Page 109 of Welcome Home to Ivy Falls

Beck rubbed at his tired eyes and turned to Torran. ‘I don’t care where, or how, we get married as long as I can slip a ring on your finger and vow to love and protect you for the rest of my life.’

Another tear slid down Torran’s cheek. ‘That’s all I want too.’

A victorious smile lifted the corners of Tessa’s lips. ‘Then you both agree that if we can put a wedding together, you’re in?’

Beck and Torran gave each other such a loving look that I couldn’t help but think about Ford. How if he was here he’d be the first person pitching in. Doing whatever he could to help make the day beautiful for the people I loved.

‘If you can convince Ivy Falls to help us, we are definitely in,’ Beck said before he pulled Torran in for another embrace, her tears quickly falling again.

‘What the hell is Amos doing?’

Mr Wright paced in the back of the town hall’s meeting room, hands shoved into his pockets, shoulders tensed up around his ears.

‘He’s doing what you asked,’ Tessa said. ‘You were the one who said you couldn’t run the emergency meeting because it was a conflict of interest. That another council member had to be in charge. Amos has been your friend for over twenty years, Dad. He’ll handle this.’

He scrubbed a nervous hand over his mouth. ‘Maybe this was a bad idea. They’ve been arguing about excavators for over half an hour now.’

The wood-paneled meeting room was wall-to-wall Ivy Falls residents. Most of the chairs in the twelve narrow rows were occupied by the usual suspects. Ferris sat next to Doc Sheridan and his wife, Sylvie. Behind them was Silvio, Mrs Vanderpool, Miss Cheri and Isabel. To their right was Deputy Ben, Diego and Manny.

All the window shades were open, and Manny brought in a generator for extra light, because the tornado had destroyed many of the power poles around the square.

I hadn’t seen this many people attend a town meeting since Silvio swore someone stole the sandwich board outside the hardware store. After a lot of accusatory dialogue, he was reminded that he’d loaned it to Mimi’s Pizza for a festival they were doing with their new food truck, which set off a whole other argument about what was the best pizza topping. Ferris nearly lost it when Deputy Ben brought up pineapple, arguing fruit should never be on pizza. Mr Wright had to finally break it up with the promise that they’d do a poll at the end of next month’s meeting.

Amos sat in the center of the semicircular table at the front of the room. He’d dressed for the occasion in a starched blue shirt and matching tie, taking his fill-in role for the mayor seriously. His eyes narrowed on the crowd and he banged on the gavel calling the meeting back to order.

‘We’re not gonna solve how to get three excavators down main street to load up all the trees down near the soccer fields tonight. At this point, we can’t even get word from the cell-phone companies about when we can get the towers up and running again.’

Because Ivy Falls was without any kind of cell service or Wi-Fi, everything had been brought to a standstill. Businesses were closed and people wandered the streets aimlessly looking for something to do. More than a few residents mumbled that they felt helpless. Wished they could do more to assist with the cleanup. That’s when Tessa had come up with the brilliant idea to put everyone to work on Torran and Beck’s wedding.

Amos waved in our direction. ‘Tessa, please come to the front and make your presentation.’

Mr Wright squeezed her hand before she moved down the aisle toward where the council sat.

‘Hello, everyone. It’s good to see you all, and I’m glad everyone is safe.’ The piece of lined notebook paper in her hand shook as she spoke. ‘I asked that this emergency meeting be called because, as many of you know, Torran and Beck were supposed to be married this Saturday in the backyard of Huckleberry Lane.’

Everyone nodded along.

‘I’m sure word has also spread that their big magnolia came down, as well as several other trees, and their fence, in the tornado. Right now their backyard resembles ground zero for the apocalypse.’

Murmurs rose as she went on.

‘Torran and Beck are at home right now meeting with a cleanup crew, but we’ve gotten their permission to have this meeting.’ She took a thick gulp and went on. ‘This town has always pulled together for the people they love. You rallied around my mother when she was sick. Helped support me when I was struggling with the bookstore. There are countless other ways this community has helped out when you’ve been called on.’ She chewed on her lips nervously. ‘I’m here because I’m asking for your help to put on a wedding for them.’

Mrs Vanderpool’s hand rose. ‘When were you thinking?’

‘They’ve been through a lot. I want them to be able to celebrate on their original day.’

Ferris jumped to his feet. ‘You wanna put on a wedding in less than seventy-two hours?’

‘Yes,’ Tessa said in a voice that insisted there was no room for negotiation.

‘Torran’s dress is safe, but the flower shop is a mess. My coolers are down and the workspace is torn up,’ Ms Darcy said. ‘I won’t be able to do boutonnières or bouquets.’

‘That’s all right. We’ll use the roses from my garden,’ Ferris offered.

‘Barbie and I will take care of the cake and the donut tower for Torran, but if our ovens still aren’t running we may need to use one in a local home if you have gas,’ Susan added.

Isabel and Miss Cheri immediately volunteered.