This is the next to last installment, and then I'll wrap this little romantic story up. I've thoroughly enjoyed watching them grow from that first random meeting in the park to this point. I have a feeling you already know what this chapter is about from the description, but I hope you enjoy it anyway!
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Pastor Chet was waiting for them outside the church office door. They walked through the sanctuary again, and Alex explained what her visions were for her dream wedding, including where the wedding party would be standing during the ceremony. They toured the large activity center which was a glorified gym with a kitchen attached. That would be where the dinner and dance following the wedding would be held. Wes was impressed with the size of the facility. His own church back home had nothing like it.
They moved to Pastor Chet's office. He got the church calendar out and looked to Alex and Wes and said, "Have you two decided when you would like to be married?"
Alex nodded. "We are looking at a late May wedding. Do you have...."
Wes interrupted her. "Valentine's Day. We must be married on Valentine's Day!"
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Alex was startled by Wes' comment. She turned to him and said, "What are you talking about? I thought we had decided on a late May wedding."
Wes took her hand in his. He said softly, "Alex, this is hard to say, but I'm not sure your dad is going to make it to the end of May, and it would be a real shame if he couldn't walk you down the aisle. I'm sure that's part of the vision for your dream wedding."
Alex lowered her head, and soon there were tears dripping on Wes' arm. She buried her face into his shoulder and sobbed as Wes wrapped his arms around her to comfort her. Pastor Chet reached for a box of tissues on his desk and handed them to Wes, who pulled a couple out and gave them to his fiancΓ©. After a few moments, she looked back up at Wes. Her eyes were still filled with tears, but she knew he was right.
She turned to look at Pastor Chet. "So is February 14 available?"
He had already checked the calendar once Wes had spoken up. "It is available, and I can't think of a better day for you to get married. I know that pushes your date up quite a bit, but I can assure that the church will do all we can for you to make this your dream wedding."
Alex smiled. "I wouldn't have it any other place. We'd like a 5:00 p.m. wedding, followed by a dinner and dance if possible."
Pastor Chet wrote the information in the calendar. "Done. I can hardly wait!"
Wes laughed and said, "Us too! Thank you, Pastor Chet. I'm sure we'll speak again in the coming weeks."
Once they were in the car, Wes said, "I'm sorry to make you upset in there, but I figured..."
He got no further because Alex leaned over and kissed him. "Every day I don't think I can love you anymore than I already do, but it seems every day you prove to me that I can. You knew that might cause me to be upset, but you were willing to risk that because of course it was the only thing we could do. I guess I'm still having a hard time thinking he may not be with us when May comes. Thank you for being my rock, Wes. I have a feeling I'm going to lean on you a lot over the next few months."
Wes squeezed her hand and replied, "I'm not going anywhere. We'll get through all of this together."
When they returned to her family, they shared the news of the earlier wedding date, which brought another round of tears from everybody. It was the unspoken acknowledgement of the news they had received the day previous day, and before Wes and Alex left to go back to the city, they sat down as a family and began to discuss the preparations to get a dream wedding planned in such a short time. It was a healing moment, as they were able to put their efforts into planning something joyful and not dwell on the impending loss of their beloved husband and father.
The planning continued for Wes and Alex on the drive back to the city. They made plans to contact the members of their wedding party as soon as possible, hoping that each would be able to make a February wedding work. Alex's mom Judy was left in charge of finding someone to cater the wedding dinner, and her sister Ana believed she could find a DJ that could play music for the dance. As they drove, Wes called his parents and shared the news with them about the wedding and Alex's dad's cancer diagnosis. They agreed to do whatever they could to help make sure all the bases were covered.
Back in Alex's apartment that evening, Alex and Wes took the opportunity to sit on the couch next to each other and reflect on their long weekend. They hadn't realized how exhausted the news of her dad's diagnosis had made them. As they sat together, Alex leaned her head over onto her fiance's shoulder.
"Are we going to be able to pull this wedding off in such short time, since we will be three hours away nearly every day between now and then?"
Wes brushed his fingers through her hair. "We can't allow ourselves to ask whether we can do it or not. We have no choice now but to get it done, so from this moment forward, we need to be saying 'we CAN get this wedding done.'"
They sat in silence for a few moments, and then Wes spoke again. "I'm worried about your mom and family and how they are going to cope with losing your dad. How will they manage the farm? Will they consider selling it? I'm not sure what they will do."
"I haven't had time to think about things like that, but I appreciate that you are. You really made an impression on my family, whether you knew it or not. I don't know what the future holds, but I know they are glad that I found you and I'm not letting you go."
Even though it was still early in the evening, they agreed that a good night's rest was probably what they both needed before going back to work the next day. As they climbed into bed, the most important thing they each needed was to hold each other, knowing that as difficult as the next few months would be, they would be stronger together. It was those thoughts that they took to sleep with them.
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The month of December brought a new round of energy for Alex and Wes. Their Wednesday times with Wesley were ending, and they prepared for the time when it would take a seven-hour car drive to go see him. Wesley's mom Janelle and her fiancΓ© Dennis had also moved their wedding date up when he found out he was being accepted into his company's management training program, so they could be married when he started his new position shortly after the first of the year. While Alex had planned on going on those long weekend trips with Wes to see his son, those plans had now changed at Wes' insistence, knowing that she needed to go be with her family as much as possible while her dad was still alive.
The traditional planning for Christmas activities was curtailed so all their focus could be on their upcoming wedding on Valentine's Day. Both had gone to their supervisors to ask for a couple of days off on either side of the wedding date and had received approval. It wouldn't allow them the honeymoon they had hoped for, but it would give them a chance to spend at least a couple of days together as a newly married couple before returning to work again.
Alex's friend Lori was shocked at the developments. "Alex, I'm so sorry! You know I'll do anything I can to help you prepare for this wedding."
Alex smiled and replied, "I know - you were very important to me as we planned the last wedding. A lot of what we did for that one will be carried over to this one. Wes has told me that there's no sense in starting over when I had already been planning for my dream wedding when it was canceled."
Lori smiled. "He's a great man, and he's going to be so good for you during all of this. I can't tell you how happy I am for you! Surprised it's all happening so quickly, but I know it's the right thing for you."
Alex looked at her friend and replied, "I've needed strong people to be with me, and you made it so I could survive and get to the point where someone like Wes could come into my life. Of course, you will be my maid of honor, so make sure you are available that weekend so you can do your duties!"
"Don't worry, Alex - I don't care what else might be happening, I'll be there for you!"
The final day of school before the winter holiday break gave Alex a chance to head home to be with her family before Christmas. Serious wedding planning had kicked into full gear, and Alex used the time to order invitations and other things they would use at the wedding. Filling out the order forms with the names "Wes and Alex Watson" made her smile, and she snapped a picture of the form and sent it to Wes, who promptly jokingly responded,