Page 104 of A Nantucket Wedding

“NO. You can be president of Peru and I’ll be president of the United States.”

“Girls,” Felicity said. “Here’s your opportunity to show your future voters how elegant and stately you can be.”

The girls nodded, agreeing, and with chins high, stepped out of the limo.

“Daphne,” Alice whispered, “can I be your vice president?”

“Sure,” Daphne said graciously.

And then suddenly they were out of the limo, gathered in all their glory on the sidewalk leading to the hotel entrance.

“Is it time?” Alison asked.

“It’s time,” Jane said.

They went into the hotel and through the wide hallway. By the door to the outside was a table with a florist waiting to hand the women their bouquets and the little girls their baskets of rose petals.

They stepped out onto the long, wide porch. In front of them the lawn spread like green velvet down to the beach and the brilliant blue water of the harbor. At the side of the hotel a glorious white tent with banners flying waited, and a boardwalk had been laid to the tent’s entrance, where the main aisle was covered with white cloth. They could hear Mendelssohn filling the tent.

Hunter and Luke, clad in blue blazers, their hair slicked down, raced up.

“Come on!” Hunter ordered. “Everyone’swaiting!”

“Boys,” Alison said. “You both look so handsome. Can I kiss you?”

“Ugh, no!” Hunter said. He tugged his cousin’s arm. “Come on. Get your pillow and the ring.”

The florist lifted two red velvet pillows and two golden rings and placed them in the little boys’ hands.

“I’m doing this,” Hunter said, and took off, walking rapidly, Luke following.

When they got to the white aisle inside the tent, they stopped for a moment, giggling and nudging each other. They settled down inside the tent, walking down the aisle a lot faster than they’d been taught in rehearsal.

Then it was time for the women.

“You first,” Felicity told her sister.

Jane looked alarmed. “I’m going to throw up.”

“You’re a lawyer,” Felicity chided. “Get it together.”

“But it’sMom!” Jane whispered.

“Go.” Felicity gave her sister a nudge.

Bouquet in hand, Jane hurried down the boardwalk. At the tent’s entrance, she stopped, and gathering her dignity, she went slowly down the aisle to the altar.

Felicity followed, biting her lip so she wouldn’t dissolve into tears.

“Okay,” Alison said to her flower girls. “You know what to do.”

Off the little girls went, Canny first, then Daphne, and finally, Alice.

Alison took a deep breath, and followed.

Mendelssohn’s “Wedding March” sounded as Alison stepped into the tent. On either side of the aisle, people rose, their finery fluttering. Her best friend, Margo, wore a fabulous fascinator and a huge grin. Dr. Abbott and his wife, and all three of the dental hygienists Alison had worked with were together in one row. Heather and Cecil were there, at the end of an aisle. Charlie and Henry sat next to them, not a muscle twitching, elegant in their black bow ties. Other friends of David’s were there, and two of the girls who had been friends of Jane and Felicity since childhood. A bolt of nerves struck Alison, and for a moment she paused. Then she saw them waiting for her, her family, all of them, and her beloved David, so handsome in his tux. Alison broke out into a great huge smile that lasted as she went down the aisle to stand by his side.

They had wanted the ceremony to be brief, and it was. It passed in a blur. The minister’s words. The vows, when she and David gazed into each other’s eyes as if gazing into the future. The exchanging of rings. And finally, the kiss.

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