Page 5 of Lumberjack Bride
Two
Leo
“Do you,Leonard Jackman, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?”
I inhale a deep breath, feeling time stand still for one brief and beautiful moment. I’ve been ready to answer that question ever since I gave her that ring six months ago.
Hazel looks up at me, standing tall beside me on the dock, and smiles. Water laps softly against the wood beneath us, a cool summer breeze warms me inside and out.
I open my mouth to answer the question but the Reverend Moore talks over me.
“And then, you’ll say I do.” He waves a nonchalant hand. “And then, I’ll ask Hazel. Do you take this man, yadda yadda yadda. You’ll say that you do. There will be rings and all that jazz. Then, finally, I’ll declare you husband and wife. You’ll kiss, they’ll cry, and that’ll be that.”
I exhale as images flood my head. “Sounds simple enough.”
He snaps his notebook closed. “Do you have any questions?” he asks us, eagerly scratching his white mustache. He scans the small group behind us. “Anyone at all?”
I look over my shoulder. Bobby stands behind me, texting quietly, while Claudia lingers behind Hazel with her thumbnail between her teeth.
My parents sit in two white folding chairs in the front row. Dad looks a little bored but Mom holds a tissue beneath her pink, swollen eyes.
I shake my head. “It’s just the rehearsal, Mom.”
“Oh, shut up,” she says, sniffling.
Hazel chuckles quietly.
“Well, if that’s it...” Moore says. “I have a date with my wife and my in-laws in Missoula tonight, but I’ll be right back here two days from now — at sunset — and we’ll get you two married.”
I extend my hand and he shakes it. “Thanks, Reverend.”
“It’s my pleasure.” He shifts toward Hazel and she takes his hand with a wide smile on her face. “Say hi to your grandmother for me, will ya, honey?”
“I will,” she says. “Thanks again for coming out here.”
I look out across the lake, taking a deep breath of fresh air as I admire the scenery. Sunset by the water. That’s how Hazel wanted to get married and I didn’t question it for a moment. Luckily, we just so happen to have a dock and a large enough lawn to accommodate a small wedding party.
It took a few strong words to convince my mother to keep it small. While she easily could have filled a mega-church with dozens upon dozens of extended relatives and another few hundred of my father’s business associates, I wasn’t about to put Hazel through something like that. The groom’s side would overflow. The bride’s side would be empty.
It’s just her and her grandmother now. She has no one else.
I look at Hazel, catching the edges of her mouth as her smile slowly fades.
My mother sniffs as she stands up from her chair. “Well, I don’t know about the rest of you but I’m going to be a blubbering mess by the end of this.”
Claudia rolls her painted eyes. “I don’t even want to think about how embarrassing you’ll be at my wedding.”
“I am not embarrassing.” Mom looks at us. “Have I embarrassed you, Hazel?”
Hazel shakes her head. “Not at all, Gale.”
Mom stands taller. “See? And you’ll have to actually have a boyfriend before you can get married, sweetie.”
Claudia scoffs. “I’ve had plenty of boyfriends, Mom.”
“Exactly.”
I exhale hard. “Here we go.”