Melody of the Heart (Runaway Train, #4)

I stood at the altar of the awe-inspiring Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Savannah, anxiously awaiting the appearance of the bride. With bated breath, I watched as the precocious Jax and Jules came down the aisle as ring bearer and flower girl. Glancing next to me at Jake, I watched with amusement as he clenched and unclenched his jaw. I’d witnessed firsthand the drama last night when Jax and Jules refused to walk down the aisle. After spending the day at the bridal luncheon, I actually couldn’t blame them for wanting to stay back at the hotel to play with the other kids. Of course, I didn’t voice my opinion on that one. As Jake kept a watchful eye on them, I’m sure he was just waiting for them to throw another tantrum. But they performed like the absolute angels they looked like.

My attention immediately left the twins and went to the breathtakingly beautiful bridesmaid coming up the aisle in a lavender dress. With her hair swept back on the sides with glittering combs, the rest of Lily’s long blonde hair cascaded in waves down her back. It was hard to believe she had just turned thirty four. She looked just as youthful as the day I’d first seen her picking apples. When she met my gaze, she smiled and winked. And after all this time, my heart still did a little shudder and restart.

Just after Lily was Mia and then Abby making their way down the aisle. Because of Allison’s eclectic fashion sense, each bridesmaid wore a different color of dress. Abby was in pink while Mia was in light blue. When Andrea, Allison’s half-sister and matron of honor, came down the aisle, she wore a mint green dress. While she wasn’t standing up in the bridal party, Rhys’s sister, Ellie, wore a pale yellow dress and held the same bouquet as the other bridesmaids in her lap on the front bench.

Gazing over at Rhys, I surveyed how he was doing. He appeared relatively calm, but I knew on the inside he was probably panicking a little. All grooms did no matter how ready they were to get married. I knew there was no one else in the world for Rhys but Allison. He had just wanted to give her a little time to grow up more before they tied the knot. Now at twenty four, Allison was more than ready to take on the role of being his wife.

The music changed from Pachelbel’s Canon in D over to Ave Maria. The doors at the back of the cathedral opened, and Allison appeared on her father’s arm. She certainly was a breathtaking bride. With her dark hair swept back and a glittering tiara on her head, she didn’t look like the little girl I’d met so many years ago. She was a grown woman now.

Lily had told me that Allison’s dress was reminiscent of Grace Kelly’s and Kate Middleton’s. Of course as a self-respecting dude, I had no clue what their dresses looked like. All I knew was that Allison looked elegant and beautiful as she glided down the aisle. Her smile was radiant and focused on one person only—her groom.

When she reached him at the altar, tears spilled over his cheeks. I don’t think I’d ever seen Rhys cry publicly. But there was something about the love of your life that rendered you so very vulnerable. As the preacher began the ceremony, I couldn’t help gazing past the bride and groom over to Lily. I thought about our wedding days—our first in Vegas and then our second at the church back home. In some ways it seemed just like yesterday, but then in others, it seemed like two different people embarking on married life.

We’d had our ups and downs, the good and the bad. We had weathered each and every storm that life threw at us. In the end, it just made us, as well as our love, stronger. Like the old Joni Mitchell song, Both Sides Now, that my mother used to love to play, I had been given the chance to see life from both sides—the one with Lily and the one without. It was no contest on how to choose. For me, there was no life without Lily in it.

“By the power vested in me by God and the state of Georgia, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.”

When Rhys pulled Allison into his arms to lay one on her, applause rang out in the church. They pulled away to smile and laugh at the crowd’s antics. Then they started back down the aisle as man and wife. When it was time for me to exit, I met Lily at the middle of the altar. I offered her my arm, and she happily slid hers through it. “You look very beautiful, Mrs. Vanderburg.”

She smiled. “And you look awfully handsome, Mr. Vanderburg.”

Even though we were supposed to start down the aisle, I stopped to kiss Lily. “I love you,” she murmured against my lips.

“I love you more.”

And then we walked down the aisle together and out into the sunshine.





LILY


THE PRESENT