Chapter 8: I Do, On the Gull Rock

The Coast Guard cutter came alongside the Gull Rock without hurrying.

A young officer in a navy jacket stepped across onto the deck with a clipboard.

She looked at the strings of white lights, the folding chairs and the lemon cake on its piling.

"Captain Bancroft," she said. "We received a report of an overloaded passenger vessel."

"We haven't loaded anyone yet, ma'am," Theo said. "We're about to."

"Then I'll stay and count."

She did.

She checked the life jackets in the locker, finding sixty-four.

She watched the guests as they climbed aboard in their funeral clothes and their good boots.

There were forty-one of them, and nobody was carrying a casserole into the wheelhouse.

She checked the flares, the radio and the fire extinguisher.

Then she looked up the dock, where my father stood by his car with his arms crossed.

"Who made the call?" she asked.

"No idea," said Theo.

"Mm."

She made a note on the clipboard and handed Theo a slip of paper.

"Everything's in order, Captain. Congratulations."

"On what?" Theo said.

"Word on the dock is there's a wedding." She nodded at the dress bag in my arms. "And I'd say that's the bride."

I was still in my work jeans.

"Give me ten minutes," I said.

It took eight.

The bakery woman and the old pastor's wife held up a bedsheet in the lee of the wheelhouse.

I changed behind it with the wind pulling at the silk.

Lorna came around the corner with my mother's veil.

She did not say anything.

She slid the pearl comb into my hair and stepped back with her eyes full.

Keep reading free with an account. Start They Vetoed My Wedding 5 Times I Vetoed Them for Life from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.