Save the Date(97)
“So how are you feeling, Lin?” Danny asked, turning around to look at her, standing next to my dad. They’d kept their arms linked for a while, until it became clear that we were not walking down the aisle imminently, and had stepped apart, my dad sitting on one of the dining room chairs and Linnie leaning against the doorframe. “Excited?”
Linnie batted away her veil, then rolled her eyes. It was still hanging down her back—she wouldn’t put it on over her face until we started the procession, whenever that was going to be—and it was clearly irritating her. “Mostly just ready to stop hanging out in the dining room.”
“Same,” Jenny K. said as she shifted her weight from foot to foot. “What’s the holdup again?”
“People coming in late,” Bill said as he passed us, shooting me a quick smile as he did. “But I think we’re going to be ready to go momentarily, okay?”
I nodded and turned to Rodney’s cousin Marcus, who I would be walking down the aisle with, but he was laughing about something with Elizabeth.
“Okay!” This was Will, and as he approached us, people stopped talking and joking around—he had that kind of presence. “I think we’re all set. Linnea,” he said, turning to my sister with a smile, “ready to do this?”
We all turned to look at my sister, who nodded. “I’m ready.” The Jennys and Priya broke from their spots in line to help pull the veil over her face, and then the four of them had a quick group hug, their arms around each other. “Actually, could I have a moment?” Linnie asked just as Will had raised his walkie-talkie again. “Could I just get the Grants for a second?”
I walked back toward Linnie and my parents, and the seven of us formed a loose circle in the dining room. I was standing next to Danny, who looped his arm over my shoulders, Linnie was between my mom and dad, and Mike and J.J. were standing together next to Danny. “You okay?” Mike asked, and Linnie nodded.
“I just wanted to take a minute,” she said, and I could hear that her voice was getting dangerously wobbly, which didn’t seem like a great sign before she was about to walk down the aisle. Though it did now seem like a good idea we’d done pictures before Linnie’s eyes had a chance to get totally puffy. “And just be here with my family.” She smiled at all of us, and I felt my own eyes prickle with tears as I looked around the circle—at my brothers, all of them handsome in their matching suits, and my parents, and my sister in her wedding dress. It was a scene I could imagine my mother drawing—but it was that much better, because it was real, and happening now, right this minute. “And to just thank you guys . . . I mean, for everything . . .” Linnie’s voice broke, and I saw my mom reach out and rub her back. “I wanted to let you know how much it means to me that we’re all here, together.” She glanced at Mike as she said this, and he gave her a small smile in return. Danny squeezed my shoulders and I saw my parents clasp hands behind Linnie’s back.
“I—” I started, my voice shaky as I looked around at everyone, trying to find a way to express what I was feeling. This—all of us, right here, together, this was what I’d been waiting for and missing for so long now. But it was more than that, so much so that I wasn’t sure I could put it into words—wasn’t sure if twenty-six letters could capture it. “I’m so happy to be here with you.” My eye met Mike’s and I realized that I meant him, too. That he was a part of this family, and we would have been incomplete and off-balance without him. “I just wanted to say . . .” I pulled in a breath as I looked at everyone, about to tell them what I always felt and almost never said. “I love you guys.” My tears were threatening to spill over, and I noticed my dad clearing his throat and J.J. rolling his eyes, the way he did when he was trying not to get emotional. Danny squeezed my shoulders and kissed the top of my head. It was a moment better than all the ones I’d been picturing, and I found myself wishing it never had to end.
“Hey, Grants!” This was Jenny W., calling from the kitchen. “Come on!”
Linnie laughed, and we all broke apart and headed back into the kitchen and returned to our places in line. I’d pulled myself together by the time I reached Marcus, and he held out his arm for me to take with exaggerated gallantry. Danny turned around and grinned at me, and I smiled back.
“Okay,” Linnie said, and I saw Will raise his walkie-talkie. “Let’s go.”
Will motioned us forward, and Mike and Elizabeth began the procession across the kitchen and out the kitchen door to the backyard. Even though all we were doing was walking through our kitchen, it somehow seemed more than that—everyone in their suits and dresses, filing past the fridge and the coffee maker, a sense of ceremony and reverence, even though we were still just in the kitchen, the place where not that long ago, people had been eating bagels. Even the catering staff seemed to sense this, as most of them stopped working and watched us pass, in a slow line through the kitchen. It looked like most of them were working on the wedding cake, which was gorgeous, on a rolling tray by the island—three tiers, with sugar flowers all around it.
Will held the door open for us, and we all stayed in order, continuing our procession toward the tent. The backyard, in the space of just a few hours, had been transformed. There, right in the center, where we’d played capture the flag last night, stood a beautiful tent. It was cream colored, anchored with posts every few feet, with two pointed peaks on the roof.