Wildfire Wedding

Wildfire Wedding

by Lynette Sowell

Copyright 2014

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people.

Cover Design by:

James, GoOnWrite.com

Prologue

It is with great joy that we

Krista Marie Schmidt

and

Luke Michael Hansen

Invite you to witness our exchange of wedding vows

Saturday, the twentieth day of June

Five o’clock in the afternoon

Settler Lake Chapel

Settler Lake, Texas

Reception to immediately follow at Settler Lake Lodge

ONE

“Nana?” Krista Schmidt's voice echoed in the front hall, but she let the screen door bang behind her in case Nana didn’t hear her arrive.  “Sorry I’m late.”

“I’m in the sewing room, dear.” Nana’s voice filtered toward the entryway.

Krista moved down the front hall to Nana’s haven. The snowy-haired woman looked up from where she knelt before a dress form covered with a gown of ecru muslin topped with lace.

“I got here as soon as I could. I need to get the battery checked on the jeep—had to get a jumpstart before I could get away from campus.” She stopped in the doorway and tried not to gasp at the transformation of Nana's wedding dress, now hanging on a dress form.

Nana smiled up at her. “Don't worry about the time. I wasn't looking at the clock. So, what do you think?”

“It’s beyond beautiful.” Pre-wedding jitters fluttered in Krista’s stomach like Texas-size butterflies.

Nana used the edge of her sewing table to help herself up, then smoothed an invisible wrinkle on her tailored pants. “The cleaner cared for the dress as if it had belonged to the First Lady of Texas.”

“I can’t wait to try it on.”

Nana unfastened the buttons on the gown’s neck and bodice and removed the dress from the form.

“Here, you get into this, and I’ll be right back. I want to show you something.” A frown crossed her face. “Is Luke coming by? Can’t let him see you in your wedding gown.”

“He might, on his way back from the airport with Jeff. They should be here soon, unless they hit traffic.” Krista loved the texture of the dress. She could almost feel the memories among the folds of fabric.

“Jeff, huh?”

Krista hoped her shrug appeared as though she didn’t care. “It's all right. Really. Luke and I are getting married, and we'll have our closest friends and family around us to celebrate. That's what matters the most. And then I'll be Mrs. Luke Hansen.”

No matter that Jeff was Luke's choice of best man. Past was, as Nana liked to say, “all in the past.” Nana was smart.

“You'll be the most beautiful bride Settler Lake has ever seen. Now, hurry. Get in that dress before he gets here.” Nana squeezed her arm before she left the room and closed the door.

Krista slipped from her shorts and T-shirt and slid the gown over her head. The fabric settled around her. She swished the skirt a little so the length would fall to the floor. Nana would do the hooks. Krista touched the material and turned to the full-length mirror.

Nana had worn the gown herself almost a half-century ago, and Nana's own grandmother Elfriede had worn this dress as a mail-order bride to Settler Lake not long after the turn of the last century. How did it feel to marry a man she’d only just met?

Krista stared at her reflection. A crinkle appeared between her eyebrows. She rubbed the skin and the crinkle went away. Too much time in the sun. She tried to pile her hair on her head—she still couldn’t decide between an updo or long. Sami and Jana would help her decide.

“You dressed?”

“All set.”

Nana came in, carrying the tooled leather photo album Krista spent hours poring through as a little girl. “Here. You probably haven't seen this picture in years.”

Krista reached for the book while Nana moved behind her to fasten the buttons on the back of the bodice. “You're right; I haven't. Oh, she was tiny. I wish I'd known her.”

She studied the dress's reflection—and hers—in the full-length mirror. Nana had incorporated brand-new tea-stained lace to match the shade of the antique gown. Krista turned to the side and viewed the simple train. If she took careful steps on the big day, she might not snag a toe through the now-lengthened hem.

Shoes
! She needed shoes, yet another detail she forgotten in the hubbub of wedding preparations. She stilled her swirling brain.

Nana patted Krista's back, then stepped around to view her from the front. “She would have loved you, of course. Loved seeing you wear her dress, just as she saw me wear it when I married your grandfather. She didn't have any daughters to pass the dress to. Only me. So, how does it feel? I had to add three inches and the train, when it was my turn to wear the gown.”

“It feels good. And you know I'm not a big fan of dressing up. But this feels...special.” Krista smiled at Nana, then looked again at the photograph taken of Elfriede von Braun on the day she became Elfriede Meyer. “She looks nervous.”

Nana looked over her shoulder. “I think all brides are nervous. Can you imagine, standing in a lineup, and wondering how to choose the right man from the group of eligible cowboys, ranchers and farmers, all waiting for a bride?”

“No, I can't. I don't think I'd want to. Even if she was nervous, she was incredibly brave.” Krista knew the story, passed down by the women in the family, how all the mail-order brides had made a pact together when traveling to Texas—that
they'd be doing the choosing, not the men.

She glanced at the gown's hem
, which barely skimmed the floor. Nana had altered the dress to fit Krista’s height and modern figure. Elfi must've been a good six inches shorter than Krista, and had a narrower waist and hips. But Nana's sewing skills had done wonders.

“When my grandmother stepped off the wagon and stood with the other women who had come west to meet their husbands, she prayed that God would direct her to the right man, and him to her. She saw a tall, thin man with a mustache and a threadbare suit. When he asked if anyone spoke German, she smiled.”

“And she replied in German,” Krista finished, “and told him she made the best schnitzel he would ever eat—besides his mother’s.”

“Elfi’s prayer was answered. They found companionship and love, which weren’t guaranteed in those days. And here we are, generations later where marriage is never easy, even when we know someone.” Nana sighed.

The reasons for Nana's sigh had to be the failed marriage of Krista's own parents, along with Krista's mother's vehemently expressed misgivings about Luke. No, marriage wouldn't be easy.

Those misgivings had echoed inside Krista's own heart. She knew her mother's fears sprung from wanting to protect her, but still, there were moments deep inside when Krista's hope faltered, and she wondered if her and Luke's love and commitment to each other would be enough.

“Oh, Nana, do I love Luke. . .so much.”

“Your parents—”

The front door banged open. “Hey, is there a bride-to-be in the house?”

“Luke Hansen, don’t you dare come in here!” Krista tried to spring for the sewing room door, but Nana beat her to it before she ripped a seam. Nana entered the hall and closed the door behind her.

Krista listened through the door. “Young man, if you cross the threshold to this room, I’ll see to it you’ll never eat at an Elfi’s Schnitzel Haus restaurant again.”

She pictured her nana standing as tall as her five-foot-three height would let her in front of Luke’s six-foot-plus frame, and smiled.

“No problem, Nana.” The timbre of Luke’s voice made Krista want to rush into his arms. Maybe Jeff hadn’t come after all. Fat chance of that.

Stop it
. If she kept up a snotty attitude, she'd tag herself a bonafide bridezilla. So far she'd managed to keep herself from slipping downhill to that level while planning the wedding. She listened more closely.

“This is my best man, Jeff Worley. We were at A&M together. Jeff, this is Krista's Nana Schmidt.”

Krista frowned and looked at the dress. She couldn’t escape seeing the man who had split up her and Luke once before. His bad influence had caused them heaps of heartache. Luke assured her the man had changed.

Still, a knot of tightened itself in Krista's stomach.
Give me strength, Lord. Why didn’t I tell Luke this was a bad idea, from the very beginning?

Because love believes the best. Because love covers a multitude of sins, even those committed by a young couple, fresh out of college and full of dreams. She and Luke had told each other the old was gone, the new had come.

Yet not long after she and Luke had renewed their relationship and patched things up with the Lord's help and a heap of grace toward each other, did Luke and Jeff Worley reconnect online. The men's friendship flourished, although Jeff lived in southern California. Luke reassured Jeff was a far different man than in the past.

But still, how could she know for sure that another force wouldn't chip away at their relationship? How could anyone know for sure? Of course, Momma and Daddy had succumbed to circumstances, which seemed silly to Krista now that she'd had almost ten years to live with the idea of her parents being divorced since her freshman year of high school.

Krista put her ear on the door and tried to catch snatches of conversation.

“Welcome to Settler Lake.”

“Thanks, Mrs. Schmidt.”

“Call me Nana, please.”

“You've got it, Nana.” Jeff's voice held a warm tone.

Now Luke spoke again. “We’ll wait in the living room, and I promise I won't try to sneak a peek. Are you about done with Krista? I promised her dinner out tonight.”

“I must help her take off the dress first. Go on, we’ll be out soon and she'll be free.”

“You got it. C’mon Jeff.” The men’s voices grew quieter as they moved to the front room.

Krista itched inside the gown. The temperature outside had climbed to ninety-five in early June. So hot, so dry. She preferred a quick swim in Nana’s pool before dinner instead of facing Jeff in the next few minutes. She doubted she could run down the hall to the set of French doors off the kitchen, without anyone noticing.

Nana wore a satisfied smile when she opened the door. “Let’s get you out of that dress and hang it in the closet until Saturday morning. Oh, Saturday, I can't believe it's almost here. At last.” Nana put her hands on the back of Krista’s shoulders and spun her to face the mirror. “You look so much like Elfriede's picture, in the face. She was strong, like you, too.”

Krista compared her image to that of her ancestor on the front page. “I see her in my eyes, nose, and chin.” She closed the album and placed it on the sewing table. “I don't feel strong sometimes. I couldn’t imagine doing what she did, years ago. I'd have made a lousy pioneer.” At that, she chuckled.

Nana worked at undoing the buttons on the bodice. “Being strong isn't up to us alone. Remember, ‘God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in times of trouble.' And then there's the good old reliable verse, 'the joy of the Lord is your strength.' With so much of the Lord's joy floatin' around this week, I think you’ll have plenty of strength for the wedding, and beyond.”

“I hope so.” Krista worried her lower lip, then stopped. She didn’t need chapped lips. It was hard enough to keep from fidgeting from the heat outside, in spite of the cool A/C on the inside. “I’ve enjoyed planning the wedding with Luke. It’s what comes after that I’m scared about. I know God intended us to marry, the ‘till death do us part,’ but I am scared. It’s so. . . permanent. Or, it should be.”

“That it is.”

“Not that I want to get out of marriage or even think of a life without Luke.” Krista paused.

“Your granddad and I had forty-five years together before he went home. It wasn't all chocolate and roses. We had our share of troubles, within and without. We just learned to run to each other—and to God, rather than somewhere else. No matter how angry—or hurt—we got with each other.”

Krista nodded. “I plan to do that. After all, Luke is my best friend. If you can't trust your best friend through thick and thin, who can you trust?” She wanted to share more of her uneasy thoughts but stopped. Why voice her fears and give them a life of their own? Enough whining, whether thoughts or words. She let the gown slip softly to the floor and stepped over the folds of cloth. Then, she went to grab her clothes and dress while Nana hung the gown back on the hanger and placed it in a zippered bag dressed.

“Thank you. Again. You took such careful time to make this dress special. I love it, and I love you.” Krista gave Nana a hug. When had Nana's shoulders grown so thin? The thought pricked her heart.

Nana released her with a smile. “Do your best to enjoy these days before your wedding. You'll be so busy after your mother gets here; I'm sure your head will spin.”

At that, Krista laughed. “That’s right. Momma’s been begging for something to do. I told her just to buy a pretty dress and show up and not worry about a thing.”

Nana laughed. “As if that would happen. We mothers generally can't keep from trying to, ah, be helpful.”

And Momma would definitely insert herself into the thick of things, while trying to be “helpful.” Krista wasn't sure if she should appreciate the last-minute help or worry about what Momma might say or do in the process.