“Yeah, it has.”
“Even when we lived with Martin, it was just us.”
Her tear ducts were no longer confused about clogging as they filled her lower lids with tears as she nodded. “Yeah, it was.”
“I love Caleb and Grandma and Grandpa, and I am happy that we have this family now, and theyareour family, but…” Owen took in a deep breath and threw his arms around Taylor’s waist, hugging her tightly. She hugged him back even tighter as tears fell down her cheeks. “I love you, Mom.”
“I love you, too,” she spoke against the top of his head as more tears dropped.
“Rrruff.” A loud bark interrupted their moment.
They both lifted their heads and found Casper sitting at the end of the hall. As the ring bearer, he was going to walk down the aisle with Owen and Taylor, so he was the only other person, or dog, in the house.
“Okay, we’re coming,” Owen told Casper.
Taylor patted her face, trying to remove the moisture. “Do I look okay?”
He nodded and held out his arm again. This time, they made it all the way down the hall. On the way to the back slider, Taylor caught a glimpse of herself in a mirror and was happy that she didn’t appear to have tear-streaked cheeks. She considered that a win.
As Taylor and Owen stepped out onto the deck, she took in the scene before her for the first time and felt a sense of awe and gratitude. The backyard had been transformed into an enchanting fairy-tale setting in the twilight hour. Delicate strings of twinkling fairy lights hung gracefully from the pergola and stretched across the trees surrounding the perimeter of the backyard, creating a warm glow over the lush green grass. Leaves were swaying in the mild breeze as an instrumental of “A Thousand Years” played over a speaker system.
She took a deep breath as she locked eyes with Caleb, standing at the far end of the yard beside his dad. He was wearing a suit that matched Owen’s, looking more handsome than he had any right to. Taylor kept her eyes focused on her husband as Owen escorted her down the river of white roses between neat rows of pristine white folding chairs, with Casper happily trotting beside them.
She was vaguely aware of the guests as she passed by them. Mr. and Mrs. Henley, whom Taylor sort of knew half the couple (because Mr. Henley was the mailman, and every time he came into Brewed Awakenings and Viv was there, she called him her boyfriend). They were in the back row, sitting next to the only person Taylor invited, Mario, the nurse from the hospital, who was there with his partner Roman. On the opposite aisle, Caleb’s cousin Lauren, who allowed her to stay in the cottage as a rental when it was technically an Airbnb, and her husband Ben were seated beside Judy, who had been a longtime family friend andworked closely with both Caleb’s dad and Caleb, and Judy’s husband Arnold.
Next they passed Nonna sitting beside Viv, who looked like she was ready to pop, and Glenn, her husband, who was not letting her out of his sight. His daughter was sitting with his brother Gabe’s twins. Gabe was there with his wife, Adriana, and Jonah, who was Owen’s best friend. Also attending from Golden Years were Cindy and her husband, Davis, who was seated with Mr. Santino.
On the opposite side was Caleb’s best friend, Josh, who was with his wife, Audrey, who owned Brewed Awakenings and had given Taylor her job. They were seated with Caleb’s mom and Minnie.
When they reached the front, Caleb’s dad asked, “Who gives this woman?”
“I do.” Owen gently placed her hand in Caleb’s. Then hugged Caleb before taking a seat beside his grandma, who Taylor heard sniffing.
Caleb leaned down and whispered in her ear, “You look so beautiful.”
The heat of his breath fanned down her neck as his lips brushed against the cusp of her ear, causing a skitter of sensation to chase down her spine. “So do you. I mean handsome.”
He stared down at her, smiling as his warm hands wrapped around hers. She felt her entire body shaking, and she wasn’t sure why, other than she just didn’t like attention. She could see that he was concerned, his brow furrowed.
“Are you okay?” he whispered under his breath.
She kept the smile on her face and nodded. All she had to do was get through the next ten minutes and not pass out. They’d made it clear to Caleb’s dad that they wanted the ceremony short and sweet because Taylor wasn’t up for much.
Caleb’s father began the ceremony. “Thank you all for coming here today on such short notice to celebrate the love and commitment that these two amazing souls have already made to one another. Some of you might know, and some might not, that this beautiful young lady is already my daughter-in-law.”
Taylor smiled up at George. She hadn’t known what his dad was going to say today. It didn’t really matter to her.
“That’s right, she is stuck with us, legally.”
There was a scatter of laughter.
“Today, they have agreed to having a ceremony, I think, in part, to humor this old man.”
Caleb’s father went on to speak about love and what that looked like in a marriage. He said love was a responsibility and a privilege, that it was an adventure and an anchor. He said love can save you, and it can also see you and challenge you. He said that being married to the person you love is the greatest gift in life; no money could buy it, and nothing could ever replace it. He also added that it doesn’t hurt if they are your best friend and they have cute buns. To which he was quickly reprimanded by Annie. And by ‘reprimanded,’ she said his name in a warning tone, and he replied, “What?” as if he didn’t know what he’d done wrong.
Taylor laughed as a swell of gratitude both welled up inside of her and also wrapped around her in a warm cocoon. She appreciated that Caleb’s dad was making the ceremony fun, lighthearted, and personal. She knew if they were in the church, with a couple hundred guests, he would never have made that comment. The only reason he’d felt free to was because they were in his backyard with only the closest people in their lives. With family.
She was also thankful that Owen would grow up witnessing a healthy version of marriage that was playful, fun, respectful, and based in love. She’d never seen an example of that in arelationship as a kid or as an adult, for that matter. Not in any of the foster homes she’d been in, or in her first and only year in college, and certainly not in her dysfunctional marriage. The only blueprint she’d witnessed of teasing was couples saying or doing things to hurt the other one under the guise of humor. The ‘jokes’ would always lead to hurt feelings and fights, sometimes only verbal, a lot of times ending in a physical altercation.
