Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

Clara thought the alarm on her phone was telling her it was time to wake up on Saturday morning. Without even opening her eyes, she rolled over and reached to get it from the nightstand, but when she picked it up and hit what she thought was the Snooze button, Trevor’s voice filled the room.

“Happy wedding day, darlin’!” Excitement was in his tone.

She opened one eye to see that she was Face-Timing with him. “Good mornin’ and happy wedding day to you. We aren’t supposed to see each other until the wedding. Mama Lizzy says it’s bad luck.”

“We’re not really seeing each other, only blurry pictures on the phone. I just wanted to be the first voice you heard this morning and to wish you a wonderful day. I can’t wait until this evening when I can carry you over the threshold into our new home,” Trevor said. “Remember, I love you.”

“I love you too,” Clara said as she threw back the covers and crawled out of bed. She could hear folks already up and around out in the hallway, and the blended aromas of bacon and coffee wafted through the air-conditioning vents.

She had brushed her teeth, pulled up her blond hair into a messy bun, and was on the way out the door when she stopped in her tracks. Today, this very day, she was getting married, and suddenly her slippers were filled with concrete and her feet were glued to the hardwood floor.

Sophia came out of her room a few doors down and met her. “Cold feet?”

“How did you know?” Clara whispered.

“Because an hour ago mine were freezing,” Sophia answered in a low voice. “But then I remembered all the reasons why I love Hunter, and I thought about this new adventure we’re starting on, not only in marriage but in our career.”

“Did they warm up?” Clara asked.

Sophia looped her arm with her sister’s. “Yes, they did. Did you reach across the bed this morning and feel a little fear that something was wrong because Trevor wasn’t there?”

“Nope,” Clara answered, “but only because he woke me up with a FaceTime phone call.”

Sophia took a step toward the wide staircase. “I wish now that I’d only had one bridesmaid. The six I chose kept me up half the night, and after all these years away from my college sorority, I hardly know them anymore.”

Clara couldn’t keep the smile off her face. “I visited with Granny for a little while at supper, but then she said she needed her beauty sleep for the wedding. I got a wonderful night’s rest. You should have snuck out and come over to my room like you used to do when you had a nightmare.”

“You were the calm one, and I always thought that monsters wouldn’t faze you,” Sophia said as she started down the stairs. “We should have had the wedding in the lobby. That way we could float down these stairs in our wedding dresses.”

“That could have worked if it had rained, but the weatherman is calling for a beautiful day and the dogwoods are putting on their show out there. Let’s sneak out through the office door and see if the people are already here setting up chairs,” Clara suggested.

Sophia took a detour before any of the early bird risers could stop them to chat, and in a few seconds she and Clara were standing in the courtyard, watching the cleaning staff power wash the concrete to a beautiful shine.

“This makes it so real,” Clara whispered. She pinched herself to be sure she wasn’t dreaming. It smarted, so she was pretty sure that she and Trevor had survived their first major argument and were really getting married. In just a little while folks would be bustling about, setting up chairs and the archway down at the end of the courtyard. The dogwood trees were in full bloom and the cleaning crew had already washed the ornate back fence. Everything was coming together—just as Mama Lizzy had told them it would.

“It will be even more real once we see everything all set up,” Sophia declared. “I’ve been thinking that we should offer our hotel as a wedding venue to other couples. How do you feel about that?”

“That’s a great idea,” Clara agreed.

“We’ll talk more about it later.” Sophia tugged on her arm and steered her back into the hotel. “Right now we should go on in and have some breakfast with everyone. Then we’ve got hairdressers, makeup folks, and a manicurist all arriving throughout the day.”

“I’m glad Mama Lizzy has the conference room set up for us or we’d be tumbling all over each other,” Clara said as she and her sister headed back into the hotel office side by side.

Lizzy looked up from behind her desk and grinned. “Well, well, well! Look at you two getting along with each other and not fighting.”

“It’s a miracle, but remember what you said when we were kids?” Clara asked.

“I said a lot, trying to get you two raised up,” Lizzy replied.

“ ‘Miracles only happen in a moment,’ ” Clara reminded her.

“ ‘And then they’re gone,’ ” Sophia finished the sentence for her sister.

Lizzy stood up and rounded the desk. “Then I guess I’d better bask in the glory of the moment.”

“Mama Lizzy, I want . . . to . . . say . . .” Clara stammered.

“Don’t you dare cry or you’ll make me start, and you know it takes hours to get the red out of my eyes once I begin sobbing,” Sophia warned. “I swear, I’ll trip you as we walk down the aisle if you don’t suck it up.”

“Thank you, Mama Lizzy, for everything,” Clara managed to get out past the lump in her throat. “For raising us when you didn’t have to, for being both mother and father to us, and for . . .” she swiped at the tears streaming down her cheeks, “for loving us when we weren’t so lovable.”

“Well, crap.” Sophia grabbed the box of tissues from the desk and jerked out a fistful. “And for giving us the hotel when we don’t deserve it, and for settling all our arguments in the past, and for the times you’ll probably take care of us in the future. We could go on and on for the rest of this day and not even scratch the surface.”

Clara swallowed several times, but the rock in her throat was still there. “But we want you to know that we love and appreciate everything, and we’re sorry for ever taking you for granted.”

Lizzy took the box from Sophia, pulled out a few tissues for herself, and then passed it over to Clara. “I’m proud of both of you, and even with your bickering I wouldn’t trade a minute of the past for the promise of another hundred years of the future. You’ve made me a proud mother and I love both of you beyond words.” She gave them each a hug. “And I’m glad we’ve had this little emotional jag before the wedding. We all would have had red eyes if we’d waited until then to talk about this.”

Clara wiped her cheeks and pasted on a smile. “We’re some lucky women to have one another.”

“Amen to that,” Lizzy agreed.

“Both past and future,” Sophia said with a nod.

The words—past and future—stuck in Clara’s mind. The past had molded all of them into what they were today, and she was grateful for every minute and every experience as she looked forward to the future right here at Dogwood Inn.

Trevor’s granny was the first one in the crowd gathering in the hotel lobby to meet the three of them when they walked out of the office. “This is such a treat to get to stay here in the Dogwood Inn for a couple of nights. When I got married Wilbur and I spent our honeymoon right here and I felt like I was floating on air. We even got the same room we had back then. I don’t know if Clara did that on purpose or if it was just by chance, but thank you. I’m so glad that Clara and Sophia are going to manage the hotel and keep it just like it is. I told Wilbur last night that we’re going to start coming back here every single year on our anniversary to celebrate.”

Several members of Trevor’s family gathered around, and Clara scanned the bunch of them for her intended. Then she remembered that he, his brothers, and his father were at the ranch, along with his nephews. Only his mother, sisters-in-law, and nieces had spent the night in the hotel.

“Missing Trevor, aren’t you?” his mother asked.

“Yes, I am,” Clara admitted and wished she had asked all the sisters-in-law to be bridemaids so the wedding pictures would be more balanced.

Her grandmother’s eyes twinkled and she nudged Clara on the shoulder. “You could ask them right now. Sophia’s bridesmaids are carrying a single red rose and your matron of honor is carrying two daisies. There’s still time for the florist to whip up four more like that.”

“But . . .” Clara started. She wondered if Mama Lizzy could read her mind.

“I’ll do it,” Lizzy said.

“What if they’re offended because I waited until the last minute?” Clara asked.

“What color dresses have your sisters-in-law chosen to wear today?” Lizzy asked.

“Granny picked out a yellow one when we were thinking the wedding would be in a barn with lots of sunflowers and daisies,” Molly, the oldest son’s wife, answered. “So we all chose that color to make a pretty family picture.”

“That’s great!” Lizzy said. “I know it’s last minute and we already had the rehearsal and all, but would y’all please serve as bridesmaids? I got this brilliant idea that each of you could walk down the aisle with one of Sophia’s ladies. A yellow and a red to tie in the colors for the whole wedding, and the pictures will be gorgeous.”

“We would be honored.” Daisy, another sister-in-law, beamed.

“Thank you,” Clara said. “I should have thought of that before now.”

“No worries,” Tiffany said.

“We’d do anything for Clara. She’s our hero for putting up with Trevor,” Penelope added with a giggle. “Does that mean we get our hair and makeup done too?”

“You bet it does,” Sophia answered.

For the first time Clara felt like today was her special day as well as her sister’s.

* * *

Sophia eased the kitchen door out onto the patio open just enough to see Granny and Delia, her maid of honor, making their way slowly down the aisle toward the archway in front of the gates. Only a few of the chairs were empty. One side was decorated with bright yellow bows and the other with red. Later Lizzy told them the tables that had been pushed to the back would be scattered around the courtyard with the same chairs placed around them.

“It’s perfect,” Sophia whispered. “Even the dogwoods have hung onto their blossoms just for us.”

“Can you see Trevor? Does he look nervous?” Clara asked.

Sophia held her bouquet with one hand and put the other one on her sister’s arm. “He looks a little nervous, but he’s smiling. Hunter looks like he’s the only rooster at a coyote convention,” Sophia said. “His whole family loves this hotel, which shocked him to no end. He thought they’d think it was hickish.”

“ ‘Vintage’ is the word,” Lizzy informed her in a serious tone. “I like his folks and hope they come back to visit y’all real often. Clara, you need to remember that anytime you and Trevor need a night away from the ranch, your room is always available. Sounds like our music is starting.”

“Mama He’s Crazy” by the Judds started playing.

Sophia frowned. “That’s not the traditional wedding song.”

“No, darlin’ girls, it’s not, but it sure seemed appropriate to me,” Lizzy said with a wide grin. “Sling those doors open and let’s get this show on the road.”

“Is the rest of the music the same as we practiced last night?” Sophia whispered as the three of them took their places at the end of the aisle.

“Yep, but I’ve chosen some special ones for the reception,” Lizzy answered. “Now put on your best smiles. This is a very special and wonderful day.”

A soft spring breeze made the dogwood blossoms dance as she, Clara, and Mama Lizzy took the first step down the aisle. Hunter’s black suit fit him just right, and he’d chosen a red tie to go with her colors. The expression on his face, so full of love, put a smile on her own face that wasn’t forced or fake. Right at that moment the rest of the world disappeared except for them.

* * *

Clara scanned the crowd of family and friends for a second or two as she slowly made her way toward the archway with the setting sun behind it. Everything was beyond what she ever could have imagined. She felt like Cinderella at the royal ball, and there was her prince waiting for her in his shined black boots and his cowboy hat set just right on his head. She had it better than the fairytale princess, though, because she and her cowboy would ride off together later that night.

When they reached the right spot the preacher asked, “Who gives these women to be married to these men?”

“No one,” Lizzy said. “I will never give my girls away to anyone, but I will share Sophia with Hunter, and Clara with Trevor. Be good to them, but don’t always let them have their way. Love them above and beyond just saying the words. Prove your love to them in all the little ways every single day.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Trevor and Hunter said at the same time.

Lizzy kissed each of her granddaughters on the cheek and then said, “And the same goes for you two.”

A few snickers were heard in the crowd, but most of the folks were nodding in agreement as she stepped back and took her seat in the first row of chairs.

“I feel like Lizzy should be doing this service,” the preacher said, and then went on with a purely traditional ceremony.

Clara looked into Trevor’s eyes as the preacher talked, and she heard the words he said, not with her ears as much as with her heart. When she promised to love him and respect him until death parted them and said her own personal vows, she meant them with all her soul.

After Sophia and Hunter exchanged vows the preacher pronounced them husbands and wives, “And now you grooms may kiss your beautiful brides.”

“When I Found You,” by Jasmine Rae played as the two newly wedded couples walked down the aisle. Clara and Trevor first, with Sophia and Hunter following behind. When they reached the office door Trevor took Clara in his arms and began a slow country waltz right there. “This song says it all, Mrs. Richmond.”

“For the first time in my life I don’t have to share my last name with Sophia,” she whispered.

“I heard that and, sister, I’m just as happy about that as you are,” Sophia said as she wrapped her arms around Hunter’s neck and pulled his mouth to hers for another kiss.

“I agree with my new brother-in-law—this song does say it all,” Hunter said as he began to dance with Sophia and sing along with the lyrics.

“Amen,” Sophia and Clara said at the same time.