"Two souls are sometimes created together and in love before they're even born." -F. Scott Fitzgerald
When eight year old Beau Ruby met twelve year old Colton Caine, she had no idea she was meeting the love of her life. She had no idea she'd grow...
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"I need one more, Beau," Anna said, reaching over my shoulder to retrieve a bobby pin from the small pile I held in my hand. "Your hair is so thick... the flowers might be loose."
"He won't care," I said, thinking about the image of Colton waiting for me at the end of the aisle.
I smoothed down the flowy, gauzy, white sundress I was wearing and ran a tube of nude-colored lipstick with just a touch of red over my lips. I could feel Anna tugging on my hair as she slid in the last pin, finally holding the crown of wildflowers in place on my head.
It had been a last minute decision, and I had scrambled for two days twisting and tying stems to get it to look just right. Colton and I had fallen in love through traipsing back and forth through a field of wildflowers, and I knew he would recognize the familiar colors and petals from the ones that grew right outside of our fences.
I nodded in response to a final question of "Ready?" from Anna, who looked absolutely beautiful in her dress with her hair braided down her back.
We opened the back door, and she held the back part of my dress up so I didn't step on it. It wasn't a traditional wedding dress, but then again, we weren't having a traditional wedding.
Lanterns and citronella torches lit the way from the front of the house to the back gate, and they continued well into the field. The whole town had pitched in to pull this off. We had hay bales from Mr. Derringer's farm as seats, and we had quilts from Mrs. Delilah's quilting club to throw over them.
Jack and some of the guys from Tri-County Electric donated time, money, and lumber to build a rustic gazebo in the field, and Anna and I had adorned it with sunflowers.
I knew Colton wouldn't be in a suit and tie. He'd be in a white button-down shirt and khakis, but that was exactly the way I wanted it. It would be perfect.
Just as we stepped of the back porch, Jack's blue Tacoma rounded the house and parked in the grass in front of the back porch.
"What is it?" I called, stopping in my tracks, bracing for the weight of whatever was wrong. "What's wrong?"
He didn't answer, and instead, he just climbed out of the truck and slowly walked up to me.
"Why aren't you down there already?" I asked, firing questions off faster than I could think to process them. "Is he okay? Did he change his mind? Is something wrong?"
He was shaking his head, and he bent forward to place a soft, gentle kiss on my cheek.
"You look beautiful," he said, his voice soft and genuine. He then turned his attention to Anna, kissing her on the mouth and telling her how gorgeous she looked.
"But, really, Jack, what are you—" I started again, and he finally answered.
"I wanted to ask you if I could walk you down the aisle," he said, his eyes falling on me and lingering. Something was behind them in his expression... I couldn't tell if it was happiness or a sense of nostalgia that I couldn't place. "Can I give you away?"
