Hearts of Grey

by Earl E. Gobel

“That you did, sweetheart, that you did. And by the way, your schoolwork and your chores, they’re not a part of this either. Okay?” he told her.

  She just looked at him. “Gee, a girl just can’t get a break around here, can she?” she told him as she turned to walk away.

  Grady just laughed. “Guess not,” he said to himself.

  He watched as Katie went over and started petting the horses. Grady turned and walked into the house where they were just finishing the reading of their vows. Grady waited for them to finish.

  “I need to talk to all of you right now,” he told them.

  “Sure, Daddy, what’s up?” Katie asked him.

  “We have a major problem here, and we need to deal with it right here and now,” he told them in a very firm and harsh tone.

  “Grady, this isn’t like you. What’s wrong?” Elizabeth asked him.

  “Would you like to know what your daughter just asked me?” he asked her.

  “Katie? Why? What did she say that’s got you so upset?” she asked.

  “She asked me if you and her could have a day to yourselves. Just you and her. Because every time she tries to talk to you alone, one of us comes in and interrupts the conversation,” he told her.

  “My God! Have we been doing that?” Katie asked.

  “I’m not sure if we have or haven’t, but Katie thinks we have. And if she thinks that, then apparently we are. She has to have some alone time to spend with you, Elizabeth. She has to,” he told her.

  “I wasn’t aware that we were even doing that. How terrible she must feel right now. What did you tell her?” Elizabeth asked him.

  “I apologized for doing it, and I promised that it will never happen again. So if you need to see Elizabeth and Katie is here, you’ll just have to wait for Katie to leave. Understood?” he asked all of them.

  All of them said that they understood.

  “Elizabeth, pretty soon Katie will be coming in here to ask you to go to the movies with her. I hope you’ll be able to find the strength to go with her. It’s my treat. And I hope you like ice cream as well,” he told her.

  “I do like ice cream, and I’ll go with her even if you have to carry me,” she told him.

  “Nope, sorry. This is just for you and her. Nobody else,” he told her.

  “Well, I meant that as a figure of speech, Grady,” she told him.

  “I know that, but a deal is a deal. And by the way, on Fridays for now on, no veggies are to be served with dinner,” he added as he turned and walked away.

  “No veggies on Fridays. Where in the world did that come from? Daddy loves his veggies,” Katie asked in very questionable tone.

  “I bet you it’s Katie. She hates vegetables,” Elizabeth responded.

  “Fine then, no veggies on Fridays. Glad that’s settled,” Katie told them as she started laughing.

  “I sure wish your dad was around when we were kids. We hated eating vegetables,” Melissa told them.

  “Don’t all kids?” Rick asked.

  “None more than Katie, I’ll bet ya,” responded Elizabeth.

  The Dresses

  Melissa showed up early the next morning so she and Katie could go talk to the judge. They hoped that they could persuade him to perform their ceremonies. But she got there a wee bit earlier than Katie had expected her to. So she sat there drinking coffee with Grady as Katie got dressed.

  “Grady, can I ask you something?” she asked him.

  He lay down the morning paper and looked at her. “Gee, this must be important if you thought that you had to ask first,” he told her.

  “Well, it’s about your house. It’s been bugging me ever since I first came here,” she told him.

  “You don’t like this old house?” he asked her.

  “No, I love this house really,” she proclaimed.

  “Well then, what’s your question?” Grady asked her.

  “Well, it your screen door,” she answered.

  “What’s wrong with my screen door?” he asked her.

  “Nothing really, but you have those beautiful double wooden doors with that real fancy glasswork,” she answered.

  “And?” he asked as he waited for her to finish whatever it was that she was saying.

  “Well, you can’t see those beautiful doors through the ugly screen door. There, I said it,” she told him.

  Grady just gave her a blank stare. “You know what? I never thought about it before, but now that you mention it, I can see your point,” he responded.

  “Well, I wanted to say something before, but well, I just couldn’t. I hope that you’re not upset with me. I just can’t understand why you would want to hide those beautiful doors behind that ugly screen door,” she explained.

  “Upset at you? Me? Never in a day. But I’ll look into that screen door. I promise,” he told her with a smile.

  “Okay, but I do have something else to tell ya since I kind of have your attention,” she said.

  “Well, by all means, go ahead. Is there something else you don’t like, or is this something more important?” he asked her.

  “No, not really important, but I need to tell you this all the same,” she told him.

  “Well, you have my full attention, dear, so go ahead,” he said.

  “You know when a girl dreams of her wedding, they have these wild dreams about what they think they want. And I was no different. But because of you and Paul, my or I mean, our wedding is going to surpass any dream that I might have had. And I just wanted to say thank you from the bottom of my heart, really. A few weeks ago, I didn’t even know you. And ever since I met you, you’ve treated me like a part of your family. I just wanted to let you know that your kindness has not gone unnoticed,” she told him.

  “Well, that’s a very honest statement, being that you are a part of this family. You and Katie have become the very best of friends just like sisters. And I’m happy for the both of you. And I’m thrilled to be a part of your wedding. I mean that.

  “You know what? You came here one night not knowing me from Adam. And yet you sat down here and listened to this wild tale that I laid out before you, and you listened with an open head. You were able to toss aside everything that you thought that you knew before because I asked you too. You trusted me enough to hear the whole story before you made any rash comments. That says a lot about the person that you are, dear. What man in his right mind would not want you in their family? That and you’re a good-looking lady too, I might add. Rick is a very lucky man,” he told her.

  “My mother keeps telling me and Mike that we’re both rushing into this way too fast. And sometimes, I think she’s right. But there are other times that I just know that she’s wrong. So are we? I mean how do you know if it’s right?” she asked him.

  “Well, maybe you are at that. But just like you said, maybe you’re not. I don’t claim to have all of the answers about everything. But you’re the one that should know. You’ll feel it in your heart. People in love just know if it’s right. But I’m sorry to tell you this, but if you have any doubts about marrying Rick, then I have to tell you not to,” he told her.

  “Oh, I have no doubts about marrying Rick, none at all. But it’s just happening a little too fast at times, that’s all,” she replied.

  “You’ve got stage fright or wedding jitters,” he told her.

  “What is that?” she asked him.

  “It’s your body reacting to the shock of marriage and everything that goes with it. And it’s normal. Believe me, everybody gets them. But I do believe that women get them worse than men do. It’s like driving a car for the first time. Remember how nervous you were the first time? But now you get behind the wheel just like you were born there, right? It’s the same thing. Trust me, you’ll be fine,” he told her.

  “God, I hope not!” she told him.

  He just looked at her. “What do you mean when you say that you hope not?”

  “Well, the very first time that I drove my daddy’s car, I drove it th
rough two fences. It wasn’t real pretty,” she told him.

  “Well, if you think that everything is going to fall into place just because you got married, you’re in for a big surprise. It takes work, a lot of work from the both of you to get your marriage to work. And at times, you may want to pull your hair out, but you’ll stick to your guns, and everything will work its way out. You’ll see,” he explained to her.

  “I guess we will at that,” she said as she turned to look out the front window as she heard a car pull up out front. She didn’t have to wait to see who it was. She recognized the car. She knew who it was.

  “Who is it?” Grady asked her.

  Melissa turned to look at him. She was all smiles.

  “That, Grady, is Violet, our dress lady. The dresses are here,” she told him as she went to the front door to meet her. She met her at the door of her car.

  “Well, hello there. My, this a very big house,” Vi said as she stared up at the front of the house.

  “Wait until you see the inside. So . . . did ya . . . bring them?” Melissa asked her.

  “Well, no, there’s a little problem that we need to discuss,” she answered.

  Melissa’s smile disappeared in a flat second. She knew that the wedding was only three days away. And she would have to find a way to tell Katie that she had let her down.

  “Relax, I’m just kidding with ya. They’re in the trunk. Had you going, didn’t I?” she asked her.

  Melissa took a second to realize what Vi had just told her, and she started smiling again. “You’ll never know just how close I was to a major heart attack,” she told her with a huge smile.

  “Yes, I did. I could see it in your eyes. That’s why I didn’t string it along as long as I had planned. Here, give me a hand with these,” she said as she walked over and popped the truck open. The two boxes were huge and must have weighed at least thirty pounds each. Melissa took one of the boxes while Vi managed to get the second one.

  Vi only got to the bottom of the steps before Grady came outside. “Here, let me get this,” Grady said as he took the large box from her.

  “Well, thank you, sir. You must be Grady. Melissa told me all about you, sir,” Vi told him.

  “Well, if she told you anything bad, then I’m not him,” he answered with a smile.

  “Actually she only told me good things,” Vi responded.

  “Well then, in that case, I’m Grady. Glad to meet ya,” he responded. They both started laughing.

  As they entered the house, they slid the boxes onto the dining room table. Vi was looking at the interior of the house. She couldn’t believe the work that Grady had done so far.

  “This old house is like a palace. You do all of this?” she asked him.

  “For the most part, yes, but there’s still a long way to go before everything is done,” he answered back with a certain sense of pride to his voice.

  “Well, you should be very proud of your work, sir. Very nice, and by the way, I just love that big old sign out in your yard. That I wasn’t expecting,” she told him.

  “Yes, Katie, did tell me that your parents had a run-in with her great-grandfather. Very nice story as I recall,” he answered.

  “Vi, would you like a cup of coffee?” Melissa asked her.

  “Yes, I would. That would be nice,” she answered.

  “Oh, I’m sorry. I must have left my manners in my other clothes,” Grady said as he reached over and slid out a chair for her.

  “Oh, that’s all right. We all get sidetracked once in a while,” she told him she sat herself down in the chair.

  Katie came bouncing down the stairs. She was just in a good mood. She was totally unaware that they had company. She saw Melissa first.

  “Hey good morning to ya,” she told her as she stepped down off of that last step of the stairs.

  “Good morning. Boy, what’s gotten into you this early in the morning?” she asked her.

  “Nothing really. It’s just getting one day closer to Saturday. And by the way, after we see the judge, why don’t we swing by your friend’s house and see how the dresses are coming along?” she told her just as she entered the dining room to see Vi sitting at the table. And the two large boxes were right next to her. “Oh, you’re here!” she said as she spotted the lady sitting at the table.

  “Good morning, Katie. Your dresses are pretty much done. Maybe a few slight alterations but nothing serious, I hope,” she told her.

  “Really? Can we see them?” she asked.

  “In a moment. I need to talk to you and Melissa first. Get yourself a cup of coffee, and we’ll talk,” she told them.

  The two girls went into the kitchen and soon returned with a cup of coffee in each of their hands. They both took seats at the table and waited to hear what she had to say.

  She just looked at the two overeager ladies that were staring at her. She turned to face Grady. “Don’t they look like a couple of wild animals waiting to pounce on their next meal?” she told him.

  “That’s exactly what I thought,” he answered.

  “Well, we’re just a little excited, is all,” Katie told them.

  “Okay, I get the message. Now when I measured the two of you, I found that the two of you were almost the same size, remember?” she asked them.

  “Yeah, I do recall that. So?” Melissa asked.

  “Well, the problem is that you’re about an inch taller than Katie is,” she told her.

  “And the problem is?” Katie asked her.

  “Well, I was thinking that the two of you would look so much better if you were both the same height,” she told them.

  “So how do we fix that? I certainly can’t grow an inch in three days, and there’s no way of making Melissa shorter. So what do we do?” Katie told her.

  “Exactly, so I came up with a cure-all remedy. I bought you girls matching shoes. They’re both white in color but Katie’s has two-inch heels while Melissa’s only has a one-inch heel. So you two should be fairly close in the height department,” she explained to her.

  “That was clever! But what’s the problem?” Melissa asked her.

  “The problem is this. Both dresses were made to fit each of you. But I forgot to compensate for the height factor. Melissa’s dress is almost an inch longer than yours. So if you add the shoes, the height factor still might be a problem,” she told them.

  “So what do we do? How do we fit it?” Melissa asked her.

  “Well, I’m hoping that it won’t be a problem. But you’ll need to try them on so I can tell if we do have a problem or not,” she told them.

  “That we can do,” Melissa told her.

  “Okay, but you’ll need help to put these on. I can only help one of you at a time, so is there someone else that can help with the other dress?” she asked them.

  Grady just looked at them. “Oh, no. I draw the line at helping two young ladies getting dressed,” he told them.

  “Of course not. I was talking about another female,” Vi told him.

  “I’ll help her,” Elizabeth said as she made her way into the kitchen, still wearing her robe. Little Katie followed her. She was still in her PJs.

  Vi took one look at little Katie and then looked over at the other Katie. “My God, you two could almost be twins,” she told Katie.

  “Vi this is my Aunt Elizabeth and my cousin Katie,” she said as she introduced them to each other.

  “Well, the pleasure is all mine,” Vi told them.

  “Well, I’ve heard some pretty good stories about you as well. Melissa tells me that you’re quite good with a needle and thread,” Elizabeth said.

  “Well, keep in mind that my eyes aren’t what they used to be, and it’s getting harder and harder to use my fingers. But I want you to know that these dresses were all sewn by these two hands. And I’m sorry to say, but they’ll more than likely be my last ones too. Time is an evil companion of mine,” she told them.

  “Well, we thank you more than you could ever know. Really, I
mean that,” Katie told her.

  “I know that, and as soon as I get done with another cup of this great tastin’ coffee, we’ll go upstairs and see if they fit you okay. I might have to make a few adjustments. But I’m really more concerned over this height issue,” she told them. Katie got the message as she took her cup and soon returned with a hot refill.

  “Well, can we look at them?” Melissa asked her.

  Vi just looked at the two of them and smiled. “No, you may not. It would ruin the surprise,” she told them.

  Just then, another car pulled up outside. Katie glanced through the window to see Paul and Mary getting out of their car.

  “Hey, Paul and Mary are here. Mary can help us with the dresses too,” Katie told them as she went to greet them at the door. Katie introduced them to Vi. And as she did so, she called him Uncle Paul and Aunt Mary. And everyone caught it but said nothing.

  “Good, then I won’t be left down here with myself now, will I?” Grady said in a tone that caught everyone’s attention.

  “Relax, Grady. I’ll stay down here with you,” Paul said as he turned to look at Katie. “Uncle Paul and Aunt Mary?” he asked her.

  “Well, you’ve done as much as an uncle. Might as well have the title to go with it,” she told him with a smile.

  “We’re honored for sure,” he answered.

  “Well, if you ladies are ready, let’s see how these dresses fit the two of you,” Vi said as she stood up. Each girl grabbed the box that had their name on it. They were like two little kids on Christmas morning, and the anticipation about the contents of their presents were about to make them explode.

  “I think that you had better hurry. I’m not too sure just how long these two can hold out,” Grady told them.

  “I see that. Gosh, girls, relax a bit,” Mary told them.

  “Well, we’re really excited. This our wedding, and we just can’t wait to see what our dresses look like. You guys wouldn’t understand. It’s a girl thing,” Melissa responded.

  “I realize that, but you two are going to work yourself up into a frenzy. And all you have to do is calm down a bit. And it just might take me a few minutes to get back up the stairs anyways,” Elizabeth told them.