Page 164 of Save the Date
Cara’s head jerked up. The Colonel stood in the doorway to the hallway.
“You came,” Cara breathed. “You’re really here.”
Bert took her by the elbow and steered her toward her father. He gave her a quick peck on the cheek and whispered in her ear before handing her off to her father. “He’s nervous as hell. So go easy on the old guy, okay?”
Cara nodded, and then Bert was gone, and she and the Colonel were alone, in a small alcove just a few feet away from the entry hall.
With a start, she realized she hadn’t seen her father in over two years. Since before her split with Leo. Was that possible? He’d let his military-issue brush cut grow out a centimeter, and now his once-dark hair was more salt than pepper. He stood erect in a proper charcoal suit with a burgundy tie, but Cara noticed that the collar of his starched white dress shirt gaped a bit. In her memory, the Colonel had always towered over her, but now they were almost at eye level.
“You’re so beautiful,” the Colonel said, his voice shaky. He took her bouquet and placed it on the gilded settee, then took both her hands in his. And true to Bert’s warning, the Colonel’s hands were shaking. As were Cara’s.
He touched a lock of her caramel-colored hair, which she wore down, with a single coral rose pinned behind her right ear. “Your hair is longer,” he said. “I like it that way.”
“Yours too,” Cara pointed out, and they both laughed awkwardly.
“When did you get in?” Cara asked. “I had no idea you were coming. You said you weren’t sure.…”
“I got in just now. Jack’s brother Ryan picked me up at the airport in Savannah and brought me straight here.”
“They told me Ryan was making a bourbon run,” Cara said.
“Oh, we stopped for the bourbon, all right,” the Colonel said ruefully. “I was pretty nervous about seeing you again… after everything.”
“I’m so glad you came,” Cara said, her eyes misting up. “I’ve missed you, Dad.”
“I’ve missed you too, Cara Mia,” he said, squeezing her hands tightly.
“Ahem.”
Ellie Lewis was beckoning them. “I’m sorry, Cara, but if we are going to start this wedding on time, you have to come have these photos taken with the wedding party right now! Jack and Ryan and Harris have already gone over. The barn is filling up, and we only have ten minutes till go time.”
The Colonel shook his head. “Late again. Some things never change.”
“We’re coming,” Cara said, tucking her hand through her father’s elbow.
***
Cara peeked around the barn doors. She could see Jack and Ryan standing in front of the makeshift altar he’d built just for the occasion, from barn boards and leftover roofing tin. A violinist was playing softly up in the hayloft.
“Go!” Ellie Lewis said, sending Torie and Meghan on their slow march up the carpet runner Jack had tacked down earlier in the morning.
Cara twirled her bouquet in her hands again. “Dad?” she whispered. “Mom’s pin. Where did you find it?”
“Right where it’s been since she died,” the Colonel said. “Valerie put together a box of her things for you. Some of her jewelry, her favorite blue sweater, her watch, that painting of pink flowers that she liked. It’s been at the house, on the top closet shelf.”
Cara raised an eyebrow. “All this time? I thought you got rid of everything.”
“Not everything,” the Colonel said. His piercing blue eyes met hers. “I have so many regrets. About her, about us. You. I thought if I wiped the slate clean, it would all go away. All the hurt. And the guilt. I wasn’t there for her, or for you. And I regret that more than I can ever say.”
“Doesn’t matter anymore,” Cara said, smiling. “You’re here for me now, today.”
“Thanks to this young man of yours,” the Colonel said. “He called me, multiple times. I wasn’t going to come down here, but he doesn’t give up easily, does he?”
“No, thank God,” Cara said fervently. “He wouldn’t give up on me, either.”
“I like him,” her father said. “He suits you.” He took a deep breath and took a step forward, then a quick step back. “Who are all those people in there?”
Cara looked again. Heads were turned in their direction. With a start she realized the barn was full. Full of familiar faces. Vicki Cooper sat on the end of one of the plank benches with her husband, and her son and her daughter-in-law Kristin, Cara’s first bride. Other brides and their families were scattered around. Jack’s extended family took up row after row, aunts, uncles, cousins, and second cousins. As an only child of only children, she continued to be amazed at how close and intertwined her new family was.
