They reached the altar.
Pa lifted the veil and muttered something, first at Jessie and then at Mario, who nodded. Then Pa shuffled over to sit by Ma in the front row.
Opposite them, in the front row on the groom’s side, there was an empty chair for Mario and Gina’s ma who’d died when Gina was just twelve.
A lot of people were crying. Danielle found she was one of them.
She always cried at weddings. She never knew why.
“At ease,” said Captain Olson, and the honor guard lowered their axes and sat. When the crowd had fully settled, he continued, “Dearly beloved…” And where Danielle had always heard that as an invitation to the assembled families, this time she heard it as a blessing on the couple. Who Pat Olson did clearly dearly love.
He may have been a mail-order preacher, but he was
