by Amanda Tru
Perfect.
Somehow it all seemed so fitting. They’d started the summer with Dallas and Kate’s wedding in this same backyard. Now they were ending it with another beautiful, yet completely different wedding for another Hutchins sibling. All in all, Brooke and Dylan’s wedding had been the stuff fairy tales were made of. Brooke was stunning, Dylan was dashing, the bridesmaids looked exquisite in their original London Hutchins designs, and everything ticked off like clockwork, courtesy of wedding planner, TeraLyn Snow.
Figuring she wouldn’t be missed from her own bridesmaid duties for at least a few minutes, London wearily sank to a chair at the nearest table, which happened to be occupied by only one other guest—a small older man with wispy, white hair framing a shiny bald head.
London sat watching the scene in silence for a few minutes, feeling her tight muscles relax while she people-watched her friends and family. It seemed as if everyone had a somebody. All of her siblings were matching up and getting married. Even Geneva had brought a date to the wedding, though London doubted he would last as her date past the next few days. Geneva was a serial dater, and to London’s knowledge, she’d never had a serious relationship or even a boyfriend last longer than a few months.
Sydney was still single, of course. With her all-consuming profession, Sydney didn’t have a love life that London knew of. Idly, she realized that was probably something that she should talk to her sister about. Sydney was always eager to deposit her two cents into London’s life, but it never worked the other way around.
London watched as the cake was cut, realizing she should probably be more involved, but she just didn’t have the energy. She felt lonely, as if on the outside looking in on everything. Mason had been busy and unable to come to the wedding. They’d talked a lot over the past few weeks, and he’d come to visit a couple times, but no actual decisions about the future were made. She suspected Mason was trying to take things slow for her sake, but deep down, she feared he was still the shallow movie star afraid of any real commitment. Now that they were kind of back together, would all of those fancy words fall by the wayside as having no real substance?
The speeches started in a prelude to the toasts. Fortunately, they had already designated Geneva as the sister spokesperson to make the appropriate remarks. London listened attentively, so very happy for Brooke and Dylan and yet reluctant to fully engage in the party atmosphere.
“Peppermint?” the man beside her asked, offering her a white and red-striped mint.
London turned to meet the sparkling eyes of her silent table companion. Smiling at his friendly offering, London accepted the mint, unwrapped the crinkly plastic, and popped it in her mouth. Somehow, the act made her feel not so alone, as if she had a co-conspirator in her people-watching.
The man beside her didn’t say anything else, and London wondered who he was. Maybe he was Dylan’s friend or family. He seemed like a nice man, and as she watched, she noticed his mouth turned upward with humor when he saw or heard something amusing.
“There you are!” Rhonda Snow bustled up, and London flinched, fearing she’d been discovered.
“They’re about to start the dancing, and you must come out of hiding. You promised me a dance, Mr. Snow!”
London’s mouth fell open as Rhonda latched onto the arm of the older gentleman and tugged him up gently.
“You’re Mr. Snow?” London asked aghast.
“Of course, he’s Mr. Snow!” Rhonda said. “Has been his entire life!”
“I don’t think I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting you,” London said, standing to her feet and extending her hand. “I’m London Hutchins.”
The man’s eyes twinkled, and his head bobbed as he clasped her hand in both of his. “I know.”
“Of course, you know him, London!” Rhonda said with exasperation. “Mr. Snow is always very involved in everything I do. Now if you’ll excuse us, the music is starting, and I don’t want to keep Mr. Snow waiting!”
Rhonda made her way through the tables, tugging her husband along behind her. With an amused look on his face, Mr. Snow turned back one last time and winked London’s direction.
London couldn’t stop the giggle that bubbled up. To think that mild-mannered, sweet, old man was the infamous Mr. Snow!
“What are you laughing about?” TeraLyn asked, approaching London’s post.
“I just met your father,” London said lightly. “He’s not exactly what I expected. He seems like a very nice man.”
TeraLyn’s brow furrowed. “You haven’t met him before?”
“No, not at all.”
Understanding dawned on TeraLyn’s face, and her own little giggle matched London’s. “From the way Mom talks about him, you must have thought him pretty ferocious!”
“Yes, I did!”
It felt good to laugh, but as the bubbling giggles subsided, TeraLyn turned serious. “I can’t thank you enough, London, for recommending me to Brooke to plan her wedding. I can’t tell you how much you’ve changed my life both personally and professionally.”
London shook her head. “You’ve earned it, TeraLyn. You’re building yourself a great reputation. You’re already on the map in terms of the best wedding planners in the area. Brooke was drowning in the stress of trying to plan the wedding and manage her business. All I did was make one little suggestion, and she immediately wanted to snatch you up to plan the wedding. And you’ve done a beautiful job. It’s everything she wanted and more.”
“It did turn out well,” TeraLyn smiled, looking at the scene with shy pride. Then she bit her lip and sidled a glance London’s direction. “I need to talk to you about something, but I didn’t know the best time to do it. I don’t want to detract from your sister’s wedding tonight, so if you want, I can wait until tomorrow.”
London laughed, “With that kind of intro, now you need to tell me right now!”
TeraLyn self-consciously ducked her head. “I know you haven’t wanted to move your business back into the shop, even though Mom is now the president of the London Hutchins fan club, and I understand that. But would you be willing to move back into the shop if I was the owner of Snow White Bridal?”
“TeraLyn!” London squealed excitedly.
TeraLyn put up a hand. “It isn’t official yet, but Mom is retiring. Dad is quite a bit older than her and has already been retired for several years. He wanted Mom to retire so they could travel, but she hasn’t been willing to consider it until now. Mom gave me her blessing to handle the business and building as I wish, and I know what I want to do. I want you to take your space for London Hutchins Designs, and I also want to operate my wedding planning business. Then I want us to go into business as partners in the local Snow White Bridal shop. We’ll probably need to hire a few more employees, but the business is solid, and I think all three businesses will be successful and fill vital niches in the community. But if you don’t want to do something like that, I totally understand. I just—”
Without a word, London threw her arms around her friend in a fierce hug. “Yes!” she finally cried. “I’d love to go into business with you, TeraLyn, and your idea sounds amazing! Let’s do it!”
TeraLyn’s breath whooshed out in relief, and she dashed away tears that appeared in the corners of her eyes. “Let’s have that new lawyer in town figure out the legal details and get started right away.”
“And you’re sure your mom will be okay with our arrangement and not insist on running the show?” London asked, suddenly nervous that Rhonda would still manage to end up as her boss.
“Don’t worry,” TeraLyn assured. “I’ll make sure Mom legally signs everything over to me beforehand. I think she will. She’s already talking about wanting to go see her sister, Sandy, before the Thanksgiving reunion, and Dad promised her a trip to Europe as well.”
“You two need to stop hiding!” Sydney said, coming up alongside them. “You’ll make Brooke sad if she sees you standing around at her wedding. Go dance!”
“Are
you following your own advice?” London pointedly asked her sister.
“I’ve already danced with Dad and all three of our brothers,” Sydney said proudly. “However, I’m the designated bouncer for this party. If I see people standing around, it’s my job to bounce guests back to the dance floor.”
“Fine,” London grumbled. “TeraLyn, go find yourself a handsome single guy. I’ve got dibs on all the ones who are already taken. I’ll start with Dad. Sydney, where can I find him?” London stood on her tiptoes, trying to peer over and around the swirling mass of wedding guests.
“Last I saw him, he was in the corner near the back of the yard,” Sydney pointed helpfully.
London weaved her way in that direction. Catching sight of a figure in a suit standing at the edge of the yard under a large tree, she stopped suddenly.
Mason?
The man looked at her steadily for the space of three seconds, then he winked, turned around, and disappeared into the bushes.
Certain her eyes hadn’t deceived her, she hurried to follow. She found the familiar trail threading its way through the bushes. Though she could no longer see the man in front of her, her feet hurriedly pattered down the faint path while trying to keep her bridesmaid’s dress away from the branches reaching out to touch the frothy blue fabric.
Finally emerging from the brush, she saw the tree at the edge of the rim. Below its branches, Mason stood looking out at the sunset.
“Mason, what are you doing here!” London asked breathlessly. “You said you were busy!”
“I may have over-stated my business just a little,” Mason admitted with a smile. “Careful, you’re standing right in our living room.”
Confused, London followed the direction of his gaze downward to their feet. To her surprise, her delicate blue sandals rested on smooth ground. All of the overgrown weeds and brush had been cleared from around the tree, revealing bare ground. In that dirt, London could see shapes where dust had been brushed aside into small hills. The clean parts of the ground extended around the tree in a network of interconnected “rooms.”
“You did this?” London whispered, slowly understanding that he’d built a tree house, exactly as she’d done as a child.
“Yes,” Mason said, looking like a proud little boy eager to show off his work. “I didn’t really plan on all the dust, though.” He brushed at his suit, showing the evidence of the fine layer of dirt that lightened his designer suit a few shades. “Come on, I’ll give you the tour.”
Taking her hand in one of his, he gestured to the little dust hill borders with his other one. “You’re in the living room. We’ll have a big bay window out the back looking out over the valley. If you go this direction, you’ll find the kitchen. I have the areas for the stove marked with little rocks, and I’d also like to put a window right over the sink so we can look out at the front yard when doing dishes. If you go around this other way, you’ll find the bathroom and two bedrooms. The larger one is the master bedroom, obviously, and we can always add on more if necessary. I thought about maybe adding a sunroom, but I wanted your opinion of what else to add to our house.”
“Our house?” London repeated, inspecting his intricate little hallways and rooms in the dirt.
Reaching out with his hand, Mason drew her chin upward from the ground to meet his eyes. “I made it for you. I know the real one will be a little different, but I wanted to give you the dream. London, whatever house you want to dream in dirt, I will do my best to make in reality. I intend to claim all of your dreams as my own.”
Before she could process what was happening, movement caught her eyes. She looked up behind Mason’s shoulder to see a beautiful white dress hanging on a branch of the tree. Because it was on the opposite side facing the valley, she hadn’t seen it as she’d approached or during Mason’s tour. Now, a slight breeze caught the delicate material, and it floated like a beautiful apparition.
“That’s my dress,” she whispered, recognizing the exquisite combination of simplicity and elegance she’d only before seen on paper. “That’s the dress I designed for me. How did you…?”
His eyes shining with love and sincerity, he explained, “Sydney showed me your sketchbook, London. She asked me to choose the dress I thought you should wear at your wedding. I chose that one. It’s the perfect dress for you, and I couldn’t imagine you wearing any dress but the one I saw in that drawing. Sydney and TeraLyn helped create the dress from the drawing. I’ve wanted to propose for weeks, but I’ve been waiting for the gown to be a reality. They said you could change things if they didn’t get it right. They wanted to make sure it was ‘The London’ in every sense.”
London choked on her tears. “It’s perfect. It’s all perfect. You did all of this for me?”
“Yes, I did.” The corner of his mouth lifted upward in a half-grin. Then, meeting her teary gaze, his blue eyes became serious and intense. “I know there are things about me you don’t like. I know you wish I wasn’t in the industry at all, but I can’t change what I feel God is calling me to do. I’m not perfect, and we definitely carry some baggage into our relationship. But I’d really like the chance to work out our issues together and spend the next seventy-five years or so making up for my past mistakes.”
London looked up at him, and a phrase drifted through her mind. Forgetting what things are behind and straining toward what is ahead…The entire Bible verse from Philippians played through her mind, leaving her with one certainty. She wanted Mason by her side as she ran the race God set before her. She didn’t want to go back to the person she was even yesterday. She wanted to eagerly push forward, allowing God to teach her, use her to do His will, and change her into someone who could finish the race strong.
With utmost sincerity, she whispered, “You’re my garbage man, Mason.”
Mason’s brow wrinkled in distaste, and he shifted his feet awkwardly, “I can’t say that’s the most romantic phrase a woman has ever said to me. Are you referring to the dumpster diving episode?”
London laughed. “Not exactly. But trust me, it’s a very romantic thing to say!” she assured, taking both of his hands in his so he couldn’t retreat before she’d explained. “Sydney told me that no girl dreams of marrying a garbage man, but she falls in love with who the man is, not what he does. Mason, I now realize that I don’t care what job you have because I love who you are! More than that, if being an actor is what God is calling you to do, I know He will also call me to be supportive and love you through every aspect that is involved. Just like God will equip you to support me. You’re everything I never knew I needed, and I want to be by your side for whatever God has for us, wherever that may be. I know it won’t be easy, but you mean more to me than outward circumstances.”
Mason still looked unsure. “London, I’m not sure what kind of ‘garbage’ you’re anticipating diving into with me, but I’m not asking you to go back to Hollywood. I’m asking if I can join you here. I’d like to buy some property here in Crossroads and build our dream house. I’ll still need to travel for various projects and make trips to Hollywood, but this will be my home. I like it here, and I like that you like it here. I want Crossroads to be my home, too.”
London looked from Mason’s loving gaze, to the hand-swept little walls of dirt around her, then to the exquisite gown floating gently in the breeze. “Mason, I love you,” she breathed. “I always have. Even when everything turned into a nightmare and we broke up, I loved you still, and that’s not going to change.”
With his eyes locked with hers, Mason captured both her hands in his and lowered himself, placing one knee on the smooth ground of their “house.”
“London, I know I’m not everything you want. I have plenty of faults, and we’ll certainly need to figure a lot of things out. I know I messed up before, and I don’t really deserve another chance. Though I had a lousy way of showing it, I really did love you then. I love you now, and when forever is behind us, I will love you still. Will you do me the honor of sharing the r
est of your life with me? Will you marry me?”
London looked from the intensity of Mason’s gaze back up to her wedding dress silhouetted against the varying pinks of a gorgeous sunset. “I think I have this whole thing backward,” she confessed. “Most girls say yes to the guy before they choose a dress. But I say yes to the dress first.”
Then, looking back down at the man kneeling on one knee before her, London Hutchins finally gave her second yes.
The End
A longing for home seems innately built into each of us. I wanted London to have a “going home” story, but I wanted it different than the norm. The storyline of heroine returning home to find her high school sweetheart and figure out that the life she’d always wanted was the one she’d left behind is a classic that has been done over and over. I always search for that unique twist in my writing, and I wanted the emotion behind the story to feel more true to life. Many times, the past isn’t where we belong, the long-lost love is not our perfect match, and home is not the paradise we remember.
The simple, bittersweet reason has nothing to do with outside circumstances. It is that we are not the same people we were when home was home. If trying on your favorite shoe from five years ago, you’ll often find that it just doesn’t fit right and isn’t as wonderful as you remember. Likewise, yesterday’s home may not fit the you of today.
And that’s okay.
The wonderful and terrible experiences of life change us, and those changes are purposeful. London discovers that God doesn’t intend for her to return to the person she was a dozen years ago. He intends to use her experiences to mold her into someone He can use today—not a perfect person, but one in God’s process.