On Horseback

Chapter 22: Karen's Wedding

"Okay Jack, thanks so much, come in again!" Rick called as Jack opened the store door. But the farmer wasn't ready to leave yet. There was something sitting on the shelf of the shop at he needed to buy before his chance was gone. "Rick? How much is that?" The owner of the shop said, "You want that? Are you sure that you're ready for that step in your life?" Jack nodded. "I'm ready."

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Jack and I were so happy to have finally found each other. He was at the point where if I wasn't found, he was going to completely forget about me. I wouldn't have wanted that to happen. And thank God that it didn't. I no longer had to worry about finding the person who promised me what he did or anything to do with love. That was all over.

Right now, I had to think about Karen. Her wedding was going to be held on Sunday.

The current date was the 10th. I had all of today, tomorrow and the day after tomorrow to make wedding gifts. I always knitted sweaters as wedding gifts. It had become tradition. I knitted my best friend a white sweater, that had red polka dots all over it. I wasn't sure if she was going to like it or not, but for now, I was going to be giving it to her.

Kai's sweater was more...dark. It was all black and had purple eyes on the front of it. I tried to sew on little wine bottles near the edges, but that task became impossible when I created too big of a hole. I had to re-knit that part of the sweater which was extremely annoying.

After I finished knitting the two sweaters, I realized that it was well past midnight. Now I only had two more days to run around and get things prepared for the wedding. Life was certainly difficult in these manners, which didn't surprise me the least bit.

I woke up on the 11th and raced to Karen's house. My friend wanted me to help her with the wedding gown that she was going to be wearing. It was long, and white and was beautiful. I almost got jealous for a second there, but I shook that thought out of my head, and began helping Karen with her outfit.

"I can't believe I'm finally marrying Kai," Karen said. "It's been six years now since he came, and I don't know how long I've been in love with him for. A real long time, that's all I know." She sighed. "Why is life so perfect?"

Under my breath, I sarcastically murmured, "Yeah, why is life so perfect?"

Spring 11th went by in a whoosh. The next thing I knew I was hurrying to the church before midnight, and hanging up banners with the pastor and Popuri. We had both volunteered to help with the banners, but what we didn't know was that we were going to end up going really late. It was 11:45. Oh well. Anything for Karen that satisfied her, satisfied me.

All that was left now was Saturday the 12th. A lot of work was getting done today. Gray and Dad even began helping and ran around like wild chickens, preparing for the upcoming wedding. One thing about Flower Bud Village is that weddings really are a rarity, so they are planned out extremely cautiously and everyone helps with the preparation. The day of the wedding is always a lovely one and the following day, a picture of the newlyweds is hung in front of the church for one year. It's such a beautiful site.

How I wanted my picture to be hung in front of the church...and I only had one more day to say yes or no to Cliff's proposal. Would this be my only chance of finding a husband? I do greatly love him, but I also love Jack too.

Some choices had to be unfair.

All the guests didn't need to dress up at weddings. I found this to be unusual, but we weren't required to. So, like every other wedding I'd been to in my life (which was, like, one), I didn't wear anything but a pink tank-top and orange shorts that said GIRL along the back. But this time I was going to wear a yellow tank-top and green shorts with no message on the back.

Jack had also been invited to the wedding. Him and Kai were basically best friends now, from what I saw, and I enjoyed seeing that, since Karen and I were best friends. The two boyfriends of us girls were the best friends. That was cool. That was definitely cool.

Finally, Sunday the 13th arrived. I woke up with a nervous smile on my face, and quickly got changed into my Summer attire, regardless of the fact that it was mid-Spring.

Gray and Popuri threw on the clothes that they wore almost every day, and we quietly ate breakfast, which I found suspicious. None of us were rambling about Karen's wedding. I finally decided to bring up the topic.

"I wonder who will catch Karen's bouquet," I began. Popuri looked at me and said, "Well, for all you know, it's either going to be you or Elli. Maria probably won't participate since she's so spiritual about those kind of rituals. She can be quite the pain at weddings. She can be quite the pain."

After breakfast, the three of us said goodbye to Dad, an ran for Jack's farm. We had to quickly pick him up, and then go straight to the church. The wedding was going to last all day, basically, and we would probably be partying late into the night anyways.

I knocked on Jack's door the second we got to the farm, and he opened it, dressed in fancy jeans and a white t-shirt. He still wore that annoying cap that he had been wearing since the day that he arrived on the farm. How awkward, but yet, how cute.

The four of us ran to the church, where Cliff already was. He was looking me straight in the eye, mouthing the words, "What's your answer? Yes or no?" over and over. I didn't want to answer yet; it was still too early. Finally, Cliff came up to me and asked, "Ann? I need your answer now. There's a wedding booked for next Sunday."

I shook my head. "I'll give you an answer tonight at nine o' clock. How does that sound?"

Cliff nodded and said, "Agreed. No later!"

We had to stand outside the church for quite some time. I wasn't surprised though. These special moments always took eighty years to plan, plus another eighty years for the big event, if you catch my drift. I socialized with Gray and Jack for most of the waiting time but I also browsed to see who else got invited to the wedding.

There was the Mayor, of course. There was Maria, only because she had to play the organ. There was Zack the shipper and his daughter, May. The midwife, Zack's mother, also came to the wedding. Other than the two people who always attended special moments, Zack, May and the midwife were really the only other people who had come. And of course there was us.

The doors to the church finally opened.

Everyone took notice of Kai holding Karen's hand. We all started cheering and watched as the newlyweds walked down the aisle. Karen would bow every so often ("I can't curtsy in this gown!"), and Kai would wave to everyone. When they got to the end of the aisle, Karen turned around and held up her bouquet. This is when she called Maria, May and I to the centre of the aisle.

Maria and I complied, but Zack had to explain to his eight-year-old daughter what they were doing. It seemed to excite her, and so she ran to where the two of us were standing. Karen snickered before throwing the bright, colourful bouquet.

It flew threw the sky like a rainbow, and believe it or not, it was caught by May! The crowd started to cheer and Karen smiled a huge smile when she saw who had caught it. Karen had always liked May. She was like a mother figure to May's long departed mother.

"Let's eat cake!" Kai screamed, and we all rushed into the church.

The twelve of us all mingled and such the entire day away. We drank wine, sang and danced, and even got to have a cake fight, which we would have to clean from the pews later on. It certainly was an enjoyable day!

The day began to end, and the night began to shine. I looked at the clock and it read 8:00 PM. That meant I had only one more hour to decide to marry Cliff or not. The wedding would be in one week. What if I said no, though? What would happen to that wedding? That would be such a waste! It couldn't go to waste! It wouldn't go to waste!

That was it. I had made up my mind. I was going to say yes to Cliff's proposal. I wasn't going to hang around and wait for Jack to propose. He almost forgot about us being kids together, but he did remember the incident on the tree! But...no. It was too late. I am saying yes to Cliff.

At 9:00 p.m., I walked over to Cliff, and took his hands in mine. "Cliff, you are all the things I thought I knew. And you are. You're not a faker, you're not a liar. You're not a cheater. You're true to yourself. I think that you may create my happy ending. So, Cliff, to your proposal question..."

Cliff's eyes perked up. He knew I was going to say yes.

"...To your proposal question, Cliff, I answer-"

"WAIT!" Jack suddenly screamed. Everyone in the church turned to look at the farmer. I turned around and saw that he had something enclosed in his hands. Oh, no. Why was he going to give me a useless gift right before I was to answer Cliff?

Looking straight in my eyes, Jack said, "All those things you said to Cliff are how I feel about you. You are everything that I want. We are to be together. That's what you asked me" -I started getting tears in my eyes- "all of those years ago. You were right. I was also right. You, Ann, you are my happy ending."

Jack opened his hand, and a whoosh of blue surrounded me. What was happening? This was...OH MY GOD! Why didn't he do this earlier? Why did Jack choose to PROPOSE TO ME RIGHT NOW?

Karen and Kai watched from the stage of the church, while everyone else just watched from the pews. Now I had to reject one of the two men. If Jack had never proposed, I wouldn't have to say no to one of them. But now I have to. And it was gonna hurt me too. I knew what I was going to do. I knew who I was going to say yes and going to say no to.

Looking at Cliff, I said, "I need a second to think this over."

I walked out of the church, quickly followed by Karen, in her long wedding gown.

Sitting on the steps, I kept juggling two thoughts through my mind. Why was this happening and who to choose. Would I make Cliff mad if I chose Jack? Would it be the same scenario if it were vice versa? What was going on here? What was happening to me? I thought all of my love problems were over, but they weren't. They had just grown ten times worse.

"Ann?" Karen said. I looked back at my best friend, and then back at the ground.

"It's just not fair," I said, tears starting to pour out of my eyes. "Why did I have to love two guys? Why couldn't it just be Jack? I promised him something, and he promised me. We were in love when we were younger, just when we were that young, it wouldn't have been called love. It would have been called liking each other. And now, if I choose him, what will Cliff say? He'll be angry as hell for sure. Making him wait so long just for me to go and accept the farmer."

Karen gave me a pat on the back and sat down beside me. "Ann, I don't care who you choose, I just care about you making a choice. They obviously both love you. Go with the one that you want. Choose the man who stole your heart. And then Ann, he will be your happy ending."

I looked up at my friend and embraced her. Despite her thorny attitude, she always knew how to give advice. I wouldn't have known what to do without her. "Thank you, Karen. And now, I'm going to make my decision."

Karen made a silly face. She then said, "That was lightning fast." We both laughed.

I got up and Karen followed my path back into the church. Everyone took notice, and the two men walked up to me. They both said, "Who is your choice, Ann?" and I then said, "Up to the stage. The town has to see this."

Karen and Kai stood on the stage watching. I stood in the middle, with Jack on my left, Cliff on my right. It was time. This was the moment of truth. After this, there would be no going back.

Looking straight forward, at the townsfolk, I slowly said,

"I choose..."