Say You Love Me (Double Love Trilogy Conclusion)

Hope You're Gonna Stay Away

Penn Castle
Dorset, United Kingdom
Saturday, February 11, 2023
(1:00 pm)
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It was as if they'd never left.

When Stevie had first walked through the doors of Penn Castle in December and told Christine and John they should have their wedding there, she never thought of her statement as anything more than a suggestion, a way of telling her she liked the place. She never imagined she'd take the suggestion seriously, but she had, and when Stevie had informed her that the double wedding was a real possibility, that even Lindsey had agreed and been able to look past the corniness of the whole thing, the planning had officially begun.

Lindsey tossed himself onto the bed as soon as they were alone in their room, the same room they had occupied during the holidays, and sank back against the pillows to watch Stevie going about her task - putting Lily's things in corners of the room so she could settle in. Lindsey had been watching Stevie be a mother to dogs for over fifty years, and he'd be lying if he'd never felt a twinge of sadness that he'd never seen her mother a human baby...his baby. She poured water from a cold Poland Spring bottle into a pink bowl, gently placed Lily into a big, fluffy leopard-printed dog bed as if a baby into its crib, stroking what little fur she had on her head and said in a soothing voice, "You're okay, baby. Mommy loves you...you're going to stay here with Mommy and you'll be okay, little dog...Mommy's here, baby. Mommy didn't give away her little baby dog." She knew Lily sometimes panicked leaving home; of Stevie's dogs, she was least accustomed to travel, thanks to Covid. Sulamith, Sara Belladonna and all the dogs that came before Lily had been road dogs...Lindsey still remembered Ginny on the road on their first tour ever in 1975. He remembered Stevie holding her in bed in the very first hotel when she cried all night because she was scared, and he'd dreamed that night that he and Stevie were sleeping in bed at home with a newborn baby between them.

"What?" Stevie looked around towards him when she rose from the floor; she'd felt him looking at her.

"Same as always," he said with a smile. "Just...you."

Stevie advanced slowly towards the bed, saying, "Me? The almost-seventy-five-year-old lady who just flew for twelve hours with a skittish little dog and looks like it?" She playfully dodged his attempts to grab at her.

"No...you, the love of my life, my sweet girl, who looks so cute right now that if I don't get her on this bed with me I'm going to scream," he corrected her, finally grabbing her by the wrist and pulling her onto him as she let out a squeal that made Lily bark. She began to kiss him as his arms went up and around her and their legs entwined, and he rolled her over onto her back, changing positions so that he lay over her. Looking down into her eyes and brushing back her bangs with his hand, he said, "We're here, you know...this is it...the place where we're getting married."

"Three more days," she added, and her arms went up around him as he kissed her. Their lips touched and parted again, then again. "Sweetheart..." Her voice was a whisper against his lips. "I love you so much." She continued to give him soft little kisses until the sound of someone knocking on the door broke into the quiet moment.

"Stevie?" It was Karen, and she knocked again. "I don't mean to bug you in there but I need you for a minute."

Lindsey rolled over and they sat up in bed, Stevie fluffing her hair into place and rearranging the front of one of her hundreds of black shirts, this one a cashmere tunic sweater with gold threading along the cuffs and woven through the cowl neck. She exchanged a quick look at Lindsey who nodded, already knowing her question, and she called through the door, "Come in, Karen. No one's naked..." With a giggle she added, "...yet!"

"I'm sorry, guys," Karen said, opening the door and standing in the doorway, holding onto the doorknob. She looked over at Lindsey, who had picked up the dog and brought her up to the bed with him. "Sorry, Lindsey. Can I borrow the Mrs. for a minute?"

"You're lucky I love that." Stevie smiled. She turned towards Lindsey and said, "Remember where we left off, sweetheart," before following Karen down the hallway. They stood in front of the door to Karen's bedroom, where she had just begun to unpack after settling Luna in with her own dog bed and all in the room. Stevie didn't like how serious she looked.

"Stevie..." Karen took a deep breath before she began. "Listen...I got a few more emails and messages on Instagram today when we landed and I got my phone service back...messages to you, I mean, and..."

"Nope, no business talk," Stevie said, cutting her off and waving her hand. "I'm marrying the love of my life in three days in a grand English castle and our good friends are doing the same...no online stuff."

"It's not business, Stevie, that's the thing..." Karen looked down at the floor. It had been four days since she'd seen the message Joe Walsh had sent to Stevie congratulating her and asking her to contact him. They'd been some of the longest days in her life, watching Stevie run around preparing for the trip and the wedding, fielding phone calls day and night, trying on her dress, calling airlines and all, and had to stop herself several times from blurting out, "The man you publicly called the love of your life the whole time Lindsey was married to someone else wants to see you.

"Karen, look.." Stevie took Karen's hand and swung it affectionately from side to side. "Whatever it is, use your best judgment. Everyone I love is either here or on their way here today, so whoever wrote to me, if they're not here, can wait, okay? Just...be me online! Write what you think I'd write; it's cool. I give you full permission to say whatever you think I'd say." She let go of her hand and used hers to point down the hallway from where they'd come. "In that room over there is the man I have loved since I was about twenty years old...and in seventy-two hours we are getting married. I'll handle real life in two weeks, when life is back to normal and I'm an old married lady. Okay?"

Karen sighed; Stevie clearly wasn't going to want to hear what she had to say. Maybe it's for the best, she thought. Maybe not knowing Joe wants to talk to her is the best way to get her down the aisle to Lindsey without the drama.

"Okay, Mrs. Buckingham." Karen smiled at her with a wink.

"I'm sorry." Stevie pulled her into a hug. "I love you, Karen, and I'd be dead without you, but...let me enjoy this." She was still holding her as she giggled and said, "I'm going back in there and locking the door and practicing for my honeymoon."

"Enjoy," Karen said with a laugh as Stevie let her go.

"Always do!" She smiled, and then turned on a dime and jaunted down the hallway calling out, "Guess who's sweet girl is coming back in five...four...three..."

Stevie disappeared into the bedroom and the door closed and locked before Karen could hear "two." She stood in the hallway and heard muffled voices, Stevie's unmistakable giggling followed by a sort of mushy non-quiet, and she knew to walk away. With a sigh, she headed downstairs and almost ran head-first into a very rushed Christine McVie, who was on her way upstairs.

"Sorry, Christine; I wasn't looking." Karen had already passed her on the stairs but turned around to say, "I hope you're not trying to find the other bride up there! They're locked away."

Christine rolled her eyes and said, "I know better than to disturb them whenever they land somewhere and get into the room...been knowing that for almost fifty years!"

Karen laughed and teased, "What was I thinking?" Christine laughed and disappeared to the second floor, and Karen, feeling strangely defeated and not any less freaked out than she had for four days, went downstairs to find Waddy. Besides Lindsey he was the only person she knew who always had weed on him, and that was exactly what she needed to calm down.

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