“Sam! What did you do?” she asked.
“I bought the house. Come inside, my love. Merry Christmas early. This is ours.”
Katie gasped and then threw her arms around Sam’s neck and kissed him. The girls were wide-eyed, and for once, both silent. Compared to their little house, it was a castle.
He walked them from room to room, talking about what was getting repainted and what was being replaced. But the elegance of the place was beyond anything Katie could have ever dreamed of for herself.
“I feel like Cinderella. You’re the prince, and this is the glass slipper,” she said as tears welled and rolled.
The girls had already laid claim to the room that would be theirs.
“Can we paint it pink?” Evie asked.
“I want it blue,” Beth said.
“How about we paint it white, you can have pink curtains at the windows and sleep in a blue bed?” Katie said.
“Yes!” they said, and began running in circles in the vast, empty room.
Sam slid his arm around Katie’s waist.
“What color are we going to paint the master bedroom?” he asked.
“I think we paint it white and put a red silk comforter on our bed.”
Sam laughed and then pulled her into his arms, whispering close against her ear.
“You are already one hot mama, but if you want to sleep wrapped in red, you won’t be hearing me complain.”
***
As soon as the new year had been celebrated, Katie and the girls went back to school, and the house on Rawls Street went under construction.
Katie went by the house every day after school to see the progress, and every night after she went to bed, she dreamed. But nearly always about the wedding, and little flower girls throwing handfuls of flower petals into the air, and seeing the look on Sam’s face when he saw her coming down the aisle.
It took her months to find “the dress” but when she did, it was perfection. The flower girls’ dresses were long like hers, while the bridesmaid dresses were lilac and the softest green.
When Billy Arnold, at Arnold’s Antiques and Gifts, learned she was getting married, he sent her a gift. She opened it on the evening of its arrival, and then wept from the magnificence and the love with which it had been given. An antique silver bracelet that was a single strand of braided silver, and with the gift came the card:
For your wedding…something old.
Katie’s world had settled on its axis. She was putting down roots in Tennessee and becoming the woman she’d been meant to be.
Lila and Jack were coming in from Albuquerque for the wedding. Katie needed a maid of honor and couldn’t get married without her best friend.
One day led into another, into another until spring break arrived, and it was the day before the wedding. After it was over, the girls would be going to spend spring break with Sam’s parents in Nashville, and Sam and Katie were going to honeymoon in Borden’s Gap.
They were going to spend their first night as man and wife in their newly renovated house because, as Katie stated, “Since this house has stood the test of time without succumbing to something dire, it bodes well for us to do the same.”
***
Morning dawned, bringing Lila and Jack into town from their hotel in Jackson. And once again, Lila was with Katie in a classroom of the Baptist church, helping her pin on the veil. Marcy was fussing with her hair and trying not to cry and mess up her makeup. And both of the girls’ grandmothers were in there with them for moral support, while Roxie was getting Beth and Evie dressed. There was so much laughter and chatter, it was like the party had already started.
Lila kept remembering another wedding, and how alone Katie had been except for her. And while she and Katie had not spoken of it, tomorrow it would be a year to the day of the Saguaro Elementary massacre. On that day Katie had almost died, and in this place, she had been reborn.
And then there was a knock on the door. It was the pastor.
“What a beautiful bride!” he said. “What a beautiful family! Are you ready, Katie?”
“Yes, sir,” she said.
“My wife will escort you through this maze of hallways. We’ll be waiting for you at the altar,” he said, and left.
The pastor’s wife was all smiles and business as she made sure the flower girls had their baskets of flower petals and Katie’s veil was falling properly in the back before she led them toward the sanctuary.
At that point, the music sounded, and Sam, his dad, and Shelly’s dad walked into the sanctuary and took their places at the altar, as ushers escorted Roxie, Sam’s mother, and Shelly’s mother into their seats.
His dad had been the best father a boy could have asked for, and in Sam’s eyes, he was still his best man, and Shelly’s parents had stood by him all these years. He valued these two men above all others.
Sam glanced up the aisle and as he did felt his father’s hand on his shoulder—just for a moment. A reminder that he did not stand alone.
And then the music sounded and Marcy began her walk down the aisle. And then came Lila, a stranger to everyone except the bride. She felt Jack’s eyes on her long before she saw his face in the crowd.
And then Evie and Beth appeared in the doorway, all serious and walking exactly as they’d been taught, dropping flower petals here and there and waving at Sam along the way.
A ripple of laughter moved across the congregation, and when it did the girls lost focus. They threw a handful of petals at the people they were passing, and then they threw a few up into the air, and tossed some at each other, and then just before they reached the altar turned their baskets upside down and emptied the petals into a multicolored puddle.
Sam sighed.
Marcy grabbed them before they ran amok and got them into their places. They were still waving at Sam, and he had a finger to his lips trying to get them to be quiet, when the organ music changed.
There was a pause, and then a thunderous sound ripped through the sanctuary as all eyes turned toward the woman standing in the doorway.
Breath caught in the back of Sam’s throat, and then he had to swallow to keep from crying.
There she was…his Katie. Coming toward him.
***
Katie thought she would be nervous, but all she felt was joy. She thought it would remind her of Mark, but all she saw was Sam’s face, and his girls—their girls—waving at her and shouting, “There comes Mama.”
Katie felt like she was floating. There was no conscious thought beyond getting to the altar. And then she was there.
She turned to the girls and pulled a single carnation out of her bouquet and gave it to Beth and kissed her on the cheek, and then pulled a second carnation out of the bouquet and gave it to Evie and kissed her on the cheek. Then she handed her bouquet to Lila and turned around and reached for Sam.