Like those seven years in prison, you’ve got to put Rosie away, Armstrong. You’ve got to do it, or you won’t survive the rest of your life.
They all agreed to head to the dude ranch to get settled in their rooms, then enjoy a prewedding brunch.
Though he realized this would only be a reenactment of the real thing, Nick couldn’t shrug off the feeling that everyone was caught up in the kind of nervous excitement that preceded a real wedding.
R.T. was higher than a kite, and Cynthia walked around with stars in her eyes. But the biggest change seemed to have fallen over Cody. Nick had never seen his son so jubilant, almost euphoric. He knew Cody was excited to see him again, but there was something else. Nick couldn’t put his finger on it.
In a way it worried him. Had Rosie’s love for Zach caused their son to shut off his feelings for his mother? Had her absence at night hurt him too much?
Nick could only praise Rosie’s mothering instincts. But Zach was a different matter altogether. Possibly Cody was overcompensating to deal with what he viewed as his mother’s defection from the family. Nick thought about this on the drive to the lodge; he was still thinking about it as they prepared for the wedding. Maybe he and Cody should go in for some group counseling after the trip. The army urged vets and their families to participate. Nick hadn’t given it much credence until he’d seen Cody’s behavior today.
Naturally he was thrilled that his boy seemed so happy. But Cody was overdoing it, and that troubled him a lot.
“Hey, Dad! We match!”
“We sure do.” They both stood in front of the mirror in Nick’s room. The brown Western-cut suits didn’t look half-bad. Nick was back up to 160 pounds. Twenty-five or thirty more pounds to go, but he wasn’t complaining. The natural-toned cowboy boots would be great around the ranch.
“Whoa, Dad! That Stetson looks cool on you.”
Using his good hand, Nick dipped the brim down level with his eyes, then stared at Cody in the glass. “Make my day.”
Jeff and Cody shrieked with laughter.
Then it was time to go to the church.
ROSIE HAD ARRIVED at the little Chapel of the Pines two hours before the ceremony to get all the ribbons and flowers arranged. She’d left her car parked behind the forest cabin. One of Mr. Ferron’s employees had driven her to the church.
The rings lay inside three tiny pockets on a white satin-and-velvet pillow left on the front pew. Cody’s job was to carry the ring pillow and distribute the carnation boutonnieres to all the men and give the gardenia corsage to Nick’s mother.
When everything looked as perfect as she could make it, Rosie hurried to one of the little anterooms off the foyer used as changing rooms for bridal parties.
The box of bridal bouquets had been placed on a chair. Fashioned of white roses, baby’s breath and fern fronds, they looked exquisite.
Almost sick with excitement, she removed her T-shirt and jeans, then began to put on her wedding dress.
“Most married women can’t fit into the gown they wore at their wedding. Yours fits like a dream,” Cynthia murmured as she let herself into the room, carrying her wedding finery over her arm.
“Cynthia! You’re here!” They hugged. “I’m so relieved. That means everyone’s arrived safely. H-how’s Nick?”
Cynthia started to change out of her clothes. She eyed Rosie solemnly. “He’s putting on a great show for everyone, especially the boys, but Rosie—the man’s heart is broken. There’s only one thing he wants, and that’s to be married to you. R.T. and I agree we would never have forced him to go through with this today if we hadn’t known you were going to make his greatest dream come true by the end of the ceremony. It would have been too cruel otherwise.”
“I know.” Rosie’s voice shook. “Sometimes I wonder if I’ve done the right thing.”
Cynthia smiled her sweet smile. “If you could see the way you look, you’d know this is the perfect plan. Believe me.”
“It’s got to be. Here, Cynthia. Let me help with all those buttons. This dress fits you beautifully. You must be exactly the same size you were the day you got married.”
“Hopefully, eight months from now I won’t be able to step into it, let alone pull it all the way up.”
“Cynthia! Does R.T. know?”
“No, that’s going to be my wedding present to him.”
When she’d finished doing up her dress, Cynthia started on Rosie’s. “It won’t be noticeable, but I can tell you’re a little thinner than you were thirteen years ago.”
“If all goes well, I’ll be in your condition soon. I want our children to grow up together.”
“I think I’m too happy, Rosie.”
“I think I am, too.”
They both looked in the mirror to arrange their veils.
“Cynthia, our dresses are amazingly alike.” They wore full-length, off-white silk with lace trim. Both dresses had long sleeves with a scooped neck and empire waists. The biggest difference lay in their veils. Cynthia’s was shorter and fashioned of nylon tulle. Rosie’s matched the lace cutouts on her dress and cascaded to her shoulders.
She turned to Cynthia with tears in her eyes. “We’re the two most fortunate women around. Our men came home.”
They clasped hands and said a little prayer to remember the men who didn’t.
NICK REMOVED his Stetson and entered the chapel, marveling at the beautiful decorations. The scent of flowers produced a flashback of his own wedding. He shook his mind to clear it of the memory and proceeded down the aisle.
Cody darted his father a brilliant smile and was right there to pin a red carnation on his lapel. Once again Nick had the distinct impression that something was wrong with his son.
The pastor came in, followed by the organist, breaking Nick’s train of thought. Soon all the introductions were made, and the pastor showed Nick and R.T. where to stand.
Cody was positioned on the other side of the altar. Nick watched his mother give Cody a kiss and hand him the ring pillow. Then she took her place in the first pew with his father and Jeff.
Nick could feel R.T. shifting his weight. “How come you’re so nervous? You’ve done this before.”
“How come you’re nervous?” he fired back. “I heard you doing Morse code through lunch. You’re still doing it. Got to get out of here. Got to get out of here.”
“I don’t know. It doesn’t mean anything. It’s just a habit.”
“Yeah, sure. You’re nervous, all right.” R.T. grinned. “Maybe it’s that new getup you’re wearing.”
“You don’t approve? I bought it in your honor.”
“Hey, I approve, Sarge. You look like a hero out of a Western. I hardly recognized you.”
“And you look like the smitten bridegroom if ever there was one, all decked out in that fancy suit and white shirt.”
“Do you think Cyn will notice?”
“Nope. She’s too crazy about you to bother with the details.”
Nick loved to tease R.T. about Cynthia because he could always get his buddy to blush.
The pastor began to speak. “Let us first say a prayer.”
Nick had been prepared to hear the wedding march. Quickly he bowed his head and closed his eyes.
“We thank you, oh, God, for your bounteous blessings. Two of your servants, Nicholas Armstrong and Rutherford Topham Ellis, are home with family and loved ones after their seven-year exile in a foreign land.”
Nick’s head jerked back and he stared at the pastor. Slowly his gaze passed over everyone. All heads were bowed except his. He lowered his head again, but his eyes remained open.
“They’ve served you and their country honorably, and now they wish to repledge their love and devotion to their wives in front of you and these witnesses. Amen.”
“Amen,” the congregation returned. Immediately the organ broke into the wedding march.
Wives…
“Steady, Sarge,” R.T. whispered. “Don’t pass out on me.”
&nb
sp; “What’s going on, R.T.? Tell me, dammit!” he whispered back fiercely.
His palms were clammy and the room felt too hot.
“Just keep your eyes focused on the back of the church, and all your questions will be answered.”
At R.T.’s injunction, Nick swung his head around. He saw Cynthia start down the aisle. Her sweet face glowed as she kept her eyes on R.T. Then he saw another bride emerge from the foyer of the chapel. The lacy veil looked familiar.
Out of nowhere he heard his mother cry out in shock. His father looked like he was going to faint.
She drew closer.
Dear God. Rosie?
His heart was racing. “I think I’m sick, R.T.” he said in a low aside. “I’m starting to hallucinate. Get me out of here.”
“Steady. What do you think you see?”
“It’s Rosie! She’s wearing the dress she wore at our wedding. I’m telling you, R.T. I’m losing it.”
“No, you’re not, Sarge. I see her, too. It’s no hallucination. But I admit Rosie looks as heavenly as a vision.”
Nick’s whole body began to tremble. “What the devil…?”
“You’re a smart man, Sarge. You figure it out.”
“Rutherford,” the pastor said, “if you’ll make room for your bride here and clasp hands. And, Nicholas, if you’ll do the same and clasp hands with your bride, we’ll begin the ceremony.”
Like a heat-seeking missile, Rosie’s eyes locked on Nick’s. The light that had been missing in them at Hill blazed green fire now. She reached boldly for his right hand and squeezed so hard he felt pain. He welcomed it, though, because it proved he wasn’t experiencing some kind of weird flashback.
Nick could hear the pastor talking to R.T. and Cynthia, but he wasn’t cognizant of anything except the flesh-and-blood woman at his side, pulsating with life, looking at him as if he was her whole world and everything in it.
“For as long as we both shall live.” She mouthed the words to him.
Those were the words they’d had inscribed on their wedding bands.
“Rosie Gardner Armstrong, inasmuch as you’re already joined in the bonds of holy matrimony to your husband, Nicholas, do you renew your vows before God and these witnesses to love, cherish and honor him, through sickness, through health, clinging only to him and forsaking all others, until death do you part?”
Nick watched breathlessly as Rosie turned, her whole heart reaching out to him.
“I, Rosie Gardner Armstrong, consider it the greatest privilege to renew before God, before our son, Cody, before our dearest parents and friends, my vows to my beloved—” her voice shook “—my beloved husband, Nick, whom I’ve always loved and adored.
“I ask his forgiveness for any pain I have unintentionally caused, but I vow that from this moment on, I will do everything in my power to bring him nothing but joy all the days of our lives.” She paused. “I come to him having forsaken all others.”
Is it true, sweetheart? Zach really has no more claim on your heart? Rosie? Do you know how much I want to believe you?
“I come to him prepared to be all the things I was to him in the past, prepared to be even more in the future. Dearest friend, dearest lover, dearest wife, dearest mother of his children.”
“Nicholas Armstrong?” the pastor addressed him.
Nick felt as if he were in a dream.
“You’ve heard your wife’s solemn troth. Since you are already husband to Rosie Gardner Armstrong, do you wish to renew your marriage vows before God, family and friends?”
Rosie’s body started to shake like a leaf. Fear had robbed her cheeks of color.
Why are you frightened, Rosie? Don’t you know this is what I’ve longed for? Prayed for?
I’m the one who’s afraid.
Clearing his throat, he began, “I, Nicholas Armstrong, in front of God, my family and friends, wish to renew my vows to my beloved wife, Rosie, the mother of my son, Cody, the light of my life whose love has sustained me through thirteen years of marriage, whose love kept me alive through a dark and perilous time.”
He felt her body go limp with relief, and he braced her with his hand and arm, holding her close.
“I forgive her for any pain she might have unwittingly caused and ask that she forgive me for any pain I might have inflicted on her. I am the most blessed of men to have the love of such a woman, and swear to do everything in my power to show her what she means to me. I swear I will respect her, watch over her, honor her, keep her in sickness, in health, until death do us part.”
Nick heard her cry his name.
Ah, Rosie…can this really be happening to us?
“You may now exchange rings as symbols of your love. First, Mr. and Mrs. Ellis, and then Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong.”
Nick couldn’t take his eyes off Rosie.
She’s going to live with me again. She’s going to be my wife!
“Dad! Take the rings,” Cody whispered.
Cody. He’d known all along. There was nothing wrong with his son. Joy had transformed him.
Suitably chastened, Nick flashed the boy a conspiratorial smile, which he returned, then felt in the little pocket for the rings he’d put on Rosie’s finger thirteen years earlier.
Rosie lifted her left hand and helped him slide the rings home with his good hand.
To his surprise, she reached in another little pocket and brought out a ring that looked exactly like the one he’d lost when they’d run into that land mine.
“As long as we both shall live.” She read aloud the inscribed words before taking his right hand and pushing it onto his third finger.
“Sweetheart…” His voice caught in his throat.
Suddenly Rosie threw her arms around his neck and pulled his head down, kissing him exactly the way she’d kissed him before he’d gone off to the war.
They might be in a church, but her hunger, her passion, broke all the rules and he felt himself going under. No one had ever loved him the way she had. No one ever could. His Rosie was back where she belonged, burrowing into his arms, into his heart. Her mouth set him on fire.
The war was finally over.
“Hey, Sarge—” Nick felt a nudge in his ribs “—maybe you better take it easy. Another minute of that and this holy house is going to go up in holy smoke.”
Rosie must have heard R.T., because she tore her lips from Nick’s and hid her face in his shoulder, still clinging to him as if she feared someone would drag him back onto that plane.
Holding her against him with his left arm, Nick fought for the presence of mind to extend his right hand to the pastor. That seemed to signal the cessation of formalities. In the next instant Cody had launched himself at them, laughing and crying at once, jumping up and down. Jeff was right there with him.
Nick saw his mother out of the periphery. She had collapsed in his father’s arms. He knew she was overcome with joy. He and his father made eye contact. His father was weeping. They smiled at each other with an understanding that surpassed words.
Behind his back he could hear R.T. sobbing uncontrollably in Cynthia’s arms.
With Rosie still molded to his body, not saying a word, he lowered his head to R.T. “Haven’t you done enough of that already?”
“I can’t help it, Sarge. Cyn just told me I’m going to be a father in January.”
Nick knew life didn’t get much better than this.
“And you called me up because you were afraid to make love to your wife on your first night home…” He quietly baited him with relish.
“Ah, Sarge!”
He felt Rosie stir. She finally lifted her head, a beguiling smile on her face. “The getaway car for the four of us is outside the chapel.”
Without taking his eyes off her, he said, “Did you hear that, R.T.?”
“I’m ready when you are, sir.”
“Are you ready, sweetheart?”
In answer she pressed her mouth to his. That was all Nick needed before picking her up in his arms and
carrying her down the aisle. He didn’t have to look back and wonder what R.T. was doing.
Everyone had preceded them outside. Cody and Jeff held the doors open while George took pictures.
Rosie’s car stood parked a few yards away. At least he thought it was her car, but it was covered with shaving cream. Just like his old Jeep that his friends had gotten hold of thirteen years ago. There were cans and streamers tied to it, writing all over it.
JUST MARRIED! WAY TO GO, 57. NAUGHTY NICK’S GOING TO CALL ALL THE PLAYS TONIGHT. HAVE FUN! HAVE A ROSIE OLD TIME.
“You remembered!”
Again he felt a sense of wonder that his darling Rosie hadn’t forgotten a single detail about that night of nights.
Still holding her in his arms, he walked around the front of the car to the passenger side. There was more writing.
REDHEADS HAVE MORE FUN. THERE’S SIN, AND THEN THERE’S CYN. TONIGHT RUTHERFORD TOPHAM WON’T KNOW THE DIFFERENCE. MORSE CODE’S A LOT OF FUN WHEN YOU DO IT RIGHT!
Nick burst out laughing and shot an amused glance at his buddy. R.T. was helping his wife into the back seat of the Nissan. His face had gone beet red.
“Oh, Rosie. You did it this time. R.T.’s a wreck,” he whispered against her delectable neck.
“I love him, Nick. He’s so much fun to tease.”
I love him, too. I love you for loving him.
He set her down on the seat and helped fit her gown inside. “Where are you taking us, my adorable wife?” He couldn’t resist kissing her again.
“Sarge, come on. Let’s get out of here!”
Her eyes held his. “I’ll give you one guess.”
I’m sorry, Mr. Armstrong, but our little forest cottage has already been booked by a honeymoon couple.
Nick felt a swelling in his throat and couldn’t talk. Struggling for breath, he straightened, then shut the door.
As he walked back around to get in the driver’s seat, he realized they had an audience and rushed over to embrace his parents.
Strangers When We Meet Page 21