Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 106839 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106839 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
Amon sees it, because he chuckles and his smile gets bigger.
The next thing I know, the walk is over, and my daddy is kissing my cheek and then Amon offers me his hand.
I take it and we face each other. This is when I glance over to the bride’s section and see my mama and she’s crying her eyes out. My brother, Ash, has his arm around her shoulder and he’s hugging her, but still looking at me, and suddenly I realize… not one damn thing about this wedding is fake. Hell, not one damn thing about this town is fake, either.
Disciple might not be your average town in Appalachia, but it’s still very much real.
By the time I look back at Amon, Simon is already talking. And the next thing I know, Amon is staring at me with those blue eyes of his and his mouth is moving and the loveliest words are spillin’ out. These words being in the Revival wedding vow, of course.
“When the trying times come,” Amon Parrish tells me, “we will hold hands. And when the heavy times come, we will walk them together. And when the depressing times come, and you feel the burden of life to be so vast and wide that you feel forsaken, I will be there to carry you. No matter how long it takes or how far we must travel, no matter how many miles it be, I will carry you, Rosie Harlow. I will carry you.”
To which I reply, “I know you will, Amon Parrish. I know you will.”
And that’s all there is to a wedding vow here in Disciple. He promises to carry me and I promise to trust him to do that.
“Amon,” Pastor Simon says, “you may kiss your bride.”
Ikiss Rosie Harlow like she really is my wife. Because in my eyes, we did get married. It’s a done deal. Oh, we’ll be doin’ it again, for sure. And it’ll be a lot bigger than this. It’ll happen on a Wednesday, not a Sunday, and there won’t be a single stranger in the crowd.
But I’ll happily take this day as a placeholder for that one.
Our kiss lasts just long enough for people to start laughing and clapping. Then, with a lot of reluctance, we pull apart. But not completely apart. I lean down a little so my forehead touches the top of her head and I whisper, just loud enough for Rosie to hear, “Mrs. Parrish, I do believe you are my wife.”
Which makes her eyes smile.
But then it’s over. There’s more to a Revival wedding than the actual wedding. The party is the main attraction. And that starts now.
I take her hand. “Shall we?”
She nods as she puts her hand in mine. And then we run down the aisle, stopping at the edge of the sawdust so we can turn and she can throw the bouquet.
My sisters are wild for catching bouquets. I’m a hundred percent sure there is money on this toss, because they practically break out in a fight. There’s actually a moment when Vangie is on top of Halo, but then someone pulls her off and Halo stands up, bouquet in hand, arms stretched high, grinning like a winner.
Everyone claps.
And then I lead Rosie over to Old Man Hunt’s 1933 Rolls Royce Phantom II—which is the only vehicle ever allowed to operate on Revival grounds during a show—and we get in. Our chauffeur is Old Man Hunt himself. He looks back at us and tips his hat. Then we roll, goin’ about five miles an hour down the dirt road between storefront tents, and all the Disciple children jog along beside us.
We end up at the tea party tent—which has been transformed into the wedding reception tent—and we get out and stand at the front like every dutiful bride and groom, greetin’ people as they pass by.
There are several hundred people here today so we stand there a good hour saying hello, but once that’s done, the band starts playing—a bluegrass band, of course—and we have our first dance to the tune of ‘Can the Circle Be Unbroken,’ which is neither slow nor fast. But since every child in Disciple takes dancin’ classes from the age of three to twelve, I break into a nice little flatfoot dance, which is something halfway between clogging and tapping.
Rosie knows more steps than I do, so she doesn’t even blink at my choice. And pretty soon the whole tent is clapping along. But as soon as that song ends, our first dance officially over, there is a mad rush for the dance floor and we spend the next couple of hours jigging around elbow to elbow, even breaking into a few more formal square dances every now and then.
It’s a party and everyone’s having fun. But eventually, six o’clock comes and this means that the Revival is officially over and all the guests who are not performers need to go.