I smirked.
Just.
“Are Jonathon and Bradley on their way?”
Margaret entered from the breezeway with her husband and son a step behind. “They just arrived.”
I wasn’t a man who was nervous. I was the wolf that fed off other people’s insecurities. And as Michael opened the French doors from the front entrance and Judge Nichols entered, followed by Connie and her husband, the reality finally hit me.
Julia was about to be my wife.
I was about to be a husband.
“Judge Nichols,” I said, walking across the living room and offering him my hand.
“Donovan, it’s good to see you up and about.”
“Thank you. It’s the way I plan to stay. If you’ll come with me.”
The two of us walked to my office where I handed him our marriage license.
“We will need to all sign this after the ceremony,” he said.
The ceremony.
I had a thought. It was new, but I decided to go with it. Once we were back in the living room, I excused myself. Finding Margaret, I asked, “Do you have the sound programmed with the wedding march?”
“Yes.”
“I’d like to do something a little different.”
“Okay, talk to Jonathon. He’s in charge of the sound.”
“You thought of everything,” I said. “I didn’t get Julia a wedding gift, and I just remembered something she asked for.”
Margaret grinned.
“Are we ready?” Judge Nichols asked, taking his place in front of the hearth.
I went to Lena and after introducing her to Judge Nichols, I asked, “Will you hold these?” I handed her the velvet box.
“Of course.”
“Stand here with the judge. I need to speak to Jonathon, and I’ll meet you here eventually, I promise.”
“You better not run out on that sweet girl.”
“Never.”
Julia
It was as if I’d stepped out of a 1960s or 1970s vintage wedding dress magazine. Even my ivory pumps and the small veil secured in my hair with a comb looked as if I’d gone back in time. In front of the vanity, Vicki was beside me, working on fitting into one of my dresses.
“If you would have saidmaybeformal, I could have planned.”
I watched as she tugged at the neckline. “I think you look hot.”
“My boobs are bigger than yours and my hips” —she spun toward me— “not by much.”