Page 139 of Third and Ten

I pull my hand back to cover my reddened cheeks and let out an embarrassed groan, all while Father leans back in his chair and laughs heartily. “You could have just led with that, you know. You’re only human.”

JD turns to face me. “See, I told you he’d understand,” he whispers with a wink.

“I’m sorry about him,” I say, ignoring JD. “What he should have said is that we need to move in together for Ethan’s sake, and we don’t want to subject one another to that much temptation. Or, you know, we’d probably be back in a few months, asking you to move up the wedding for the first reason you mentioned.”

Father laughs lightly again. “It’s fine. Your honesty is refreshing and reassuring, and your willingness to sacrifice the big ceremony in an effort to protect one another’s souls speaks volumes about your true intentions. You’ve already learned that real love is about humility, service, and compromise.” He grabs a pair of reading glasses from his desk and puts them on before peering down at a calendar. “How is next Saturday morning, just after the New Year?”

“Really?” I gulp.

“That’s what you wanted, right?”

I glance back at JD, my heart thumping loudly. “Yeah?”

A grin spreads across his face, and he brings my hand up to his mouth to kiss the inside of my wrist. “Yeah, let’s do it.”

I sigh, melting into my chair. The way he looks at me with so much adoration never gets old. “Okay. Next Saturday, it is,” I agree, my voice sounding more breathy and desperate than I intend.

“Wonderful. And until then, I strongly recommend the two of you not spend any time unchaperoned,” Father Conrad offers with an amused smile.

An hour or so later, we complete our first pre-marriage counseling session, and I walk out even more in love with my fiancé than I was when I first arrived. JD finally felt comfortable sharing some of his more deeply held convictions, leaving me in awe of his faith and the way his mind works. Now I understand why he didn’t give up on me after the first few times I turned him down, and his trust in God makes me want to revisit my more lax religious stance.

I text my mom, Ethan, and Loren as soon as we’re done, letting them all know that we set a date for the wedding. Though I warned my mom about the possibility of Ethan and me moving in with JD in the near future, I’d left out my intention to get married first. To my surprise, she reacts as though she’s been waiting on this news all day, like I’m just confirming the details of the ceremony she’s already started planning.

Ethan receives the announcement as enthusiastically as his age and gender allow; as opposed to Loren, who’s giddy about joining my mom and me for some impromptu dress shopping. JD and I part ways. (Okay, so we make out in the parking lot first, but he started it when he leaned in to declare some of the ways he plans to show me how much he loves me in under two weeks and counting.) Then I head out to meet my mom and Loren at a bridal shop in the next town over.

Although I’m dreading this part of the process, I’ve already taken the day off, and there isn’t much time to find something off the rack. I’d honestly prefer to skip the fancy wedding dress altogether, but I want to do this for JD. It will mean a lot to him if I show up wearing something traditional, and it seems like the least I could do after he’s sacrificed so much for me.

The problem is that I’ve never been able to wear a formal dress without alterations before, and with the time crunch we’re facing, I’m certain it’ll be impossible to find anything decent to fit. For efficiency’s sake, we start by pulling any and every dress that might possibly work with my current measurements, regardless of style, leaving me with a half-dozen options to start.

My mom and Loren each get one veto, which they agree on, and I eliminate two dresses, one that’s too revealing and another that seems too complicated. I realize where my priorities lie when I catch myself worrying about JD having trouble with all the tiny buttons. Somehow, setting a date has made it even harder to concentrate on anything else, which reminds me—I’m going to have to keep a close eye on my chart in case my window of fertility opens early this next cycle. I can’t imagine telling JD that we’ll have to wait another week to consummate our marriage if we want to avoid getting pregnant, though he may be open to taking that risk if it happens. Either way, we should probably talk about our intentions beforehand.

Okay, dresses. Pick a dress, then worry about what happens once it comes off.

The saleswoman, who’d introduced herself as Nicole, holds up the first option. It’s surprisingly pretty, despite being simple, and I step into the dress and pull the long sleeves up over my arms. The neckline is square and offers decent coverage, even though I’m stuffing myself into a top that’s at least a size too small, and she zips up the back to reveal a trumpet silhouette. “Oh, wow,” Nicole says. “It’s gorgeous…like it was made for you.”

“Sounds like I need to check this out—oh, my word,” Miley, the other stylist, gushes as she joins us in the dressing room. “Honey, you’d swear they sewed you into that dress!”

I bite my lip as I stare at my reflection. I’m not confident about my body very often, but I have to admit that the dress is flattering. I turn to the side and survey another angle, and I’m mostly pleased with the way it fits over my hips and butt, which never happens. Something about the cut and the plain fabric allow everything to fall just right.

“Shall we go out and show Mama?” Miley proposes.

I nod. “Yes. I think so.”

She leads me on while I fist the skirt in my right hand and stumble awkwardly over to the platform. My mom and Loren immediately fall silent behind me. I glance at them nervously in the mirrored wall, but their expressions are blank.

Miley circles me as she smooths out the dress’s train, and my heart starts racing when Nicole clips a veil over my head. My mom gasps at the same time my vision begins to blur. “Oh, Tenley,” she murmurs as her hand flies to her chest. “You’re absolutely beautiful.” She sniffles a few times and reaches out for a box of tissues. I’m tempted to question her, but the truth is that for the first time in my life, I believe her. I feel beautiful.

I inhale sharply as reality slams into me. The veil is making it all too real.

I’m wearing a freaking wedding dress. Because I’m about to get married. To a man who’s not only younger than me, but also a former NFL player. After dating him for under three months.

None of this even makes sense, yet I’ve pretty much quit caring about what makes sense in the first place.

Still, it’s a lot. I swallow hard, attempting to right my voice. “I…I think I kind of love this one. It’s nice, right?”

“Nice? Nice?” Loren yells as she dabs her eyes with a tissue. “Tenley, I’ve got half a mind to hate you after this. Who lands a husband like JD without even trying and looks this freaking good in the first wedding dress she puts on? Can’t you save some luck for the rest of us?”

I laugh as I dry my own eyes.

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