The next screen shows me and Ginny riding around and around the cornfield together on a big red tractor, then a quick shot of us sitting on a split-rail fence with our faces turned away from the camera. Ginny’s long blonde hair is braided into two pigtails that go all the way down her back. My arm is draped around her waist to keep her from falling off the fence.
The video fast forwards years to our first prom together. Ginny’s wearing a beautiful light blue dress to match her eyes, and I’m stiff and uncomfortable in my white tuxedo with color-coordinated blue trim. Mama is standing beside Ginny on the front porch of the house, beaming proudly while I try to pin a white flower corsage on Ginny’s dress without poking her.
The last clip is of our high school graduation. This time, Matthew is the one holding the camera instead of Dad. He films Ginny and I together after the ceremony in our caps and gowns, with both sets of our parents proudly gathered around us posing for pictures. We’re smiling and excited about the future. At the time, we didn’t know graduation would be one of our last good memories together for a very long time.
The last shot is one that I never knew my dad had taken until I started going through the old family videos this summer. He’s standing on the front porch filming my last few moments at the house before I left for Nashville. The camera follows me to my old beat-up truck as I toss my guitar on the seat beside me and drive away. Dad doesn’t turn the camera off until my truck is long gone out of sight and the dust settles down behind me.
Then I left to chase my dreams in Nashville.
Never dreaming I’d lose her along the way.
The video clips slowly fade out to the end, and then the screens change to a live shot of us now on stage, sitting on the two stools together. I turn to Ginny and sing the last verse directly to her.
Now I’m back in town.
She might be years older, but she’s the same pretty girl I fell in love with.
With the same blue eyes of heaven, I’ve been lost in a million times before.
This time I’m not leaving without her.
All I ask is for her to give me one more chance.
Just one more chance...
The spotlight trained on us fades and then goes out completely as I sing the last word, leaving us alone together in the shadows. Reaching over in the dark, I grasp her hand tightly in mine. “I love you, Ginny. This is my last show on the road. I’m coming back home to Texas. To you and my family.”
She reaches up to touch the side of my face tenderly with her hand, her eyes overflowing with tears. “No, Luke. You don’t need to do that. I’m here tonight because I was coming to you.”
40
Ginny
Our wedding day on the ranch…
There are times in life when a place becomes a living, breathing character. This is one of those times. There’s no place in this world I’d rather hold my wedding than on the ranch. Not only is the setting beautiful and peaceful, the ranch has always been a huge part of our lives together. I can’t possibly count or remember all the good times we’ve shared here, both as kids and now as adults. Once Luke and I realized we were both willing to sacrifice everything to be with the other, we knew we could find a way to make our relationship work.
He’ll keep working on his music career and I’ll stay in Sweet Rose Canyon to make a stable home for him to come back to. We’ll grab time together whenever we can and make every second together count. We know it’s not the quantity of time couples spend together that matters, it’s the quality of those special moments.
No one says it will be easy or that our time spent apart won’t cause issues. But there’s nothing we can’t get through together. Our love can withstand any test if we’re both willing to try.
And we are.
My only regret on our wedding day is that Luke’s mother can’t be here with us. She would’ve loved being included in the wedding planning details. I can imagine her spending the evenings sitting at her sewing machine making fancy tablecloths for the reception and gathering fall wildflowers from the pasture for floral arrangements.
Since she can’t be here in person, we’ve tried to incorporate as many of her special touches and memories in the wedding as we can. Her family Bible will be the one Reverend Smith uses for the ceremony, and we’re serving a few of her special dishes at the wedding reception.
After tearing the house apart searching for her secret recipes, Matthew finally found where she’d written them down on folded scraps of paper. She’d tucked them safely in between the tattered pages of an old Betty Crocker cookbook, knowing they would eventually be found one day. Matthew gave them to me as a wedding present and I will treasure them forever.
On the front row at the wedding will be her favorite rocking chair along with photos of her. The back of the chair will be draped in a handstitched quilt she made from Matthew and Luke’s favorite t-shirts when they were kids. Luke carved a wooden sign to hang on the front of the rocking chair that says, ‘Mama, we know you would be here today if heaven wasn’t so far away.’
We’re all thankful that Luke’s Dad is temporarily doing better and will be well enough to attend the ceremony. That’s the main reason we decided not to delay the wedding. With Luke’s insane concert tour schedule and my work, it would’ve been easy to put the wedding off until next summer. But we all knew at the rapid rate his dad is going downhill, things wouldn’t be the same by then.
We quickly settled on a wedding date in mid-October and agreed to do whatever it took to make it happen. Once we had a definite date to work with, I enlisted Misty’s help with the preparations. She was thrilled to be included and jumped in full-force to help me. I don’t know what I would’ve done without her. Probably screwed up everything.
I’ve always been a no-frills kind of girl and was completely lost when it came to choosing a wedding dress and the other details. When it began to be overwhelming to me, Luke and I agreed to keep the event to a simple country cowboy theme. We aren’t trying to impress anyone, and his money doesn’t change who we are inside.
Rather than throwing a huge wedding with a massive guest list filled with country music stars, we decided to limit it to only close family and friends in Sweet Rose Canyon and his band members. Harry will be here too, but Luke made him promise not to speak one word about business for the whole day.
My parents both jumped in to help with the preparations. Though I assured them we would be hiring caterers for a country barbeque, Dad insisted on cooking massive batches of his famous stew for the reception.
Mom wanted to do something special for Luke since she’s always adored him from the time he was a kid. She volunteered to make his groom’s cake instead of ordering a professional cake from a bakery. After much discussion with him, she decided one special groom’s cake wouldn’t be enough. Not with a ton of hungry cowboys attending the wedding. When they couldn’t narrow down the flavor to one, she offered to make three: a simple vanilla pound cake, Red Velvet, and of course German chocolate cake in the shape of a huge guitar.
When Luke casually mentioned that he also loved pie and cookies, Mom came up with an idea to do a separate bar at the reception for cookies and another one for pies. I didn’t attempt to stop her or try to talk her out of it. Thankfully he didn’t tell her how much he adores donuts, or she’d be doing a six-foot tower of those too. The worst thing that can happen to a country woman is to run out of food when you’re serving a crowd. There’s no way my mom will let that happen on her only daughter’s wedding day.
To my surprise, Luke insisted on being involved in the wedding preparations too. He gave me strict orders not to go into the barn where the reception is being held under any circumstances. Not that I needed my arm twisted to stay out of the old barn. I’m curious to know what he’s up to though. He’s been flying back home at every opportunity while on tour, even if it’s only for one night. Several times, I’ve caught him and Matthew huddled up in corners, whispering in low voices where I can’t hear. Whatev
er Luke has cooked up, my parents and Misty are in on it as well. I trust them, so I don’t pry or ask questions. As hard as it is to do.
Mom eventually persuaded me to turn over all the reception details to her and I gladly agreed. Entertaining is her forte, not mine. Between Misty helping me with the ceremony and Mom handling the reception, things are going smoothly.
So far, so good.
The moment I’ve waited my whole life for will finally be here in a few minutes, and I couldn’t be happier.
My dad knocks on the bedroom door then tentatively sticks his head inside. I’m holed up in a spare bedroom in the house with Mom and Misty. “It’s almost time for the ceremony to start,” he says, smiling at us. “They sent me to fetch you. Can I come in? Or is this room for womenfolk only?”
I walk over and kiss him on the cheek. “You’re always welcome, Dad,” I say. I take both his hands and step back to give him an inspection. He’s dressed in a new dark suit and is distinguished with his grey hair and wire-rimmed glasses. “You’re very handsome,” I say, squeezing his hands.
“And you’re absolutely breathtaking,” he replies, happy tears springing into his eyes. “You’re the spitting image of your Mama when she was your age. I swear, you’re going to make your old daddy cry.” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a handkerchief to wipe his eyes.
Mom laughs softly and moves around behind me to fluff out the long train of my white wedding dress. She’s lovely in a light peach linen dress that complements her short blonde hair and blue eyes. One day when I reach her age, I’ll be a mirror image of her. “I hear the music starting up,” she says. “Which means it’s time to go. We’d better move on out to the front porch. You don’t want to be late for your own wedding, honey.” Through the open bedroom window, we can hear Luke’s guitarist, Maverick, softly strumming on his guitar.
“Everyone is already seated and waiting for you,” Dad says. “Luke is a nervous wreck. Poor fellow.” Dad lets out a chuckle. “I dropped by the barn to speak to him and give him my blessing.”
“He’s not backing out, is he?” I tease.
“No! There’s nothing for you to be worried about,” he says, giving my hand a reassuring pat. “You and Luke have been working toward this since you were little children. Your Mom and I always knew we’d be standing here doing this one day. And here we are. Luke’s a fine man, and I’m proud to call him family.”
I blink quickly to keep the tears in my eyes from ruining the carefully-applied makeup that Misty has worked so hard on all morning.
“Don’t you dare cry!” she yells in a panic and quickly reaches over to hand me a tissue. “In case you can’t help it, there’s plenty more tissues,” she says, pointing to her tiny yellow purse that matches her bridesmaid dress. “I came prepared.”
“Hand me one too,” Mom says with a sniffle, unable to hold back the tears any longer. She takes the tissue Misty offers and dabs quickly at the corner of her eyes.
“Okay, we need to stop this right now,” I say, smiling at the three of them. “Otherwise I’ll start crying and then I’ll be too choked up to say my vows. Everyone take a moment to collect yourself and then let’s go do this. I’m getting married today.” Taking my own advice, I draw in one last, shaky breath to calm my nerves. I gather up the front of my wedding dress in my hands and head for the door. Now that my wedding is finally here, I’m impatient to get on with it.
“Hang on,” Misty calls out from behind me. “Let me grab your dress tail so you won’t be dragging it.” She picks up the long train of my dress and follows behind me as we make our way out to the wide front porch of the house.
The wedding guests in the side yard haven’t spotted me yet. They’re sitting with their backs to me in rows of white chairs, with my guests on one side and Luke’s on the other. Multicolored wildflower bouquets and yellow ribbons decorate the end of each aisle. The air is sweet with the smell of roses cut from my garden.
Luke’s dad is seated on the front row with his favorite female caregiver. He’s smiling and dressed up for the occasion. He appears to be happy and relaxed. I’m overjoyed he’ll be able to share our special day with us. It means everything to Luke for him to be here.
At the head of the aisle is a big, flower-covered wooden gazebo my dad built for us as a wedding gift for our house. To one side are Luke and Matthew, with their feet planted firmly and their hands clasped together in front of them.
“Why do they look so serious?” Misty asks me with a giggle. “Is this a funeral or a wedding? From their expressions, I can’t tell.”
They’re both wearing black suits, white button-down shirts, black leather boots, and wide-brimmed black cowboy hats. Hands down, they’re the most handsome men in Lee County. I would challenge anyone to say otherwise. The sight of Luke takes my breath away. To know that he’s standing there waiting for me to be his wife fills my heart to overflowing.
Dad quickly ushers Mom to her seat then returns to wait with me. Once Mom is seated, the music changes, signaling the official start to the wedding procession.
Lily is restless at the end of the aisle, raring to be turned loose to do her special job. Her Sunday School teacher is standing beside her and trying in vain to hold her hand.
Lily was over-the-top excited when I asked her to be my flower girl and has been practicing. We spent several evenings surfing online trying to pick out an outfit for her. Together we chose a fluffy yellow dress with brown leather cowboy boots. Her tiny boots match the pair I’m wearing underneath my wedding gown.
After begging for a full thirty minutes, Misty was able to convince Lily to sit still long enough for her to pull her curly hair back into a ponytail held by a single yellow ribbon.
Lily is fidgeting and carefully watching Matthew for her signal to go. He smiles and beckons to her with his hand. She begins strutting down the aisle with a flower basket filled with rose petals slung over one arm. At first, she speed-walks down the aisle and then when she hits the halfway mark, she remembers not to walk too fast and slows down to a sloth’s pace. The whole time she’s dramatically sprinkling flower petals on one side of the aisle and then the other.
When she reaches the end of the aisle, she realizes there are several petals left in her basket. She hesitates in confusion, unable to decide what to do with the remaining petals. We didn’t go over this scenario in the practice run last night. Luke grins at her, and she walks over to dump the remaining petals at his feet.
“Thank you, baby girl,” he says, trying not to laugh and hurt her feelings. “You did a great job.”
“You’re next,” I whisper to Misty, reaching over to give her one last hug. She’s my maid of honor and is simply stunning in an off-shoulder, floor-length yellow gown. Her auburn hair is swept up into a delicate bun, with soft tendrils framing her face. She glides down the aisle and takes her place across from Luke and Matthew.
The wedding march begins to play. Everyone stands and turns to look back at me. They’re smiling in anticipation. I can’t believe it’s finally my turn to walk down the aisle with my father.
Becoming Mrs. Luke Collins is my lifelong dream come true.
“Are you ready, honey?” my father asks, with a twinkle in his eyes.
I draw in an unsteady breath and slide my hand into the crook of his elbow. In my other hand is a huge bouquet of wildflowers. I grew them from seeds in a field behind the house especially for this day. Using greenhouse flowers in our wedding didn’t seem right.
My eyes fill with tears of joy when I see the loving faces of friends and family beaming at me as I make my way down the aisle. They well up even more when I walk past Charles, sitting in the front row with his cane, smiling from ear to ear. It’s the happiest I’ve seen him in a long time. Those tears start to spill when I draw closer to Luke. We smile at each other, and I see emotional tears forming in his eyes as well.
Far behind the gazebo, way off in the distance, I can see the house he’s building for us here on the ranch. A
house big enough for children, pets, family, and friends. A house where Matthew, Lily, and Charles can call their own too and visit every day. The start of a bigger Collins family compound we have planned. Soon we’ll be adding a recording studio and a horse-riding ring so Lily can learn to ride.
I reach the end of the aisle and join Luke under the gazebo. He takes both my hands in his.
“The blue-eyed girl of my song is finally here,” he says. He reaches up to gently brush a lock of my hair back behind my shoulder.
I smile back at him, feeling loved and cherished. We interlace our fingers tightly together and turn toward Reverend Smith, who is standing before us. He opens the old family bible that belonged to Luke’s Mom and begins the ceremony. We say the traditional wedding vows, then we exchange simple gold wedding bands.
“It is my pleasure to now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride,” Reverend Smith finally says, spreading his arms wide.
Luke steps closer. For a long moment, we simply stare into each other’s eyes, grinning like the two excited little kids we once were.
“I love you, Ginny,” he says, leaning down to kiss me softly. “We did it.” When the crowd breaks out into cheers and applause, he wraps his arms around me, dips me over his arm, and goes in for another real kiss this time. The music begins to play, and he reaches for my hand. “Are you ready to start our happily ever after, Mrs. Collins?”
“I’ve been ready all my life,” I tell him.
We head down the aisle together as man and wife, followed by Matthew and Misty. Lily is already skipping ahead of us and running toward the barn where the reception is being held. The guests are filing out of their chairs and trailing behind the wedding party. Along the worn path, we pass a sign with an arrow pointing to the barn with the words, ‘This Way To Happily Ever After’ carved into the wood.
Every Good Cowboy Deserves A Second Chance Page 27