Meg's Best Man: A Montana Weekend Novella (12 page)

Although he had looked like he was in a hurry, he stopped short when he spotted her. He took two steps toward her and stopped again. “Meg,” he said, as if she was the last person he had expected to be at this wedding. “You… you look…” He pointed at the meadow. “I have to go.” Then he turned around and left.

In the rush of emotions and embarrassment she felt next, Meg decided that she really, really needed to stay away from that man.

Caleb came out next, loping off the deck. “Head ‘em out!” he yelled. Joshua followed, looking pale. He caught sight of Meg, and she met him halfway for a hug. He hung off her like a wet towel. “I’m gonna pass out.”

She pushed him off and took him by the shoulders. “If you do I’ll tell Catherine about what you did to her rose bush.”

“You wouldn’t.” She could see the smile playing at the edges of his mouth.

“Oh yes, I will. Cowboy up.” She gave him a slow motion punch in the arm.

“If this wedding only took eight seconds, I could do it.”

She turned him around and shoved him in the back, and he headed out, giving her a quick smile over his shoulder.

In the meadow, Gage and Caleb were leading people to their seats, rows of camp chairs, wooden chairs, and deck furniture cobbled together on top of a rented dance floor. Down the center of the aisle was a beautiful white runner, and the final streamers of tulle had been strung from tree to tree exactly where Leah and Meg had decided they should be. It looked better than Meg had imagined. God’s creation was the chapel, and the details were straight out of a fairy tale.

Meg walked out to the meadow, hoping to sneak in from the outside, but Caleb spotted her. He offered his arm like a pro and led her around the outside of the chairs to the end of the aisle. Ahead of her she saw Gage helping Sonya’s mother into one of the better chairs. Meg wished he had been her usher. “Where do you want to sit, Meg?” Caleb asked.

“Wherever you need me to go.”

“Okay, we have one empty seat in this aisle, that would help. Just about everyone else is here with someone.” She looked at him sideways. He had no idea that he might have said something that would hurt her feelings. And why should she feel hurt? It was just a fact stated out loud. She’d come to a wedding without a friend or a boyfriend. So had Caleb. He didn’t care, why should she?

As she sat down between two chatty groups, she knew the difference. She was older. Most of the young singles here had come alone but moved in packs, and at her age the people she knew just didn’t get together that way. They had jobs, homes, and families. A girl’s night out for her usually included a baby or two—and had to be smoke free, alcohol free, and/or gluten free.

She remembered that in college dozens of people would just hang out at someone’s house talking, drinking coffee, and studying now and then. Truth be told, the thought of doing that now made her feel exhausted. She didn’t really miss the pack.

She looked around. Her mom and dad were earnestly chatting up a couple sitting behind them, and they had the attention of most of the people sitting nearby. She scanned some more, and a woman she knew through Joshua waved at her. Her husband, who Meg didn’t know, waved too. Scanning a little more, she saw Mark. He frowned at her, then pointed at her and to the empty seat beside him. A brother was better than just about any date anyway, so she got up and moved.

The young woman sitting on Mark’s other side gave her a look that was something more than curious. Meg introduced herself as Mark’s big sister, and the woman’s face instantly changed from tentative to cheerful. Meg tried not to laugh. At least she was considered competition despite her advanced age. Just twenty-seven. “I feel older,” she muttered out loud.

Mark elbowed her. “You aren’t old. You just live like you are.”

She glowered at him. “What? I’m hip. I’m an artist, a free spirit, roaming from town to town.”

“First of all, no one says ‘hip.’ You never take a break, you’re always worried, and you haven’t had a boyfriend since college.”

“Boyfriends are overrated.” The young woman next to Mark giggled.

Conscious of being listened to, she stopped talking.

A subtle hush moved through the crowd, and Meg heard music start. She recognized some of the musicians from the contra dance the night before, but now they were arranged as a real quartet. The music conjured up flashes of other weddings in her mind, but none of those settings were as bright and cheerful as this.

Caleb walked down the aisle with his mother first. Catherine was smiling, but there were tears in her eyes already, and they were contagious. Meg blinked her own away. Caleb seated her in the front and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

Gage and Leah’s mom were next. Leah’s mom smiled at every person she passed and even waved at a few. She looked as if she was in a royal procession, and she seemed very comfortable with that. Gage seated her on the other side, without a kiss, and started back down. He looked over the crowd. He noticed her and looked away quickly.

“Did I do something wrong?” Meg mumbled.

“Shhh,” Mark hushed. Her seventeen-year-old little brother was a better wedding guest than she was.

This time Caleb walked up the aisle alone, hands clasped in front of him. It seemed to throw him off balance. Gage was next, deliberately slow and looking a little nervous. His hands were clasped in front, too, and she wondered who had given them that bad advice. When Gage turned and looked down the aisle, his face lit up. Joshua was next in the procession.

Joshua looked like the Cheshire cat. He strolled up the aisle like he was in a hurry. Then he turned around and popped up and down on the balls of his feet. He was so ready. Like a few other people, Meg laughed. But then Joshua looked over toward the cabin, and his face changed. He radiated the happy and awestruck look of a man in love.

The crowd stood as one, and since many of the people were taller than she was, Meg missed seeing the bride come out of the cabin. Then again, she’d had her own private showing earlier. Cadence came down the aisle first. Her dress looked a lot like Brie’s, only it had cap sleeves instead of a halter top. She was carrying a small bouquet of wildflowers and pink roses and she looked beautiful. Kelly green seemed to be a color that flattered everyone but Meg.

Brie came next, looking as much like a bride herself as a bridesmaid. She was so lovely that Meg heard the murmurs as people tried to figure out who she was. At last Leah started down the aisle. She was wearing a modest veil, but her smile showed through. And so did the look of pride and concentration on Jacob’s face. Jeffrey stepped into view and asked who was presenting the bride.

Jacob coughed, stood straighter, and said, “I do.” Leah’s mom’s smiling face never wavered. Meg wondered if she was relieved that she didn’t have to walk her daughter down the aisle, or if she regretted not taking the opportunity. If it was regret, it didn’t show. Jacob sat down next to Catherine, and the show was on.

Jeffrey’s voice carried over the meadow, and with it came the feelings of love and hope that he had for this couple. When Joshua said his vows, he said them loudly, with a smile. Leah’s came more softly, but her eyes never left his, and her smile never faded. Meg watched Gage, but he was facing the other way and she couldn’t see his face. He looked as if he was staring right at Brie, and that made her stomach flutter. She focused on the bride, and her happiness.

Meg was dabbing at her eyes with a little less success now, and Mark’s friend handed her a tissue. That helped. Why did she cry at weddings? Being happy was part of it, of course, but it was something more. There was a tiny hint of melancholy underneath it all. No great new thing comes without some sacrifice. Josh and Leah’s life would never be the same, and they would surely face hardships.

She looked over the crowd for a moment. Whether it was nostalgia for their own weddings or a sense of longing for what Josh and Leah had, there was that faint undercurrent visible on their faces. Meg felt the joy of having Leah in her life, but this was also an exclamation point on the end of her youth. Of course the summers with Josh had ended almost a decade ago, but this made them seem even farther away.

He was a married man now, not just her cousin and playmate. He would have his own family someday, and although she would be involved with them, they would not be her family. She felt like she was losing a brother. She looked over at Mark, and when he saw her face he put his arm around her and gave her a hug.

It was amazing how much a loving touch could make a person feel better.

Still, there was truth to her sadness. She felt as if she was standing still. It was time to point herself in a direction, even if it was one she didn’t expect, and get going.
God, please help me recognize the doors you want to open for me. Help me to see the plan you have for my life and to take it. Don’t let me pass right by in the busyness of my daily life.

Meg was lost in thought, wondering what the future held for her as she watched the couple exchange rings and Joshua lifted the veil to kiss his bride. The crowd whooped and cheered. Meg stood with the other guests as the newly married couple walked back down the aisle. For just a moment she saw Brie and Gage walk by. Brie was facing her way, one hand in the crook of Gage’s elbow and the other resting on his arm, and she was looking up at him with a radiant smile. Gage was facing away, so Meg could only guess he had the same look on his face.

Her stomach did another flip. It was just a quick glimpse as they walked by, but there was something about it that seemed so wrong. Her brain knew they were probably dating. If he was dating Brie and flirting with Meg, he was a jerk. And she wasn’t even sure he’d been flirting with her. From what she knew of him, all of the attention he paid her probably had more to do with him being weird than being attracted to her. And he lived in Texas. How convenient that she kept forgetting that part.

But there it was. A sick small feeling that said
wrong
. This wasn’t how it was meant to be. She was supposed to be there with him. She was supposed to be the maid of honor, and he was supposed to be her best man. Meg closed her eyes and took a deep breath, hoping to clear the insanity that was running rampant in her brain. It had been so long she’d forgotten that a crush could tweak every synapse, making you believe only what you want to believe.

She rubbed at her temples with her fingertips. This was stupid! She was nervous and half sick just thinking about the man, and the day before she would have given anything to make him leave her alone. Stupid, stupid. “Stupid.”

Mark leaned sideways to give her a quizzical look. “You okay?”

She gave him a bright smile and nodded, hoping he would think it was someone else who had been talking to herself like a crazy person. As people filtered out from the seats, Meg realized she had missed Caleb and Cadence walking down the aisle. She hoped they had gotten over their irritation at having to walk together, since they each thought their sibling was the least cool person in the world.

Meg thought about the hug Mark had just given her, and she had a funny feeling about him. He was different, her little brother. There had always been something special about him. He had a talent for sensing what was going on with other people and for addressing it with compassion. She gave him an admiring look and found him trying to flirt with the girl next to him as he nervously wrung a piece of paper to death. Well, he was still a guy.

The wedding party walking toward the back of the cabin, where the pictures would be taken. The wildflowers up there were beautiful, and the late afternoon light would be perfect. Everyone in the wedding party looked amazing… especially the tall Texan. That same man was offering his arm to the fox in the green dress again.

Meg needed to get busy. She saw Catherine by her Expedition and went over to see if she could help change the event from wedding to reception. But Catherine would have nothing to do with that. “You will not mess up your pretty dress,” she informed Meg. Meg peeked a look at the notebook in Catherine’s hand and saw a diagram drawn of where each food item was to go.

“I didn’t know you used cheat sheets,” she teased.

“You just wait until you get as old as me, and you’ll need them too. Meg, check the front seat for the lighter, would you please?”

Meg checked and found one between the seat and the center console. She returned it to Catherine, and Catherine immediately passed it off to one of her workers. They all did her bidding cheerfully, probably because they had mooched more than a few delicious meals off her. All of Joshua’s friends had.

“Mom,” Caleb called, “they need you for the photos because they’re going to do the family stuff first. You too, Meg.”

Catherine issued her last instructions rapid fire and gave Meg a gentle push toward the cabin.

“Aunt Catherine, Caleb must have been mistaken. I thought the formal photos would only be for the wedding party and the immediate family.”

Catherine spun on her heel. “And what does that make you, Meg?”

She knew that look. It meant that she would be much better off if she gave the right answer. “Um, family?”

Catherine scowled, which wasn’t the worst she could do, but Meg hated it. “Get moving,” Catherine ordered. “Besides, I can tell you’ve been wanting to sneak up there. You’ve looked that way at least a dozen times.”

“No I haven’t!” Meg had to move fast to follow the other woman. As she headed toward the back of the cabin, Caleb and Mark joined them. Leah and her mother were being photographed. The photographer, an older and relentlessly cheerful woman, was forcing them into a real hug. At first Leah’s mother was very self-conscious about her dress, the angle of her hips, the set of her chin, but for one moment their eyes met and they both laughed, and the camera spun off a few shots. “Good timing,” Meg mumbled.

“I thought so too,” a voice behind her said. It sent a chill straight down her spine and a blush to her face.

Meg turned to find that Gage had been standing there, pressed up against the back of the cabin and half hidden by the lilac bush. She scowled at him. Catching herself doing it, she wondered if she looked like Catherine when she did. She fought to make her expression neutral, even casual, as she said, “I didn’t see you standing there.”