Chapter 57
The day of the wedding dawned clear and bright, with sunny skies and almost no breeze at all. Around me, the house was bustling with activity, minus the one person I was most longing to see.
I hadn't seen Joel in almost two whole days – not since he'd left to stay in the guest house with his brothers and a few of his friends, including Cal. The arrangement had been my idea – something to honor the age-old tradition of not seeing each other until the actual wedding. But already, I was going crazy missing him.
Happily, I wasn't lonely in the least. The house was bursting with family of the oldandnew variety. Aunt Gina had arrived two days earlier, followed by Luna and her sister, and finally, Cassie, along with my closest friends from high school.
Throughout all of this, Luna's brothers roamed the house freely, in search of – in their words – cake and free beer. Oh sure, they couldclaimthat was their motivation for sticking around the house, but in my heart, I knew it was more than that. A blossoming family relationship? Yes.AndSteve's determination to tease me about being pregnant.
WasI pregnant? Maybe. I hoped so with all my heart. The house was huge, and now that I felt more certain of keeping it, I wanted to fill it with everything that I'd lost – the sounds of laughter, the aroma of pie, and the knowledge that no matter what, Joel and I would weather whatever storms came our way.
To everyone's surprise except my own, Joel had asked Jake to be his best man, and although Cassie was my maid of honor, I invited Luna to be a bridesmaid – partly to keep Jake focused on the actual wedding and also because I had a sneaky suspicion that Luna – and maybe her sister, too – would be part of the big family that I'd been longing to have.
Speaking of family, a better person might've invited my Uncle Ernie and Vivian to share in the festivities. But I didn't, and not only because they'd surely be unpleasant. I mean, seriously, who wants to spend their own wedding day keeping a watchful eye on the good china?
Not me. That was for sure.
I had something better to keep my eye on, and his name was Joel, the guy who made my life complete in too many ways to count.
Just after noon, with me in my mom's wedding dress and Joel in a borrowed tux, we said "I do" overlooking the endless waters of Lake Michigan, surrounded by everyone we loved best – even if all of them were a little crazy.
But that was family, right?