Sweet Lantern

Chapter 21

Alice

As the day draws nearer, the noise around the farms grows louder. We've been really lucky lately, our families have been letting us sleep a bit later, which is good because all of this wedding planning has me worn out. I am falling asleep in my cheerios in the morning and falling asleep in Darry's arms, sitting on the couch in the evening. He had to carry me to bed last night. I think I'm also coming down with a cold, which would really suck, seeing as we have less than one-week left til the wedding.

I turn and reach over to rub Darry's back and my hand falls, hitting his empty side of the mattress. My eyes pop open, he's always here when I wake up lately. Where did he run off to? Did he even stay the night? I scan the room looking for evidence that he's been here but come up empty. Throwing the covers off, I go to the bathroom door and open it, peering inside, but it's empty.

Did he really not stay with me last night?

My heart flutters and I feel a little bit of panic hit me. We haven't been apart all summer.

I quickly get dressed and jog down the steps into the kitchen. No one's here. There's leftover breakfast sitting on the counter, so I grab a piece of toast, realizing that means that Darry must have been here for breakfast, and grab a couple of pieces of bacon, taking a bite as I leave through the side screen door.

Out in the yard, I look around and see no one, so I head down toward the barns. When I turn the corner of the house it's like a circus has come to set up on our farm. I walk toward the chaos and try to pick out any familiar faces I might be able to spot.

Over by the trucks, I can see my dad and Mr. Williams, leaned over the truck bed, talking and laughing as they watch the trucks coming and going. I scan some more and find Robby and Beth, sitting on bales of hay stacked beside the barn, Beth's legs crossed toward Robby, the two of them talking and showing each other their phones.
When I reach the madness and am standing in the middle of it, I turn in circles looking at all the faces, still trying to find the one face that I need to see. "He's not here, sweetheart", I hear Elaine call to me from somewhere behind me. I turn toward the barn and see her bright, happy face sticking out of the office door inside of the barn. She's walking to me now, a big smile on her face. "He went to town to pick up the tuxedos for all of the guys and he said something about meeting up with Joel, Kevin and Matt. He'll be back soon I'm sure."

She puts her arm around my shoulder and brings me to her for a hug. Then she turns me and starts walking me to the office with her. "Your mom's inside, I'm sure she wants to see you."

When I walk through the door, I see mom sitting at the desk, she's on the phone and looks very annoyed, until she sees me. She smiles big and waves me in, then she points at the phone and rolls her eyes dramatically. Covering the receiver, she whispers, "Come, sit down, honey. I'll be done in just a minute."

"Look, we ordered these runners and table clothes exactly three weeks ago, they need to be here in two days, or I want a full refund, understand?" She says into the phone, very pointed and serious. She hangs up and looks at me, letting out a deep sigh.

"Sorry about that, sweetie. Sometimes you just have to get stern for people to understand that you mean business and you will not be taken advantage of. Remember that, dear. You may need it one day", she tells me getting up from her chair, looking at her dearest friend, "Elaine, have you spoken to Nancy since yesterday?" she asks, shuffling through some papers on the edge of the desk. She turns to look at Mrs. Williams over her shoulder, waiting for her reply.

"Yes, she says everything is a go. She'll have them here for set up around 2 o'clock on Saturday."

The wedding is this Saturday evening. I can't stand the anxiety that's building in the wait. It's so close but still so far. I sit in the chair in front of my mom and Mrs. Williams, watching them go back and forth over last-minute wedding details. They both look so happy and in their element. Information is flying all around me, it's hard to keep up. I'm so happy in this moment, that I had very little to take care of in all of this. I basically picked the flowers, the dress, the time and place and now I just need to show up and promise to love Darry for the rest of my life, which is the easiest part of it all.

Oh, and Darry and I picked the music for the reception along with the menu. It's a soft and slow love song that we both love and have listened to since we were young. Darry picked it and I agreed that it's absolutely perfect. And I'll dance with my Daddy to one of his favorites from ole' blue eyes.

Other than that, our moms and dads have really done all of the hard work. Right now, the chaos going on outside is for both the wedding and the remodeling of the house. Coming in, I passed trucks bringing in the rest of the supplies to finish things up on the house, which is what the dads were doing outside... waiting for the stuff to be unloaded so they could get on it and get their crews finishing up what they could get done today. They've promised to have it completed by the day of the wedding. It's a good thing we were able to agree on most everything, at least the big things anyway.

The dads have been working diligently, day and night to get it completed. We had to hire people to work on the house and to help us out with the farm while this was all going down. We just couldn't handle it all on our own. Thankfully, even during all of this, Darry and I have found time to sneak off and spend much needed quiet time together. We've been spending some of our nights with his friends and I've actually started to feel like I could call them my friends as well. I like them, even Jessica has started to come around and has softened to me a bit. We're not best friends or anything, but she hasn't been mean lately. I think it has a lot to do with her new relationship... with Joel.

Darry was so thrilled when they announced that they were dating. He told me how Jessica had been pining away for Joel, but he was infatuated with Brittany, and how he had prayed that Joel would open his eyes and realize that Jess liked him. I joked with him that maybe we could have a triple wedding; Ours, Matt and Britt's and Jess and Joel's. He didn't like the idea, "No, ma'am, this is our night. They will just have to wait."

I really miss him right now and he's only been gone for a few hours.

I get up and excuse myself from the office. I need to stretch my legs and walk around, check things out. There's so much going on. They're working on landscaping for the wedding, they're putting finishing touches on our new home and they're erecting the huge white tents. I even saw tables and chairs being brought in already. So much goes into a wedding, it's insane! All the little details that you have to think about and all for such a short ceremony. I would have been happy to marry Darry standing on the bank of the lake at The Falls, but I knew our families wouldn't have gone for that; too long of a drive for all the guests, among many other dilemmas that would or could arise.

I walk over to where our house sits, in between the two properties, right at the back of the tree line, to check it out and see what all they're working on today. It's been fun to watch them bringing this all together, and so quickly. Our dads hired contractors and electricians, plumbers, and landscapers, along with many laborers to help them in such a short time. They've been working day and night, and it shows.

Our modest little ranch house is going to be my new favorite place. It's so perfect for us, really. When you walk up to the front of the house, there's a long front porch, not a wrap around like we're both used to but that's OK. I imagine me and Darry sitting on the porch in the evenings in our matching rocking chairs, sipping iced tea and watching the sunset.

Once inside the door, you're in the foyer. If you walk straight ahead, you're in the kitchen, which they did a fantastic job on. It's spacious and has all new stainless-steel appliances, including a dishwasher, thank God! I hate dishes.

From the foyer if you turn left, through French glass doors, you're in the livingroom. From the livingroom, you go back to the left side of the house where there is a small hallway where all three of the bedrooms are, including the main bathroom. If you turn to the right off the foyer, through French glass doors again, you're in the formal diningroom. The kitchen also has the island, just like at my parent's house and it has a small breakfast nook. Out of the back-kitchen door is a sunroom and from the sunroom, is the main back door that leads to the backyard where Darry's garage is. He really wanted a garage. I was so happy they were able to make that happen for him.

They're putting finishing touches on both bathrooms, the main and the master suite. They're putting in all new shelves in all the closets throughout the house, including the pantry in the kitchen. I am pretty sure I heard daddy telling mom that they're still putting in the finishing pieces of the mudroom that I wanted, which is going to be part of the sunroom, too. Other than that, the house is really ready for move-in.

It's so exciting and it's so close. This time next week, I'll be Mrs. Daryl Williams and we will be living in our own house. Now, where is my future husband?