”
Rick was good with words. A little too good sometimes.
Katie pulled back, trying to more clearly see his expression. “You’re just trying to distract me so I won’t find out what you did to their car.”
Rick gave her a fake look of shock.
“Don’t worry,” Doug said. “We didn’t do anything to the car. Besides, did you see the limo driver? Or should I say the limo gorilla?”
“Hey, we could have taken him down if we wanted to,” Rick said.
“But we didn’t want to, did we, Rick?”
“Nope.” Rick’s grin had turned into a smirk. Katie knew that meant trouble.
“What did you guys do?” She looked to Doug for a truthful answer. “You have to tell me. I know you did something.”
“It was nothing bad, Katie.” Rick placed his hand on her shoulder. “Just relax.”
“I’ll relax after you tell me what you did.”
“Man,” Doug said, “she’s relentless, isn’t she?”
“You have no idea.” Rick adjusted his tux jacket. “All we did was add a little parting gift to their luggage.”
“What kind of gift?”
“A honeymoon survival kit.”
“A what?”
Tracy jumped into the conversation. “It’s okay, Katie. I helped them put it together. It’s a bunch of little items with notes on them. Like a bottle of mouthwash that says, ‘Open in case of morning breath,’ and a pair of socks for each of them with a note that says, ‘In case you get cold feet.’ ”
The limo slowly rolled through the gravel parking area. The guests waved and sent bubbles in the couple’s direction.
“It’s nothing to be upset about, Katie,” Doug said. “When they get to Maui and Christy opens her suitcase, they’ll have something fun to laugh about.”
Katie still wasn’t convinced. “Christy’s suitcase? Why didn’t you put the stuff in Todd’s luggage?”
Rick laughed. “Todd’s luggage is an old nylon bag with one side held together with duct tape. We couldn’t fit anything else in there without the bag exploding. We had to make a little room in Christy’s suitcase, but everything fit.”
“Make a little room? What did you guys take out?”
“Just some papers.”
“What papers?” Katie and Tracy said in unison.
Rick pulled from the inside pocket of his tux a stack of neatly folded pages tied with a beautiful lace ribbon. They looked like a collection of handwritten letters.
Katie froze. “Rick, you didn’t!”
“Doug!” This time Tracy’s shriek was louder than Katie’s.
“What?”
Katie grabbed the bundle of letters and took off running after the limo. “Wait! Stop!”
Her left shoe came off, but she kept running. Behind her a swell of laughter rose from the onlookers. She knew how ridiculous she must look, a one-shoed bridesmaid frantically chasing the getaway limo. But none of them understood. The letters in her hand were Christy’s heart.
From the time Christy was sixteen, she had been writing letters to her future husband, telling him she was praying for him and saving herself for him. Todd knew nothing about the letters, and he wasn’t supposed to. These carefully preserved words were Christy’s wedding gift to him. Rick and Doug had no right to steal them.
“Stop!” Katie yelled. She waved wildly and tried to catch the driver’s eye in his side mirror. “Wait!”
The limo slowed and then came to a stop. Katie flung open the side door and breathlessly lurched inside only to see Todd and Christy kissing.
“Katie!” Christy said.
“Sorry!” Katie blurted out, quickly hiding the bundle of letters behind her back.
“What are you doing?” Todd asked.
“I’m sorry. This is really, really important. Todd, could you turn your head the other way? Just for a minute.”
Katie had rarely if ever seen Todd angry. At this moment he definitely was angry.
“I promise, Todd. I’m not messing around here. This is extremely important. If you could just, yeah, just like that. Keep your head turned and close your eyes.”
“Katie.” Christy’s voice was firm. Her expression stretched tight. “This better be — ”
“It is. I promise.” Without another word, Katie pulled her hand from behind her back and revealed th
e bundle of letters.
Christy’s eyes opened wide. Her jaw dropped.
“I know,” Katie said. “I’ll explain it all later.”
Christy snatched the letters and quickly sat on them, tucking them under the folds of her wedding dress.
“Katie, you have no idea . . .”
“Yeah, I think I do.”
“Thank you, Katie!” Christy’s voice cracked.
“Sure. All in a day’s work for a bridesmaid.”
Todd turned and questioningly looked at both of them.
“Okay.” Katie brushed the hair out of her eyes. “I’ll be on my way now. I know, I know, you guys really wish I could stay, but, well, hey. I need to unleash my superpowers elsewhere. Love you guys.”
Katie paused with a grin and added, “See you later, Mrs. Spencer.”
Todd gave Katie his usual chin-up gesture. “Later.”
“Yeah,” Katie said, climbing out of the limo. “Later.”
She turned her head and bumped into the chest of the limo driver, who was now standing guard by the open door. Katie caught her balance and looked up at the not-so-amused, gorilla-sized man.
“Whoa, Doug was right!” She turned and hobbled back down the gravel lot looking for her lost shoe.
One of the amused wedding guests had retrieved Katie’s shoe. She held it out for Katie as if it were payment for getting inside information. “What happened? Is everything okay? Did they forget something?”
“Everything is great. Perfect, actually. Excuse me, will you?”
She was, once again, a woman on a mission. This time her objective was to hunt down two certain pranksters and give them a piece of her mind. Not a piece exactly. More like a slab. Or a chunk. A chunk of her mind so big both of them would choke on it.
A tall woman in her thirties fell in stride beside Katie as she began her trek across the meadow. “Katie, do you have a minute?”
Katie paused and glanced at the woman. She was pretty sure she had seen her around campus. Katie’s lack of recognition must have been evident on her face because the woman introduced herself. “I’m Julia Trubec. I’m the women’s resident director at Crown Hall.”