Lexi looked at herself in the mirror. Anyone in the room could see she was wearing almost the same expression she had at nine AM when she was planning on marrying Toby. The look on her face was one of deep thought. So much had gone wrong and yet her she was were everything was going right. Ian had said he would work miracles. Lexi trusted him but it had been hours since she had seen him.

A soft knock on the door pulled her attention from the mirror as Lexi turned to see her future sisters-in-law enter the room. “You look beautiful,” Jaime said entering the room with Meghan following in tow only at a much slower rate. Walking over Jaime stood behind Lexi and admired her in the mirror as Meghan found the first seat she could occupy and put up her feet.

The dress had been repaired from the dirt and snags of the tree incident. Her hair was not in the tight bun but a looser style where half was up and the other half cascaded down her shoulders. Around her neck was a single teardrop aquamarine pendant that Chris had given her long ago. “Thank you,” Lexi smiled at her. “I just feel like....like I should have a different dress or something to make it special and unique. You know something that is going to make him say wow she looks beautiful,” Lexi confessed what was on her mind. “He has seen me in this dress but,”

“But nothing,” Meghan said. “Don’t get in your head. I don’t think you ever see the way Chris looks at you. You could come in a paper bag and he would act as if you have never looked better; however, we do have something if you want it,” she handed Jaime a box. Walking over to Meg, Jaime opened the box and took out a white shoulder-length veil. It was not something Lexi would readily have picked out yet had a nostalgic quality. Jaime, however, answered the question Lexi had on her mind before she even asked it.

“Way back in the 1940’s my great great great something grandmother Judith was a war bride. She had know our great great great something grandfather Paul for years and when duty called Paul left but not before marrying her the day he shipped out,” Jaime said carefully removing the veil that was in Lexi’s hair and replacing it with the one in her hands. “As insane as this sounds we have used this,” she leaned around to look at Lexi’s face, “when the bride wanted to, for ten generations of women marrying into the family. I wore it and so did Meghan. No pressure but we would love for you to wear. Weddings are about the two people getting married but also about traditions,” she pulled the lace around Lexi’s shoulders as they talked. “Besides we were gaggling Jewish wedding traditions. In the Christian faith, it is bad luck to see the bride before the wedding day. In the Jewish faith, the man is supposed to Bedecken the Bride. So Meg and I thought we could do it for him. Kinda like a hybridization of the two faiths.”

While the veil was archaic, it seemed to fit the dress Lexi wore perfectly. Turning around she hugged Jaime tightly. “Thank you,” she whispered to the woman.

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At the Altar
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Lexi couldn’t stop smiling as her father took her arm and her mother took the other. Behind the doors, Chris was waiting for her. Any reservation she had about getting married today disappeared as the doors opened. To Ian’s credit, the wedding venue was far more beautiful than the place she picked in San Francisco. Instead of being indoors, Ian had found a breathtaking spot on the river just behind the restaurant they would use for the reception. Large weeping willows, like the river bed on either side creating a canopy for her to walk down. Somehow, they had also created a force field floor so that everyone attending was seated above the flowing water without getting wet. The sensation was like walking on water as Lexi and her parents started down the aisle.

The setting sun allowed both light and the first glimpses of Polaris to shine in the night sky. Candles lining the aisle cast soft glows which seemed to make the area more ethereal than real as the Garfield’s walked towards the altar. Lexi stopped looking around the second her eyes found Chris. He had never looked more handsome.

“Baby,” Levi spoke softly as people smiled and nodded as they passed, “all I ever want is for you to be happy. Marriage is not easy. There are ups and downs, happiness and sadness but as long as you love your spouse, there is nothing you can’t face together,” he gave his daughter the only advice he had. Lexi and Chris would experience so much in their life together. All Levi Garfield could do was hope the man he was giving his daughter to would love her like no other. Reaching the altar, Ester embraced her daughter and then took a seat in the front row. Levi took a long second and held his little girl for the last time. Turning to Chris he put Lexi’s hand in the young man’s waiting at the altar.

“Chris I am giving you one of the most precious things I have. Take care of her. Promise me that I can go to bed every night and know she is safe and loved with you,” Levi asked in a gentle tone.

Lexi