The Widow Finds Love (Mail Order Bride Series) by Susan Leigh Carlton Page B

need to get some cloth and I’ll make you some new things.”
     
    “Can we?  I would like that.  I wear the same thing to school all the time.  My shoes are a little tight, too.”
     
    “I’ll get some material the next time we go to the general store.  I made Rebecca some new clothes before we came out here, so she’s okay.
     
    “Are you as excited about tomorrow as I am?” she asked Cassie.
     
    “I bet I’m more excited than Papa even.  I’ve wanted it for a long time and now it’s going to happen tomorrow.”  She threw her arms around Sarah and said, “I love you Mama.  I’m glad Papa’s going to marry you.”  She hugged Rebecca too.  “I love you too, Rebecca.  I’m glad you’re going to be my sister.”
     
    “I’m glad too,” Rebecca said.  “I never had a sister before.”
     
    At the church…
     
    Clint introduced Sarah and Rebecca to the Reverend Wells and his wife.  Then he began introducing her to the other congregants.  She was greeted warmly by all she met, and welcomed into the church.
     
    Suzy, Arthur and their boys arrived shortly after Clint and Sarah.  “Are you ready for your big day?” Suzy asked.
     
    “I am indeed,” Sarah said.  “We are all ready.  By the way, thank you for the vegetables.  They made a welcome addition to the table.  Clint says they have it all over the beans he and Cassie have been having.
     
    “I need to get some plants in the ground for our garden, so I’ll have some vegetables to can.  Your growing season is longer than ours was,” she said.
     
    “I would caution you about the heat.  August can be brutal and the plants won’t thrive in it.  You might start some of them in the house and then move them out in September. 
     
    “Are you all settled in?” Suzy asked.
     
    “Rebecca is set, thanks to Cassie.  I’ll begin getting my things put away tomorrow.”
 
    “You aren’t in that tiny bedroom, are you?”  Suzy asked incredulously.
     
    “Actually, I am.  I told Clint I would prefer to wait until after the wedding to move into the master bedroom, and bless his heart, he agreed with me,” Sarah said.
     
    “I assumed you’d be in there from the git-go,” Suzy said.
    “I guess I’m a bit old fashioned,” Sarah said.  “Also, I didn’t want to send the wrong signals to the girls.”
     
    “They wouldn’t have known the difference,” Suzy said.
     
    “Probably not, but I would have.  At any rate, today is the day and we will be together the rest of our lives.”
     
    The piano began playing and the Reverend Wells was in the pulpit.  Grace, the wife of the reverend led the congregation in the opening hymn.  After the prayer, the preacher read a few general announcements and invited the congregation to the wedding of “our own Clint Thomas” and Mrs. Sarah Hutchison immediately following the service.
     
    The sermon ended, the invitational hymn was sung, and the regular services closed with a prayer.  Reverend Wells asked the participants in the wedding services to come forward.  Sarah, Clint, Rebecca and Cassie came to the altar and faced the preacher.  “Sarah and Clint have met all of the church requirements, as well as the legal ones.  Sarah is  a member of the Yorkville, South Carolina Baptist Church, and they have the proper license.”
     
    He went through the ceremony, then asked “If anyone can show cause why this couple should not be wed, let them speak now or forever hold their peace.  Clint, Sarah, please join hands.”
     
    “Clint, do you take Sarah to be your lawful wedded wife, forsaking all others, to love, honor and cherish for as long as you both may live?”
     
    In a strong voice, Clint responded, “I do.”
     
    “Do you, Sarah, take Clint to be your lawful wedded husband, forsaking all others, to love, honor and cherish for as long as you both may live?”
     
    “I do,” she responded.
     
    “By the power vested in me by the Almighty God and the great state of