Kylie Cantrall's Arc

Chapter 60 of 78

The license was set. The witness was found. But Friday night, Kylie sat on the pool deck and ran the ceremony in her head. She reached the vows and stopped. Arianna's ring lived in Dr. Carter's care. During the ceremony, Kylie would stand beside Arianna while Arianna played guitar. No one had planned how the ring left the doctor's hand and reached Arianna's finger. The whole ceremony could stall on that one gap. She walked inside and knocked on Dr. Carter's door. The doctor opened it, still holding the ring box like she had promised. She was here for the family plans Arianna wanted after the wedding. Now she guarded the one thing that could break Saturday. "We have a problem," Kylie said. "The ring. Tomorrow I'm holding no ring. Arianna's playing guitar. When the vows come, who hands it to me?" Dr. Carter opened the box. The gold band sat inside, its red heart-shaped stone bright under the hall light. "You're the one saying the vow to her," she said. "So you need it in your hand before you speak. Not after." "But my hands are empty until then. If I carry it, Arianna sees it early. She asked to receive it for the first time during the vows." Dr. Carter closed the lid. "Then I carry it. I sign the license as your witness. I already stand near the altar for that. Let me stand there holding this too." Kylie shook her head. "You sign after the vows. The ring comes during. The timing crosses." The doctor thought a moment. She set the box on her palm. "I stand behind you both, at the altar, from the start. When you finish your verse and turn to Arianna, I step to your side. I press the box into your free hand. You open it yourself and slide the ring on. Arianna never sees it until you lift it." Kylie pictured it. Arianna's hands on the guitar, her eyes on the strings. The doctor moving quiet behind them. The box reaching Kylie's palm at the exact line of the vow. "You'd have to time it to the music," Kylie said. "Then teach me the music," Dr. Carter said. "Which line?" "The last line. When she sings about the dog knowing your coat." They walked to the front room. Kylie hummed the melody twice. Dr. Carter listened, then held out the box and stepped forward on the final beat, over and over. On the fourth try she hit it clean. The ring reached Kylie's hand right as the imagined vow ended. "That's it," Kylie said. "That's how it moves." Dr. Carter set the box back in her room and locked the door. The last blind spot was closed. Tomorrow the ring would cross from the doctor's hand to Kylie's to Arianna's finger, in time with the song. Nothing was left to chance. "Then tomorrow," Kylie said, "we're married."