Page 90 of Look for Me

Martin kissed Corinne’s forehead. “If we have more kids, they’ll have a lot of backyard to play in.”

“First things first, Mr. MacFarland. Let’s get ready for our wedding.”

After the closing, they had the house repainted, some appliances replaced, and the interior decorated in a southern beach-cottage style.

Corinne moved in with Dahlia and Liam first, while Martin stayed in Pete’s small spare room a few miles away. Corinne wished that Pete and Angelina lived closer to them, but they didn’t qualify for a house in this neighborhood.

Until Martin promoted Pete to General Manager of MacMuscles Miami.

For not discriminating against Pete’s age, Martin found new respect in his fiancée’s eyes.

Corinne also found out a few more things about Martin she hadn’t known before, and that led to their decisions about a church for their family.

At the end of the day, they discovered that they both wanted to serve God in a local ministry of some sort. They would continue to pray about it and see where God led them. Pastor Butler had advised them to find a new church somewhere close to their home in Miami. It would make no sense for them to drive to Key Largo every weekend. It would be better for them to plug into a local church so that they could serve the greater Miami community.

The fact that Corinne and Martin had agreed on that and many other things about their new life together made her grateful to God.

Corinne knew that life would not always be filled with happy moments like these, but when blessings came, she reminded herself to trust the sovereignty of God over it all.

And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.

With the verse from Job 1:21-22 hidden in her heart, Corinne stepped forward onto the freshly mowed grass one glorious Saturday morning in the month of May. A perpetual smile on her face belied the fact that she was genuinely so nervous inside that she hadn’t slept much the night before. She had been afraid that she wouldn’t hear her alarm clock and then be late to the hairdresser.

Thank God that Angelina was staying overnight at the house, and she woke her up just in time to leave. Martin’s stepmother, Damaris, had flown in from Savannah the week before to stay with them and help around with Dahlia and Liam as Angelina flitted here and there, preparing for her wedding.

A few hours after her hair and makeup were done, here she was.

The string quartet that Angelina found on the internet played a melodious medley of hymns. Budget-conscious to the bone, the wedding planner hadn’t splurged at all. Her expense reports impressed Martin and Corinne to no end. They decided to give her a pay raise for her nanny duties.

Holding on to Pete’s arm, Corinne prayed that God would let her own dad know that Pete wasn’t trying to take his place. If her father had been alive, he would have walked her down the aisle.

All the guests rose to their feet, smiling to her as Corinne made her way toward Martin, who looked even more nervous than she was. His father was his best man, and he looked delighted.

Pastor Butler also smiled. He was holding the same worn Bible that he had used to counsel Martin and Corinne for several months before the wedding.

Corinne dipped her head and realized that she had been walking on haphazardly scattered flower petals on the grass. Those must have been thrown by her flower girl, Dahlia. Corinne decided she’d have to watch the video later to see it.

She also told herself to read the guest book to see who came to their wedding. She was afraid to look to her left and right. She felt that if she saw the faces of her friends and church family who stood by her through the rough times in her life, she would burst into tears and ruin her eyeshadow.

She spotted Damaris with her new grandson, the ring bearer. Corinne’s breath caught when she saw Liam make a face in Damaris’s arm. He was dressed in a pull-on stretchable baby tuxedo, but the moment he saw Mommy’s face, he lifted his arms.

Uh-oh.

Damaris cooed and rocked him, pointing elsewhere. For a moment, his attention was distracted.

When Corinne reached the arch decorated with orchids and hibiscus and other tropical flowers of many colors, she realized that Martin’s eyes were filled with tears.

Don’t make me cry.

After Pete gave Corinne away, she stepped up to the podium, smiling to her friend Ruby Tanaka. She had burned out after Oscar had been captured, and left the bureau shortly afterwards. Today, she was no longer FBI Special Agent Tanaka, who can kill with a single blow. She was only Ruby, Corinne’s reluctant maid-of-honor.

There was no one else Corinne would rather have to stand with her at her wedding. Even while Tanaka had been undercover as Stephanie in Hawaii, she had looked out for Corinne all the way. When things got out of hand, it was Tanaka who rescued Corinne from the bad place, and found a safe house for her. She had put her life on the line many times to protect Corinne.

Somewhere along the way, the other agent had witnessed to Tanaka, and soon after Oscar was captured, she had accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior. In fact, Pastor Butler had baptized her in the Atlantic Ocean only a couple of months before.

In spite of the six-month-long preparation, the wedding ceremony itself went pretty quickly. Their vows were short and sweet and focused on God. Corinne was glad it didn’t take too long because she thought Liam was about to burst into a wail when Damaris carried him to hand over their wedding rings.

Whose idea was it to make a fifteen-month-old baby the ringbearer?

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