“The only plans I have right now,” she said in relief, “is to get married.”
Rodney frowned. “We don’t have any flowers, and then there’s your dress.”
“I know,” she said, “so there might be a big bill for all that.”
“Well, we didn’t have very many ordered anyway, did we?”
“No, the expensive part is my dress.”
“Right,” he said, then straightened, took a deep breath, and offered, “You want to go home and get changed?”
Molly looked at Addie, then at her husband-to-be, and shook her head. “I was just telling Addie that my dress doesn’t fit, and I was starting to panic as to what to do.”
Rodney smiled and then started to chuckle. “Honest to God,” he said, “I’m just so damn glad that this will happen right now. As long as you’re happy, please let’s go in and get married.”
She reached up a hand and held it to his cheek and said, “I’m sorry.”
“I’m not,” he said. “I’ve always loved you, and now I have even more reason to get married.”
“You’re not upset?”
“No, of course not,” he said.
“We didn’t talk about it though. Having kids.”
“We did early on, yes,” he said. “Then it became one those things that I just figured you didn’t want to have a family. Or at least not now.”
“All of the above,” she said. “Then I found out I was pregnant.” Her hand went immediately and possessively to her belly. “And then I couldn’t think of anything else.”
“Good,” he said, “because honestly that’s the way it’s supposed to be.”
“Perfect,” she said. “Do you have the rings?”
He pulled them from his pocket and said, “Yes.” Rodney held out his hand to Molly and said, “Come on. Let’s go.”
When Molly accepted Rodney’s hand, Tucker smiled and turned to Addie. “Then let’s go.” He reached out a hand to Addie and led her behind the wedding couple into the church.
And together Rodney and Molly walked in through the door, with Addie and Tucker behind them. He left the dog on her leash, secured to the truck’s bumper for the short ceremony. The minister performed a simple yet sweetly moving ceremony, sealing their vows with a kiss, and, by the time it was done, everybody was incredibly thankful. Molly threw her arms around Rodney, kissed him wholeheartedly, and then turned to her brother, wrapped her arms around him, and just held him close.
“You see?” he said. “It wasn’t a big deal.”
“Why did I make it such a big deal?”
“Because it was to be special, and, as always, you wanted it perfect.”
“Well, I feel like a perfect fool,” she admitted.
“Well, that’s one form of perfect too,” he said, laughing.
She grinned. “I’m really glad you’re here. It’s not the way I thought it would turn out, but honestly it’s still probably the best way.”
Rodney wrapped an arm around her shoulder, tucked her up close, and murmured, “Absolutely it is. We weren’t having a big reception anyway,” he said. “So I guess what we’ll do is still keep the reception tomorrow?”
She nodded. “That’s a good idea, and everybody will come for that part to celebrate with us.”
“Exactly,” he said. “We could announce that here and take care of that right now.”
She nodded and smiled. “The reception was supposed to be at the hotel anyway, with a simple wedding beforehand.”
“Well, the ceremony done now would mean the minister doesn’t have to show up tomorrow, so that’s a given,” Rodney said. “I spoke to him about that, and he was fine with it.” Rodney frowned. “I suggest the flowers come to the reception maybe a little earlier instead of the church, and then we won’t have to worry about those either.”
Molly nodded, all smiles.
Tucker felt something settle inside. A side glance at Addie showed the tears sparkling in the corner of her eyes. Something was so poignant about the way this wedding happened; … obviously it touched her as well. He squeezed her fingers. She immediately sniffed back tears but smiled at him, as she squeezed his fingers in return.
“You okay?” he murmured, watching his sister and Rodney accept well-wishes from all.
“Never better.”
Chapter 12
After the ceremony the newlywed couple hugged their guests; then everyone headed to their vehicles to make the trip to Saint Pete’s Beach hotel for the slated rehearsal dinner. Addie and Tucker took a moment to walk Bernie to a nearby grassy spot. The guests finally all arrived at the hotel for a nice semiformal dinner that night, where, again, Tucker tied Bernie’s leash to a nearby bike rack on a grassy corner nearby. Since all the stress evaporated when the wedding plans had changed, everybody was much more relaxed, so it ended up being hugely enjoyable, even some of the guests going outside to interact with Bernie.
Addie got to know Molly quite well over their conversations. Having met Rodney several times, Addie had already formed a relationship there and that was much easier for them all. Turning to Molly, Addie asked, “Did you make all the phone calls to cancel what wasn’t needed tomorrow?”
“I did,” she said. “And it feels honestly much better, like I haven’t been shackled.”
“I’m surprised you were that much against marriage.”
“I had a previous boyfriend,” she said. “He hounded me and hounded me to get married, and every day that it got closer and closer to signing the deal, I got more and more panicky. Finally I told him the day before the wedding that I couldn’t do it.”
Addie winced. “I can imagine he was disappointed.”
“Yes,” Molly said with feeling.
“How bad was it?”
“I ended up in the hospital,” she admitted. “It’s one of the reasons why Rodney has never pushed me, and I appreciate that so much. But it did end up making me very resistant to the whole idea.”
“Of course,” Addie said. “I’m so sorry you went through that. It’s tough to see the wrong side of humanity, isn’t it?”
“It is, indeed.” Molly beamed at her. “You’re really good for him,” she said. “Tucker seems to be much more lighthearted.”
“It’s been a pretty rough few days,” Addie said guiltily. “I also don’t know what he was like before this.”
“I heard about what happened. Plus I understand that you helped him free the dog that he came to help. So now, I suppose, he’ll go home after the weekend.”
“Oh,” Addie said, suddenly depressed at the thought.
“You’re not ready for that, are you?” Molly exclaimed in delight. “Oh, I’m so happy you two have a connection.”
Addie sighed. “No, I’m not ready for him to leave. He’s very special,” she said, lowering her voice. “I didn’t expect to meet anybody in this scenario, but I obviously have, and now I have to deal with the consequences that he doesn’t live close by.”