Page 205 of Waiting For A Girl Like You
Maybe it was time for a changing of the guard.
Bernie hustled past him. “We’re bringing Jamison down now.”
Rowan nodded, eyes still on Haven. “Come on, Albie. Let’s go get your aunt married.”
Albie was asleep again by the time they reached the gathering spot under the oak. Rowan found a place on the direct opposite side of the aisle from Lenora and Selah, who stood with Xavier as he held up a speaker. Not far from them, Annabeth and Evie waited with glowing lanterns while Holden moved around the group, snapping photos with his phone.
Theo and Harper also held matching lanterns, with Theo dancing to music only she could hear. Simone sat with Josie—in the front row, ofcourse—and Will sat in one of the two chairs on what Rowan would guess was the groom’s side.
And there, beneath the branches of the Marriage Oak, stood Liam. Samuel and Abe flanked him, but his attention was fixed solely on Ben escorting Jamison across the lawn.
“Wait! Let me start the music,” Selah shouted loud enough for his father and sister to hear several yards away. “X-Man, hold it up!”
Xavier raised the speaker high, and the quiet night was filled with music. The song choice made Rowan snort. “Is that the Twilight soundtrack?” he whispered to Albie. “Yeah, that’s it. My little sister went through a vampire phase, and I would know that song anywhere.”
Even in the partial dark, Rowan could see Ben cracking up and Selah beaming with pride at his musical selection. Samuel wasn’t much better, swaying weirdly as he yelled across the yard at his sister. “A promise is a promise, Jamison.”
“I love it!” she shouted back.
Theo and Harper went first, their metal lantern clanging loudly. Rowan noticed neither had an actual candle, but rather fake ones that banged around behind the glass. In their pockets were fake flower petals, which the girls sprinkled as they went, creating a crooked path for others to follow.
Once Harper and Theo completed their task, Xavier sat the speaker on the ground and made his way down to stand next to Samuel. Annabeth and Evie were next, walking side by side with their lanterns, and even though the setting probably wasn’t exactly what Jamison likely had planned out in her mind with a beach wedding, the whole thing was coming off pretty nice in Rowan’s opinion.
“Okay, little man,” he whispered to Albie when Evie sat in her chair next to Josie. “It’s time to go back to your mom.”
Sneaking over, Rowan handed Albie off to Evie, carefully moving around Holden taking pictures and Izzy filming the entire thing. Evie mouthed her thanks, and he returned to his spot just as Jamison reached the point where their makeshift aisle of candelabras and petals thrown about by Theo began.
The music switched to a slower tune—still from the Twilight soundtrack—and while he’d been to plenty of weddings in his life, Rowan had to admit he had never seen a bride and groom stare at eachother as intensely as Liam and Jamison were currently staring at one another now.
Above them, an easy gust of wind tangled with the moss dangling from the oak’s branches, and Rowan noticed how the air suddenly held a particular scent he couldn’t quite place. Something floral for sure, and maybe with a hint of vanilla as well. In her chair, Evie closed her eyes briefly and lifted her face to the breeze, allowing it to sweep through her hair before moving through the crowd to Jamison, where it caught her veil and lifted it to flow behind her.
Rowan smiled at how the moment came off as enchanting.
Enchanting.
That was it.
Enchanting was the word he’d been looking for this whole time. Annabeth had once called Haven House magical, but that wasn’t it. Magic wasn’t real. Magic belonged to fairy tales and bedtime stories, but this wasn’t a fairy tale. This was the real world.
But enchanting? He glanced back at Haven House. Yeah, that was more like it. Haven House was enchanting, even with all her faults. She beguiled any who entered, leaving them with the memory of her to carry through life.
For better or for worse.
Ben stepped aside when he and Jamison reached Liam and took a seat, his own hair becoming ruffled in the dancing breeze. He wasn’t hiding his tears, swiping at them as Simone leaned in, resting her head on his shoulder.
Jamison didn’t have a bouquet, immediately taking Liam’s hands once Abe began his speech. And when it came time for the vows, neither the bride nor the groom needed notes, both obviously having memorized what they wanted to say.
Liam spoke first, his voice rough with emotion. “Jamison, too many years ago, I walked through the door of Haven House not expecting to find the most beautiful woman ever to exist waiting there. From the moment I tripped my way over to you, I knew you were meant to be mine. You are the other half of me, the piece that makes me whole, and I will never allow a day to pass where I don’t show you how much I love you.”
Bouncing on her toes with excitement, Jamison smiled through her tears. “Liam, from the moment you came to Haven House, I knew you were made only for me. You might have tripped, but I was the one who tumbled. I tumbled straight off a cliff and into love with you. You’re my best friend, the love of my life, and my always. The years will pass, and we’ll change and grow old together, but at our core… we’ll always be us. Soulmates.”
Abe took a deep breath, his ceremony notes at the ready. “Okay, repeat after me. I, William, take you, Jamison, to be my wife—to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part. This is my solemn vow.”
Samuel passed the ring into Liam’s waiting palm, and with his eyes never leaving his bride, Liam repeated the vow as he slid the band onto Jamison’s finger. “I, William, take you, Jamison, to be my wife—to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health…”
Abe’s eyes went wide. “You forgot a part,” he whispered loudly. “Say until death do us part. This is my solemn vow.”
The first rays of sunrise lit the horizon behind them, casting shades of pink and purple with just a smidge of burnt orange through the trees. The growing light illuminated the Marriage Oak, giving it an otherworldly glow that seemed to rise from the giant tree’s roots.
