"You must be the young couple that Joanna was telling me about. Ty and Amy", the minister assumed after seeing a young man and a woman at the doorway of the church. Their eyes were sparkling the way only young lovers' could and they couldn't help but smile, which was an easy giveaways.
Pike River didn't get many visitors this time of year and the church was mostly empty on weekdays, so it didn't take a genius to put two and two together - especially since a local resident Joanna Hawke had called just five hours prior, asking the minister if she was available to wed a young couple on that same night. The minister had agreed immediately, because she loved nothing more than to guide couples into the haven of love.
After a long drive, Ty and Amy couldn't have been more ready to finally marry each other and say their vows they had prepared together. The last few days had been like a nightmare and it had seemed like maybe the wedding was not going to happen after all. In fact, they had feared that they would only get to see each other few times a month instead every day for what could have been years. Ty had been charged for the assault of Jesse Stanton, but now that the complaint had been withdrawn, both Ty and Amy had decided that they should get married as soon as they could, because if this mess had been shown them anything, it was that nothing mattered as much as their love.
"Yes. Hi", Ty replied as they shook hands with the minister. He looked at the little church and thought it was the perfect spot to get married. And better yet, there was no one else to make this any harder than it had to be. "Thanks for doing this. We really appreciate it, especially on such short notice", he continued, speaking for both of them without giving it a second thought. As his eyes met with Amy's, her glance let him know she agreed.
"Why put off till tomorrow what you can do today?" the minister summed it up and started walking down the aisle toward her husband who was lighting the candles. Amy and Ty exchanged glances of relief and followed her, setting their jackets aside on the chairs. "This is my husband. He'll be acting as your witness", the minister introduced him briefly.
When they reached the end of the aisle, they stood side by side, hands in their front and backs stretched.
"Let's begin. Are you both ready?" the minister asked, looking at them in turns. Ty and Amy smiled, feeling the butterflies in their stomachs as they chuckled lightly, turning towards one another. Their gaze met as they joined hands. This was crazy, but also exciting. It was what love was supposed to feel like.
The minister waited and in a few moments Ty and Amy turned their heads toward the minister so she could begin.
Amy took in a sharp breath, as she had stopped breathing, so she wouldn't pass out. She couldn't believe it was finally happening; she was marrying the guy in the loft. All her dreams were coming true and her life, as she knew it, was coming to an end, but her new life was only about to start.
"Actually…" Ty, said as they turned their eyes back to the minister, stopping her before she had time to speak again. He knew this was another last minute thing, but it couldn't wait. If they did this now, there was no turning back.
Amy turned to glance at him, suddenly fearing maybe he had cold feet. When he looked back at her, there was hesitation in his eyes.
"Amy… are you sure about this? Like, really sure?" he needed to know. She had said so, but Ty still couldn't help but think that there might be a small chance that she wasn't.
"Yes, I told you", Amy replied. "Ty, I wanna marry you."
"And I wanna marry you too, Amy. But what about your family, friends… I mean, isn't Soraya coming from all the way from England, how will she feel when she finds out there is no wedding because we already got married", Ty wanted to be absolutely sure that Amy had thought this through. "And Lou… she's spent weeks planning this wedding with Lisa. I'm just saying that ever since I got to know you, I've also realized how much your family and friends mean to you. And over the years, your family has become my family too, and I just can't help but think they should be here. I know we said this is just for us, and it can still be if we want it to. But it can still be that even if we decide to go home and get married like we planned. We just have to tell the others how we want things to happen and not just do whatever they want us to do. – So, I'm asking this for the last time, are you absolutely, 100 percent sure that no part of you wants your family and friends to be here with us?"
Ty's speech had made Amy begin to second guess their decision to elope. He knew her so well that she couldn't deny that what he was saying had an ounce of truth in it.
Or maybe even more.
Still, she didn't want to make another rash decision.
"But we came all the way here…" Amy pointed out. She hadn't thought about how she might be disappointing other people, when they made their decision, by not allowing them to celebrate her marriage with her. She had been thinking of her and Ty at the moment and now she was not even sure that she would be happy if they were not included.
"I know, and if you're worried that I'm going to be disappointed that we won't get married today, then I want you to know that I will not be; I'll marry you anywhere, anytime - whether it's now or some other day. Whatever you decide, I will respect that decision", Ty said, seeing how Amy wasn't sure what to do.
He knew Amy had dreamed about her own wedding since she was a little girl and it had taken him few tries to even get the engagement right, so Ty didn't want this to be disappointing moment for her, something she might regret later. He wanted Amy to have whatever she wanted, however she wanted, as this was a onetime affair, not something that she could just do over and over again.
"I just hate how this wedding thing has gotten bigger than we intended and wanted it to be…" Amy finally said. She had to admit that maybe she wasn't eloping for the right reasons. The only right reason she had for being here right now was because she loved Ty - but what if that wasn't enough in her book after all. "And I thought I wanted this because it was an easy solution and I thought you wanted this too…"
"But…?" Ty, replied, sensing a but was coming.
"But…" Amy continued, "now I'm not so sure. We were so high on relief when you got the phone call and I was just so happy I could actually marry you when and where I wanted, I didn't want to wait anymore in case something else would come between us…" she admitted embarrassingly.
Ty didn't blame her for anything, because he had pretty much felt the same way when they had embraced in Amy's room.
"Okay, so think forward few years; do you think you'll look back and regret that we did it this way? Do you think you would have wanted everyone to be here to witness this?" Ty asked.
He himself would have been happy either way; he liked having the family around, but even he had to admit the whole thing had gotten blown out of proportion, especially with the fear of going to jail and the possibility he would never get to marry Amy looming at the back of his mind.
But now that was no longer a threat, they were free to do what they wanted, when they wanted, and Ty wanted to make the right decision more than ever. Assaulting Jesse had been stupid of him and he had taken some serious steps back with his maturity, so this wasn't a time to continue down that path. He was not only responsible for himself with this decision, but Amy as well.
And when Amy didn't talk right away, despite appearing so sure they were doing the right thing ever since they had left Heartland, Ty figured he had gotten his answer; Amy was just too afraid to say it.
He then turned toward the minister, who had been patiently waiting for them to talk things through, and she smiled sympathetically as Ty started talking, knowing what he was going to say before he even said it.
"I'm really sorry we dragged you here for nothing, but… I think we will do this the way we wanted to in the first place - with family and friends", Ty explained.
The minister nodded gently, not bothered by it.
"There's no reason to apologize, I completely understand. You should do what feels best for you. You're only going to get married once after all."
"Thank you", Amy said, feeling a little embarrassed for causing such a scene, but relieved to find the minister so understanding. But then again, wasn't forgiveness part of her job, Amy thought.
As soon as they started walking back down the aisle, toward the doors, Amy was struck with guilt as she thought about everyone back at home and their reactions if they really had announced their elopement to them.
"So what are we gonna do now? Go back home? We booked the cabin here and everything", Amy asked when they took their jackets from the chairs. Ty put his on and thought it through.
"Why don't we just spend the night here? I mean, like you said, we came all the way here and Joanna gave us the cabin for the night, so… why don't we enjoy some time alone?" Ty suggested. "Besides it sounds better than a five hour drive back home in the dark on those slippery roads", he stated with a big smile and a wink.
"Hmm, yeah", Amy agreed, taking her hair out under her collar before she pulled her coat zipper up, "we should stay."
It had been a while since they had any time alone anyway and with everything they had gone through the past few days, they could have really use some time off from all the hassle. It wasn't like they were in a hurry to get back, as the real wedding date wasn't until next week.
"Sort of like a pre-wedding night…?" she continued.
"I guess you could say that", Ty said laughing, lowering his voice. "But before you go any further, maybe we should exit the church. You don't want to have that kind of talk in the Lord's house, do you?"
Amy chuckled, checking over her shoulder to see if the minister was close by, and hoping she wasn't. She was still at the front of the church, putting out the candles with her husband as there wasn't going to be a ceremony after all.
"Come on, let's go before a lightning strikes us", Amy said, taking Ty by the hand.