Page 40 of Wish You Faith (Christmas Sweethearts #1)

CHAPTER TWENTY

S ummer turned into fall and then winter before Evan and Rosie finally found a free Saturday on their calendar. By the end of January, all things Christmastown were over—until July, that was—and Rosie was finally ready to add another project to her busy list.

It was time for their wedding.

In lieu of gifts, Rosie and Evan asked for donations to the Hope Scholarship to help more retirees to pay for their room and board at SSLR.

After the retirement resort had taken over the apartment complex across the street, they expanded the community center at the main building by moving the in-house pharmacy and doctor’s office to the apartment complex.

In this new and large community center, Mom had obtained permission to hold Rosie’s wedding because she was now on staff at SSLR as a part-time plant biologist at the greenhouse.

They didn’t win the award for best greenhouse, but Chevy said it was because they hadn’t started preparing early enough. He wanted to try again the next summer.

If Rosie had her way, they’d have the wedding in the outdoor garden, but it was in the thick of January, and cold outside. The second alternative was the greenhouse, where they were this morning, getting their pre-wedding photos taken by none other than their family friend, Amy Theroux.

Amy was directing them to pose this way and that in the rose garden in front of a trellis. Standing out of the way, but watching the whole session, was Tabitha, Rosie’s matron of honor. She smiled all the time, but Rosie could sense that Tabitha had something on her mind also.

The week before the wedding, Tabitha had quarreled with her husband, Lorenzo, about their infertility.

Tabitha came running to see Rosie after church, and they had a long talk and prayer.

Having never been married, Rosie didn’t know how to advise Tabitha, but she recalled the lessons she had learned in the premarital counseling sessions about conflict resolution in a marriage.

She shared that information with Tabitha, and encouraged her to get some counseling from Pastor Samuel Flores, who had been married over fifty years to the same wife.

Rosie’s eyes met Tabitha’s, and they both nodded to each other. Rosie wanted to say, “God will work it out. Romans 8:28.” But she was too far away to voice it. She said a quiet prayer for her.

“You okay?” Evan whispered.

“Yes, all good.”

Evan smiled at Rosie. “Time flies and here we are.”

“I know, right?”

Rosie recalled the passage of time and how they had gotten from April to January so quickly.

She still remembered chatting with Evan on the beach that April afternoon, one month before Evan had taken her suggestion and found a maritime security company to merge with.

Seven Seas Maritime Security came under the Cavanaugh Shipping umbrella in July.

Evan had opted to keep their name, and often called it simply Seven Seas.

A happy camper in Savannah, Evan enjoyed going to work at his new Seven Seas office in downtown Savannah. He had chosen the closest location he could to Tybee Island to shorten his daily commute to work.

Oh yes, about that. Evan’s parents gave their beach house to Evan and Rosie as their wedding gift. It surprised everyone, especially Rosie.

Rosie suggested to Evan that they should consider inviting his parents to stay with them whenever they came to town. After all, the beach house had six bedrooms. Perhaps that had been why Mei had bought it in the first place—to prepare for her own future visits.

Then again, Mei had told them that they could sell the house and buy a better one if they wanted. Both Rosie and Evan told her they liked it—for now.

After all, Evan’s relationship with his mom had improved by leaps and bounds throughout the months of working with her. He credited God for keeping Rosie’s mom alive so that his mom could get free motherhood advice whenever she came to Savannah and Tybee Island.

In return, Mei had taught Mom to play competitive mahjong. They organized competitions at SSLR and tried to make mahjong a household game among the seniors in the area. Now Dottie and Marcella were avid mahjong fans. That was almost all they talked about—besides the TV dramas they liked to watch.

Rosie was pleased that Mom was keeping busy on her own. With SSLR taking care of Mom, Rosie could spend her free time with Evan, who joined her to teach Sunday school when he moved to Savannah a few weeks before Rosie welcomed a new batch of third graders in her class.

With the Christmas tree farm being busy from October to December and wedding preparations demanding her attention, Rosie had to put her part-time job at SSLR on hold until after the honeymoon.

Evan wanted to marry in August, but they hadn’t finished their premarital counseling with Pastor Samuel Flores—who happened to be Lorenzo and Pastor Flores’s father.

By the time they completed the six-week course in September, it was too late to be wedded because Rosie would be too busy at work from October to December to have any time for a wedding—unless they eloped.

Rosie didn’t want to elope. She wanted Mom to invite all her friends, new and old, to the wedding. Mei concurred. She wanted a party!

“But it’s our wedding, not theirs,” Evan had protested.

“I know, but this is the last wedding for these mothers of the bride and groom. If it’s a good thing to let them have a bit of say, when we lose nothing but gain happiness, why not?”

“Our one and only wedding. I don’t care if it’s simple or elaborate, as long as I have you.”

And Rosie remembered how Evan kissed her then.

Well, things hadn’t gone too simply, but thanks to Amy, they had hired a wedding coordinator to work with Mom and Mei, and to make sure that they didn’t go overboard. Rosie wanted both mothers to be happy, but she also wanted to prioritize Evan’s preferences.

For example, they ended up not being able to invite everyone on Mei’s list simply because the SSLR community center wasn’t that big.

All their many relatives from Hong Kong, Canada, and the United States made the guest list, but not all of Evan’s childhood friends’ mothers, other adult nephews, plus their spouses and kids.

All of the SSLR residents were invited, as well as Mom’s two best friends, Dottie and Marcella.

Dottie would be moving in with Mom on the evening of the wedding, when Rosie and Evan were booked to fly out to New Zealand for their honeymoon.

They had chosen the southern hemisphere for their January honeymoon because the weather would be warmer there at this time of the year.

Their luggage was packed. The only things on their agenda today after the photography session were to take a few minutes to freshen up, go to the community center for the wedding, and then to the dining hall for the lunch reception, catered by Piper’s Place.

“You look beautiful in white,” Evan kissed her gently on the neck.

“Hold that position,” Amy said. “This one is for a magazine cover.”

Now Rosie felt nervous. “What magazine cover?”

“Don’t move,” Amy instructed.

The shutters snapped.

“I’m glad we’re taking some of the photos before the wedding,” Evan said in between takes. “I get to see you in your wedding gown first before the wedding guests.”

Rosie was glad to see that Evan had settled down. Not quite half an hour ago, Evan had cried a little bit as they prayed together.

She remembered precisely what they had prayed. Rosie had gone first.

“Father God, our life and times are in Your hands. You bless, You give, You provide. Thank You, Lord, that we can rest in Your care all the days of our lives,” Rosie prayed.

“However much time You give us on earth, we bless Your holy name, and we thank You for every moment of time that we breathe. Let our lives be a symphony of praise to You. May You be pleased as Evan and I go forward today as husband and wife.”

Rosie thought about ways she and Evan could serve God but she didn’t voice it. To her surprise, Evan picked up on that unspoken note as soon as it was his turn.

“Lord, Thank You for letting Rosie and me serve in Sunday school at church. If You so lead us to do more ministry work, then show us how we can be more effective servants,” Evan prayed.

“Thank You for giving us day jobs that we love. May our lives at work reflect You, Lord. Even as we go on our honeymoon for two weeks—away from work—remind us that our walk and talk need to reflect Christ.”

Rosie wanted to remember their prayers forever. Fortunately, Amy’s crew had recorded it on video for posterity. They’d watch it again later.

Rosie and Evan had opted to take most of their couple photos before the ceremony.

That way, they both still looked fresh in their new wedding attire.

Mom always cried at weddings and funerals.

If Mom cried today at the ceremony, then Rosie might follow, and it would ruin her makeup.

Any hope of pretty photographs after the ceremony would be out the window, even after she freshened up.

It was ironic then that Mom decided she’d wait until after the ceremony to take family photos.

Right now, she was busy with her friends.

They had all decided to get their hair done this morning.

Mei had hired some local hair stylists to come to SSLR to make sure Mom and her friends were all prettied up before the wedding.

“That’s all for now,” Amy declared after they took more photos. “We’ll come back here after the ceremony with family members. That way, we can make short work out of it and your guests won’t have to wait forever at the reception hall.”

Amy snapped some impromptu shots of Evan and Rosie as they held hands while exiting the greenhouse to return to their respective waiting rooms. The video crew continued filming as well.

“Are you glad we waited until January to get married?” Rosie asked.

Evan nodded. “Because you look more relaxed now that Christmas is over and you’re not busy at the tree farm.”

“Yeah, I was a bit stressed, wasn’t I?”

Evan seemed to want to say something but he held back.

“What?” Rosie stopped at the hallway outside the greenhouse. “Say it.”

“You were stressed from October to December not because of the tree farm but because you took on an additional part-time job at this green house.”

Well, he sure came right out and said it.

On the one hand, they shouldn’t be discussing work on their wedding day. On the other hand, Rosie was quite pleased that Evan felt so comfortable with her that he could speak his mind without fear of incurring anger or repercussions.

“Yes, we both were busy with work the last three months, but we also had to make wedding preparations,” Rosie reminded him.

“True, that.” Evan squeezed her hand.

Rosie lifted up her lips toward him and gave him a quick kiss on his cheek. She was about to wipe off the lipstick stain with her thumb when Amy stopped them.

“Turn this way,” she instructed Evan. “Let me see that lipstick stain.”

Rosie’s face felt warm as Amy’s camera flashed.

“Candid.” Amy checked her LCD screen. “You two are so cute.”

“Let’s see.” Evan and Rosie crowded around Amy and peered at the small screen.

Rosie took one glance before someone spoke.

“Let’s look at photos later,” the wedding coordinator said. “We have thirty minutes before the processional.”

“I was ready a year ago,” Evan declared.

Rosie chuckled, and Amy took another photo before she let them go.

The video crew split up. One videographer followed Rosie to the parlor on the other side of the community center, and the other followed Evan to his waiting room.

She called them a parlor and waiting room, but on normal days at SSLR, one was a prayer room, and the other was a staff meeting room, empty this Saturday morning.

It was the longest thirty minutes that Rosie had to wait. She didn’t want to check her phone, but the makeup artist did, having nothing else to do.

It would’ve felt longer had Mom not showed up in the parlor to accompany her.

“This is our prayer room.” Mom sat down on a couch next to her. Her trembling fingers—with bright Christmas red nail polish—touched the cross pendant hanging on a gold chain around her neck.

“So let’s pray.” Rosie held Mom’s free hand and bowed her head.

They were silent for a while. Rosie could hear Mom sob a bit. She looked up. “Mom, please don’t cry. I won’t be able to stop if you start.”

“Why am I crying?” Mom laughed. “It’s a happy day.”

“Tears of joy, Mom. Tears of joy.”

Mom nodded. “My baby girl is getting married. I still remember when you were in diapers…”

Rosie sniffled. “I don’t like to wear makeup because I don’t know what to do when I have to dry my eyes.”

The makeup artist sprung on Rosie to check her eyes. “You still look amazing. No worries.”

Rosie blew her nose. “Did I ruin the foundation on my nose?”

The makeup artist dabbed the tip of her nose.

“Thank you.” Rosie pointed to Mom. “Could you please check my mom’s makeup?”

“Sure thing.” The makeup artist pressed some loose powder on both sides of Mom’s nose. “You have brown eyes, ma’am. Did your daughter get her gray eyes from her dad?”

“Yes, from her dad.” Mom’s voice cracked again. She reached for Rosie’s hand. “Oh I wish he was here to walk you down the aisle.”

“That’s why no one is walking me down the aisle today,” Rosie said. “No one is taking Dad’s place.”

“Your choice, even though Gabriel would’ve gladly done it.” Mom straightened up.

“Oh, we need to talk about Mr. Gabriel, Mom.” Rosie shook her head at the thought of Mom dating again. Gabriel might be a gentleman, but he was twelve years older than Mom, and the age gap worried Rosie a little bit. “You better watch out for that boy.”

“That boy?” Mom blushed. “Don’t worry, sweetie. We’re both widowed. No strings attached.”

“No what?” Rosie almost fell off the sofa. “How could I leave you here for two weeks while Evan and I go on our honeymoon?”

“I’ll be fine, sweetie.” Mom checked her phone. “Isn’t it almost time for the ceremony?”

Rosie leaned over to look at the large clock on Mom’s phone. “We still have five minutes to pray.”

“Then let’s do it before your mind wanders to where it isn’t your business.” Mom was curt with her.

The last time Mom was curt had been…

This wasn’t the moment for Rosie to remind Mom about Dad, who had been gone for over ten years now. After all, Christian marriages ended at death.

’Til death do us part…

Rosie wondered how long she and Evan would last.

“You pray,” Mom said.

“We lift up Christ now in the wedding ceremony today, Lord,” Rosie prayed. “May people see Your love in us, and may they draw closer to You today. In the precious name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.”

“Amen,” Mom echoed.

When Rosie opened her eyes, the wedding coordinator was standing in front of her.

“It’s time,” she said.