Chapter 24

She was led into the bride's holding room in the church and froze both in shock and relief. She seen Jessica, Chelsea, and Sarah all there waiting for her just inside the room then at their greetings, her niece and nephew ran up calling out her name and hugged her legs babbling excitedly at the same time so that Rossalyn couldn't make out much of what they were saying.

"I'm so glad you guys are here!" She said grinning at them, her body visibly relaxing at the knowledge that she wasn't completely on her own in a building full of strangers.

"Of course we are. We're not going to let you get tossed to the wolves with no back up." Jessica teased.

"Even if in this scenario we're wolves too." Chelsea said and gave a fake snarl which caused the kids to giggle and repeat her.

Rossalyn laughed and hugged all three of them, though carefully to not get make-up smudges on them or their clothes. Apparently with their lack of finery they received similar instructions to get changed into their dresses at the church as well.

"I'm going to corral the wee beasts to make sure they don't get dirty before the ceremony." Sarah said and grinned over at Rossalyn before going after her two children who were already dressed in their wedding clothes.

"Thanks for letting them participate." Rossalyn said looking over at her niece and nephew playing in the corner.

"Of course, they're your family Ross. They're really excited too." Sarah said then headed off after her children.

"Okay ladies, lets get going." Helga announced her presence with the command and immediately the three of them snapped to business and went and took their places in front of their respective dresses.

***

"What time is it?" Josiah asked, anxiously looking around for a clock or phone to check for himself. To his annoyance his outfit wasn't prescribed a watch and his phone had been taken away when they arrived at the church.

"We still have twenty minutes to go. Chill boss. Do you want to go out there with your make-up creased?" Brad teased slapping Josiah's shoulder as he passed him to get a drink from the mini fridge that was stocked with soda and water. "Want anything?" he asked.

"Nothing the church would allow inside." Josiah muttered but held his hand out for the water Brad had initially brought out for himself.

Josiah anxiously paced the room sipping from his water. James, Brad, and himself were all as ready for the wedding as they could be and were just killing time at that point. He wondered how Rossalyn was doing and if everything had went to plan for her as well. It had only been a week since they had reached their agreement, but that morning was the first that he hadn't seen her when he first woke up and he didn't realize how much he had already grown to enjoy her company first thing in the morning. He found that he was anxious to see her, not only because the next time he would see her would be with them taking their marriage vows, but just because he simply missed her.

"You should go check on the ladies. Make sure everything came together on their end as well." Josiah said to Brad who was sitting in one of the arm chairs by the window watching Josiah pace the space in front of him.

"They would have reached out by now if anything went wrong boss. Everything is on track. Relax, you're just nervous and that is completely normal." Brad assured him, though he refused to carry out the order he was given.

"Yeah, you're right." Josiah sighed then plopped down in the chair next to Brad but bounced his knee restlessly. "I don't know why I'm so nervous all of a sudden. This whole week I've been just fine."

"Everyone gets this way boss. It'll pass once the ceremony is over." James said, coming to join the pair in the sitting area. "Chelsea just texted me and let me know that they're all done. They're just waiting for go time."

"Gentlemen! In five minutes it'll be time for you guys to line up to go to the alter!" Sunshine's voice rang out as she entered the room without so much as a knock or greeting.

"Well, guys, lets get this going. Shall we?" Josiah said as he stood up and answered the beckoning wave from across the room for him to be checked over once more before being released to start the ceremony.

***

There was a flurry of activity as the women were dressed. To no one's surprise, Rossalyn took the longest to get dressed since she had so many little buttons and the skirt was more difficult than they anticipated to get arranged on her properly. To everyone's relief, she was finished with only about ten minutes to spare. Rossalyn wasn't upset that the process took a little longer than planned to complete since it left her much less time to wait around and panic until the ceremony began. She was allowed a sip of water through a straw for the next few minutes so that her voice didn't crack when she was speaking her vows.

"Ladies it is about time to start lining up for the ceremony. Prepare yourselves to go out there. The chapel doors are being closed now." Helga announced as she flounced around the room checking each of the occupants one last time before they headed out of the room.

"Sarah, don't go. You're walking me down the aisle, remember?" Rossalyn called out when she noticed Sarah moving to leave the room, panicking a little.

"No, I remember, I'm just taking the kids out to take their place to walk down the aisle. I'll be right back." Sarah called back reassuring her with a smile as the twins waved at their aunt from the door.

"Easy, nothing to be nervous about." Jessica assured Rossalyn with a gentle pat on her shoulder as Rossalyn anxiously watched Sarah leave with the kids.

Rossalyn didn't completely breathe until Sarah returned and stood next to her and took her hand in hers and gave it a gentle squeeze. Rossalyn squeezed back and watched as Jessica and Chelsea took their places to walk ahead of her. Rossalyn was ordered to hang back from the others when they all arrived at the doors leading into the chapel. She'd wait off to the side for the doors to close behind Jessica before taking her place with Sarah.

At eleven o'clock on the dot, the chapel doors opened and her niece walked down the aisle tossing flowers from her basket as she had been taught for the last week followed by her brother who carried a white pillow with a blue bow that had the wedding rings secured to it. Rossalyn's anxiety rose even further when Chelsea's cue came and she headed off down the aisle shortly after followed by Jessica. Helga quickly, but quietly urged Rossalyn forward to stand at the chapel doors as several people arranged her train behind her. There were two of the other men's wives that Rossalyn didn't really know there as well to carry her train for her before they took their seats at the front row since they had no other role in the wedding.

"Slow deep breaths and smile." Sarah whispered to Rossalyn as she took her right hand and hooked it into the crook of Sarah's arm as Helga handed Rossalyn her flowers.

"Right." Rossalyn muttered back taking a long deep breath as their minister asked everyone to rise and face the doors.

The doors opened a few seconds after the shuffling of feet and rustling of clothes stopped and Rossalyn froze for a moment. There were easily two hundred people in the chapel as every seat was taken. Sarah gave her a gentle tug and she started walking down the aisle being careful to both match her pace to Sarah and not trip over her own feet in her nerves.

Suddenly, her eyes lifted as if pulled by a magnet and found Josiah's face and locked with his. She saw approval and admiration and that gave her the courage to go through with the plan and unexplicably, settled her nerves. She squared her shoulders and kept her eyes on his as she walked down the aisle to his side.

"Thank you everyone, please be seated." The minister's voice rang out through a microphone clipped to his lapel and the shuffling and rustling of the crowd repeated as everyone took their seat to watch the ceremony go forth.