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A determined knock at the door startled him as he pulled on his white dress shirt.
“Tyler?” a voice whispered through the door. Her voice. “Tyler, baby, I need to talk to you.”
He furrowed his brow in interest and walked toward the door. “Kate?”
“Yes, it’s me. Open up!” she said, persistent.
He could hear her fingertips tapping impatiently on the door frame and chuckled under his breath. “Right now?” he asked as he buttoned up his shirt and adjusted the collar.
“Yes, right now.”
He smirked, his movements slowing as if she could see him intentionally fueling her impatience. “I might’ve never done this before, but aren’t there traditions to follow?”
An irritated knock. “Are you kidding me right now?”
He laughed out loud at that and pulled the door open. “I just wanted to be sure that…”
He trailed off when he saw her, standing there every bit the bride on her wedding day. Her cream dress draped across the arch of her shoulders and just skimmed the floor at her feet. Tyler found how the fabric hugged the curves of her hips particularly distracting.
Her hair had grown out and was darker since they first met at a gas station in Fairview, Oklahoma two years ago, but today, it was pulled into a low messy bun, her bangs and wisps of hair escaping it to frame her face and neck.
He wasn’t sure what she expected him to say in that moment, but he really hoped her expectations weren’t too high. He found he was a bit gone.
“There’s a line of supercells forming out north of Shiatook Lake. If we leave now, we can make it there and back before the ceremony at 3,” Kate said, as if she wasn’t standing there as the manifestation of…well, everything.
Tyler felt dumb, but ‘everything’ was the only word that came to mind.
“Holy…have you seen yourself?” he said, his eyes wide.
A smile flitted across her lips at his compliment, but she brushed it aside for the more important issue at hand. “I have,” she said with a nod, her face serious. “I picked the dress.”
He stepped closer, reaching for her. “Can I just take a second to admire—?”
“There isn’t time!” she exclaimed.
Tyler laughed. “Kate.” He would be exasperated with her if he weren’t so endlessly enthralled by her.
“There’s no way you didn’t look at the radar this morning,” she said, pointing at him.
“Purely for safety reasons like any normal person,” he answered innocently.
She smirked, pressing on. “And I know you would have seen the instability on the projections for this afternoon.”
“Well, of course I did,” he huffed, “but I didn’t actually expect to chase today!”
“Does this mean you don’t want to go?”
“Of course I want to go,” he admitted, stepping closer to her and looking down at her gown. His fingertips traced the side seam of her dress as his hand found her hip. He continued, softer, “I also very much want to marry you today.”
“And we’ll do that too!” she said, smiling, her hands coming up to frame his face. “Ty, is this our day?”
“Of course it is, baby,” he said, his eyes finding hers.
“Then let’s make it our day.”
He chuckled gently and brought her hips toward his. “Okay,” he conceded, “but there’re conditions.”
Kate scoffed. “What kind of—?”
His hand found the nape of her neck and swiftly brought her lips up to meet his, stealing her breath. The kiss was short-lived but effective as Tyler pulled away and grinned, watching her try and find her words.
“Anything else?” she asked eventually, finding her voice again.
His eyes glowed. “Nope, that’s it. Let’s go!” He turned toward his room, considering something before turning back, and said as he rolled up his shirtsleeves, “Remind me to grab my suit jacket when we get back.”
“Are you leaving it?”
“That jacket is both brand new and expensive,” he said, closing the door behind him and starting down the hallway with a smirk. He called back at her, “No way I’m taking it with us.”
She watched his retreating form, her mouth gaping slightly, and looked down at her very white attire. Finding her footing and trailing after him, she yelled back, “Don’t be such a pansy!”
————
“Mom didn’t look mad, did she?” Kate asked from the passenger seat.
“Nah,” Tyler said, one hand on the steering wheel and the other intertwined with hers on the center console. “I think she just expects it at this point. Anyway, I already promised her we’d stay at least five miles away on the west side of the storm line.”
She groaned. “Tyler!”
He didn’t even chance a glance at her, his eyes locked on the upcoming frontage road. “I can’t have my mother-in-law mad at me on Day 1, Kate. Not happening. I already ‘kidnapped’ you on the morning of our wedding.”
“This was my idea.”
“Told her it was my doin’.”
Kate laughed. “She absolutely knows that’s a lie.”
“And Lord help me if we get mud on your dress,” Tyler said seriously, his eyes shifting briefly to the pool of white fabric gathered in her lap.
She shrugged, watching the darkening sky ahead of them. “I don’t really care that much about that.”
“Well, I do,” he said, and then added with a slight grimace, “and so does your mom.”
Kate ignored him, her eyes tracking the clouds as they swirled in the distance. Tyler could tell the instant she saw it, a pinprick of a darkened cloud descending down to the earth, as her hand tightened around his and a small gasp escaped her lips.
“Look! There she is!” she exhaled, sounding almost relieved. She beamed out the window.
Glancing in the direction of the strengthening tornado as they bumped along on a local side road, he laughed at her good-naturedly. “You sound more excited to see her than you were to see me today.”
Her smile softened as she turned to take him in. Styled hair, smiling eyes, and a crisp white dress shirt, with a loose collar and rolled up sleeves as God intended.
As if a girl could resist. “Not possible.”
“Who do you have more pictures of in your phone? Them or me?” he countered with a chuckle as he drove them off the road onto a path through a blossoming wheat field.
“Hey!” She scoffed at him, a bump in the path sending her back into her seat. “That’s not even fair! I didn’t write my dissertation and spend 10 years of my life dedicated to studying you!”
He smirked. “Technically, I think that changes today given the ceremony we’re about to partake in.”
“Shut up and park.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Tyler gingerly pulled the truck into a bare patch of land, releasing Kate’s hand to throw it into Park and cut the ignition.
“Hold up for me,” he said as he released his seatbelt and opened his door.
“Ty, baby…” she groaned.
“Don’t you dare open that door!” he shouted as he skirted around the hood of the truck to the passenger side door. He had wretched it open before she could even properly complain.
“You don’t need to—.”
“There will be no arguing about this,” he said, his tone final. “Since you insist on getting out of this truck in the middle of this wheat field, I’ll be carrying you like the chivalrous asshole that I am.” He smirked kindly at her as he took in her exasperated face. “Look, I’ll even let you choose! Bridal-style or piggy-back?”
Kate crinkled her nose. “Bridal feels too on-the-nose.”
“Piggy-back it is!” he said, his exaggerated announcement making her laugh as he offered his hand to help her stand on the running boards.
Once she had hopped onto his back with every ounce of grace she could muster, careful to hold up her short train, he gently sat her on the bed of the truck. He took his seat next to her with a soft grunt, and Kate instantly found his arm, gripped his hand, and curled into his side.
Her eyes found their tornado in the distance again. “Look at that inflow tail.”
“She’s a strong one,” he said, nodding his head in agreement.
Kate glanced at the radar screen sitting next to him. “Where’s she headed?”
“To the north northeast. Not too much in her path by way of population.”
She breathed a soft sigh of relief, the slight guilt she sometimes felt from watching tornados like a sporting event easing for today.
“Thank you for driving us out here,” she said, the pads of her fingers playing with the linen of his shirt.
His thumb traced the back of her hand. “This is not somethin’ you’ve got to thank me for. It’s no trouble.”
“I know. It’s so nice to know that,” she admitted. A pause and she continued, quietly this time as if to herself, “It’s so nice to not have to explain it.”
“You’ve never had to explain it to me,” he said softly.
Kate smiled into his shoulder. “I know.”
He took a steadying breath and gazed down at her. “You really do look…perfect.”
“It’s a pretty great dress.”
He shook his head. “I’m not talking about the dress.”
She looked up at him and met his poignant gaze. “Thank you,” she whispered. She met him halfway for a brief kiss before turning back to the clouds. “For the record, you don’t need the jacket. You like this is exactly how I want to remember today.”
They watched in contented silence, the wind tousling their hair and clothes more than was maybe acceptable on their wedding day, before Tyler glanced at his watch and showed Kate the time. He hopped down off the bed onto the dusty ground below, offering his hand.
“You ready for this?” he asked, determination and excitement coloring his features.
Kate smiled, her own excitement bubbling to the surface. There was nothing left he needed to prove, but if there was, the last hour would have removed any doubt from her mind.
“More than anything.”