Music sounded from outside. “Well, I’m not done just yet.” He held out his arm just as his father came around the corner.
“You ready, dear?” Dad said as he wiped some tears from his eyes after he’d kissed Kacey on the cheek.
“Ready.” She swallowed and looped one hand through Jake’s arm, and the other through his dad’s. “Let’s do this.”
Char approached, holding Kacey’s flowers. Jake sent her a quick wink before turning back toward the door.
Jake felt Kacey shaking beside him.
“I love you, Mom and Dad,” Kacey whispered under her breath.
“I am so proud of you,” Dad said, and a tear fell down his cheek before he could walk away. “And I know they are, too.”
Jake squeezed her arm tighter and nodded at his dad, fighting with everything he had not to fall prey to his emotions.
But it was hard.
Especially when the music started.
And just like that, the memories came.
* * *
The wedding ceremony was near the tree house. Kacey was transported back in time, as she watched her five-year-old self run around the tree, Jake chasing her the entire way.
Her mom came around the corner yelling. “Kacey you put
that down! Don’t you dare throw mud on him!”
Kacey didn’t listen.
And then the memories skipped ahead a few years, the same tree house, same boy. Jake was older then, he and Travis were arguing, and then Travis told her he’d found a snake and held it in front of her face.
Her mom came running out of the house with Bets, screaming at Travis to kill the snake.
And then it was high school. Travis was watching her from the house while she and Jake went out by the river. She looked back at him and rolled her eyes as he and her dad came out on the back porch to put the rest of the fishing gear in the truck.
“Be safe!” She’d yelled.
“Always!” Her father called back, and then, as if he’d just remembered something, ran toward her, arms open wide. “I almost forgot!”
“What?” She giggled as she ran toward him.
“A prince always deserves a kiss from his princess before he goes off to war!”
“You’re not going to war; you’re hunting fish.”
“And lions and tigers and bears!” Her father’s eyes widened as he kissed her cheek again and again.
“Stop!” She pushed him away and laughed. “Fine. Here is your kiss, good sir.” She did a curtsy as her father bowed. “Will you wear my colors, dear prince?”
“But of course!” Her father pulled a pink ribbon from her hair and held it in his hand. “I shall keep it forever and always, dear lady!”
As Kacey was brought back to the present, she realized all those memories, all that time spent here at Titus Abby—it was as if her parents were with her, pushing her toward her future.
Travis lifted his gaze.
And suddenly she couldn’t walk fast enough. Eyes locked on his, she made it all the way to the front of the gazebo. He was so handsome in his black suit. His hair was slightly mussed still and his tan just made his smile that much more devastating.