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Trilby! This one’s a keeper!

Trilby was more than a little annoyed that Aundrea had decided to turn it into a double wedding. “Why does she get to have everything she wants?”

“I think she wants her parents to still be alive.” Brendan said as she straightened his bow tie.

She stuck out a pouty lip. “You certainly know how to spoil a pity party. Don’t you?”

“It’s our wedding day, Trilby. No time for pity parties. Okay? Just you and me now.”

“And him and her.” She frowned.

“Look, what’s your birthday?”

“June Sixth.”

“See? My college roommate’s birthday was on June Sixth. Does that spoil your birthday because he and millions of others have the same birthday as you? There’s no need to be so possessive. It’s you and me tonight no matter who else is there.”

“You’re really sweet, Brendan.”

“It’s the agave I put in my coffee.” He said with a smile and kissed her cheek.

She rolled her eyes and smiled as she looked around for Marta. “Have you seen Marta? I can’t imagine doing this without her.”

“I’m sure she’ll be here in time. What does she look like?”

“About my height and Korean. No telling how she’ll be dressed. She’s one for pushing boundaries.”

“Do you think she’ll like me?”

“Why wouldn’t she?”

“I don’t know. Some times girls feel like a guy breaks up their-”

She put a finger over his mouth. “Nope. You’re not going to break up anything. Marta and I have been best friends for over half our lives. What we have is something nobody could come between.”

“What about us?”

“What we have is something nobody will be able to come between in a different way.”

“Think so?”

“Why else would I be marrying you? What? Are you getting cold feet already?”

“Of course not. I didn’t want to be a problem for you and your friend.”

“That’s so sweet.” She ran her fingers through his hair. “It’s going to be fine. Marta will be really happy for us.”

“If you say so.” He looked around for a short Korean lady. “Even if she doesn’t turn up, we’ve got a couple of people to choose from for witnesses.”

“Yeah, but that’s not the point. She’s my best friend. How could she miss something as important as this?”

“It’s still early. I’m sure she’ll turn up. I’m going to go talk to the pastor a minute. You look around. Maybe she’s hanging up her coat or something.”

“Well, alright. Don’t get lost.”

“You either. I’m going to spend the rest of my life loving you, Trilby Hughes.”

“And at midnight, it’s going to be Trilby Lyons.”

“Wow, really?”

“Of course.”

“You can’t imagine how happy that makes me.”

“Really? Why?”

“Well, you’re so independent and sophisticated. It didn’t occur to me that you’d be willing to take my name.”

“You took my heart, so I’ll take your name. Fair?”

They were lost in each others’ eyes when somebody walked up. “I can’t even with you two.”

“Marta? Oh, wow, look at you. Aren’t you stunning?” Trilby lunged to hug her best friend.

“Gee, you don’t have to act so surprised. I can do formal for the right occasion.”

“Hi, I’m Brendan.” He reached out to shake her hand.

She yanked him off balance, twirled him around and dipped him. “You’d better be good to my girl, mister.”

“Of course I will. Do you do this to all of her boyfriends?”

“You’re the first one, slick. I feel like we should have had a talk before you popped the question.”

“Sorry if I violated protocol but I found the other half of my soul on Christmas Eve. You don’t just let that simmer, y’know?”

“Correct answer.” She raised him back to his feet. “You have permission to marry my best friend. Try not to spoil her too badly.”

“Aw, what kind of fun is that?”

“I’ve got my eye on you, mister.”

“I appreciate that. Is there anything I should know before we go make this official?”

“Be her best friend and love her like crazy the rest of your life. That should do nicely.” She patted him on the shoulder. “Oh, and you’ll probably want to do the cooking because yow.”

“Thanks for the heads-up. We’ve been doing take-out all week and now I know why.”

“She’s got a lot of food allergies and chemical sensitivity. I’ll email you the list.”

“Thanks. There’s a pretty good chance we’ve got a lot of overlap on those.”

“And what is it that you do?”

“I’m a web designer.”

“You can do that anywhere. Can’t you?”

“Very true.”

“So, Trilby wouldn’t have to move away to live with you?”

“No, actually Jeb and I were talking about that very situation.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, he and Aundrea were talking about whether it would make more sense for him to move to her place or her to move to his.”

“The guy uses chainsaws for a living. I can’t imagine that would go over well on Morgandale Avenue.”

“That’s the conclusion they came to, so I’m planning to buy Aundrea’s place and she’ll go live out on the farm with Jeb.”

“Is she okay with that?”

“I was hoping to surprise her with the news after the honeymoon.”

“Honeymoon?”

“Sure, I figured if we went away for a week or so…”

“I don’t think a month of Sundays would be enough for Trilby to move into Aundrea’s place.”

“Technically, it wouldn’t be her place anymore. The honeymoon would be long enough for Jeb to get her stuff moved out to the farm. It would be like a brand new house in a nice neighborhood where we could live happily ever after.”

“How would she get to the library from there?”

“I could take her. I don’t have set hours and I could just take my laptop to the Zavijava.”

“Wow, you don’t have a twin brother that you’re hiding somewhere, do you?”

“No, but I have a lot of friends I could introduce you to.”

She looked around for her friend and yelled, “Trilby! This one’s a keeper!”