by Lilah Rivers
“Can we just go already?” she begged.
“What for? The wedding doesn’t start for another two hours. Do you really want to just sit there? I mean, I’m sure my father would be more than happy to give you some long lectures on marriage, but I can’t think it would be all that fun for you,” Chelsea warned.
Clementine slumped, fiddling with her dress and sitting on the bed with far too much anticipation.
She didn’t know how she was meant to continue sitting there, waiting, just hoping that everything would come together at the church. Of course, she knew that it would. Everything was going to be fine.
But Clementine wouldn’t be satisfied until she was pronounced as David’s wife. That was the most important thing, the only thing that mattered.
“I just want to be his wife already,” she said.
“I know you do, but it’s going to come soon enough. I mean, at least the two of you are getting married today. You have only known one another for a few months! Look at me and Hank. We have been in love for a few years now and we aren’t getting married until next month. I think you can wait a couple hours,” Chelsea scolded with laughter.
“Oh, I know. You’re right. We are really lucky to be getting married this soon. But I can’t hardly wait to be in his arms and to tell him how happy I am to be his wife,” Clementine said.
“Well, until you get to stand before him and make that commitment, why don’t you spend some time thanking God?” Chelsea suggested.
Clementine smiled. That was exactly what she needed to be doing.
Clementine bowed her head and closed her eyes.
“Dear Lord, oh how I praise you for this day! Thank you for this wonderful gift, for getting to marry this amazing man that you have created! I am overjoyed to become his wife. I never imagined that I would be so blessed as this, but you have been gracious to me.
“Please help me to be a good wife, like the one described in Proverbs thirty-one. Please help me to bring you glory in my role as a wife,” she prayed.
“Thank you, our Father, for this day. Amen.”
“Amen,” Chelsea echoed.
They went down the stairs and found Aunt Roberta sitting peacefully, also in a posture of prayer. But when she heard them, she looked up and smiled.
“Clementine, you look so beautiful. You have never resembled your mother more than you do at this very moment,” she said.
“Really?” Clementine asked.
“Really. I think you look amazing. Your husband is going to be so delighted to see you,” Aunt Roberta said.
The three sat together and spent some time talking about the men that they loved. Aunt Roberta told stories about her marriage and her husband, doing her best to encourage the two young women who were both about to embark on their marriage journeys.
“You must miss him very much,” Chelsea noted, hearing about her husband.
“Oh, I really do. And I miss the partnership of marriage,” Aunt Roberta said.
“Would you ever marry again?” Clementine asked.
Mrs. Roberta paused, as if thinking about the question, long and hard.
“You know, I’ve prayed about it before. I can’t imagine ever falling in love again, not at my age. But if the Lord saw fit to bring someone into my life, I think I would be thrilled about it. Marriage is a lovely union and it represents so much more,” Aunt Roberta said.
“It does, it really does. I cannot wait to be a part of something that reflects Christ and the Church as marriage is meant to,” Clementine said.
“Nor can I. It is going to be matchless,” Chelsea said.
Finally, the hour had come that they needed to be on their way to town and the coach that Aunt Roberta had hired for the day was there to pick the ladies up and take them to the church.
The drive was as it always was, but it felt painfully long to Clementine who was dreaming of the day ahead and the moment that she would get to make her commitment to David and become his wife.
By the time they arrived, she hopped out of the coach with her aunt and dearest friend and they waited until they were ushered forward and into the church.
The piano was played as Clementine entered through the doors and her feet stepped up the path that would lead her to the handsome man who stood at the end of the aisle with his lovely suit and even lovelier smile.
Clementine could hardly believe that she got to be his wife. With each step that drew her closer to David, she praised the Lord and thanked him for the future that she would have at David’s side.
“Dearly Beloved,” Reverend St. Claire began. He went on to greet the church, to say a prayer of thanksgiving, and then to lead Clementine and David in their vows.
“Clementine Rogers, do you take David Brown to be your husband under the commitment set forth through Holy Scripture?” he asked.
“I do, a thousand times over,” Clementine promised.
David grinned at that.
“And David Brown, do you take Clementine Rogers to be your wife under the commitment set forth through Holy Scripture?” he asked again.
“I do, a million times over,” David said, smiling proudly.
Clementine giggled and tried to hold herself steady as she was so tempted to swoon into her new husband’s arms.
“By the love of our Lord, I pronounce you husband and wife. Mr. and Mrs. Brown, go and be blessed,” the Reverend said.
David took Clementine’s hand in his own and she felt the hard-working skin of it that was such a comfort to her. She counted it pure joy that she would be held by this hand every day for the rest of her life.
They departed the church to the cheers of their friends and made their way to the coach that was going to drive them a few towns away where they would celebrate their honeymoon. It was an area up north where there were supposed to be the most beautiful glaciers.
The whole ride was filled with laughter and glee from their stories of the morning and how they had behaved as they had gotten ready.
“So there I sat, completely ready but with Chelsea reminding me that I still had two hours before the wedding was going to begin. So I had nothing to do but sit and be anxious,” Clementine laughed.
“Well, I was almost late because I accidentally brought the wrong undershirt with me and Hank had to rush back to the ranch and go through all of my things to find the right one. He said he had a real tough time trying to make sure that he didn’t see you ladies,” David said.
“Why did he care about not seeing us?” Clementine asked.
“We didn’t want you to know that I brought the wrong undershirt. I was anxious that you might think I had been careless and Hank didn’t want you worrying about me turning up late to the wedding,” he explained with a grin.
“Oh, none of it matters now anyway. You are my husband and I am your wife and we have one another forever now,” Clementine said.
“Forever,” David repeated.
By the time they reached the inn up in the glaciers, Clementine was ready to give David the note that she had been carrying around all this time.
“I have something for you,” she said.
“Oh? I have something for you as well,” David replied.
Clementine pulled the note out of her bodice and handed it over. She had folded it, but it still bore the crevices of the time that Tabitha had crumpled it and thrown it at her.
“It looks as though you were angry at the paper,” David said with a laugh.
“Not me. But Tabitha was, once. It was what she found that had made her decide to come after me,” Clementine said.
“You mean it is from before that?” David asked.
“It is. And I never planned to give it to you. It was just a way for me to get my thoughts out, a way to tell you that I loved you without having to face you,” she confessed.
David read the note and Clementine could see the tears well up in his eyes. She thought that he must truly be moved by her words and it warmed her heart to consider that.
“My love, this is the most beautiful gift. Thank you for caring so much,” he said.
“I can do nothing else,” Clementine replied.
“Well, as I said, I have a gift for you as well,” David said, reminding her.
“And what is that?” she asked.
David reached into the pocket of his trousers and pulled out a small, red velvet bag. He handed it gently to Clementine.
She tugged the little golden string that tied it closed and reached her two fingers into the small bag. There was a paper and something hard.
She pulled out the paper first. It was folded up and she unfolded it in order to read the words written there.
My Darling New Wife,
There is nothing that I might give you that will possess the wealth of my love for you. There is nothing that I could ever give you that would repay you for the love that you have afforded me. But here I have some small token of affection for you.
I do hope that you like it and that it makes you happy, bringing you a sense of joy. Know that my love for you is unlike anything else that I might compare it to.
Your Doting Husband,
David
Clementine reached back into the bag and pulled out the little golden heart that she found there.
“Is this real?” she asked, her jaw dropping.
“It is. I had been saving all my money anyway, so when a trader from out west was coming through town, I thought that it was the perfect gift to buy for you,” David said.
Clementine could hardly believe it. The heart was small, small enough to be a pendant on a necklace. But the weight of it held so much. It held the love that her husband had for her, and it held the fortune that he was apparently willing to spend on her, with all the value that he put on her.
“Thank you, it is beautiful,” she said.
“But not half so beautiful, nor half so valuable as you. I just hope that you like it and that it serves as a reminder to you that there is nothing in this world more valuable to me than you,” David said.
Clementine leaned her head forward and their foreheads met in confidence.
“David Brown, you are the most incredible man in all the world,” Clementine said.
“Clementine Brown, you are the only woman who has ever mattered to me or ever will. What a gift you are,” he whispered softly.
Clementine clutched the heart in her hand and almost felt as though it was beating there, for her own heart was so full and so strong.
She looked up at David, imagining what her future with this man would look like, imagining how happy they were going to be. There was so much ahead for them, but in that moment, she realized none of it mattered.
She was there, with David. He loved her and she loved him and that would always be enough.
Epilogue
As the past five months had gone by, David and Clementine had grown closer than ever. Their love was stronger and greater and there was nothing, it seemed, that could get in their way.
There had not been nearly so many trials as there had been prior to their engagement, but they both believed that there would certainly be trying times ahead. However, they were confident that they could get through just about anything now that they had one another.
David looked at his wife as they sat along the river and beside a forest. Hank and Chelsea were seated on a blanket nearby, laughing and joking about something humorous that had taken place in the last few days for them.
But David’s eyes were trained on his wife as she opened the little tin to reveal the stew that she had made for everyone for their lunch. She then pulled out large loaves of the softest bread that David knew she had made. It was one of his favorite things that Clementine would make now and then.
Everyone dug in, enjoying their lunch.
“So, here is celebrating your four months of marriage,” Clementine said to their friends.
“And your five months!” Chelsea replied with equal enthusiasm.
David was thrilled that he was able to celebrate this milestone with Clementine. She had been an incredible wife so far. She was stronger than he had ever imagined, also more skilled. Sure, he had known of her cooking talents all along, but he had no idea what a mind she had for the ways of running a household.
They had moved into a larger house on the ranch property, one that Mrs. Roberta had reserved for married couples or those with only one or two children. While they had not found themselves expecting a child yet, David longed for the day when they would fill that house and need to move into a larger one.
“What has been your favorite part of marriage so far?” Clementine asked Chelsea as she bit into the bread.
“So far, I think it is waking up in the mornings. I look beside me and there is Hank. He has that dreamy gaze about him, you know the way people do when they try to blink themselves awake?” she said.
“Oh, I know. But isn’t he awake before you?” Clementine asked.
Chelsea and Hank looked at one another and then began to laugh.
“You would think so,” Hank said.
“But actually, I am the morning person,” Chelsea said, finishing for him. “I love to be up early. Hank would much prefer to stay up late if his job position allowed.”
David looked at Clementine with a grin of his own. They were quite the opposite. She hardly ever woke up until he would shake her, gently, and tell her that he was making his way out.
Then she would hop up, in a hurry, and throw on her dress and rush to the house to make breakfast. It was always rather comical and last minute.
“Well, I can’t say that we are in the same boat,” Clementine said to Chelsea.
“Not even in the slightest,” David added. “But she is so beautiful when she sleeps that I can hardly bring myself to wake her some days.”
“But you do…” Clementine said, giving him a sly glance with a teasing smile.
“Yes, and I always will,” he replied.
Life on the ranch had been peaceful as of late. It was still difficult at times, but at least they were no longer struggling to make ends meet.
Shortly after David and Clementine married, Mrs. Roberta announced that she would have to sell the ranch. It was with full regret, and her first efforts were to go to the other ranchers in town to see who was willing to purchase either land or livestock from her.
When none of them would agree to it, David saw that Mrs. Roberta had begun to worry. And then, one day, she found herself inundated with a whole host of customers. There had to be thirty of them. And again the next day.
What they had learned was that everyone in town had rallied together. The other ranchers, Mrs. Roberta’s competitors, loved her so dearly that they all decided it was worth a small hit to their own businesses in order to help her.
So, for a full week, the five other ranches in town sent their customers to Mrs. Roberta. By the end of the week, she had been able to replace all of the things that had burnt up. More than that, she’d actually had to purchase more cattle because her own stock was so depleted and she was more than able to afford to do so.