Christmas Camp Wedding

by Karen Schaler

  “The suit,” Haley said.

  “The tux,” Trisha said.

  Haley laughed. “You were only wearing the tux before for the photos for the B&B. I don’t even know if you need to wear a suit with a tie and all that for this wedding. This is just going to be a simple ceremony.”

  Trisha looked appalled. “This is a wedding not a barbecue. This is one of the most important moments in your life, and it’s going to be photographed. You’re going to have those photographs forever.”

  “I have to agree with Trisha on this one,” Jeff said. “I want to look my best for you. It’s our wedding, and you said you had an amazing dress. So, I’m thinking I need to wear the tux.”

  Haley’s shoulders slumped. “Had a dress. I don’t have it anymore.”

  “What do you mean?” Trisha asked. “What happened to your dress?”

  “Nothing happened to it. I’m sure it’s perfectly fine hanging back up at the boutique in Boston. I was doing a trade with them. They were giving me the dress for all the publicity photos we were doing, and I was going to give them some, as well, for their own advertising. But all that got canceled, so I had to give back the dress.”

  Trisha looked so upset you’d think she was the one getting married. “So, what did you bring to wear?”

  Haley cringed. She had no idea this was going to be such a big deal. Seeing the way everyone was looking at her made her regret her next words. “I brought some black pants and a nice top.”

  “No, I meant, what did you bring to wear for the wedding?” Trisha asked impatiently.

  Haley looked at Jeff before looking back to Trisha. “That’s it. That’s what I brought for the wedding. I was in a hurry and still upset and not even sure what we would be able to do up here, so I just grabbed something I thought would work.”

  The room was silent.

  By the look on everyone’s faces, Haley knew she had really messed up. “Okay, maybe I should have brought a dress. I was just thinking we were going to be up here in the woods. Pants seemed more practical. They’re nice pants, designer . . .”

  More silence.

  Ben walked over and put his arm around Haley. “It’s okay. I have an idea.”

  A few minutes later, Ben, Haley, Trisha, and Kathy were all upstairs in Ben’s bedroom. He was holding a white garment bag.

  “My wife, Grace, was very sentimental,” Ben said. “She never could give away her wedding dress, and while I donated most of her clothes to charity, I just couldn’t part with this.” Reverently, he handed it to Haley. “I know she would want you to have it.”

  Haley looked overwhelmed with emotion.

  Kathy had tears in her own eyes.

  “But, I couldn’t . . .” Haley said. She was at a loss for words.

  Ben smiled. “You don’t have to wear it if you don’t want to, but I would like you to have it. Grace would have loved you so much, just like I do.” Ben kissed Haley on the cheek and left the room.

  Haley turned to Kathy. “I don’t know what to say.”

  Trisha took the dress from her. “Let’s see the dress.”

  Kathy took it back from Trisha and gave it to Haley. “It’s Haley’s dress. She can decide what to do with it.”

  “It seems pretty simple to me. You need a dress. Here’s a dress. Let’s see if it fits. You two are about the same size,” Trisha said.

  Haley nodded. “I know. Jeff let me wear some of her clothes the first time I came to Christmas Camp and hadn’t packed properly. But a wedding dress is a whole different story, and I don’t know if wearing Jeff’s mom’s dress is the right thing to do . . .”

  “I think it’s absolutely the right thing to do,” Trisha said. “This way you would be honoring his mother’s memory, and she would be part of the wedding. I know that would mean a lot to Ben, too.”

  Kathy nodded. “I think she’s right. I think it would be really special. But only you can decide what’s right for you.”

  Trisha eyed the garment bag. “So? Why don’t you look at the dress and then you can decide. I need to go check with the guys about the decorations. Let me know what you decide.” Trisha left the room.

  Once she was gone, Haley turned to Kathy. “I don’t know what to do.”

  Kathy put her arm around her. “Take a deep breath. It’s all going to be okay. Let’s just look at the dress and see what you think. Okay?”

  Haley took a deep breath and nodded slowly. “Okay.” Her hands trembled as she slowly unzipped the bag and carefully took out a lovely classic satin sheath wedding dress. It had a simple scoop neck and long sleeves. Haley caught her breath when she saw it and fought back tears. “It’s perfect,” she whispered, holding the dress up to her. She looked at Kathy.

  The tears were back in Kathy’s eyes. “It sure is,” Kathy said. “Try it on. See how it fits.” When Kathy took the dress from her, Haley quickly slipped out of her clothes and carefully, with Kathy’s help, put on the dress.

  Amazed, Kathy stood back and looked at her. “I can’t believe it. It fits like it was made for you.”

  Haley didn’t look surprised at all. She looked grateful. “Or like it was meant to be.”

  Kathy nodded. “Exactly.”

  Haley took a deep breath and smiled. “Everything’s finally all coming together. I have flowers. I have a photographer, a dress. This wedding is really going to work . . .”

  “Wait, don’t say that, you might jinx . . .” But the rest of what Kathy was about to say was cut off by Trisha yelling up to them from downstairs.

  “Haley!” Trisha hollered. “You need to come down here right away!”

  Haley was smiling and humming the Christmas song We Wish You a Merry Christmas with Kathy as they headed down the stairs, but when they got to the bottom and saw everyone gathered in the sitting room looking concerned, Haley stopped singing.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  Jeff came over and took both her hands. “There’s really no good way to tell you this, so I’m just going to give it to you straight.”

  “Okay, now you’re starting to really scare me,” Haley said. “Is everyone okay?”

  Jeff nodded. “Everyone’s fine, but a weather system has moved in. We thought it was going to miss us, but it changed course, and we’re getting a direct hit now. The snow is coming down hard, and it’s supposed to last for several days.”

  “But it was fine earlier,” Haley said. “It wasn’t snowing that much.” Haley walked over to the window and looked out. She was stunned. The snow was now coming down so hard all she could see was a whiteout.

  Jeff joined her. “They’ve just closed Alpine Road and some other roads as a precaution.”

  “But Alpine Road is the only way to get here,” Haley said. When Jeff nodded, it hit her full force. “So, this means no one can get here for the wedding—my parents, Gail, everyone from Christmas Camp . . .”

  “Or Laura,” Ben added. “Thankfully, she left earlier right after lunch to get some things from home, but she won’t be able to get back here now.”

  “And our wedding photographer won’t be able to get here either,” Trisha said. She looked as upset as Haley. “And your parents were bringing most of the food, the wedding rings, and your dad was officiating.”

  Haley nodded. She was still struggling to comprehend what was happening.

  “So, what does this mean?” Kathy asked.

  Haley, heartbroken, looked at Jeff. “It means we have to cancel the wedding. Again.”

  Chapter Eight

  Haley numbly left the group and walked over to the front door. When she opened it, a blast of wind and snow hit her full force, but she didn’t flinch. She just kept staring out into the bleakness. She couldn’t see more than a few inches in front of her, but that didn’t stop her from taking a few more steps outside. “Why is this happening?” she whispered as more blinding snow hit her in the face.

  Jeff quickly joined her, grabbed her hand, and pulled her back inside and shut the door. “H
aley, come on. You can’t go out there.”

  Haley laughed. It was the kind of laugh you heard right before someone lost it. “I can’t go outside. I can’t have my wedding. What else can’t I do? I can’t do anything. We can’t do anything. This is . . .”

  When Jeff took her into his arms, she finally calmed down, but with the calm came more pain. When she looked up, there were tears in her eyes. “I just wanted to marry you. This shouldn’t be that hard . . .”

  Jeff nodded. “I know.”

  “So, what do we do now?” Haley asked. “We were supposed to get married tomorrow, Christmas Eve . . .”

  “We find another time,” Jeff said. “We reschedule.”

  Haley looked brokenhearted. “But it meant so much to us, to all of us, to get married at Christmas, when we first met and fell in love . . .”

  “Are you saying you want to wait until next Christmas?” Jeff asked.

  “No. I mean, I don’t know.” Haley looked confused. “I don’t know about any of this.”

  “Let’s not make any decisions right now,” Jeff said. “We should be grateful no one’s stuck in this storm. Everyone’s home safe. We’re all here together. It’s almost Christmas. Let’s make the best of it.”

  Haley nodded. It was just another reason she loved Jeff so much. He was always looking at the positive side of things and didn’t usually let stress get to him.

  When there was a loud knock on the door, they both looked startled. Jeff immediately opened it and found Gail standing there covered in snow.

  “Merry Christmas,” she said, brushing snow off her.

  Jeff pulled her quickly inside. “What are you doing here? How did you get here? Are you okay? Dad, Gail’s here.”

  Ben came rushing over and gave her a hug. “I was so worried about you. I’ve been calling and calling but no answer. I knew you weren’t going to leave Boston until later, and I left you a message about the storm, but when I couldn’t reach you I got worried.”

  Gail kissed his cheek. “I’m sorry I worried you. I wanted to surprise you all, so I left really early this morning and luckily I was almost here when the snow really hit. They closed the road behind me.”

  Haley gave Gail a hug. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

  Jeff hugged her, too. “We all are.”

  Snowball came running over to her. Gail picked her up and cuddled her. “There’s my little Snowball.” She handed Snowball to Ben. “But right now I’d just really like to get out of these wet clothes.” She headed for the stairs. “I’ll be back down soon.”

  “I’ll make you some hot chocolate,” Ben said.

  “That sounds perfect,” Gail said, smiling back at him.

  A half hour later, they were all gathered in the kitchen. Haley watched as Gail helped Ben make the hot chocolate. They were so cute together. You could see how much they cared for each other. Haley looked over and saw that Jeff was watching them, too, and he was smiling. When Gail went to get out the mugs, she only took out the Santa mugs. Haley watched her exchange a look with Ben and saw that Jeff saw the look, too.

  Jeff walked over to Gail and gave her another hug. “I’m so glad you’re here.” He reached up into the cupboard and took out one of Gail’s new snowman mugs. “I’d like to try one of these mugs. Seems perfect on a snowy day like this.”

  Gail touched Jeff’s hand. “Are you sure? The Santa mugs are a tradition.”

  Jeff nodded. “And I say it’s time we start making a new tradition with these snowmen.”

  Haley walked over and joined them and took out a snowman mug, too. “I agree.”

  Gail looked touched. “Thank you.”

  Haley knew Gail was thanking them for much more than just using the mugs.

  Jeff smiled back at her. “You’re welcome.”

  Just as they clinked snowman mugs together, the lights went out.

  Haley laughed. “Seriously?”

  Kathy laughed, too, and looked over at Haley. “What did you say to jinx us this time?”

  Haley shook her head. “I swear I didn’t say anything.”

  Ben tried the light switch but got nothing. “The power’s out. It must be the storm.” He opened a drawer and took out some flashlights and passed them around. “I’m going to go check on the generator. I don’t hear it kicking in.”

  “I’ll come with you,” Jeff said.

  A few minutes later when the guys returned Ben had a smile on his face. “So I have some good news and some bad news. What do you want first?”

  “The bad news,” Haley said.

  “The bad news is the generator isn’t working.”

  “And the good news?” Haley asked.

  Ben grinned back at them all. “Now we can play Christmas Camp Charades.”

  Everyone laughed.

  “Nice try, Dad,” Jeff said.

  Ben smiled back at him. “I’m serious. Who wants to play?”

  “I do!” Kathy said. “I love games.”

  “Me, too,” Steve chimed in. “But exactly what is this?”

  Haley laughed at their enthusiasm. “It’s something Ben does at all the Christmas Camps. It’s like charades, only we play using Christmas songs, and you split into two teams. Each team gets a different song, and you compete at the same time. The first team to guess right, wins. It’s hilarious.”

  Gail laughed. “Especially when you’re wearing the crazy Christmas sweaters.”

  “Oh, that’s right,” Haley said. “How could I forget that part? Luckily, we don’t have the sweaters this year.”

  Ben’s smile grew. “Want to bet?”

  And a few minutes later everyone was wearing one of Ben’s crazy Christmas sweaters, because of course, he had a collection of them, and they were playing Christmas Camp Charades. There was a lot of joking around and laughter, and once again, Haley ruled, winning her round against Jeff. The song she had gotten was Dean Martin’s Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow. For her clue, she had run outside and scooped up a bunch of snow and brought it in and dumped it on Jeff’s head. By the time the game was over, Haley had laughed so much her stomach hurt. The crazy Christmas Camp Charades was exactly what she had needed to take her mind off of having to cancel her wedding for the second time.

  After charades, Ben had another game for them to play that was all about how to make dinner without the groceries Haley’s parents were bringing and without any electricity. It became a scavenger hunt through the kitchen where anyone who found something that could work would put it on the counter. Haley was rummaging through the pantry when Steve joined her.

  He picked up a box of crackers. “How about these?” he asked.

  “Sure,” Haley said. “I saw some different cheeses and things in the refrigerator that Laura was going to use to make appetizers, so we can always do cheese and crackers.”

  “I’m pretty good at whipping things together,” Steve said. “I’ll go take a look at what we have.”

  Steve was about to leave when Haley stopped him. “Hey, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about something.”

  “Sure,” Steve said. “What about?”

  “Kathy.”

  Steve nodded, laughed a little. “Okay.”

  Haley chose her words carefully. “I’ve noticed you two hanging out a lot and you seem to be getting along well.”

  “We are. She’s really great.”

  “She is,” Haley said. “Look, I’m just going to say it. Jeff told me you traveled a lot. You’re not one to really stay in one place for very long . . .”

  “That’s true,” Steve said.

  “So, how does that work with your relationships?”

  “You mean, how would that work with Kathy.”

  “Yes,” Haley said. “That’s exactly what I mean. I just don’t want to see her get hurt. I’m not saying you would do that intentionally. She just seems to really like you . . .”

  “She’s great. We’re talking about maybe hanging out for Christmas Eve while I’m in town and then I g
uess we’ll see.”

  Haley nodded. “Sorry if I seem a little overprotective . . .”

  “You just care about your friend,” Steve said. “I get it. All I can tell you right now is that Kathy is someone I want to get to know better and I’m not leading her on or anything like that. I would never do that.”

  “And now I see why you’re Jeff’s best friend,” Haley said. She smiled. “Thanks for this little talk.”

  “Anytime.” Steve grinned back at her. “But now I better go see what Laura has in the refrigerator to make us something to eat and I’m going to put as much as I can into the freezer. Even with the power out the freezer will keep things cold for forty-eight hours if you don’t open it again.”

  Later that night everyone was gathered around the fire, staying warm, with blankets wrapped around them. The electricity was still off, so the room was only lit by the fireplace and candles. It looked beautiful and romantic.

  Haley was standing over by the fire. Jeff joined her. “Not exactly the rehearsal dinner we were planning,” Jeff said. “But, I have to admit, Steve, you did a great job with what we had. How did you know that about the freezer and when did you learn how to cook? The only thing you used to make in college was mac and cheese from the box.”

  Steve laughed. “Luckily, I’ve picked up a thing or two in all my travels.”

  Kathy was sitting next to Steve on the couch. She looked impressed. “Those goat cheese balls you made with the chopped walnuts and parsley were great.”

  “And so were those hummus cucumber rolls,” Gail said.

  Steve held out his hands. “I take tips.”

  Everyone laughed.

  “But I can’t really take the credit. The appetizer recipes were Laura’s,” Steve said. “She calls the goat cheese balls her Christmas Camp Goat Cheese Delights, and I agree, they’re great and so easy to make, luckily. And I have to give credit to Trisha and Gail for putting together a great spinach apple salad. I think we all pitched in and made a great team.”

  Gail laughed. “Using flashlights and candles to see with.”

  “I have to get you some of those electric lanterns for emergencies like this,” Jeff said.