But that was rectified now. Billy beamed at the baby, proudly answering the questions and repeating the vows with her. Olivia, bless her heart, gaped peacefully up at the preacher; had the good grace to flash him a toothless grin when the water met her scalp. Reverend Searcy actually kissed her cheek!
“I now present to you the Bristol family—Billy, Eve, and little Olivia,” he announced from the step, “united and sanctified this day by the grace of our Lord. What God has joined, let no man put asunder!”
Applause broke out around them, and as she and Billy turned to accept everyone’s congratulations, Eve felt waves of joy and heavenly sunshine washing over her. Behind them, her mother played a postlude on the piano, which had been tuned as Mercy’s special gift to them, while Gabe was grinning at her over the top of his spectacles.
“What a day! And what a fine celebration,” he said, pumping Billy’s hand before pressing her cheek with a kiss. “It’s good to know about weddings—what takes place when the bride and groom actually go through with it!” he teased. “Might be inviting you to one myself, one of these days.”
“Oh, yeah?” Billy raised an eyebrow. “Gonna tell me about her?”
“All in good time. Right now, I’m headed for a glass of that punch.”
Eve looked toward the long table set up in the shade, draped with an embroidered linen tablecloth of Virgilia’s, which they’d found in the sideboard. Beulah Mae had mixed up a pretty peach punch and made pastries, and beside her, Asa was ready to cut the two-tiered wedding cake he’d created.
“If I were a bettin’ man, I’d guess those two’ll be tyin’ the knot pretty quick,” Billy murmured beside her. “It’d be good to have ’em both here, if Michael can spare Asa.”
“What’s that?” Malloy turned from talking with the minister to grin at them. “If you’re thinking Asa wants to latch onto your cook, you’re a couple months late, son. He spoke to me about it on our way home from cleaning this place. And she’s already said yes!”
Eve chortled. “She’s never let on! I—”
“Beulah Mae has always done exactly as she pleased,” Billy’s mother chimed in. “I may have been the mistress of this house, but make no mistake—my cook was always in charge!”
Virgilia gazed around at the lawn, where the girls were releasing some pent-up energy with the dogs—where the trimmed bushes and freshly painted walls bespoke a home of long-standing distinction. She made a pretty picture in peacock blue, with the red, orange, and golden leaves of the maple trees as a backdrop.
“I can’t thank you enough for restoring this house . . . these grounds,” she said softly, her hand on Billy’s arm. “It brings me real peace—real joy—to return here now, where Owen and I began our life together and had our family.”
She smiled warmly at Eve. “And I’m glad you’ve decided to come to your studio just one or two days a week, dear. This place needs a firm hand like yours to keep it running, so Billy can raise horses like his daddy did. It—it’s a proud day. For all of us.”
Eve kissed her cheek and passed her a sleepy Olivia. “We need a bite of that cake and some punch, Mister Billy. The voice of the turtledove is calling my name, you know.”
Her new husband—her new husband!—grinned. “Michael didn’t have to read that passage for me, ’cause I already know your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.”
Lovely. Not a word she’d heard in Billy’s vocabulary before, rough-and-tumble rancher that he was. But his eyes told her he meant it, just as he meant everything he said. And, after all, lovely was based on the word love—and he knew plenty about that!
As they reached the cake table, the three girls gathered around him, ready for Asa’s dessert. Billy brought the light to their faces with his smile; made them hoot and holler when he kissed her, his bride, on a double-dog dare from Solace about how long they could hold on.
It was a glorious kiss, too, sweet with punch and frosting—sweet with the promise of a love that would only grow stronger in the coming days and years. How far she’d come from resenting the Malloys for making her a charity case. How much she’d learned about how it was blessed to receive as well as to give, for the gifts of their love had changed her entire life. She had asked, and they had given—just as Michael had quoted in today’s Scripture.
“I love you so much . . . I owe you so much, Billy,” she breathed, watching the way his lips moved around a bite of white, frosted cake.
He held a forkful in front of her then, coaxing her mouth open with a callused hand that caressed her cheek, as though he had ideas about doing that later, when they were alone.
“I love you, Eve—and I’m gonna make you pay up every single day, too,” he teased softly. “Pay and pay and pay, until it’s me indebted to you, Peaches. And then I guess we’ll have to start all over again, won’t we?”
Eve took the cake—and his kiss—closing her eyes.
Life was sweet. Life was sweet indeed.
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