Page 112 of Wait for Me

Now she had come home.

Thank You, Jesus. Thank You. Thank You.

Chapter Fifty-Two

Surrounded by jewel-toned fall foliage, the Urquhart residence was decorated to the hilt with lace everywhere and pumpkins here and there. They were a somewhat oddball combination, but Jonas wanted pumpkins, and his parents wouldn’t deny him that. After all, it was his day too.

Marie knew—and Logan probably did too—that they had spoiled their son by letting him get his way on their second wedding day.

Still, pumpkins and autumn leaves went so well together, both in color and tone, that the wedding planner had agreed to turn the entire wedding into one with a harvest or Thanksgiving motif. She had dyed the lace yellow, red, and orange to match cornucopias and wheelbarrows everywhere.

Marie stood at the guest bedroom window, looking out into the backyard as her matron of honor was getting ready behind her.

There were even haystacks here and there in the backyard. During the wedding planning in September, Marie had expected Jonas to ask for a petting zoo. Sure enough, the boy did.

Logan put his foot down.

“No petting zoo at our wedding,” he said firmly to Jonas.

Interestingly enough, Jonas didn’t burst into tears. Instead, he pulled an Urquhart. “I’ll forego a petting zoo if we get ice cream.”

“Forego? Where did you learn that word?” Logan asked.

Marie smiled as she recalled that scene in her mind. Little Jonas possessed some negotiating skills. Either that or he had learned to manipulate his parents.

“I’ve always loved a fall wedding,” Esperanza said from where she was sitting.

The hairstylist was trying to control her wiry hair with more hairspray.

Marie walked back toward her friend. “Thank you for keeping my family safe.”

“God did that,” Esperanza said.

“Yes, He did. He worked through you.”

“I’m glad everything ended well.” Esperanza frowned in the mirror when the hairstylist worked a few pins into her hair. “Maybe we should just let my hair be.”

“It’ll look better in a minute…”

“I’ve had this hair for forty years. I don’t thinkbetteris what I want to hear.”

“Take the pins out,” Marie said to the hairstylist. “She can have whatever hair she wants. I don’t want anyone in my bridal party to be uncomfortable at my wedding.”

“Thank you,” Esperanza said.

“But there’s no need for you to carry that.” Marie pointed to the concealed holster that Esperanza had somehow managed to stuff into her bodice.

Esperanza frowned.

“Your men and women are all over the place. You’ve trained them well. It will be safe. The wedding ceremony itself is only forty minutes long.”

“Anything can happen in forty minutes.”

“Well, we’ll have to pray and trust God to keep us safe for forty minutes,” Marie said. “After all, He’s the one who can keep us safe for our entire lifetime, many minutes over.”

Pray and trust God.

Marie repeated it quietly to herself as she spoke with Esperanza in their bridal room, and minutes later, all the way down the stairs to the terrace leading to the garden arch, where Logan stood with his best man, his cousin Jared, and Pastor Byron Moss from Midtown Chapel.

---