Page 27 of The Holiday

"Wow," he whispers, looking her up and down. "You are stunning. I can't believe I'm about to marry a woman like you."

Heather gives a happy laugh as she steps over the fallen robe and into his arms. "I don't want to let you out of my sight," she says, squeezing him with all her strength. "Can't we just escape out the back door and go jump on a boat and get married in a courthouse in Destin? Send our apologies to everyone who showed up?" Heather pulls back from him and looks up into his face.

"I think there'd be a few people who were a bit disappointed," Dave says, smiling down at his bride. "But how about if we go in there together?"

Heather frowns. "You mean just walk right out and up to the altar?"

"No. Let's go out the side door like you were going to do, and around the church. We'll walk down the aisle together."

Heather is stunned by this suggestion; she'd been so sure that she'd be standing in that doorway alone, chin held high, no father or brother or son or anyone to walk her down the aisle in the traditional fashion. But now she reimagines the scene with her arm looped through Dave's, goofy smiles on both of their faces.

"You mean buck tradition?" Heather wrinkles her nose.

"Absolutely. And in fact, my dear, I'd be willing to venture that you've already bucked most traditions. So how about if you let me walk my lady down the aisle rather than standing at the altar and waiting for her to arrive? It would be my honor to escort you."

Dave holds out his arm and Heather takes it, her smile as wide as it's ever been. "Let's do this," she says.

They step out the side door of the church into the bright December sun, and the air is cold—it’s crisp and clean and new. Gone is the snow, and in its place is a fresh and bracing sense of promise.

At the front of the church, they step up the three painted steps together. Ruby opens the door, handing Heather a gorgeous tropical bouquet of winter flowers. "Ready?" she whispers, seemingly unshocked by Heather and Dave appearing together. With a glance and a wave at the front of the church to indicate that both bride and groom are indeed at the door, Ruby cues the pianist, who begins to play Pachelbel's Canon in D.

And without further ado, Heather Charleton-Bicks becomes Heather Hutchens, and every single one of her friends heaves a sigh of pleasure at the sight of her beaming smile, shining eyes, and at the look of love she gives to Dave.

Ruby

Ruby has always loved Europe in the springtime, and this year is no different. She and Dexter are wandering through the Jardin des Tuileries in Paris, strolling beneath the pink magnolia and Judas trees as they hold hands and talk about the book tour so far.

“I think it’s been amazing,” Ruby says. She’s full of awe for the way Dexter can sit with any interviewer, fielding questions and keeping a conversation on track no matter what the person asking questions throws his way.

For instance, in Rome, a woman named Jacqueline Fiero insisted on asking questions entirely about his relationship with Ruby, and with endless good humor, Dexter redirected the conversation over and over to the book about Jack, to the way Ruby was able to call on the things she knew about him to fully flesh out the narrative of the biography, and to the book itself, which combined Jack’s diaries, letters, and public appearances with the things that the people who knew him best were willing and able to share.

“It’s been amazing to do it all with you,” Dexter says. They’re walking lazily, admiring the flowers, watching as lovers sit on benches entwined, as children run through the grass, as people on bikes meander about the gardens. “But now that we’re actually in Paris, how do you feel about seeing Etienne?”

Ruby takes a moment to sit with this question. Howdoesshe feel about seeing Etienne? It’s been a while, and even though her life is on a path that suits her entirely, she isn’t sure that she’ll ever be able to fully let go of the fact that Etienne stole so much of her husband from her. At fifty, Ruby likes to think of herself as a realist, and she understands that no person ever fully owns another, but she’d at least believed that the bonds of marriage had ensured her some sort of security in Jack’s heart. It had been nearly crippling to both lose him so quickly and tragically, and to have to face the fact that he’d been carrying on with Etienne for so many years. His son, Julien, had been another fact that she’d had to face—another betrayal.

A flurry of pink blossoms falls from the trees overhead like snow as they walk beneath them, and Ruby leans on Dexter, pulling herself closer to him as she holds his arm.

“I think I’m fine to see Etienne,” she says after a long pause. “I’ve really come to terms with everything—at least as much as I think I ever will.” They walk on, Ruby’s brown leather boots clicking against the cement path. “I don’t even hate her. I never did.”

There is a chill in the air, and Ruby has her cropped trench coat buttoned against the spring wind. She wears a sheer scarf that’s hand-painted in pastel colors wound around her neck and tucked into the front of her coat.

“I think that’s one of the things I admire about you most,” Dexter says. “You have this really strong ability to decide what’s worth worrying about, and what isn’t. And you’re patient with everyone.”

“Those are two things,” Ruby says with a laugh. “But thank you.”

“You knew that when it came to us, stressing about our age difference wasn’t worth your time.”

“Shhh!” Ruby says, putting a finger to her lips theatrically as she pretends to look around for spies. “No one can look at us and tell that I’ve robbed the cradle, so don’t tell them!” It’s a joke that she and Dexter have played many times, but Ruby never tires of poking fun at herself, or of letting Dexter know that she thinks she’s getting the better end of the deal.

He believes precisely the opposite, but plays along for her sake. “Oh, I know,” he says. “I’m aging so quickly that pretty soon someone is going to ask if you’re my younger sister.”

“And not your mom?” she teases.

“Stop—no way.” Dexter turns his head and gives her a kiss on the lips as they stroll. “Not even one person has ever said that.”

“Oh, they’ve thought it,” Ruby says, looking straight ahead. As silly as it is, she does think about things like this.Was it ever a concern for Jack when he was with Etienne? she wonders.Did he ever wander the streets of Paris with a younger woman on his arm and feel like an old fool? But she doesn’t have much time to ponder this, as a young man approaches them hesitantly.

“Ruby Hudson?” he asks, smiling at her with the open, curious, excited look of someone who has recognized a famous person. “Oh my god, you’re really in Paris!”

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