Page 102 of Wedding or Not

It gives us the freedom to be ourselves. Exactly as we want to be.

And tonight the star of the show as far as the venue is concerned isn’t me and Wes. It’s Blossom Park.

As Wes, Jake, Natalie, and I are coming back home well after midnight, we’re surprised to see our family waiting on the lane past the privacy gate.

Not just Aunt Grace and Audrey but the three younger girls as well. They all start to clap and cheer when they see us.

“Aunt Grace said it was okay if we stayed up and waited out here for you!” Tessa announces before anyone else can speak. “Because tonight is such a big deal!”

“It is a big deal,” I say. “And it was amazing. Everything was perfect!”

Tessa gives a loud whoop, and we’re surrounded and inundated with hugs.

I’m so happy—so tired and relieved and full of feeling—that I’m almost in tears, but I don’t care. I reach out to take Wes’s hand.

Because this is my family, and this is my life.

This is life.

And, yes, it takes away far more than it should, but it also gives back.

And sometimes the mess we make along the way is part of what makes it so good.

EPILOGUE

It’s May of the following year when I’m looking at wedding dresses again.

This time for Audrey.

She surprised us a few weeks ago when she announced she was getting married to a friend of hers. He needs health insurance for an upcoming surgery, and since she just finished her PhD and got a good job as an assistant professor at a small liberal arts college a couple of hours from here, she’s going to help him out.

Help him out by marrying him so he can use her insurance.

She’s been talking on and off about Devin for months now, and they’ve gotten close. I’m the last person in the world to position to question someone’s reason to get married. So, ever since I’ve recovered from the surprise, I’ve been fully supportive. So has Natalie.

Natalie, of course, has jumped headlong into a new plan of staging a December wedding ceremony for them to show off Blossom Park again.

That’s where the wedding dress comes in. Audrey and Devin have already gotten married at the courthouse, but she needs a dress for the winter ceremony.

We aren’t having much luck so far.

“It’s terrible!” Audrey is dressing behind a door. She doesn’t like getting completely naked in front of anyone—even her sisters.

“It’s not even on all the way,” Natalie says. “Come out and let me do all the buttons.”

Audrey is grumbling under her breath as she opens the door to and comes out into the wider dressing room. We’re at the same small wedding boutique where I found my dress, but since Audrey absolutely forbid any photos or influencers, there’s no one else around except one member of the staff.

“I look like a big white pillow on a frou-frou bed.” Audrey is giving Natalie a malevolent glare in the mirror while she fastens a whole line of small buttons.

“It’s not that bad,” I say.

“Yes, it is.”

The truth is it’s not great. The dress is one I would have loved—soft and pretty and natural with a loose cut and beautiful embroidery on the bodice and hem. But Audrey has a lot more in the chest than I do, so the dress hangs too baggily around the waist.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Natalie says, leaving half the buttons undone because it’s clear that cut isn’t going to work for her. “It looks like a maternity dress.”

Audrey scowls at Natalie, and I stifle a giggle as I say, “It’s not that bad, but it’s definitely not the dress for her. Let’s try something with more structure. What about the one with long sleeves and the sweetheart neckline?” I glance back at the shop assistant, who pulls the dress I mentioned from the rack of options.