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I chuckled. “More like Cameron would put it in a safety deposit box to protect it. That would be his most cherished possession.”
She smiled shyly and nodded. “You’re right. Okay, let’s do it, but we won’t tell him. Then I can give it to him as a wedding gift?”
“That sounds like the perfect idea to me,” Ivy agreed. “I’ll turn it on as soon as I take my seat. Just forget that it’s even on. Okay?”
“I think she’s going to be too busy staring at her groom to worry about the camera,” I said on a wink. “He’s incredibly handsome tonight. We’re almost there.”
Ellis had already delivered the groom and all the other guests to the field. Then he returned for the bride and her attendants. Since he was the officiant of tonight’s ceremony, he would park his sleigh and take his rightful place next to Cameron. They weren’t having attendants stand up with them, but Gabe and Heather would sign the license as their witnesses. Everything was in play and I prayed it went off without a hitch, or in this case, with a hitch. We had one last surprise for the bride and I hoped it was the best one of all.
Ellis slowed the wagon and we came to a stop behind the small group of people gathered to be part of the ceremony. We’d invited the people closest to the couple, as they would understand without question why they all had to leave their phones at the store. Mel and Mason stood with Holly and Noel, and Shep stood next to Audrey’s family in the front row. I noticed that Audrey had convinced Lucy to rest on her shoulder so Shep didn’t have to hold her. Thankfully, it was warm enough tonight that with the fires, Shep would be okay outside for a few minutes. Then there was Addie who stood with little Noella next to Gabe and Heather. The rest of the chairs were filled by the students who worked with Becca at the store.
“Are you ready?” I asked the bride who was now visually nervous. “Look at him,” I whispered. “He only has eyes for you.”
Becca’s gaze was already locked with the man who had, in her opinion, saved her life a year ago when everything in her world had come crashing down on her. While they were a nontraditional couple, they had found love and happiness because of their shared experiences in the past.
Cameron wore a black tuxedo with a white shirt and a buffalo plaid tie that drew the eye.
“He’s rocking that Paul Bunyan look tonight,” Ivy said on a wink. She kissed Becca’s cheek and then stood. “Let’s get you hitched.”
Ellis helped Ivy down and she hurried to the front row to stand by Shep and start the recording. I nodded at Ellis who walked down the aisle to stand by Cameron. A knowing smile filled her fiancé’s lips as a young boy stood and snapped the lapels on his suit coat. He walked to the wagon with his chest puffed out and held out his hand to Becca.
“Miss Becca, would you allow me the honor of walking you down the aisle?” Stephan asked, his face aglow in the light of the flickering fires.
Becca put her hand to her heart as her lips trembled. “It would be me who is honored,” she whispered. I handed her the bouquet of roses and she took Stephan’s hand who helped her down from the wagon. I fixed her long coat and she kissed his cheek just before they started up the aisle arm in arm.
When they reached the front where her handsome groom stood waiting, Ellis asked, “Who gives this woman to this man to be married?”
“Everyone at Evergreen Acres, sir,” Stephan said proudly. He placed Becca’s hand in Cameron’s and took a seat in the front row next to the rest of the kids from the store.
I slipped into the seat next to Lance and let out a breath. “You got her here,” Lance whispered into my ear before he kissed my neck. “We were getting worried.”
“She was fine. Just a last-minute change. I’ll explain later.”
We turned our attention to the couple at the front who held each other’s hands with eyes for no one but each other. Ellis went through the formalities at the beginning of the ceremony and then raised his hands. “I’ll now ask the couple to say their vows,” he said, stepping back.
Cameron dug in his coat pocket and pulled out her ring. “It was almost one year ago tonight that I held up this ring and asked you to marry me. Our love was strong, but I felt like my bind to you was tenuous. As though one morning I’d wake up and you’d be gone. I don’t feel that way anymore. What this little ring had the power to do back then was encircle our spirits in a way that could never be broken. The last year has been all kinds of busy, but the only thing I remember is waking up next to you every morning and lying down with you every night. I never want that to end. You are my resting place, Becca. I never knew unconditional love until I met you and then, a little at a time, you taught me that being loved for our faults was even better than being loved for our strengths. Tonight, in front of our family, I want to pledge my life to you, Becca. I will be here to hold you when you cry, pick you up when you fall, celebrate with you when we succeed and make a new game plan when we fail. As long as we’re together, we can get through all the days ahead of us with laughter and love. With this ring, I take you forever and ever,” he finished on a whisper as he slid the ring on her finger.
Becca couldn’t take her eyes off the man who she had fallen head over heels for last year. I understood. I felt the same way about the man standing behind me. I’d walk up there right now and marry him if it meant he’d be part of my life forever. Ellis took the bouquet and handed Becca Cameron’s ring.
“When I was six, eight, twelve, eighteen, even twenty-one, I never dreamed I’d find a love like this, Cameron. I never knew there were men like you in the world. Men who loved and respected women as equals and partners. It was the men of Bells Pass who taught me that. First, Shep, and then Mason, Ellis, and Gabe. They showed me how a woman should be treated. I truly believe if we hadn’t gotten to know each other slowly that we wouldn’t be standing here today. I needed all of that experience to know you would never hurt me.” She stroked her neck, which was a sign she was getting too nervous to continue. “I’m rambling. I wrote down what I wanted to say, and now I can’t remember any of it.”
Cameron took her hand down from her neck and held it in his. “You’re doing great,” he promised her. “In the end, all you have to do is put the ring on my finger and say I do.”
She glanced at Ellis who nodded with a shrug. “He’s right.”
Becca took a deep breath and let it back out. “I’m not very good with words but I want to say this. You’ve healed me, Cameron. You accepted me when I was as broken as I’d ever been, and that was what I needed more than anything. I needed someone who understood that sometimes the only thing holding my damaged psyche together is a piece of tape. Occasionally, that tape might break and whoever is holding me is going to have to fight through the flood to tape it up again.”
“I always will,” Cameron promised. “Always, always. Never doubt that.”
“I don’t,” she whispered, her gaze meeting his again. “I don’t doubt your love for me. The fact that you waited patiently without pressuring me to set a date tells me I’m safe in your love. Then, when I came to you with my fears, you made them all disappear so I could stand out here tonight and feel nothing but happiness as we stand under our tree to say our vows. I love you, Cameron, and tonight is only the beginning of what our love can do for each other and for the town.” She slid the ring on his finger slowly. “With this ring, you are my husband. I will hold you from this day forward until it is our last and then I will hold you for eternity.”
Ellis stepped forward and had them join hands. “Rather than sit through a song or a reading, the bride and groom would rather spend that time with all of you celebrating their marriage here tonight. So, I only have one thing left to say. By the power vested in me by the State of Michigan and the great wide web, I now pronounce you husband and wife. Cameron, you may kiss your bride!”
Cameron grabbed Becca and dipped her into a kiss that would be remembered in Bells Pass for a long time to come. When he stood her back on her feet she was blushing, but wore a smile that said more than her words ever could.
I turned and grinned at the man I loved just as he lowered his lips to mine. “I love you, Gumdrop. I’m going to kiss you now just for practice.”
“Practice?” I asked as his lips moved ever closer to mine.
