Creed could hardly believe that a wedding could be arranged in forty-eight hours, but then he’d never known anyone like Ada, Essie, and Hilda. Ada had sent him and Sage to the courthouse on Friday afternoon to purchase a marriage license. And she’d given them strict orders that if they came home already married she’d never come back to the canyon to visit them again.
On the way back home, he’d called his brother Ace and asked him if he could drop everything and be his best man for the wedding. Evidently the ball got to rolling pretty fast in Ringgold too, because more than half of one side of the church was filled with his family and friends. They had arrived late the previous evening, checked into a hotel in Amarillo, and then come straight to the Rockin’ C.
Women gathered around Sage, and surprisingly enough, she didn’t let his mother or any of them intimidate her. And the ranchers wanted a tour of his new ranch. Now they were all in their Sunday best, supporting him on his wedding day.
* * *
“I hear the music,” April said.
“What do they really think of me? Do they think I married him so I could keep the ranch?” she whispered.
“Honey, a blind man could see how much Creed loves you. And his sisters-in-law and mother were very nice.”
Ada pushed inside the tiny bathroom. “Your momma would have loved this day, and she would have really liked the idea that you are wearing her wedding dress.”
“See you at the front.” April slipped out the door before Ada asked her any questions.
“It doesn’t look too old hippie does it?” Sage laughed.
“It was beautiful on her and it’s even more beautiful on you. I don’t think she would have even minded that you cut it off. There’s our cue and I hear people standing up. It’s our turn.” Ada grabbed her granddaughter’s hand and together they stepped out of the bathroom.
Sage’s dress had been white when her mother had worn it but it hadn’t been stored in one of those nonyellowing containers so the satin was a rich ecru color. However, the illusion covering the satin and billowing out from the skirt that ended right above her knee was still snowy white. The scoop-neck bodice was covered in white beads and sequins that had also escaped the aging process. Long fitted sleeves ended in points and had one dozen buttons each on the underside of her hand. The dress had fit her just fine but her mother had been six inches shorter than Sage so the hemline had stopped at midcalf. Hilda had spent Saturday afternoon cutting it off and hemming it for her.
They hadn’t had time to think about flowers or bouquets but somehow Grand and Essie had made a trip to Claude and picked up two potted plants at the grocery store. A bouquet of poinsettias tied up with red satin ribbons lay on Sage’s left arm, and April had carried a nosegay of tiny rosebuds. Both had been arranged by Creed’s mother, Dolly, in between supervising baking a wedding cake in Hilda’s kitchen.
Sage had bought a brand-new pair of white cowboy boots for her gallery showing in Denver, so she opted to wear them. Grand had wanted her to wear the veil that went with the dress but she’d drawn the line there. She had styled her dark hair high on her head and fastened a sprig of the mistletoe from the kitchen window into one side. Another piece had gone into making the boutonnieres that Creed and Ace had pinned to their black Western-cut jackets.
“Grand, I’m nervous,” she whispered when they were going down the aisle.
“Don’t be. Just look at Creed and forget all these people.”
Sage looked down the aisle and caught Creed’s gaze. And nothing else mattered. She was getting married. She was going to have a family and live on the Rockin’ C until she and Creed were both too old to play games on that credenza.
He smiled as if he could read her thoughts and she blushed.
* * *
Creed pinched his leg and it hurt like hell, so he wasn’t dreaming. That really was Sage coming toward him and she wasn’t wearing his red and black plaid flannel shirt like she’d threatened.
Just looking at her floating down the aisle in that beautiful dress made his mouth so dry that he wasn’t sure he’d be able to utter his vows. He wanted her to have a wedding to talk about with her sisters-in-law, but he wished they had just gotten married at the courthouse. Right now they could be naked as newborns under a quilt in their bedroom or better yet, playing games on the credenza.
And that’s when she looked up at him. He smiled because there was no doubt from the pink in her cheeks that she was thinking the same thing.
* * *
“Who gives this woman to be married to this man?” the preacher asked when Sage and Ada reached the front of church.
“I give Sage into Creed’s hands.” Ada lifted her granddaughter’s hand and gave it to Creed. “Love her. Respect her. Or you’ll deal with me,” she whispered.
“Yes, ma’am,” he said seriously.
“You may be seated,” the preacher told the congregation.
“You are so beautiful,” Creed whispered. “I’m glad you decided not to wear my flannel shirt.”
“Honey, that is reserved for the honeymoon, right along with that lovely quilt Grand and Aunt Essie made,” she whispered back.
“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to witness the union of Creed Davis Riley and Elizabeth Sage Presley,” the preacher began the traditional ceremony.
In one sense the ceremony lasted an hour and in another it was over in less than a minute. Time stood still for Sage. She heard the words but what she felt was the true uniting of her heart and Creed’s. Two soul mates that had been floundering around
