Page 19 of The Wedding Gift
“Yes, ma’am,” Darla said with both excitement and peace in her heart.
Will took his place under the arch with his sister and his best friend standing beside him, serving as best woman and groomsman. He had worked on memorizing his vows for days, but he had thrown away his notes ten minutes before the ceremony and decided to speak from his heart.
“Don’t be nervous,” Susanna whispered. “Think of that cabin up in the mountains.”
“I’m trying to,” he said out the side of his mouth.
“We’ve got everything covered,” Susanna replied.
The music started, and a white horse-drawn carriage came into view. Sarah opened the door and helped her older little girl out, and then Marilyn’s younger son, Dustin, jumped out on his own. Sarah handed him the pillow with the wedding bands tied to it and gave her daughter Ivy a basket. Ivy scattered fall leaves as they walked down the aisle together and then took their places beside their fathers, who were sitting on the front row of chairs.
To Will, it seemed like Sarah took hours to get from the carriage to the arch. He wished a thousand times that he and Darla had eloped by the time Marilyn made her way down the aisle. Then Kevin stepped out of the carriage and helped Darla out.
From that instant, everyone and everything disappeared. Will was speechless as he watched Darla coming closer and closer—gorgeous in all that white lace. His hands began to sweat, and he forgot the vows he had labored over. He didn’t even realize that everyone was standing until the preacher told them they could be seated. He came out of his trance and stepped forward.
Darla handed her bouquet to Sarah and slipped her hands into Will’s.
Kevin laid his hands on theirs.
“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here this fine day to celebrate the union of Will Jackson and Darla Marshall in holy matrimony. Who gives this woman to this man?” the preacher asked.
“Her family and I do. I will share my daughter with you, Will, and I will accept you as one of our own children. Take care of her and love her, son.” Kevin gave Will a hug.
“I promise I will,” Will said.
“I understand that the couple have written their own vows,” the preacher said. “Will, you may go first.”
Will gently squeezed her hands. “Darla, I think I fell in love with you from the first time I laid eyes on you. You stole my heart that very day. I vow that I will love, honor, respect, and protect you with all that I am and all that I have from now until eternity. We’ve passed the wedding tests thrown at us, and with our love, I’m sure that we can survive any hurdles that life sends our way.”
“That was beautiful.” The preacher smiled. “Now your turn, Darla.”
“Will, I give you my heart this day. I vow to love, honor, and respect you with all that I have and all that I am from now until eternity. If you take that step from this life to the next without me, then wait on the bench outside heaven’s door. I’ll be along real soon because a person can’t live without a heart, and you’ll be taking mine with you. If I go before you, then take care of my heart, and I’ll wait for you. No obstacles or tests of time will ever separate us,” Darla said.
The preacher dabbed his eyes with a handkerchief that he pulled from his pocket. “I don’t believe I’ve ever heard such heartfelt vows in a wedding ceremony…” He went on to do a traditional service with the exchange of rings and then pronounced them man and wife. “Now you may kiss your bride.”
Will bent her over in a true Hollywood kiss to Clint Black’s song “When I Said I Do.” Then he two-stepped downthe aisle with her to the carriage as the guests applauded and cheered.
The lyrics said that it didn’t matter if they were side by side or a million miles away; nothing would ever change the way they felt when they said, “I do.”
“I mean every word of this.” He kissed her again as the carriage began to move.
“Me too.” Darla sang along to the words that said when she said, “I do,” it meant that she would be faithful and true until the end of time.
“We should play this song as we fall asleep on Sunday afternoons,” Will said.
“Who says we’re going to sleep?” She pulled his face down for another kiss.
THEEND
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Chapter 1
Jorja Jenks had never been one to take risks.
She wasn’t the type of woman to quit her fantastic job in Nashville, Tennessee, on a whim to move to Mingus, Texas (population two hundred), but she did. She had worked in the accounting department of a big record company ever since graduating from college eight years before. She had never even thought about owning and operating a bar, but she was about to do just that.