“Well, my plane didn’t land until one o’clock,” she said.
“I was very clear in my invitation,” he said.
“Harry,” she chastised, and he recognized the frustration in her voice. “I am your mother.”
“Who’s with you?” he asked.
“No one,” she said. “I came myself.”
“A driver, then,” he said.
His daddy put his hand on Harry’s arm, and he looked up. He couldn’t believe he was seriously considering denying his mother the opportunity to be at the wedding. He leaned closer to his father as he whispered, “They can send someone out to get her.”
He sighed and rolled his head, stretching his neck. “All right, Momma, they’re gonna send someone out to get you.”
“I don’t see why they can’t open the gate and let my driver bring me in,” she said.
“Because I don’t want anyone here who was not invited,” Harry said crisply. “If you can’t wait for them to come get you, then you can’t come.”
He didn’t have the bandwidth for this today, and he handed the phone back to Boston. He fumbled it and then raised it to his ear as well. “Yes, yes,” he said. “They’re sending someone right now.” He nodded to the secretary, who picked up another phone to take care of this.
Harry left the office and stood out in the hall with his back pressed to the wall, taking one deep breath after another. “It’s fine,” he told his father when he joined him. “She’s one person. There’s room for her.”
Boston exited the office and said, “I can shadow her, Harry, make sure she’s not going to be aproblem.”
“Where’s the wedding planner?” Harry asked. “Shouldn’t she be doing that?”
Boston grinned at him and drew him into a tight hug. “I’m kind of helping her out today,” he said, and he bustled off down the hall.
Harry watched him go. “They should hire him here,” he said. “I don’t even want to know what other problems he’s handled or what other fires he’s put out today.”
Daddy chuckled and said, “No, you probably don’t.”
“Come on, let’s get back to the family room, because it’s almost time for you to be at the altar.” In the room, Daddy closed the doors behind him, and then raised both hands above his head and whistled through his teeth. That got everyone to settle down.
“Harry has to leave in a couple of minutes, and he wanted me to say the family prayer.”
Harry stood next to Adam, who held Joey’s hand, and they all looked at his dad. Shushes and murmurs of “Uncle Trace is going to say a prayer” moved around the room, and then Daddy took off his cowboy hat.
Harry hadn’t put his on yet—and he didn’t even know where it was—but he clasped his hands in front of him and bowed his head.
“Dear God,” Daddy said. “We’re grateful to be gathered here together as family in this beautiful mountain setting, to watch two people in love unite themselves as one. Bless both Harry and Belle to have clear minds and open hearts and to listen to the advice given to them today. We’re grateful forthe knowledge that we are Thy sons and daughters, and bless us to do good and to carry Thy name well. Amen.”
His daddy never said more than necessary, but Harry added his “Amen” to the chorus of them moving through the room. The door opened as if on cue, and the wedding planner poked her head in and said, “I need the wedding party in the hall and the groom at the altar,” in a crisp, no-nonsense voice.
Harry moved into action then, because he didn’t want Belle to have to wait for him for a single extra moment. He hugged his daddy, who clapped him on the back and said, “I’m so excited for you. Try to listen to everything.”
“I will,” Harry promised, and he took the black cowboy hat from his father and positioned it on his head.
Then he hugged his grandmother and his grandfather, and moved on to Bryce and Codi. By the time he made it out of the room, the wedding party had lined up off to the side, and he had to hug every one of them, too.
Liesl and Cash, Corinne and Eric, Cole and Rosie, Boston and Beth, Bryce and Codi, Kassie and Reggie, and finally, Adam and Joey. He loved them both in unique ways, and as he clung to his former manager and best friend who didn’t have the last name Young, Harry silently recognized in just how many ways Adam had saved him over the years. He pulled back and said, “Love you, brother,” before he turned and went with the wedding planner.
She took him down the hall, then jogged to the left, and they went down another side hall and then through a doorthat ran through a narrow passageway and emptied into the big ballroom—where he was to be married.
Harry took his place at the altar with the pastor. He breathed in the grandeur of the place, with the high domed ceiling and the chandelier hanging down from above. Windows lined both sides and had pale pink stained glass with ivy running through them. The sunlight sparkled on the floor like someone had crushed up stars and diamonds together and sprinkled the dust about.
Every chair had been tied with a white ribbon, and the altar was similarly dressed with bows and flowers in the purest white Harry had ever seen. The staircase in front of him bore the same white satin, which felt rich and luxurious to him, with deep red roses positioned at the peak of every drape.
