Speak Now

A low murmur rippled through the sanctuary in harmony with the soft, deep strains of
a string ensemble—everyone waiting in anticipation for the ceremony to begin. Several guests smiled, and even more frowned as a man ushered two small children into their seats just moments before the musicians ended the prelude. As he pulled a toddler with lopsided pigtails and large bows onto his lap, the processional began. Smiles and a few chuckles erupted as the maid of honor walked down the aisle, and the little girl exclaimed, “Daddy! That’s a be-u-uful bride!”

Embarrassed, the father hushed his child and whispered something in her ear. Cara smiled at the little girl and winked as she passed by their pew. Seconds later, she stood at the front of the room. The guests
glanced behind them, the anticipation almost palpable. People waited, ready to spring to their feet and greet the bride when the ushers flung open the doors.

Cara, distracted by the enchanting
child, ignored her cousin Julia in favor of the little girl. The guests, all watching the bride in her exquisite gown, missed the little drama played out in the fifth row. The child started to exclaim again, but the father stopped her. He clapped a hand over the little one’s mouth and then gently removed it, placing one finger to her lips. The child pulled his ear down to her level as she pointed to Cara.

Surprise filled the man’s face. His eyes scanned Cara as he shifted his child in his arms, moving th
e weight higher on his shoulder and searching for whatever obviously entranced his child. Cara smiled briefly at him and turned to adjust Julia’s train as she reached her groom.

Though the ceremony passed in a blur for Cara, each time she glanced at the man and his children, she found him struggling to keep his wriggling son and entranced daughter from disrupting the service. Did he have a chance to enjoy it at all? Thoughts raced through her mind, distracting her from the ceremony until at last, the minister declared Julia and Trevor husband and wife.

As the groom kissed his bride, Cara glanced back once more to see the child’s reaction. Instead, two pairs of eyes met hers from across the sanctuary. The child’s showed unqualified admiration, but the man’s looked almost mournful—wistful. She didn’t know whether to give him a conspiratorial wink or a sympathetic smile.

The moment evaporated in an instant. The congregation, excused by the pastor, began filing
out row by row, first to last. The guests found themselves crowded in the vestibule, waiting for the receiving line. The man shuffled his daughter from side to side while holding onto his son’s hand. From her position at the front, he looked exhausted and the celebration hadn’t yet begun.

As they approached the best man and maid of honor, the child exclaimed in delight once more, “She’s so be
-u-uful!”

Cara took the child’s hand and smiled. “You are very good for my ego, little lady. I’m Cara.
What’s your name?”

Without a trace of shyness or hesitation, the child gestured dramatically, “I’m Riley. That’s Bryson and he,” the child threw her arms around her father’s neck, kissing his cheek with evident adoration, “is my bestest daddy in the world. Grownups like you call him Jonafan.”

“I’d better be your only daddy, Ry.”

Nodding wisely, she grinned at Cara. “He is.” Another nod. “My only daddy. Isn’t he han’some?”

Cara blushed and glanced at the embarrassed father. Leaning closer, she whispered softly into the child’s ear, “If you promise not to tell…”

“Oh, I do!”

Jonathan Lyman’s deep but soft chuckle washed over woman and child. “Appropriate words for the occasion, Riley.”

“Hush. This is between Riley and me,” Cara insisted, barely giving Jonathan a glance. However, in that glance, she saw something that intrigued her. He
had noticed that she’d brushed him off and it bothered him. He wanted that glance.

Cara leaned in closer, cupping her hand around Riley’s ear. “Your daddy is the handsomest man I’ve ever seen.” Stepping back and feeling extremely foolish, she gave Riley a serious look. “Remember, you promised not to tell.”

Riley nodded solemnly, but her wide grin told Jonathan, and anyone else watching, the verdict had been favorable. Just as he moved to hug the groom, Riley screeched, “I won’t tell. I won’t
ever
.”

Just then, the quiet little boy at his side tugged his arm. “Daddy, I gotta go. Now. I really gotta—”

“All right, Bry…” He smiled at the happy couple. “Congratulations. I’m sure you’ll be very happy.”

At the bathroom door, shrieks of
horror echoed through the vestibule, followed by indignant shouts of, “—but I can’t go in the
boys’
bathroom! I
can’t
! I’s a
girl
!”

The acoustics in the vestibule amplified Jonathan’s forced, quiet tones enough that the entire room heard him say, “You go into the men’s room every time.”

“But not when
she’s
watching!”

The crowd tittered. Taking her cue in the form of a nudge from the bride, Cara slipped from the receiving line and hurried to Jonathan’s side as he attempted to pull the shrieking child, hands clutching at the doorjamb, into the bathroom. “May I take her? We’ll be over there greeting the guests.”

After throwing her a grateful look, Jonathan slipped into the bathroom to help relieve his son’s discomfort and recompose himself. While Bryson carefully rolled up his sleeves, washed his hands and dried them, Jonathan took a deep breath and struggled to control his emotions.
Steady man. Just get through the day.

~*~*~*~

“May I join you for a little while?”

Jonathan started when he heard Cara’s voice behind him. “Of course, but—”

“It’s the pretty wedding lady! I forgotted—”

Jonathan interjected with the absent-minded correction of parents everywhere, “Forgot.”

“Yeah. I forgot your name.”

Cara slipped into the chair next to Riley and leaned close to the little girl. “My name is Cara.”

“Miss Cara. Remember, Riley, you call her Miss.”

Across the table, Cara gave him a slow smile. “I think I’m now forever grateful that my father insisted on Cara instead of Carrie.”

Without waiting for a reply, she turned to Bryson. “You’re a big boy. I think you’re probably about five?”

Bryson’s large, blue eyes widened. “Soon. Daddy says my birthday is soon, but sometimes that means in a few days, and sometimes it means years, so I’m not sure when.”

“Next month. Your birthday is in…” Jonathan did some mental before continuing, “three weeks, four days, six hours, fifteen minutes, and thirty two, thirty one, thirty—”

“Daddy!”

“The sixteenth of next month.” Jonathan glanced at Cara’s face, waiting to see the look of a caged animal trying to flee. It never surfaced. Cara remained focused on Bryson as she asked about how they celebrated and what present he’d want that no one would ever get him.