The Riviera was the most secluded resort along the Cancún coast. Palm trees and banana plants formed a forestlike fortress on either side of the entrance, and guards at the gates checked with Wilma that all four buses were part of the Matthews wedding party.
As with the jet leasing company, the Riviera had done business with Wilma Waters before. The management and staff intended to do more business with her in the future. Because of that, they were under orders to maintain heightened secrecy regarding the identity of the wedding party taking over the resort for the next three days.
The buses parked near the front lobby, where stations were set up by last name. Guests got in the appropriate line and were given keys to their suites and a packet of instructions advising them of special dinners, showers, and meeting times.
Wilma had seen to all of it, and Katy pulled her aside once everyone had gone off to find their rooms. “I don’t know how you pulled this off.”
Where other people might look exhausted at this point, Wilma’s eyes were bright and alert. She looked exhilarated by the challenge of planning the wedding. “I think we’re really going to do it. All along my goal was to organize a big wedding without the media crashing it. We just might do it.”
At this point everyone who knew the when and where of the wedding was already here at the resort.
Katy felt more relaxed than she’d felt since they first met with Wilma. “Even if they figure it out, they won’t get past the front gate. I think we can all breathe a sigh of relief.”
“Not yet.” Wilma gave her an impulsive hug. “Not until you leave for your honeymoon.”
The honeymoon.
Plans for the wedding had been so involved that Katy hadn’t given much thought to the honeymoon. The destination was a surprise, something Dayne had planned. “Bring a bathing suit” was all he’d told her. Katy didn’t care where they went. They could stay here at the Riviera, and the honeymoon would be perfect. As long as she and Dayne were together.
Dayne had gone off with his father and brother, because at Wilma’s request, his room was near theirs. Katy’s was across the hall from the Flanigans’ and next door to her parents’—at the clear opposite side of the resort. That would give her more privacy to get ready for the wedding without any chance Dayne might see her.
Everyone had snacks waiting for them in their rooms, and after they unpacked, most people met by the pool. With only a couple hundred guests here, the resort felt wide-open—with space for people who wanted privacy and plenty of room for swimming or lying in the sun.
The Hollywood group included numerous A-list actresses and actors, all of whom found a smaller pool at the other end of the resort. Katy understood. They hardly ever had privacy, so why not take it while it was being offered?
Dinner that night was in one of the resort’s ballrooms, and Dayne emceed the evening by having volunteers from among the guests play a version of Wheel of Fortune.
Afterwards, people fanned out toward the ocean, where some sat in beach chairs and watched the mild surf while others walked along the shore. Katy smiled when she saw Jenny walking on the damp sand, her arm around Bailey’s shoulders. Whatever turmoil had suddenly reared up between them around the holidays was gone now.
Before they turned in that night, she and Dayne met with Wilma to go over the last-minute details. The shower would take place tomorrow at noon, and the rehearsal was set for six o’clock, followed by the rehearsal dinner. The guests who weren’t in the wedding party would have the day to spend at the beach or at the pool. Everything was going according to schedule.
“So far, so good.” Wilma grinned. “No paparazzi. Though word back home is that they’re going crazy trying to figure out where the jet was headed.” She gave a strong laugh and clapped. “I love it. Outwitting them with such a big wedding. But we’re not in the clear yet.”
As Katy fell asleep that night, she asked God to work miracles. Keep the press away, Lord. It matters so much to Dayne, and because of that it matters to me, too. And please use our wedding to bring people closer to You and to each other. She smiled, alone in the dark. The fairy-tale wedding she’d spent her life dreaming of was about to happen.
Her room was on the fourth floor, and she slept that night with her balcony door open, the sound of the ocean mixing with the warm breeze and filling her room. As she fell asleep, only one prayer was on her mind.
Thank You, Lord. . . . With all my heart, thank You.
Darkness lay over the Riviera resort as John Baxter adjusted his bow tie. Elaine was ready, waiting in the next room for him. Katy and Dayne had chosen this hour for their wedding, the hour that symbolized everything about their relationship.
Sunrise.
Under the cover of night, the wedding pavilion and seating area had been set up on the beach. Flashlights had been left in the rooms so that the guests could find their way from their suite to the beachfront ceremony. Wilma had researched exactly when the sun would rise, when the light would first break the night sky.
John sprayed cologne on his neck and then went to find Elaine. She wore a dark gray, midlength dress, and in it she looked stunning. “Elaine . . .”
She stood and came to him. “You look handsome, John. The wedding’s going to be perfect.”
“I can’t believe it’s really happening, that my oldest son is part of our family, he’s getting married, and . . . well—” his voice fell a notch—“you’re here to share it with me.”
She took hold of his hands. Her touch reminded him that though his heart had taken the greatest blow of all, though he’d nearly died from the pain of losing his Elizabeth, he was still breathing, still living. And Elaine was very much a part of what remained of his life.
He stared into her eyes, and he could picture the way it would feel in half an hour, having her beside him as morning dawned and the sun filled the sky. The setting for the wedding would be breathtaking: ocean waves and white sugary sand, blue-green water as far as they could see.
But Elaine was even more beautiful. Maybe after the wedding, they could take a walk and he would tell her. For now, he was too choked up to make his feelings known. It was wrong—and it always would be—that Elizabeth wasn’t here, that she wasn’t the woman standing before him, the one watching her oldest son marry the woman he loved.
Even so, this was his life—and his life involved Elaine Denning.
The way maybe—just maybe—it would involve her for the rest of his days.
Katy was filled with peace and joy she’d never known before. It was just after five in the morning, and she was in the bridal room with the friends who, all but Rhonda, were about to be her sisters. Kari, Brooke, Reagan, and Rhonda helped with her train, and Erin—who had flown in yesterday with her family—held the bouquet, waiting for the moment when Katy was ready.
And Ashley—the one who through her stubborn determination and unrelenting prayers had finally brought the Baxter family together—stood closest, adjusting her veil and humming Katy’s favorite hymn, “Great Is Thy Faithfulness.”
“It’s true.” Ashley’s voice was low, filled with emotion. “I remember marrying Landon, the way God let my mother live to see that moment and how Landon never gave up on me.” She smiled, but her eyes were watery as she looked at Katy. “All of that was God’s faithfulness.” She gave Katy a hug. “And this morning is too.”
It was true; Katy knew it to the very depths of her soul. Dayne Matthews would love her until the day she died. He would fight for her and the special connection they’d found together. He would fight for it the way he’d fought back from the brink of death after his accident. If it took everything in him, he would honor and cherish her, working out the details of their marriage with every heartbeat.
The way she would too.
Sunrise that morning would take place at 5:53 a.m. At 5:40, Wilma Waters entered the room and stared at her. “Katy Hart, you are a vision. It’s almost too bad the tabloids won’t get a look at this wedding.”
/> Katy felt a rush of joy. “Still no sign of them?”
“Not a photographer in sight except the one provided by the Riviera.” Wilma wiped at her brow, as if the task had finally drained what was left of her boundless energy. Then she laughed, and her face came to life again. “Seriously, I can’t take credit. This went way too smoothly for that.” She pointed up. “I’m beginning to think there might be something to all that praying you’ve been doing.”
“Yes.” Ashley stepped up. “Before we’re finished here in Cancún, give me a few minutes. If you didn’t believe in prayer before, you will for sure after you’ve heard some of our stories.”
A soft chorus of laughter came from the others.
But Wilma looked serious. “I’d like to hear about it. Katy and Dayne really have me thinking.”
It was another victory, the perfect note to set out on. Katy wasn’t sure if she could wait one more minute. “Are we ready?”
“We are.” Wilma smiled, and her eyes shone with genuine emotion. “Even in the dusky darkness, the setting is beyond beautiful, Katy. Wait till you see it.” She checked her watch. “Everyone’s seated. The groomsmen are waiting with Dayne at the front. The eastern sky’s already showing streaks of light.”
“Okay then.” Ashley touched Katy’s arm. “As Katy would say, let’s make it happen.”
They filed quietly into a lobby, where Katy spotted her father. He had been ill much of the past ten years, and though they talked each week, their relationship wasn’t what it might’ve been if they’d lived closer to each other. But here, before Katy, was the man who had made her believe in her dreams.
She walked up to him and whispered near his ear, “Remember, Daddy, all those times you told me I could be anything I wanted, have anything I wanted?”
“Yes, baby.” Her dad had tears in his eyes. “I meant every word.”
“And you were right.” She laughed, but only so she wouldn’t cry. She touched her fingers to her lips. “Thanks for believing in me. That part stays with me no matter how far apart we are.”
“You’re beautiful, Katy. I couldn’t be happier for you.”
Only then did Katy notice the kids bouncing around the lobby near the door. Cole and Tommy were dressed in pint-size tuxedos, standing next to Maddie, Hayley, and Jessie, along with Clarisse and Chloe, Erin’s two daughters who were old enough to be flower girls.
“I’m first, right?” Cole blocked Katy’s path. “I told the girls I was first, but they don’t believe me.”
Wilma took over before Katy could say anything. “You’ll all walk together. Cole, you and Tommy will walk at the center, with the girls on either side of you.” She smiled at the five girls. “Do you have your baskets of rose petals?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Hayley was the first to respond.
Her answer touched Katy and reminded her again of the hymn Ashley had been humming earlier. Hayley hadn’t been expected to survive her drowning incident, but here she was—walking without assistance, able to function at nearly the same level as her sister and cousins. Yes, her sentences were still slower than those of the other kids. But she was whole and well and precious, all because of God’s great and mighty faithfulness.
Katy massaged her throat, willing herself to control her emotions. She held on to her father’s arm and realized she was trembling. And of course! She was about to marry Dayne Matthews—a man who was so much more than what the world knew of him. Only she had seen him struggle to recount the loss of his birth mother or the first meeting he’d shared with John Baxter. Katy alone knew the strength of the man, his will to live and find his place among the Baxters.
The importance of family.
“It’s 5:48,” Wilma announced. “Let’s get started.” She opened the door, and the sound of violins filled the lobby.
The music mixed with a gentle, warm wind and the sound of softly crashing waves. The combined effect made Katy’s heart skip a beat.
Wilma directed the bridesmaids to head down the aisle, allowing ten seconds between each one. When they had all made their way through the doorway and down a winding path that would lead them toward the wedding set up on the beach, Wilma helped the children find a pretty formation, with two girls on one side of the boys and three on the other.
“Okay now—” Wilma touched Cole’s shoulder—“don’t walk too fast.” She looked at Katy and her father. “I’ll go in, and after a minute, the music will change. When it does, that’ll be your cue.” She smiled. “It’s going to be perfect, Katy. Sunrise is in exactly two minutes.”
When Wilma was gone, Katy’s father smiled down at her, and she spotted a tear on his cheek.
“Daddy—” she reached up and wiped it with her fingertip—“I’m so glad you were well enough to come.”
“I wouldn’t have missed it.”
At that instant the music changed, and Katy took a quick breath. “Here goes.”
Theirs wasn’t the traditional wedding march. Instead the violins and pianist set up on the sand played the theme from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves: “(Everything I Do) I Do It For You.” It was a song that had played often during Dayne’s physical therapy. Something about it—the passion of the song and the love it sang about—convinced Katy and Dayne that it would be the only truly fitting song for this moment.
The music played, and Katy and her father set out on the path. They rounded the corner, and the wedding scene spread out before them like something from a dream. Bunches of white roses cascaded from four-foot pillars along the outer edge of the seating area and at key points along the center aisle.
Only then did she realize that Dayne had a microphone. She hadn’t known until Oliver! how talented a singer Dayne was, but here, now, she’d had no idea he was going to sing to her. She hesitated from the surprise and felt the sting of tears as he sang the first words of the song.
“‘Look into my eyes—you will see . . . what you mean to me.’”
She still had a long way to go up the aisle, but as she moved toward Dayne, she was lost in his eyes, so lost that she barely noticed the glistening lines on his cheeks. He was crying, her Dayne, the one who had loved her from the moment he saw her. Even so, his voice was strong and filled with passion. “‘Search your heart—search your soul . . . and when you find me there, you’ll search no more.’ ”
As he reached the crescendo, as the music filled the beach and Dayne sang about this being a love worth trying for, worth dying for, Katy was struck by something beautiful. Something she would remember as long as she lived.
From across the farthest reaches of the ocean, piercing for all time the darkness that had plagued their relationship, came proof that this was their moment, their time. Katy kept walking, her gaze locked on Dayne’s. The love they shared was indeed worth whatever cost had brought them to this place. That much was as clear as the streaky yellows and pinks appearing before her eyes.
Nothing could represent her wedding day more than a sunrise—and not just her wedding day but every day that would follow with Dayne Matthews.
Because that was love, wasn’t it? Waking up through the years and knowing with all your being that the depth of emotion and passion and connection that filled this moment wasn’t something in the past but something new and fresh and alive.
Morning after morning after morning.
Dayne wasn’t sure how he was able to stand. Katy was more beautiful than anything he might’ve imagined his bride to be. He couldn’t take his eyes off her, couldn’t do anything but sing every word, every line of the song as if he’d written it for her. Because he meant it that much.
The song was building, and he couldn’t see anything but Katy. “‘Look into your heart—you will find . . . there’s nothing there to hide. . . . Take me as I am—take my life. . . .’”
Katy reached her spot at the end of the aisle, and he realized that she was crying too. Not loud or with any trace of sadness but with tears of joy for all they’d been through to reach this place, all they
’d survived together.
Let the paparazzi trail them. Let them write about every move they might make as husband and wife. Nothing—nothing in the world—would ever separate him from the love he felt for Katy Hart. If they needed to live on their own private island, he would go in a heartbeat before he’d let anything come between them.
His love was protection and passion and honesty and awe; it was a dusty-faced girl flat on her back on an old, dirty stage looking at him with wonder in her eyes and the flash of lightning between them on a dark, stormy night in Bloomington. He had never wanted anything in his life as much as he wanted Katy Hart, and along the way he’d found the One he did need more, even when he hadn’t known it.
God and God alone had brought them here this morning.
It was a beginning, and it was only right that the sun was rising into the sky over his right shoulder as the song was ending. He finished it strong. “‘Everything I do . . . I do it for you.’”
As he lowered his microphone, the sky changed again, daybreak coming to life all around them.
Dayne’s friend Bob Asher had flown in to take part in the wedding and to officiate the ceremony. He stepped forward now and looked at Katy’s father. “Who gives this woman to be married?”
Katy’s father kissed her cheek one last time before giving her away. Then he nodded in Bob’s direction. “Her mother and I.” With that, he tenderly took Katy’s hand and gave it to Dayne.
The music was still playing softly in the background, repeating the chorus of the song. Before they began the vows, Katy and Dayne had something they wanted to do, something they had planned months ago. Together they walked to a small table set up near the piano. There on a white linen cloth were two vases full of dirt. Hers was soil taken from the flower bed near the front entrance of the Bloomington Community Theater. His was sand from Malibu Beach.
They smiled at each other, and then Katy pulled a larger, empty crystal vase close. Gradually, they each poured the contents of their vases into the empty container. As they did, the two materials mixed and swirled together in the new vase.