"You do," Alfred agreed, even though they had both already said that. It bore repeating, though. This was so unexpected, her hair pinned up in this elaborate fashion and the dress bringing her silouette out in such a striking way. He had expected that she would look pretty, of course, because she always looked pretty. He had even vaguely known that she would probably look especially good today, because it was a wedding and she was in it and there would be a lot more effort going in to the way she looked today than there was on any other. Even so, the whole effect left him a little speechless. He couldn't have come up with anything more articulate than this: you look beautiful, you do, even though there was certainly more to be said.

"I'd never pass up a chance to see you," he said with a helpless sort of smile, which was how he felt: helpless. He knew this was a bad idea, knew he should have waited until he was able to get Brannon's approval to marry her, but he was so delighted just to have a moment alone with her that it seemed impossible he might not have come. And to be here, at a lake she'd told him so much about from when she was a child, holding both of her hands in his and getting to see her looking so fancy and so beautiful was even a step beyond just being able to see her. She was going to look like the most beautiful woman in the world when they finally got married, he just knew it.

"Oh," he said suddenly, as though he'd forgotten (which he sort of had for a moment, being distracted by the sight of her). "I've got something for you."