Page 80 of Spotlight on Poppy

"Don't cry, dad. You're going to make me cry."

"I can't help it, sweetheart. I'm a crier, you know that" he said, dabbing his eyes with the handkerchief he had thought to put in his pocket.

"I do." She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him on his cheek. "I love you, daddy."

"I love you too."

The bridesmaids were making their journey down the aisle. "Are you ready, sweetheart? It's not too late to run." He whispered in her ear. He looked at her and saw that it was in fact too late. Her eyes had already connected with her groom who stood up handsomely under the arch of flowers, his red hair shining in the sun, wearing a MacNeil tartan kilt.

The crowd around them stood as he walked her down the aisle. All the friendly faces smiled at her, but her eyes only connected with her groom. He wiped a tear away from his eye and looked at her with awe as she came down the aisle. Josh knew that feeling, he had felt the same way on his own wedding day.

It seemed right that his and Poppy's daughter would marry Hannah and Graham's son. They had been raised together. Even though they didn't get together until they both went away to college and realized they missed each other a little too much.

Now here they were both working at the orchard. As happy as he was, he thought Sam might be happier than anyone here. He had good hands to leave the orchard in if he ever decided to leave it. The orchard was an incredible business now. Yes, there was still the orchard, but it had become a whole business. They grew blueberries, a petting farm, horseback riding, massive playgrounds, and of course the restaurant and the bakery he and Poppy oversaw.

He looked around at the people smiling at him, and he had to wipe another tear away. For someone who had spent a large part of his early life wanting a bigger family, here it was. All these people here from the Smith family and the Glenn family he counted as his family. And of course, the town was here, probably the whole town as he looked around. There were new faces and old faces, but they were all smiling faces today.

They made it down the aisle somehow and the love between these two wonderful people was written all over their faces. As much as it was bittersweet having his daughter get married, he was so happy it was to someone who loved her almost as much as he did.

Being a father was wonderful, it had helped to heal some of his old scars. His family was his purpose, his heart. He could never understand how his own father could have just left him and his sister. He had made a promise the day their daughter was born to be a better father than he’d had, and he had succeeded. He had a wife he was still head over heels in love with, three remarkable children, and enough love and laughter to make up for the years when he wasn't sure if that was in the cards for him.

He heard the officiant say something, but he was too lost in his own thoughts to take it in. His daughter gave him a gentle nudge and he realized he had just asked "Who gives this woman to be wed?"

"Her mother and I do," he said weakly through the tightness in his throat and pushed away another tear. A tall handsome Scotsman reached out and took her hand, and he fought the urge to yank her back into his arms.

He went to join Poppy at his seat and noticed she was openly crying and handed her a tissue from his jacket pocket.

"Thank you. She looks so beautiful," she whispered in his ear.

He nodded and squeezed her hand. "So do you," he said, bringing her hand up to kiss it.

And he looked around once again at the people around him, basking in the love that he was lucky enough to have his life filled with. He had hit most of life's major milestones with Poppy and today they checked off another, walking his daughter down the aisle. He knew life had so much more in store for them, and he was looking forward to all of it. Even though it got off to a bit of a rocky start, he had created a truly remarkable life and he could not have asked for more. He often thought he could never be happier, but then days like this would happen and that bar would raise higher. He was a lucky man, and it was all because he and this woman next to him had created this truly magical life.

He couldn't wait to see what the future would bring.