Say You Love Me (Double Love Trilogy Conclusion)

And I'll Love You Like Never Before

Penn Castle
Dorset, United Kingdom
Valentines Day ❤️
Tuesday, February 14, 2022
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"For you...there'll be no more crying...for you...the sun will be shining...'cause I feel that when I'm with you...it's alright...I know it's right..."

There were roughly one hundred sets of eyes on eight-year-old Robin Anderson as she began to walk down the aisle in the grand ballroom of Penn Castle at four o'clock on Valentine's Day afternoon. She was dressed in red velvet, the theme color chosen by Stevie and Christine to capture the theme of the day, the simplest theme of all - love. Out of a little white wicker basket decorated with little red sparkling hearts Robin had glued on herself with help from her mother, Amanda, she tossed red rose petals to the floor for the brides who stood behind her in the doorway, ready to walk down the aisle to their waiting grooms. Stevie's great-nephew Roman, six years old and forever by Robin's side - best friends almost since birth - was the ring bearer today, looking adorable and a lot like his great-grandfather Jess in his little tuxedo with a red bow tie. He proudly held a little red velvet pillow in his hands upon which sat four rings, and cameras and iPhones began to flash with a collective "awwww" from everyone in their seats at the cuteness that made its way down the aisle to the song Christine had lovingly penned for John one night in Sausalito in 1976, when they had reached the end of their marriage but the beginning of a lifelong friendship...which today was turning into marriage again so the last chapter of their lives would end with them together, happy, and just as much best friends as they had been in 1968, when they'd share a bottle of barley wine and listen to music together and relax in the simple joy of one another's company - something that this afternoon, they were all set to vow they would do again for the remaining years of their lives.

Stevie and Christine had agreed that there would be no elaborate bridal party; just a Maid of Honor and Best Man to stand beside both couples. Karen walked was next to walk down the aisle on the arm of Will Buckingham, and they stepped over the rose petals on their way to the altar where Mick stood in the center of John and Lindsey, all men in tuxedos with red ties, the two grooms occasionally exchanging looks of encouragement and a stifled laugh or two at the silliness of the romantic vibes in the air.

It had been decided almost from the beginning that "Songbird" was to be the song the brides would be walking down the aisle to. The song held special significance to the McVies, of course, but Stevie had explained to Christine long ago about the history she and Lindsey had with the song. She'd told her about the red roses and Animal Crackers he'd been waiting for her with in the dressing room in 1997, the night they had filmed The Dance, and how the tradition of red roses and Animal Crackers predated even their association with Fleetwood Mac; it had been their love language since 1971. "Songbird" was an added part of the tradition, hugs and kisses and tears exchanged between the couple backstage for hundreds of shows after that night in 1997, as Christine sat above them alone at her piano on stage and sang the haunting love song that bound them together. It had taken all of thirty seconds for Christine to agree that "Songbird" was the replacement to "The Wedding March" that they needed to incorporate into their special day.

"To you...I'll give the world...to you...I'll never be cold...'cause I feel that when I'm with you, it's alright...I know it's right..."

Two blonde women in their seventies, dressed in similar white satin suits and holding hands, began to walk down the aisle. In their free hands, they each held a bouquet of red roses, and each of them had a red rose pinned into the corners of their hair. They exchanged a look at the start of their slow walk down the aisle of rose petals, each of them remembering but not having to say out loud how neither of them would ever have imagined forty-five years ago as they'd shared an apartment in Sausalito, California and bonded over the demise of both of their relationships, that today would be happening. All of the shared tears over too much alcohol and cocaine and Dunkin Donuts as they'd played couples' counselor to one another, all of the nights they'd wound up sharing a bed as they'd either cried or danced or drank themselves to sleep next to a little white poodle as their men roamed the town looking to let off steam of their own, had led them both to this moment - walking down the aisle to the men they had cast aside while creating the masterpiece that was their second album, when they were all young and crazy and tensions were high and so were they. Today, for them, the songbirds were singing like they knew the score...and they were ready to love the two men in tuxedos who stood at the altar waiting for them like never before. Arriving at the altar, surrounded by red roses and red velvet drapes and the people who loved them, each of the brides stood with each of their grooms. In the front row, watching their sisters unite with the men they loved and waiting for their turns to "give them away" as tradition would have it, sat Christopher Nicks and John Perfect, two men who never imagined that at their ages such a thing would be happening, but both smiling all the same.