Buckingham Nick A/U Series Part 5: The Dance, Continued...

Just Think What Tomorrow Will Do (Finale, Part One)

Penn Castle
Dorset, United Kingdom
Valentine's Day ❤️
Saturday, February 14, 1998
(5:00 pm)
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"Longer than there've been fishes in the ocean...higher than any bird ever flew...longer than there've been stars up in the heavens...I've been in love with you..."

Sixty-three people turned their heads in the ballroom of the English castle as the snow fell in the windows all around them as Dan Fogleberg's 1979 classic love song "Longer" began to play and seven-year-old Molly McVie, in her red velvet dress, began to walk down the aisle and toss red and white rose petals from a little white heart-shaped basket. She was followed by the Maid of Honor, Olivia McVie wearing her own red velvet dress and looking like a supermodel walking the red carpet, holding her bouquet of red roses and sneaking a wink at Aaron Buckingham as she walked past him on her way to the altar.

"Stronger than any mountain cathedral...truer than any tree ever grew...deeper than any forest primeval...I am in love with you...I'll bring fire in the winters...You'll send showers in the springs...
We'll fly through the falls and summers...with love on our wings..."

Christine Perfect McVie, in her white satin bridal suit and her long platinum bob pinned up on either side of her head with a silver sparkling clip in lieu of a bridal headpiece, began walking down the red velvet pathway towards John, who stood bashfully in his suit beside his Best Man, his son Jodie. When the entire McVie family had assembled, the song began to fade away...

"Through the years as the fire starts to mellow...burning lines in the book of our lives...though the binding cracks and the pages start to yellow...I'll be in love with you...I'll be in love with you..."

"Dearly beloved," the pastor began, "we are gathered here today in the presence of God, surrounded by family and friends, most of whom were not in attendance the last time John and Christine did this."

The unexpected opening joke received a laugh from the guests, including Stevie, who sat in the front row with her husband on one side and her daughter Sara on the other, and her tiny infant daughter Amber asleep in her arms in her fluffy little red dress. Everywhere she turned - when she wasn't seeing the snow pile up outside the windows - she saw nothing but love. She felt nothing but love as well, feeling Lindsey's hand landing warmly against her thigh after he'd gently stroked Amber's tiny baby cheek with his finger. The pastor was making his speech about marriage and family and love, and Stevie followed the warm, sweet gaze in Jodie's eyes right to her daughter Julia, who was sitting between Lindsey and Aaron and smiling up at him. Stevie couldn't help the little smile that came to her lips as she looked away, her attention returning to Amber as she made little baby gurgles in her sleep.

They're next, Stevie thought, watching the obvious looks of love between Julia and Jodie. Better get your mother-of-the-bride dress together, Teedee.

Feeling incredibly old at the thought of her first baby girl getting married but magically young again watching her last baby girl sleep in her arms, Stevie focused back in on the ceremony.

"...and so at this time, I ask that if anyone can show just cause why John and Christine should not be lawfully joined, let him speak now or forever hold his peace."

The silence in the room was suddenly interrupted by Amber, fussing in her sleep, making a happy little squeaky sound in her dreams. Everyone laughed again, and Stevie caught the eye of the bride, who winked at her. The two women who had begun as friends twenty-two years before and quickly become family communicated without words everything they needed to say in that moment, and Stevie breathed deeply in and out to keep her usual sentimental tears from coming to ruin her makeup.