J.J. put her arm through Jackie’s and Jared’s, and the three of them walked with her from the grand sitting room out to the porch and down the walkway toward the lake.
At the end of the walk was Dean. Moose stood next to him. Both were sweating like it was their job. A smattering of two dozen or so other guests sat in white wooden folding chairs, including Dean’s parents, his construction crew, and J.J.’s friends from beauty school. She counted thirty people or so, ten times more than she’d have had at the courthouse.
Dean’s crew had rolled a keg onto the back porch, and J.J. had nearly cussed them all out about it. But Aunt Emma told her to hush. She said, as the bride, J.J. had two jobs.
“Just get down the aisle looking pretty. That’s easy for you, sweetheart, but then try to lock the memories into your head. It’s not going to be easy. It’s going to be a blur. I’ll handle the rest. Though I will say that keg better not be something stupid, like Pabst Blue Ribbon.”
Emma, the beer expert! Who knew?
The lake was beautiful. The midday sun had burned off the morning’s overcast skies. The sun’s rays dappled the little waves on Lake Manitou with twinkling lights. The sun could also be blamed for her sweating groom and his red-faced best man. J.J. decided their impromptu bachelor party could also be blamed, so she did not feel bad about their slight discomfort.
Serves them right if I have to wear these heels!
Reverend Alden had done a million weddings, and he, too, was likely getting a little warm in the sun. There had been no rehearsal. All J.J. wanted was to keep it short. She suspected Dean would sweat through the suit jacket if it went on too long. And she wasn’t one for hearts and flowers, either. Keep it short. That was the only thing she’d really told Reverend Alden.
She knew she was in love with Dean. Because of that, she’d decided to give marriage a go. Even though she didn’t have an actual example of how marriage worked. She was worried about that, but it was too late now. They were in this thing.
Over Dean’s shoulder, J.J. saw the family of swans swim by, upstaging the bride with their icy-white plumage, she feared.
J. J. barely heard the words the preacher said. But she did look at Dean. His gaze was steady, even though his forehead was sweaty. His strong presence reminded her why she had decided to do this. He was why she’d said yes. Not some delusion that she was getting a picket fence.
She nearly called it off a dozen times. But J.J. knew a good catch when she saw one, whether it was a friend or a boyfriend. Dean Tucker might be rough around the edges, but he was solid as a rock, and he was in love with her. He put her first in a way no one else had ever done. And he was tough. She’d thrown barbs at him, pretended she wasn’t interested, and had tested him. It didn’t faze him.
So, here she was, on the lawn of Nora House, Lake Manitou sparkling behind them and Moose, behind her Dean, looking more nervous than all the rest of them.
That was it, her Dean.
“Now, if the bride and groom have prepared a few words?”
“What?” J.J. had sort of zoned out, but that snapped her back.
“You have a moment to exchange your personal vows.”
“We don’t have that; we didn’t do that.” She felt a bit panicked. Everyone was looking, and she was about to trip at the finish line of this ceremony.
“I did, so I’ll do mine, okay?”
Dean wrote vows? Oh, boy, buckle up. What was this going to be?
Dean squeezed her hands, then let one go to fish a piece of paper out of his sport coat pocket.
He cleared his throat and then spoke. No stutter, no mumbling. His voice was better than the preacher who did this for a living.
“J.J., I want to promise you a few really big things in front of everyone.”
J.J. had no idea what he was going to say. But Dean did. He looked taller than she’d ever seen him, more handsome, and somehow also vulnerable.
“I will always take care of you. I will work hard. I will put you first, before Moose and them. I know I’m the luckiest man on Earth, that Len at the Michigan Tavern has no idea what a real I.D. looks like and let you in with that ridiculous one you had. I promise I’ll never forget that. I can’t promise I won’t break the furniture. Ask Mom; it happens more than you’d guess, but I do promise to try not to—and to fix whatever I might smash. Also, I love you. I maybe should have said that first.”
It took her by surprise; it swept her off her feet. Anyone who knew her knew J.J. was a talker. But the words didn’t come. Instead, tears came. A lot of them. Dean reached across and wiped a few.
“I’m the lucky one,” was all she could think of to say. She didn’t even say she loved him, too. Her emotions wiped all sense of what to say out of her head.
She wished she had said she loved him too.
He’d declared that she had his heart in her hands, and in that moment, she knew, too, that he had hers.
“You may kiss the bride!”
