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I had no idea what was waiting for me at the end of the walk. Shale and I had left the aunts, cousins, and Barry to the wedding planning.
The second I saw it, I knew it had been the right decision.
Lines of white chairs were set up to the sides of a long red aisle that looked a bit like a Christmas tree skirt. Fitting.
At the front was our tree that the farm said they’d cut down for us this time when we were ready to head back home.
The thing was… Barry haddecorated it.
I knew it had to be Barry.
It had him all over it. And he’d been oddly absent from our lives for the past few days.
There were lights and ornaments and a star on top.
He was waiting for us right in front of it, next to the minister, and holding Lucy’s leash. She was decked out in an all-red snow jacket that went down all her legs and had a hood to cover her ears.
“Hey, Boss man,” Barry greeted me.
“You did good, Bar,” I said, shaking my head at him.
He puffed up at that.
“You ready to do this?” he asked, nodding toward where two figures were making their way toward us.
Shale, in her white dress. With sleeves. And gloves.
And my dad, holding her arm.
Since she didn’t have a father of her own to walk her down the aisle.
I was happy to share mine.
And the rest of my family too.
Forever.
That’s what this whole thing was about.
Forever.
With the most amazing woman I’d ever met.
She looked fucking gorgeous too.
Her hair was in a blonde stage, but she’d added some red under the top layer to match the Christmas theme.
Music clicked on.
And she didn’t walk down the aisle toThe Wedding March. But a harp version ofJoy to the World.
Barry, again.
“This is the part where, as her father,” my dad said. “I threaten you. So, consider yourself threatened,” he said, then pressed a kiss to Shale’s cheek, and went to take his seat next to my mom.
“To avoid covering this dress with an ugly coat, I am in a full-body fleece-lined bodysuit. You’re going to have fun getting me naked later,” she said in a voice so low that only I could hear it.
She took my hands and we turned to the minister, listening and repeating the words that would make legal what we’d already decided a long time ago.
