He offered his elbow. "Shall we go? I'm supposed to be there in seven minutes but they'll probably allow me a minute or two if I show up with a beautiful woman on my arm."
"Oh, no way, you don't get to blame me for being late! I've instigated enough drama for this wedding already!"
"Fair enough." They didn't exactly rush through town, but they didn't linger, either. There were a number of other people dressed up enough to clearly be going to the wedding, and they murmured approving words to each other when they saw outfits they liked. A number of the men weren't any dressier than jeans and button-down shirts, which Tiffany said would make her crew feel better, since most of them were slightly less formal than even that.
"Charlee and Steve won't mind," Ollie promised. "They'll be glad they've come at all. And you know there's a reception at their pub afterward, right?"
Tiffany paused in horror. "Pleasetell me the bride hasn't catered her own wedding reception?"
"All right. I won't tell you that."
"But now you're lying to me, aren't you?"
Ollie laughed. "I'm trying to give you what you want! If it helps, the food's going to be amazing. Charlee's an incredible chef. And she said she'd find it much, much more stressful to have someone else catering than to do it herself, so…"
"Okay," Tiffany said reluctantly. "That, I get. It's so frustrating to know how to do something, to want it a certain way, and to watch somebody else get it not quite right. Yeah, all right, okay, I'll give her this one."
"I'm sure she'll be relieved to hear that."
Tiffanyhmphed at him as they reached the town square. Someone—Ollie had no idea who—had set up folding chairs for the guests, and there were all sorts of people milling around, looking for seats. An aisle of green grass stretched toward the gazebo, which was brilliantly rose pink and white with flowers, ribbons, and tulle. It gleamed fresh-painted white beneath that, almost blinding in the sunlight, and Ollie nudged Tiffany. "You did a great job. The gazebo is beautiful."
"We just put it back together. The decorations make it beautiful," Tiffany said with clear admiration. "I can't believe you did all that in half an hour."
"We wereveryfocused. Thanks for getting the safety fencing out of the way, too. I know it'll slow you down later."
Tiffany shrugged. "We'll get it up tomorrow, and make up for lost time on the city's bill. Look, the wedding party is starting to get together. You'd better go up."
"Don't leave without me."
"How could I? I don't know where this pub that's hosting the reception is." Tiffany, smiling, stood on her toes to kiss him, and Ollie went to perform a wedding with happiness in his heart.
It was hard,Ollie thought, to do a bridal reveal when the wedding was outdoors and the aisle was completely open to the world. The bridesmaids and groomsmen solved the problem, though.
When the car Charlee was in pulled up, the wedding party poured out of it, got a huge metal ring, at least a meter and a half across, from the boot—thetrunk, Ollie reminded himself; he was in America now—and shook a long, filmy curtain down from the ring. Then (Ollie assumed) Charlee stepped from the car inside the curtained circle, and the wedding party slowly walked to the aisle with her hidden from view.
Steve, already standing at Ollie's side, held his breath with anticipation. All at once, the wedding party let the ring drop, revealing Charlee in an absolutely beautiful gown of floating lace and frothy skirts. The attendees actually cheered and applauded, appreciating the drama of the reveal, and Charlee, beaming, walked down the aisle to take Steve's hand and climb the gazebo steps. The bridesmaids and groomsmen followed, everybody smiling with excitement.
Once they were all settled, Ollie cleared his throat. "So some of you may have noticed this week hasn't gone exactly as planned."
Steve and Charlee both laughed, and Ollie grinned so hard at them that tears swam in his eyes. "I wasn't—I'mnot—going to do a grand speech about marriage and life together, but I do want to say this: life is what happens when we're making plans. I have no doubt at all that this wedding would have been beautifulasit was planned…it's going to be something we all talk about for the rest of our lives, because itdidn'tgo as planned."
Charlee giggled, a tiny little emotional burble of sound that had Steve curling her against his chest protectively. She whispered, "I'm okay," and he ducked his head to murmur, "As long as I'm here, I know you are," against her hair.
Ollie thought his heart might burst of happiness as he beamed at the two of them. "The plan was for two people who love each other very much to come together and commit themselves to each other for the rest of their lives, whilesupported by their friends and family. That part—the most important part—is still happening.
"But because thingsdon'tgo as planned, and because people who weren't even part of this community a few days ago pulled together to fix an accident and make Charlee and Steve's dream and vision come true, that group of friends who are here to support them is even bigger than we imagined. I don't think you could ask for anything more wonderful at a wedding than that. An expansion of love and friendship, of hope and promises, and the determination to see those things shine. So if there's anything I can wish for you, Charlee, Steve, it's that your lives will always be filled with this same kind of love, care, and community. Now," he said happily. "I believe the bride and groom have written their own vows. Steve?"
He watched them exchange their vows, smiling through every word, but his gaze found Tiffany in the audience. She, like the rest of the construction crew, sat near the back of the gathering. But her eyes met his across the distance anyway, and the smile she gave him wasn't just happiness for the couple being married. There was a promise in that look, one that was as full of unplanned and unexpected journeys as the past few days had been, and it filled him with joy.
Pronouncing them a married couple was one of the most wonderful moments of Ollie's life. They kissed to the sounds of cheers and applause, and a few minutes later, when Charlee threw her bouquet, it sailed through the air and landed squarely in Tiffany's hands. Tiffany shrieked and held it close, starry-eyed with surprise, and when Ollie came down from the gazebo, grinned up at him. "Are you brave enough to walk the bouquet-catching woman to the reception?"
"Always," he promised gallantly, while his koala perked hopefully.
Leaves?
Not the kind you eat, mate, sorry.They walked to the gastropub in the sunshine with everyone else, laughing and telling stories about the past few days, as if they hadn't all just lived them. There were entiretablesof astonishing-looking tidbits to eat, and everybody grazed their way through it all as they waited for the bride and groom to join them after pictures were taken.
The newlyweds arrived to a series of cheers, and after hours of socializing, Charlee worked her way over to Tiffany and Ollie, her eyes shining. "Thank you so much for everything."
