She only realized that she was called on for her one task today when Jos pinched her arm. She had to shake herself into awareness, and, seeing Maddie reaching into a little watch pocket under her suit jacket, she handed Jos the bouquets briefly before digging around in her own hidden pocket. She found the ring for Jai and handed it to Stuart. Tears were coursing down his cheeks as the ring exchange began. Once he had it on his finger, Jai held up the pretty platinum band to admire it, his eyes now also swimming with tears. Stuart had managed to keep the design a secret, after all.

The ring ceremony complete, the judge intoned the finale in a booming, sonorous voice. “I now pronounce you married at last! You may kiss your new spouse.”

A roar of clapping and screaming came from the tiered seating, some three or four hundred people here to watch the group wedding—strangers and friends and family. The loudest batch of cheers, of course, came from Jai’s family, and when she located them, she saw and heard Jim and Jackie screaming and cheering the loudest, along with fifty or sixty people that resembled Jai and his family in some way. Stuart’s parents, Kathy and Dick, were clearly pleased, too, but in their quieter way, they were almost lost in the group of jumping and hollering locals.

Jai and Stuart were still kissing when she finally looked back at them, ready to offer her congratulations, and Maddie and Jos were laughing at something she’d missed. The men pulled apart with an audible pop, and she and the others laughed. Everyone in the party took turns hugging them, she staying a little longer in Stuart’s arms than anyone else.

“I love you. Congratulations,” she whispered.

He pulled back a little, his face still wet with tears. “I love you, too. Thank you for being here. It means so much to me.”

“Okay, okay, you’re married now,” Jos said, clapping his shoulder. “Can we please go to the limo now? I’m freezing!”

Jai and Stuart took their bouquets back from her and followed the rest of the crowd up the stairs to the street, she and the others behind them. People were still shouting their congratulations as they passed, and Jai and Stuart seemed to revel in the experience, stopping to wave far too many times. She could see Jos, who was next to her on the stairs, starting to lose patience and grabbed her arm before she could push her brother from behind.

“It’s just a few more minutes, Jos. Relax.”