The Christmas Wedding - the happy ending (or HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MIKA!!)

This was written for the birthday of my friend, Mika. She and I lived together for years in college, and I will forever be deeply grateful for her. Mika has the most generous and tender spirit. Happy birthday, Tip. May it be a good one. May you know that you are loved beyond measure. Enjoy the ending.

The beginning

The middle

…

The next morning was quiet. Tucker slept in later than usual, and by the time he made it to the kitchen, everyone was already gone. He glanced at the Molly Board by the cupboards to see where everyone was.

Years ago, when Elizabeth was still young and Hope had just moved in, the situation forced Hope to become the mother figure, in some ways, to all of them. She was frustrated with how hard it was to keep track of everyone, so she made this crafty board with Velcro placards with places listed on them.

Each person had a row with his or her name, and it was imperative that, before leaving the house, each one put the appropriate placards under the name so Hope always knew where everyone was.

If Zane was out on the ranch and then was going on a date for dinner, his placards would show “Ranch - South Side,” “Dinner – Date,” “Home – Late.” Elizabeth’s list was always the longest.

Hope was reading the “Harry Potter” books to Elizabeth at the time, and she took the idea from a clock Molly Weasley had that allowed her to see exactly where each of her family members were at any given time. Thus, the Molly Board was created.

Once they began using the system, they became so accustomed to it that they kept it even after Hope left. Looking at it now, he noticed someone, Hope, he was sure, had made a tag for Andy. Not surprisingly, he and Elizabeth were sharing placards for the day.

Someone, Elizabeth, he was sure, had found Hope’s old tag and placed it on the board, too. Her placard still read “Home – Sleeping,” so she must be in the house somewhere.

“Ok.”

“What?” Tucker looked up from his reverie surprised. “I’m sorry. I didn’t hear you come in, Hope.”

“Ok. I’ll spend the day with you. Whatever you want to do. I’ll be ready in 30 minutes.” And she turned and went back up the stairs.

***

An hour later, Tucker parked his Jeep in a spot in front of a small, non-descript building in the heart of town. Hope looked at him questioningly. “Just come in with me. I want to show you something.”

Tuck unlocked the door and opened it for Hope. She stamped the snow from her boots and shrugged off her jacket as he turned the lights on. It was a small office, not fancy but functional. The artwork on the walls was all done by children, many of the pieces drawn in crayon.

A small painting on the wall had a script inside in with the company’s logo – four capital Ks entwined together. Hope gasped.

“The Four Kids Firm? That’s you?”

“Hope, I honestly didn’t know you were running the lending library when our organization began expressing an interest in it. Even as we’ve been talking this week, you didn’t describe what you were doing in depth until last night. That’s when I realized that it’s my organization that’s been looking to work with you here in our community.

“I have a full day of activities planned for us, but after you told us last night about the library, I wanted to bring you here this morning so I could be completely truthful with you.”

Hope had sunk into one of the overstuffed sofas in the waiting room. “This is the community service work you do? You work with kids?”

“Yes,” Tuck said, sitting next to her.

“I honestly don’t know what to say.”

“And that rarely happens to you,” Tuck teased. Hope playfully swatted his arm, and turned toward him. Before either of them realized what was happening, they were in one another’s embrace.

The kiss was tender, gentle at first, tentative. Hope pulled away, looked at Tuck, and then leaned back in for another kiss, this one more intense, passionate. Like the kisses she remembered, and yet different.

This time, she pulled away quickly and stood up, putting some distance between them. “Tuck, I don’t know if I can do this again. I’m sorry. I’d like to say I’m as strong as you, but we both know I’m not. If I was, I would have fought to save our marriage instead of falling apart.

“I just don’t know that I can do this, especially when we both have to live under the same roof for two more days… get through this wedding for Elizabeth.”

Tuck wanted to go to her, to pull her to him again, but he knew better. He stayed still and spoke softly. “I understand your fears. You have every reason to not trust me. All I can do is promise to be honest with you this time. That’s why I brought you here.”

Hope took a deep breath, nodded at Tuck, and said, “Ok. Let’s go on this big day you have planned.” She walked toward the door and grabbed her coat as Tuck scrambled to keep up, grateful for the opportunity.

As Tuck backed the Jeep out and began down Main Street, he explained his day. “I want to take you on a tour of town, if that’s okay with you.”

“That sounds great. I haven’t been back in years. I’m sure things have changed.”

“I’ll be interested to see, too. Most of these are places I can’t go any longer. They all remind me of you, so I’ve avoided them for years.”

He turned the radio dial to a station playing holiday songs, and they sang along as he headed for his first destination. They spent the day visiting their favorite haunts in town, eating cupcakes topped with icing ornaments, catching an afternoon matinee of “Miracle of 34^th Street” at the independent theatre, and having an intimate dinner at the Italian restaurant they loved.

On the drive home, Tuck reached over and took Hope’s hand. She held his tightly as she leaned her head back and closed her eyes. Tuck felt awkward like he hadn’t felt in years as he walked Hope to her room in Elizabeth’s suite.

She leaned against the door, looked up at him and said, “I don’t want this, Tuck. I don’t want to admit that I’m still in love with you. I don’t want to have my heart broken again.”

He leaned down and kissed her gently. With his hand on the side of her face, he whispered in her ear, “I have always loved you, Hope. Always. I will never hurt you intentionally again.”

They stood in the hallway kissing for so long that Hope lost track. She pulled away, her breath ragged. “I don’t know where we go from here.”

Tuck laughed. Finally, something he knew for certain. “We start over. We admit that we still love each other, and we promise to try harder this time. I know we can’t go back. I know we can’t undo what has been done. But we try again.”

***

In the middle of the night, Elizabeth crawled into bed with Hope, shaking Hope awake. “So what happened with you and Tuck? Andy’s family arrives in a few hours. Is this all going to work out ok?”

Since she was 12 and Hope married Tucker, whenever Elizabeth was frightened, she would climb in bed with Hope and talk. Tucker hated that. In college, Elizabeth would drive from her dorm room to Hope’s house in the middle of the night when she was afraid. Hope would slide over in bed, talk to Elizabeth until she slept, and take care of her.

“I love your brother, always have. He says he loves me. Andy adores you, as does his family. You and Andy will be fine, and you’ll always be the darling of his family, as you are of your’s.”

“And you and Tuck?”

“I don’t know, sweetheart. That, I don’t know. Now, go to sleep. We’ve got big days ahead.”

***

Everyone slept in late the next morning, and Hope had lunch set up buffet style in the kitchen for when Andy’s family arrived. Everyone’s tags on the Molly Board were the same – “Wedding Prep!” – and Hope was giving the men around her their jobs for the day.

“Ok, Elizabeth’s a little worried about Andy’s parents being here.”

“What? She didn’t tell me that. She shouldn’t be worried. They love her,” Andy said.

“I know. It’s normal jitters. She’ll be fine. Your job is to stick close to her today. Compliment her. Help her navigate your family politics. And hush that,” Hope said raising her hand to stop his protests. “Every family has politics.

“WT, you’ll help entertain Andy’s family. Tour them around the ranch after lunch. That’ll give me enough time to get all of the last minute prep stuff done for the rehearsal tonight. Everyone will arrive around seven for the rehearsal, and we’ll all drive over to the restaurant for dinner after. And God bless her for having that somewhere other than here.”

“You must be exhausted, Hope,” WT said. “Thank you for all you’ve done for this wedding. The three of us could never have pulled this off without your help.”

“That’s the truth,” she laughed.

“So what do we do?” Zane asked.

“You and Tuck will be moving chairs and tables and helping me set up. We’ll be moving everything out of the kitchen so we can set up the buffet in here for the reception.

“Now who is driving the sleighs tomorrow? Do they know what to do? Everything will be ok with that, right?”

“Ricky and Thomas from the T Bar X ranch are helping with that. They’ll be using their own horses and sleighs, so that’s all covered.”

“You’ve all had your suits pressed, right? Do I need to wash anything for you?”

“Yes, Mom, we’ve done all that,” Zane teased. “When are we gonna do all of this again for you and Tuck?”

“Excuse me?” Hope asked sharply.

“Sorry, I mean, I just thought things were going well, and, oh, geez, I’m sorry. Me and my big mouth,” Zane apologized.

“Going really well right up until that moment,” Tuck said.

“You don’t know that Tuck would want to marry me again,” Hope said, her voice trembling as she stared angrily at Zane.

Tuck reached out to Hope. “Wait, is that what you think? Honey, I’d marry you again today if you’d say yes. I’ve always loved you. When I said last night that I wanted to give this another chance, I didn’t mean I wanted to date you for a while. I meant that I wanted to date you for a while until I thought you’d consider marrying me again. If I could skip the dating part and go straight to the marrying part, I would. I love you.”

“Really?” Tears streamed down Hope’s face. WT and Zane didn’t move, didn’t speak, didn’t want to interrupt the moment. “I didn’t know if that was what you meant last night or not. We’ve been apart so long.”

“Hope, honey, I’m serious. If you’re saying you’re serious, that you still love me, too, I’ll drop to one knee right now.”

Hope laughed nervously. “No, no, I don’t think that will be necessary. One bride in this house is enough.”

“I don’t think so!” Everyone had been so focused on the interactions between Hope and Tucker that they hadn’t noticed Elizabeth and Andy’s family enter the room.

“Marilyn, Trey, come on in… I’m so sorry we weren’t paying attention,” Hope moved to welcome Andy’s parents. Because Elizabeth had spent so much time at Hope’s house during college, Andy’s parents were already close with Hope.

“No, little Hope. It sounds to me like there’s something else going on here,” Marilyn said. “In fact, it sounds a little like an indirect proposal.”

“No, no, that isn’t what it was. We don’t need to discuss it now,” Hope said, looking pointedly at Tuck. “Today and tomorrow are all about Elizabeth and Andy.”

“Anything I want because I’m the bride,” Elizabeth said happily.

“Precisely,” Hope said, brushing tears from her eyes.

“Good. Then, I want to hear what your answer is for Tuck,” Elizabeth said with a big grin. Everyone began to gather around the table, chairs scraping on the wooden floor. “This is a super day before the wedding, don’t you think, Andy?”

“Absolutely, Elizabeth,” Andy said, playing along. “If only we had popcorn. It’s like the movies.”

Everyone was laughing and talking to one another, and Tucker wished he wasn’t all the way across the room from Hope. He could see she was uncomfortable and unsure.

“Hope.”

The room stilled when Tucker spoke. “I love you. I meant what I said. If you still love me and can envision a life with me, I will drop to one knee right now. But this has all happened really fast. If you need more time, that’s fine. I will wait as long as you need. This time, I’m not going anywhere.

“And we do not have to discuss this now in front of everyone.”

All eyes were on Hope now. It was as if everyone was holding their breath waiting to see what her response would be. The wait for her answer seemed to last forever.

“Yes, Tucker, I still love you. Yes, I wish I was still married to you. Yes, I will marry you again if you really are asking.”

“I really am asking, though I hadn’t intended to do so today or in this manner.”

Hope smiled. “Then, I suppose I should say yes, even though I hadn’t intended to do so today or in this manner.”

“Yeah, you should,” Tuck smiled. A moment passed and then applause erupted. Zane grabbed Hope and swung her in the air. “It’s about time you came back to this family!” The room was pandemonium for a few moments, with Tuck and Hope never actually making it to one another. Then, Elizabeth whistled really loudly to get everyone’s attention.

“Hey. Don’t forget about the bride here! I’ve got some things to say myself,” she said, pulling Hope toward her.

In the moments when everyone was congratulating Hope and Tucker, Elizabeth and Andy had been quietly talking to one another, making plans.

“You both love one another and want to be married again. No need wasting time with this. You should get married tomorrow with me and Andy. A double ceremony.”

“Um, no,” Hope said immediately. “What is going on between me and Tucker has nothing to do with your wedding. You’ve been planning this for so long, waiting for this big day. You’ll remember it forever. It should be special.”

“And having you with me, marrying my brother, would make it special, and definitely memorable.”

“Elizabeth, I honestly don’t know what to say. This isn’t the way we planned this. We’ve been planning your wedding for months now, and we’ve been planning my wedding to Tuck for about two minutes now,” Hope said. “I think this is a bad plan.”

“I think it’s a good plan,” Elizabeth said. “Everything’s done. You can wear the dress I picked out for you. It’s a perfect champagne color. All of the arrangements are made. Reverend Fall will be more than happy to marry you again. Come on. Why not?”

Hope looked at Tucker, unsure of what to say. Tucker smiled. “I will if you will.” Hope smiled back.

***

The guests were taken to the house in horse-drawn sleighs as a soft snow fell to the ground. Instrumental Christmas music played softly as the guests gathered together in the living room. The room glowed in the candlelight.

Andy, Tuck, and Zane were standing at one end of the room, along with the minister, in front of the fireplace. A friend of the family began to play a simple wedding march on the flute.

WT entered the room with a bride on each arm, both looking radiant - the young bride, anxious to begin a new life, and the older bride, grateful for the chance to try again.

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Tagged with: Mika