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Conversations of the Heart
A Journey of Love
Chapter 3. ~ The Groom Gets Ready ~
Everything was set at the library; Fiona and Mike had arranged most of the chairs the evening before but were finishing up when Lucas arrived. He helped them unroll the special runner that Rosie had insisted on for the aisle,
"We need a red carpet," she had proclaimed, and no one had wanted to disagree with her on "need". Fiona left at 10:00 to meet Rosie and Elizabeth at the barbershop. So, Lucas helped Mike with attaching the floral arrangements to the aisle chairs. Molly and Florence had done most of their decorating the day before, but had left the flower arrangements until this morning so they would be fresh for the ceremony. They surveyed the room and decided that they had successfully created the enchanted vision that Rosie had given them.
With nothing left to do, Lucas headed back to the Queen of Hearts to check in with Gustave and meet the temporary staff that had come from Benson Hills. Satisfied that everything was on schedule, he went up to bring down his suitcase and put it in his office. It was about time for Lee and Jack to arrive. He went to his office safe and opened it to retrieve the gold bands that he and Elizabeth had purchased. He also retrieved the Faberge egg that had belonged to his grandmother and had held her engagement ring when he had proposed to Elizabeth. He placed the rings inside; Jack as the ring bearer would hold it during the ceremony.
Promptly at 11:00, Lee arrived with Jack in tow. Jack immediately ran to Lucas who picked him up for a big hug. Lee and Lucas set about getting Jack dressed in his new outfit and then took turns dressing behind the tapestry screen in his office. Lucas put his grandfather's handkerchief in his pocket and took the jewelry box that held Elizabeth's gift from the table. He opened it to take out the cufflinks he would wear today. And as he told her, every time he fiddled with them, he would think of her. She had designed the cufflinks to represent the Queen of Hearts; the letter "Q" with a small heart-shaped ruby adorned the tail of the "Q". Once fastened he gave each cuff a little tug as was his habit and smiled as he thought of the Queen of his heart.
Lee and Lucas grabbed their top hats; these were mostly for show in some of the photographs. He knew that Elizabeth wouldn't tolerate the hat very long as his hair was her special secret passion. She told him she had spent years wanting to run her fingers through it and now she was not to be denied. The photographer arrived to take some informal photos of Lucas, Lee, and Jack before they left the office to head to the library. He had been taking photos of Elizabeth and Rosie as they prepared for the wedding. The formal group pictures would be taken after the ceremony.