Running Down A Dream

Epilogue: Running Down A Dream

Fleetwood's On Front Street
Lahaina, Hawaii
Saturday, November 26, 2022
******************

"Ladies and gentlemen...coming to the floor now...appearing in public for the first time as a married couple...Mr. and Mrs. Lindsey and Stevie Buckingham!"

Mick Fleetwood's voice on the microphone was clear and joyous as he stood beside the DJ that had been hired to work the reception at Stevie and Lindsey's wedding. From the door to the outside and into the dining room walked the happy couple, their hands raised in the air as they both triumphantly held Stevie's bouquet of red roses high into the air.

Only the bride and groom - and Karen - knew that stuck inside the bouquet, for tradition, was an Animal Cracker.

It had been Stevie's idea to enter the reception to Tom Petty's "Running Down A Dream", the song that she'd had playing just before coming on stage during her tour, which, like Lindsey's U.S. tour after his recovery, had ended three weeks ago. Being apart for most of October had been difficult on them, especially because they were struggling to plan a small, intimate wedding long distance, and Stevie would never tell a soul...but she'd actually had to learn how to use FaceTime. Still Stevie Nicks and old school, however, she'd used Karen's iPad, refusing to connect her phone service.

"It was a beautiful day...the sun beat down...had the radio on...I was drivin'...Trees flew by, me and Del were singin'...little Runaway...I was flyin'..."

Roughly sixty of their closest friends and family, including the other members of Fleetwood Mac, cheered and whistled and hollered over the wild guitar of Stevie's dear departed friend Tom Petty on the restaurant's sound system, and as bubbles were blown from little bottles with labels reading, Stevie and Lindsey...running down the dream since '68, Stevie smiled that smile Lindsey loved so much where her nose crinkled, both of them squinting their eyes through the bubbles and dancing their way into the center of the room.

Mick saw Karen waiting in the wings for her grand entrance. "Ladies and gentlemen...the Maid Of Honor, the glue that holds our bride together...Kareeeeeeeeeeeen Johnston!"

Karen entered in her simple black velvet off-the-shoulder dress, white lace bridal leashes connecting her to two little dogs - a white Chinese crested in a black dress, and a black and tan yorkie in a white dress. Karen, too, danced it out on her way through the bubbles, getting cheered on the loudest by Stevie, who threw her arms around her for a hug that became a brief little dance to the music in the embrace of best friends to the song. The dogs were scrambling and twirling at her feet, and Stevie picked up Lily and Karen picked up Luna, each swaying the dogs to the music.

"Coming to the floor now," Mick announced, "our Best Man...Will Buckingham!"

"I felt so good...like anything was possible..." Tom Petty's voice flowed through the room. "Hit cruise control and rubbed my eyes...The last three days...the rain was unstoppable...It was always cold...no sunshine..."

Lindsey's twenty-four-year-old son, beaming with pride in his father for finally realizing he couldn't live without Aunt Stevie, entered the room with his own little dance to "Running Down A Dream".

"And now...fresh off of Instagram selfies on the beach and looking spectacular..." Mick got a laugh from the crowd. "Our pair of bridesmaids, LeeLee and Stella Buckingham!"

LeeLee and Stella in their black velvet dresses, entered the room holding hands. Lindsey was smiling at his daughters and Stevie caught his face out of the corner of her eye and smiled too. Look at him, she was thinking. We could have been together all these years...would have saved a ton of heartache...but Lindsey wouldn't be smiling ear to ear at his three beautiful children right now. The universe unfolds as it should. Barbara was right.