Scarlett Rose's Arc

Chapter 22 of 57

Six weeks after the boutique, Scarlett stood in her kitchen in a robe and stared at the calendar taped to the fridge. April twenty-ninth had a red circle around it. Under the circle, in Rose's handwriting, one line: OFFICIANT?? Every other slot on the list had a check mark. Dress. Venue. Flowers. Cake. The officiant line stayed blank. Rose came in with the phone against her ear and hung up hard. "That's the last one on the county list. Booked. Spring is booked. Every pastor within an hour is booked." "Then we push the date." "You cannot push the date. You will be seven months pregnant in July." Rose set the phone down. "There has to be someone. A judge. A justice of the peace. Anyone with a license." Clayton came in from the porch with the bloodhound behind him. He had heard through the screen. He pulled off his hat and hung it on the hook by the door. "Maya," he said. "Maya isn't a preacher," Scarlett said. "She got ordained online three years back for a friend's wedding. Never let the paperwork lapse. She renews it every January because she likes the certificate." Scarlett looked at him. "You are telling me your sister is a licensed officiant and this is the first I'm hearing about it." "You didn't ask." Rose was already dialing. Maya arrived within the hour with a folder under her arm. She set it on the table and opened it. A certificate. A copy of her state registration. A printed page with the vows she'd used before, marked up in pencil. "I brought the old script so you can see what to cut," Maya said. "I've done four. Two held." "Two held is enough," Clayton said. Maya looked at Scarlett. "You want me to do this?" Scarlett sat down. She thought about Maya at the shop the day of the teal dress, at Sunday supper, at the diner after Madison left town. Every step of the last year had Maya somewhere near the edge of it. "I want you to do this," Scarlett said. Maya nodded once. She pulled a pen from her braid and drew a line through the officiant slot on Rose's list. She wrote her own name above it. "April twenty-ninth," Maya said. "Ceremony at four. I'll write the vows this week and send them for you to change." Rose exhaled and sat down for the first time all morning. Clayton put his hand on the back of Scarlett's neck. "That's the last thing on the list," Rose said. She stared at the calendar. "That's actually the last thing." Scarlett looked at the red circle. Six weeks left. A dress that would need letting out. A greenhouse with citrus already in bloom. A sister to walk her down. And now a woman standing at the front who had helped her get there. Then Rose's phone rang. She looked at the screen and her face changed. "It's the venue," she said.