A Nantucket Wedding

by Nancy Thayer

  After he spoke, the table was quiet, and Felicity and Jane wiped their eyes, and Cecil took Heather’s hand, and the children and even the dogs stopped playing. For a brief moment, it was as if they were caught in a spell.

  Then Scott chimed in, “Here, here!”

  And all the others added their cries, and David leaned down to kiss Alison, who rose to meet his lips.

  David took his seat. Alison stood.

  “But wait!” she said in a joking tone. “There’s more!”

  Now that the moment had come, she was nervous. Her hands trembled and she clasped them together at waist level. “David has already given me his wedding present. You’ll see it tomorrow when I walk down the aisle. Well, I have a wedding present for him, but it’s so large and heavy I can’t lift it myself. I want to thank Poppy for helping me decide on the perfect words.” Alison caught the puzzled glance between her daughters. She could read their minds: What? they were thinking. Mom had Poppy help her instead of us? In a moment, they would understand.

  Alison continued. “Heather and Cecil have helped me transport my gift to their house, because it’s too big to hide out at Surfside.”

  An excited stirring passed over the table. Her new family and especially David leaned toward her, captivated.

  “Cecil? Heather? Would you help me bring it out?”

  Alison hurried into the Willets’ house. Cecil and Heather followed. They had hidden the quarterboard behind a sofa in the family room. It was a narrow mahogany plank, six feet long, one foot wide, painted a navy blue almost dark enough to be black, all edges outlined with golf leaf. The words Glad Tidings were carved into the mahogany and painted with five layers of gold leaf, as were the pineapples, a whaling-day emblem of hospitality, which adorned each end.

  Alison and the Willets had practiced carrying the heavy sign and now Cecil and Heather each hoisted an end while Alison supported the middle. They carefully carried it out to the patio.

  The group’s reaction was all that Alison had hoped it would be. Poppy stood up, looking terribly pleased with herself, and the others rose, too, cheering and applauding.

  David said, “Alison, what a spectacular gift.” He ran his hands over the painted and gilded and engraved words.

  For a moment he couldn’t speak, and tears welled in Alison’s eyes. She was so thrilled that he liked the wedding present, so gladdened to see that it had moved the heart of the man she loved.

  “Glad Tidings.” David turned to the group at the table. “Glad tidings, indeed. I’ll call a carpenter tomorrow and have the quarterboard hung over the front door.”

  “Actually,” Alison said, “you might have to wait a day or two to call the carpenter. Tomorrow we’re getting married.”

  “A toast!” Scott lifted his glass. “A toast to Glad Tidings!”

  They raised their glasses and called out their toasts. A sea breeze swept through the yard, so that the trees rustled and the women’s skirts fluttered and for a moment all their hearts swelled like a sail on a boat heading for home.

  twenty-eight

  On the morning of her wedding day, Alison woke early. David slept next to her, but she was a bundle of nerves and she probably would be until today was over. Not that she wanted to rush through this day, no, she wanted to breathe and take it all in.

  She quietly slipped from the bed and padded across the thick silky carpet to the huge window facing the Atlantic. The pleated alabaster Japanese shades were lowered at night to cover the window and block early morning light. They were raised by a remote control. It was over on David’s bedside table, and she didn’t want to wake him. She didn’t need to see the entire view; she needed only a peek.

  She lifted the side of a shade and peeked.

  Blue sky. Sunshine.

  Ahhhh.

  She tiptoed back to bed and relaxed, closing her eyes, hoping to fall back asleep.

  Next to her, on this, their wedding day, David, was snoring like a chainsaw. The wedding ceremony was at five o’clock that evening, but guests were invited to check into the hotel yesterday afternoon or any time today so they could unpack and spend the day enjoying the delights of the island. They could swim, sail, kayak, hike, or drive one of the BMWs into town. A buffet lunch was set up at the hotel from noon until two. After the ceremony, the champagne would flow, dinner would be served in the huge white tent with banners flying, and later, there would be dancing.

  So really, Alison could stay in bed all day if she wanted.

  She heard the front door being opened and softly closed. Alani had been hired for the day to run the kitchen, so that the children and grandchildren sleeping in other rooms of this house could eat whenever they wanted. Today, Alison didn’t have to butter toast or wash a dish. And she didn’t have to solve any problems or settle any family quarrels. All the details had been sorted. She snuggled back into her pillow, closing her eyes, savoring the luxury.

  * * *

  —

  Felicity quietly made her way from the bedroom and down the stairs and through the sleeping house to the kitchen. She said hello to Alani, gratefully accepted the freshly brewed cup of coffee, and took it outside to drink on the deck.

  She’d never been here, alone, with the whole world around her, so bright and wide with morning sunshine, lightly stirred by a sea breeze. She stretched her legs out on the lounger and sipped her coffee. No one walked on the beach, no one was swimming. Everyone else in the house was asleep. For a few moments, Felicity had time to reflect on all that had happened this summer.

  First. She truly had a sister. Felicity and Jane had gone along through their adult lives without each other, but during this summer, they had bonded. They knew now that they had each other to lean on, to share miseries and joys with, to plot against their families with, to laugh with. That she loved her sister who loved her back was Felicity’s happiest discovery.

  The state of her marriage was the next revelation. Felicity was glad that Noah had done his best to join Felicity’s family, even if his behavior had been inspired by David’s generous financial assistance. She was relieved that Noah had reassigned Ingrid, and pleased that his new assistant was a hyperactive young man with ears like Prince Charles.

  During every spare moment when she was riding the ferry to or from Nantucket, and her children were playing Nintendo DS or reading books, Felicity had been on her phone, searching out and reading articles about marriage. Specifically, about living with a scientist.

  Noah was not the clichéd geek of television and movies. He was handsome and charismatic. But he was also driven, ambitious, self-absorbed, manic, and really, truly, neurotic. Felicity had taken tests. She’d checked all the boxes. Her husband was obsessive-compulsive about his scientific brainchild, he was terrified of other scientists getting there before him, and everything else—wife, children, home—everything else took second place. Actually more like tenth place.

  Felicity thought that his relationship with Ingrid, whatever it had been, was the result of needing a lieutenant, an assistant, a Watson to his Holmes. Noah would always need a person like that, and Felicity could never be that person.

  The bad news, the heartbreaking matter, was that Felicity and her children would never come first with Noah.

  The good news was that Felicity was free to change. She could leave Noah, but she didn’t want to. He was a good enough father to her children, and when he stepped out of his scientific fog, he could be a pleasant companion. They were a family. Not a perfect family, to be sure. But they were all right, would be all right.

  And Felicity was going to take the job at the day care center, simply because she wanted to. So what if it didn’t help Noah with his financial worries. For a while, for a few years perhaps, David’s infusion of cash would weaken the fire of Noah’s financial anxieties. The job in the preschool would be for Felicity. She adored little children, and s
he knew that preschool was a crucial stage in their understanding of the world. Alice and Luke were in school now. Their worlds were getting wider.

  And now Felicity would open up her world, too. She could not save the world as Noah was trying to do with his green food. But she could make one little child smile, she could give comfort to one small child, and that would fill her heart. That would be sufficient treasure for her.

  Today was her mother’s wedding, the beginning of a new life for Alison.

  Tomorrow would be the beginning of a new life for Felicity. And honestly? She was ready to leave the lazy lounging on the beach, the long, slow afternoons of falling asleep while reading, and the careless disorders of the day. But she was not going to return to the rigid organization of the past few years. She was not going to base all her happiness on Noah’s relentless problems. She was going to take good care of her family, but she would also open a door into another world, a noisy, chaotic, giggling, wobbling world of small children, and she couldn’t wait to get started.

  And she was going to eat bacon and let the children have some, too.

  * * *

  —

  “Mom gets married today,” Jane whispered.

  She was snuggled up as close as she could get to her husband. His good arm was around her as they lay in bed beneath the light covers.

  “Mmm,” Scott said, kissing the top of her head.

  “I’ve been thinking,” Jane continued softly. “I’ve been thinking we could leave New York. Move to Boston.”

  Scott raised up a bit and looked down at her face. “Are you kidding?”

  “Not kidding. Just think of the house we could buy in Boston. Real estate is so much cheaper than New York. Everything’s so much cheaper than New York.”

  Scott flopped down on the bed, keeping an arm across Jane. “Where are all these ideas coming from? Your mother? Your sister?”

  “No, they’re my own ideas. But I wouldn’t mind being closer to my family. Especially if…”

  “I like your mother and David. I like your sister. Noah? Not so much. I’m not sure I’d want to be closer to him.”

  “I agree! We wouldn’t move into the house next door.” Jane laughed.

  “And what about work? Our firms don’t have an office in Boston.”

  “So we interview at other firms. We’ve got spectacular resumes.”

  “I don’t know…”

  “I’ve been thinking, how we are always spending money on traveling to faraway places. And yes, of course, our trips have been fantastic, but we have to work so hard to afford them that we never have time for ourselves at home. We don’t have downtime together.”

  “We go to plays. We go to the symphony. Art openings.”

  “Yes, and we go to those places with friends. Although most of them aren’t really friends. They’re business associates. People we see only in our best clothes. We’ve never shared the rough and tumble of real life.”

  “But we never wanted to be like that.”

  “But maybe I do, now. And if we have children, wouldn’t it be nice to be near Felicity and her kids? And my mother would be over the moon.”

  “It’s kind of unsettling, thinking of such enormous changes, leaving New York for Boston.”

  “I know,” she said. “And I’m not saying we have to do it right away, or do it at all. But isn’t it nice to dream?”

  Scott pulled her close and nuzzled his chin into Jane’s hair. “Jane, life with you is full of surprises.”

  Jane smiled. “When we married, we agreed we wanted adventures. I think some of them can take place right in our own home.”

  * * *

  —

  Alison showered and creamed her skin, using English Garden Creams, of course. She sat very still, not talking or smiling, while Felicity bent over her, applying the perfect amount of foundation, eyeliner, mascara, and blush to her face. She accepted the new tube of red lipstick that was supposed to last all day, even if she ate—or kissed—and carefully applied it. She brushed her hair until it gleamed. She asked the others to leave the room to put on their own dresses while she donned her brand-new silk and lace underwear. Now she stepped into her ivory wedding gown.

  “Wow,” she said. “You’re looking pretty good for an old girl.”

  “Mom? We can hear you talking to yourself in there. Are you ready?”

  It was Felicity, standing in the hall.

  Alison opened the bedroom door, and her wedding attendants flooded in, babbling, exclaiming, laughing.

  “You all look so beautiful!” Alison said, and burst into tears.

  “Stop it, Mom. Stop it right now. You’ll ruin your makeup.” Felicity held Alison’s shoulders and gave her the same look she often gave her children.

  Alison sniffed back her tears.

  “I’m going to zip you up,” Jane told her. “Hold still.”

  Then came the friendly, familiar zing as the zipper interlocked the two sides, and Alison could actually hear it because everyone in the room had gone quiet, waiting for the moment when the dress was completely on Alison.

  Then, everyone went: Ahhhh.

  Anya had fit the dress to perfection. The ivory silk accentuated the tan Alison had achieved over the summer, and she absolutely glowed.

  “And now, my wedding gift from David.” Alison lifted a black velvet jewelry box off the dresser and opened it, bringing out the diamond jewelry.

  The necklace sparkled against her skin like tiny rainbows of light.

  “I’ll fasten it,” Felicity said.

  Alison added the earrings, three-carat studs. “I’m ready!” she announced.

  “Mom,” Jane said. “You need to wear shoes.”

  This set the three little girls into hysterical laughter, and they bounced up and down on the bed, giggling, until they realized they could see themselves in the large mirror over the dresser. Then they settled down and smoothed their skirts and turned this way and that, eyeing themselves in their wedding finery.

  Alison stepped into her ivory satin heels. “Now. Time for photos.”

  Everyone had a phone, and everyone was suddenly clicking and rearranging the groupings, and they were laughing like kids, all of them, when they heard a noise at the door.

  Felicity ran downstairs.

  “Mom!” Felicity cried. “The limousine’s here.”

  “My heart is beating really fast,” Alison said, pressing her hand against her chest. “I think I’m having a heart attack.”

  “I think you’re having wedding-day flutters,” Jane said sensibly, taking her mother’s arm. “Let’s go. We can drink champagne in the limo.”

  “We can?” Daphne asked.

  “It’s ginger ale for you three,” Felicity said. “And not too much of it. You don’t want to have to pee in the middle of the ceremony.”

  This idea sent the three little girls into more explosions of giggling, and Felicity and Jane had to separate them to get them downstairs and into the car.

  Alison was left alone. For a few moments. To look at herself in the mirror.

  She looked beautiful.

  She couldn’t stop smiling.

  * * *

  —

  The limo driver had made a mash-up of wedding songs, and all the way from Surfside to Wauwinet, the group sang along to The Dixie Cups’ “Chapel of Love” and the B-52s’ “Love Shack” and “Celebration” with Kool & the Gang. By the time they arrived at the hotel, they were all breathless. Alison saw roses in the others’ cheeks and knew her cheeks were pink, too.

  The limo arrived at the Wauwinet at exactly four forty-five.

  “Don’t open the door yet!” Alison begged the driver. To her daughters, she said, “Is my lipstick smeared? How do I look?”

  “No, your lipstick is perfect, and you look amazin
g,” Jane said.

  “And you girls all look like princesses,” Felicity told Daphne and Alice and Canny.

  “I don’t want to be a princess,” Canny said sternly. “I want to be president of the United States.”

  “Me, too!” Daphne cried.

  “You can be my vice president,” Canny said.

  “NO. You can be president of Peru and I’ll be president of the United States.”

  “Girls,” Felicity said. “Here’s your opportunity to show your future voters how elegant and stately you can be.”

  The girls nodded, agreeing, and with chins high, stepped out of the limo.

  “Daphne,” Alice whispered, “can I be your vice president?”

  “Sure,” Daphne said graciously.

  And then suddenly they were out of the limo, gathered in all their glory on the sidewalk leading to the hotel entrance.

  “Is it time?” Alison asked.

  “It’s time,” Jane said.

  They went into the hotel and through the wide hallway. By the door to the outside was a table with a florist waiting to hand the women their bouquets and the little girls their baskets of rose petals.

  They stepped out onto the long, wide porch. In front of them the lawn spread like green velvet down to the beach and the brilliant blue water of the harbor. At the side of the hotel a glorious white tent with banners flying waited, and a boardwalk had been laid to the tent’s entrance, where the main aisle was covered with white cloth. They could hear Mendelssohn filling the tent.

  Hunter and Luke, clad in blue blazers, their hair slicked down, raced up.

  “Come on!” Hunter ordered. “Everyone’s waiting!”

  “Boys,” Alison said. “You both look so handsome. Can I kiss you?”

  “Ugh, no!” Hunter said. He tugged his cousin’s arm. “Come on. Get your pillow and the ring.”