Hunter's Bride and A Mother's Wish by Marta Perry

Author:Marta Perry
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Steeple Hill
Published: 2002-10-18T04:00:00+00:00

Epilogue

Two months later

“Come away from that door, Chloe Elizabeth Caldwell. Do you want the groom to see you before the ceremony?”

Gran closed the door into the sanctuary, but not before Chloe had seen St. Andrew’s filled to capacity with family and friends. They’d cheerfully overflowed to the groom’s side, taking the place of the family Luke didn’t have.

Even Cousin Matt was there, all the way from Indonesia this time. The faintest shadow clouded her happiness. Something was wrong with Matt. She’d sensed it, and so had Gran. Something aside from the wedding had brought him home.

Keep him in Your hands, Lord. Let him find what he seeks here on Caldwell Island.

“It’s all right, Gran.” Chloe squeezed her grandmother’s hand. “Theo’s keeping Luke safely out of sight.” Theo, having been struck dumb by Luke asking him to be the best man, had recovered to a determination to be the best best man anyone had ever seen.

Miranda, her long skirt flowing about her, knelt to adjust the folds of cream silk around Chloe’s ankles, and her mother fastened the last button on the long sleeves of the dress she’d worn for her own wedding.

“Perfect,” she said, smiling through a sheen of tears. “Just perfect.”

Perfect, Chloe echoed silently. How could it not be perfect, when she was marrying the only man she’d ever love, the man God had chosen for her.

The door opened, and Sammy popped his head in. “The Rev says they’re ready when you are.”

Miranda frowned at him, ready to correct him for using Luke’s nickname for Reverend Tom, but Chloe shook her head. Reverend Tom had become part of the family in the few days since he’d arrived to assist with the ceremony. Chloe had been prepared to love him on sight, and she had.

It was thanks to his wise counsel that Luke had taken a job with the Sonlight Center, once the new Dalton hotel had been sited on the land they bought from Uncle Jeff, next to the yacht club. Dalton was happy, Caldwell Cove was happy with its new source of income, and Luke had found a job that would let him pay back a little of what had been done for him.

And, as if to round out her happiness, they were living back in Caldwell Cove, where she could use her skills at the inn and be a volunteer at the center. They were both doing things that mattered. They’d both come home.

“There.” Gran opened the box she held and lifted out the creamy lace veil—the one Caldwell brides had worn since the first Chloe. It fluttered over Chloe’s hair, light as an angel’s wing. “Now you’re ready.”

She pushed the door open. Daniel stood ready to escort their mother, and David offered his arm to Gran with a gallant bow. Miranda started Sammy down the aisle with his precious cargo of wedding rings, then blew a kiss to Chloe as she took her place.

Her father held out his arm. “Ready, Chloe-girl?”

She slipped her hand into the crook of his arm, feeling his strength.

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