Snowstorm of Our Past novel · Chapter 31 of 32

Chapter 31: Snowstorm

"December fifth," Gran repeated. "That's fifteen days."

"I know."

"Fifteen days, Mallory. I need three days just for the frosting."

"Then you'd better start."

She hung up on me.

Gabe was laughing so hard he had to sit down on the courthouse steps in the snow.

Two weeks passed in a blur.

The pastor at the church in Leadville had baptized me and buried my parents, and he said yes before I'd finished asking.

The schoolteacher took over the flowers and the seating and the kid, roughly in that order.

The dog handler was in charge of the dog, which meant the rings.

The kid asked if he could officiate and was told no by four separate people.

Gran found her own wedding dress in a cedar chest under her bed.

Ivory wool, long sleeves, a row of tiny cloth buttons down the back.

"Your grandfather couldn't get them undone," she said. "Took him half an hour. He swore the whole time."

"Gran."

"I'm just telling you. Plan ahead."

The schoolteacher took it in at the waist and let it out at the shoulders, and it fit me.

On the morning of December fifth, it snowed.

Not a little.

The storm came in over the Mosquito Range at dawn and didn't let up. By noon there was a foot on Harrison Avenue and the plows were losing.

I stood at Gran's window in my robe and watched it come down.

"I forecasted this," I said. "I told everybody."

"You did," Gran said behind me. "And you still picked today."

"I know."

"Good girl."

Tilly turned one that morning.

She ate a pancake shaped like a one, mostly with her face, and pulled every bow off the presents and ignored the presents.

The church was three blocks from the diner.

Everyone walked.

I walked in Gran's dress and my snow boots, with a red wool coat over it all and snow catching in my braid.

Gran walked beside me on her cane, holding my arm, in a blue dress she'd bought in Denver.

The team walked behind us in their red rescue jackets over their good clothes.

The kid carried Tilly on his shoulders, and she shrieked at the snowflakes the whole way.

The church was full.

The regulars filled the back pews. The old man who eats two eggs at seven fifteen sat on the aisle with his wife, and he'd shaved again.

The sheriff was there. My old boss from the forecast office, with his whole family.

The colonel's wife sat near the front. The older woman with the gold star sat beside her.

And in the very last pew, by the door, sat Clint, with his son asleep against his chest.

He'd asked me two weeks before if he could come.

I'd said he could sit in the back.

He was sitting in the back.

Gabe stood at the front of the church in a dark suit with no beanie, and his hair was sticking up in the back.

When the music started and he saw me at the end of the aisle, his face did something I'll remember the rest of my life.

Gran walked me down.

She took her time.

She stopped twice to tell people to put their phones away.

At the front, she put my hand in Gabe's and patted it.

"Don't make me come up there again," she told him.

"No, ma'am."

The dog walked up the aisle on cue, with the rings tied to his collar on a red ribbon.

He made it halfway.

Then he saw Tilly in the front pew, on the schoolteacher's lap, and lay down at her feet, and refused to move.

The whole church laughed.

Gabe walked over, untied the rings himself, and walked back.

"He's on duty," he told the pastor.

The pastor read the vows.

Gabe's voice was steady through all of his. Mine wasn't.

"You may kiss the bride."

He held my face in both hands and kissed me, slow, in front of everybody I'd ever known.

The church stood up and cheered. Tilly screamed with joy and pulled the dog's ears.

When I turned around, the last pew was empty.

On the seat, there was a small wooden rocking horse with a red bow on it.

A card was tucked under the bow, in his blocky writing.

For Tilly. Happy first birthday. I made it at the yard.

The reception was at the Spur.

Gran had made two cakes. One was three tiers of white, with sugar snowflakes on it.

← Chapter 30 · All chapters · Chapter 32 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend