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Jean, Maren, and Emily made a list of what they could make to feed twenty people, all with ingredients available presently. Thankfully, Maren always bought more than needed, never wanting to run short on food, and there were still four pounds of beef tenderloin left, uncooked and wrapped in the fridge. Jean and Emily convinced Maren the tenderloin appetizer of last night could absolutely be made again, as it was so fabulous. Otherwise, they had all the makings and a plan for mini quiches, mini beef wellingtons, Buffalo chicken turnovers, and an avocado shrimp appetizer, since Maren had a package of frozen shrimp in the freezer and avocado in the fridge. Additionally, they decided to put together a few large dishes, as extras, and rather as a very casual buffet. Emily declared there waseverything she would need to put together a Caesar salad, while Jean remarked that a baked ziti dish would never go untouched.
“You’ve got cans of tomato puree and sauce, onion, and garlic,” she said. “I can whip up sauce fairly quickly. And there’s ground beef here as well,” she said, poking around in the freezer. “I can make meatballs to go with it.”
“Deviled eggs,” Emily pronounced, thrusting her finger into the air as inspiration struck. “I’ve never met a deviled egg I didn’t like. And they’re so easy to make.”
Rachel popped into the kitchen after a while to wonder if Jasmine would need a bridal suite and how they might accommodate her.
Maren had already given that some thought. “The room that Jim and Heidi were going to use is empty. Rachel, do you mind making that ready for the bride and however many of her bridesmaids can make it?”
“Not at all.”
When she left, Mrs. Adamczyk gasped. “Oh, heavens. We need a cake!”
Emily echoed her gasp while Maren’s eyes widened.
“I’ll text Aiden at the Coffee Loft,” she decided. “We simply won’t have time, or the oven space—I don’t even know if I would have enough powdered sugar for a respectable buttercream frosting. Maybe...Aiden can figure something out?” More a question than stated with any firm belief. “Oh, wait, how about a cupcake tower?” She knew for certain that the café would have plenty of pink and red cupcakes for Valentine’s Day.
“Perfect,” said Emily. “There, another dilemma solved. This impromptu wedding business is easy.”
Maren let loose a dubious chuckle. “I’m going to revisit that statement with you in twelve hours and see if you still believe that.”
***
The groom arrived a little after noon. He was dropped off at the inn not by a police cruiser but by one of the town’s huge plow trucks, whose wide plow was able to be lifted as the truck turned off Maple Street since Hal and the guys had the driveway cleared almost to pavement—for now.
At Mrs. Adamczyk’s request, with which Alec was happy to comply, Liam would use Alec’s suite to dress for the wedding. After greetings were made and a big hug given to Maren for her generosity, and then much discussion about the weather and these last minute changes, Liam followed Alec up the stairs to his room.
While he settled in, hanging up his bagged suit in the narrow closet, and after Alec had cleared up space in the attached bathroom for any toiletries that Liam might have, Alec shook Liam’s hand again, smiling with greater ease now, knowing a diminished sense of reservation about the hasty wedding.
They stood eye to eye, being roughly the same height, but that was where any similarities ended. While Alec exuded an air of rugged strength, being broad and muscular, Liam McLaughlin carried a more lean and lanky physique.
“I have to tell you, buddy,” Alec said inside the room, “I was a little concerned about this quickie wedding.” He held up his hand when Liam immediately made to return either an argument or a justification. “But, having been here for these few days with Jasmine’s parents and her friends, I’m looking forward to meeting your bride.”
Liam relaxed, sighing with some contentment.
“I won’t lie, Alec,” he said. “I think initially, I latched on hard to Jasmine with some hope that I couldn’t possibly be pulled back to Grace—you know how that relationship yo-yo-ed for years, how I kept being sucked back in. But then I realized howsweet and warm and funny Jasmine is, and I just knew: this—she—is exactly what I’d always hoped Grace and our relationship would have been, but never was. Jasmine showed me this is how it’s supposed to be.” He shrugged, grinning, a man helplessly in love. “When you know, you know.”
“I’m really happy for you.”
The wedding took place at six o’clock, when the last of the expected guests had been dropped off at the Inn and Carl Dawson arrived on the back of a snowmobile. Hal informed Alec in an aside that Carl was Willowbrook’s go-to mechanic, known for being able to fix anything with an engine of any kind. He was also, surprisingly, an ordained minister, having obtained his credentials online a few years back. He performed the ceremony dressed from head to toe in snow gear, with his goggles pushed up onto his forehead.
Alec had met Jasmine briefly upon her arrival. The warmth of her greeting and the sincerity of her gaze dispelled any lingering qualms he might have had. Alec hadn’t said as much to Liam earlier, but it had been in the back of his mind that he hoped Liam wasn’t being taken for a ride or manipulated as he had been in that previous relationship. He felt confident though, having sensed a profound authenticity in Jasmine—not unlike Maren—a down-to-earth charm that resonated well with Liam’s easy-going nature. If Alec hadn’t known the particulars, he never would have guessed of the blithely happy and utterly calm bride that her entire wedding expectations had been upended, and that nothing that she’d planned would be part of her big day. She was refreshingly cool and collected, seeming more happy to visit with Emily, Rachel, and Maren than to worry over what she couldn’t control .
At six o’clock Jasmine glided into the parlor on her father’s arm, her eyes only for Liam. Alec was sure the bride was beautiful, but he was more certain that Maren was stunning.She wore a black and gold flowing skirt with a high waist and a floral pattern, paired with a clingy, long-sleeved top that crossed in the front, creating a figure-flattering design. Her green eyes glistened with excitement and maybe even watery tears as Jasmine and Liam said ‘I do’. She wore high heels and her hair was swept back in an elegant arrangement, and Alec hadn’t been able to take his eyes off her as the guests assembled around the fireplace where the vows had been said an hour ago.
Alec knew little of planning, hosting, and managing a wedding, but had to say, as an onlooker, it went off without a hitch, and frankly, one would never know that Maren and Jasmine hadn’t been planning exactly this for months.
There was plenty of food, stationed all over the first floor, some in the parlor after the ceremony had concluded, more in the kitchen for any who might wander there, while the bulk of it was laid out on the dining room table. The chairs had been pushed back to the perimeter of the room, allowing people to graze around the table, sampling at least ten different appetizers and side dishes, while in the center of the table a two-foot-tall pyramid of pink, red, and white cupcakes substituted for the wedding cake that couldn’t make it.
Presently, Alec strolled through the parlor toward the dining room, catching snippets of conversation as he passed by. Unfortunately, most of the talk seemed to center around the storm and not so much the happy couple, but maybe that was to be expected. Liam and Jasmine were in their own little world and possibly they either didn’t notice, or they didn’t care.
“I don’t know,” said one woman to another, “I think it’s kind of romantic, making everything work to make it happen like this.”
Elsewhere, a man posited, “I’m telling you, this storm is exactly like the one we had back in ’03, except for the wind. Andof course, that one only dumped about two feet on us, and it only lasted a day and a half.”
In response to this, a woman pertly replied, “So, nothing like this blizzard, you mean.”
Another wedding guest seemed more interested in the ornate woodwork of the house, specifically the staircase and banister. “They don’t make 'em like that anymore. Woodwork nowadays has no style.”
