Monogamy

by Susan X Meagher

  "We’ll come early and watch your softball practice," Martin suggested. "I’m off next Tuesday and Wednesday. Maybe we can do it then."

  "Sounds like a plan," Ryan said as she kissed him goodbye. "We’ve gotta run now."

  As they ran back down the stairs, hand in hand, Martin found himself transported to the morning that Ryan had announced that Jamie was the one for her. It was the morning that they’d left for Pebble Beach, and father and daughter were able to carve out a few private moments in the midst of doing laundry and packing.

  "I can’t say I’m surprised, but I didn’t know you were ready to make a permanent commitment at this point in your life," Martin began.

  Ryan’s clear blue eyes were slightly wide, and her expression was one of pure determination. "This is it for me, Da. You know I don’t enter into relationships easily, but this was the most natural thing in the world. I barely had to think about it."

  "That’s how it was for me with your mother. Getting married was the furthest thing from my mind, but after a few weeks, it seemed like something I had to do."

  "Had to do. That’s exactly it," she said reflectively. "This is something I had to do."

  "I’m happy for you both," he whispered into her ear as he hugged her close. "I know you’ll be happy together."

  "I know we will," Ryan said, sniffing a little. "I had a very good example of a successful marriage."

  Expressing his seldom-revealed regret, Martin said, "I wish you would have had that example for many, many more years, darlin’." He held her close as the tears started to fall. "Your mother would have been so happy for you. And she would have loved Jamie like her own. I’m sure of that."

  "Thanks, Da," she whispered, her voice too raw with emotion to speak any louder. "If it’s okay with you, I want to give Jamie Mama’s wedding ring. I want to always have her with us, and having Jamie wear it will always remind me of her."

  He didn’t answer verbally, since he was too choked up to speak. He just hugged her so tight she was nearly bruised, giving her his enthusiastic permission.

  "Marty … Marty." Maeve’s hand on his arm startled him from his reverie, and he shook his head to clear it.

  "Sorry. I was wandering a bit."

  "It’s hard to see her grow up so soon, isn’t it?" she asked softly.

  "It is," he said. "Luckily, she’s chosen well. I have every confidence that they’ll love each for their whole lives."

  "I do, too," she said, taking his hand. "Jamie’s a very lucky young woman. If Ryan’s anything like her father, and I know she is, Jamie’s going to be very well loved."

  Martin gave his blushing bride a very enthusiastic kiss, giving complete credence to her words.

  After Marta had worked her magic with a perfect paella, the foursome got down to business.

  "Why don’t you start, Poppa?" Jamie suggested. "I know you have some thoughts about the timing of the ceremony."

  "All right," he said. "Normally, I have an unwritten rule about marrying people who have only been together a short time. I generally request that a couple be together for two years, and be members of the congregation before I’ll agree to join them." Ryan’s eyes widened a bit, but he quickly said, "There is a benefit to being my granddaughter, though. I know that neither of you are behaving frivolously here and, given what you’ve been through in the past few months, I think there’s been a very good indication of the stability of your partnership. So I’m willing to waive my two year rule," he said. "I would, however, like to wait until you have a full year together. Is that something you can live with?"

  "That’s fine," Ryan said immediately, and Jamie nodded her consent as well. "We could actually have the ceremony on the anniversary of our …" She searched for words to explain their bonding on that June day in Pebble Beach, finding herself completely tongue-tied.

  Jamie came to her rescue, saying, "We pledged our permanent commitment to one another on June the fourteenth. I think it would be a great idea to have our wedding right around then."

  Ryan nodded at this suggestion, and Charles agreed. "That’s fine, girls. Now the only other thing I need to have you do is participate in our marriage preparation class."

  Looking a little ill, Ryan managed to say, "Another class? I don’t mean to be difficult, but I’ve got about all I can handle on my schedule now, Charlie. How big of a time commitment is this?"

  "It’s two hours a week for eight weeks, Ryan. We’ve got a class starting up on the first week of March for all of the couples marrying in June." He gazed at her thoughtfully for a moment, then said, "I don’t feel comfortable waiving the requirement, especially since you’ve been together such a short time. I think it’s important – and I think it can help assure the success of your relationship."

  "Oh, I’m not trying to get out of it," she said. "I’m trying to figure out how on earth I can participate."

  "It won’t be easy for me either, Poppa," Jamie said. "When is the class?"

  "It’s on Thursday nights," he said.

  "That clinches it," Ryan said, shaking her head. "We either play on Thursday, or are on a plane going to a tournament. I’d have to quit the team to participate."

  "No, no, don’t be silly," Jamie insisted. "We’ll figure this out."

  Catherine piped up with a suggestion. "Why rush, girls? Now that you’ve decided not to go to graduate school yet, why not take it easy and have the ceremony later in the summer? That will give you time to plan and relax a bit after you graduate."

  "Well, I like the idea of having it be on our anniversary, but I don’t see any way around this," Jamie said. "How about August, Ryan? Does that work for you?"

  "August 26 is a perfect day," Ryan said, grinning widely. "It’s not only a Saturday, it’s my parents’ anniversary."

  Reaching across the table, Jamie grasped Ryan’s hand and gave it a squeeze, locking her eyes on her as she said, "That’s a wonderful suggestion, sweetheart." Looking at her grandfather, Jamie asked, "Could we do a class that would allow us to use that date?"

  "Yes," he said, looking at his schedule. "I can start another near the end of June. That’ll be just about right."

  Giving her partner a big smile, Jamie said, "Let’s do it."

  Charlie penciled the date in, as Catherine jotted the day down in her massive Filofax. "I think that’s a better time anyway, girls," Catherine said. "It gives me six full months to plan." Her eyes were twinkling, and Ryan knew the tag-team harassment was about to begin.

  "Can I have a glass of wine before I’m beaten into submission?" she asked with an aggrieved expression on her face.

  Charlie rose from his chair and patted her on the back. "Buck up, Ryan. You’ve marrying into a family of very determined women. You can either submit now, or submit later. Either way, the outcome is predetermined," he said, chuckling softly.

  After taking a sip of her wine, Ryan said, "We haven’t discussed a pretty important element here. Since I’m broke, and Da isn’t flush, we either have to have a very modest affair, or the Evans family will wind up paying for the entire thing. How do you two feel about that?"

  "I want to pay for it," Catherine insisted. "I want you to have exactly what you want, and I don’t want you to give the finances another thought." Looking at her daughter-in-law, she asked, "Can you live with that, Ryan?"

  "Yeah, I think I can," she nodded. "At least, I’ll try my best." Looking at her partner, she said, "Having a wedding has never been a dream for me, but it has been for Jamie. I want this to be perfect for her."

  "I want it to be perfect for you, too," Jamie said. "Let’s get to it, then. I suppose we have to decide on the location. I’d prefer to have the service in Poppa’s church, and then move to the reception. What about you, honey?"

  "Agreed," said Ryan. "Weddings in an informal setting don’t seem real to me."

  "Excellent," Jamie said, giving her partner a little wink. "See how easy this is?"

  Charles made a note in his calendar and nodded for Jamie to c
ontinue.

  "Next is the venue for the reception. We could do it in Hillsborough, but I was thinking that it might be nice to have it at a hotel, or a club. I’d like for Marta to be a guest – and she would never be able to let strangers into her kitchen without closely supervising them." She braced herself for Ryan’s rejoinder, expecting her opening volley to be a suggestion that they have the party in the backyard in Noe.

  One dark eyebrow rose, then she nodded her head slowly. "How about the Olympic Club? After all, we are members."

  Jamie nearly fell to the floor in amazement, but she managed to cover fairly well. "You’re okay with having it at Olympic?"

  "I suggested it," Ryan said, blinking her big blue eyes ingenuously.

  "All right," Jamie said, still a little flustered. "What do you think, Mom?"

  "I think it’s a good idea. Olympic has a lot of family memories for us, too, Jamie. It’ll be rather homey." Giving Ryan a quick glance, she offered, "My only other suggestion is the Ritz-Carlton. They have a lovely room, and the food is better than it is at Olympic."

  Ryan shrugged and said, "Either one’s fine with me." Then she relaxed in her chair and took a long sip of wine, smiling serenely at her stunned partner.

  Going for an item that she knew would provoke controversy, Jamie said, "I’d like to have a formal reception. What do you think, Ryan?"

  "I’m not sure I know what that means," Ryan said, waiting for elucidation.

  "Well, everyone in the wedding party would wear formal attire. Tuxes for the men and gowns of some sort for the women."

  "What about the guests?" she asked, looking very dubious.

  "The men would have the option of wearing a suit or a tux, and the women could choose between a dress and a formal gown."

  Her eyebrows remained in their hitched position as she enunciated clearly, "Some women will be wearing slacks, Jamie. One of them is in the wedding party."

  "We can work that out," she soothed. "I know you wouldn’t feel comfortable in a bridal gown with a big train."

  Once again, Ryan stunned the assembled group when she shrugged her broad shoulders and said, "Okay. As long as I can wear slacks, whatever you want to do is okay with me."

  "You don’t mind that your cousins will have to wear suits? And your brothers will have to wear tuxes?" This was too much agreement for the smaller woman’s brain to process, and she took another swallow of wine to calm her nerves.

  "Nope. Won’t kill ’em." Another small, satisfied grin took up residence on her face, and Jamie wondered once again who this imposter was.

  "Well, maybe we should discuss how many people we want to invite," Jamie suggested, giving Ryan another quick look. "I was thinking about 250."

  Now Ryan’s familiar scowl settled on her face, and Jamie was reassured that the tall beauty at her side was really her partner. "I don’t know about that," she said, adding a little headshake to emphasize her disagreement. "I think we might have to go higher than that."

  "Higher?"

  "Well, yeah," Ryan said, ticking the categories off on her fingers. "Family on my side alone will be over 50. If we invite all of my aunt’s people, I could easily get to 100. I want to invite my volleyball team and all of the coaches, my softball team; the basketball team can kiss my Irish ass," she added with a grin. "A lot of people from the AIDS Ride, some of the people from my old gym …" Blinking at Jamie, she hesitated and asked, "Is that too many?"

  Jamie held up a hand, trying to make the words coming out of Ryan’s mouth fit with her usual parsimony. "You don’t mind having three or four hundred people at our wedding?"

  "Why would I mind?" she asked, cocking her head. "I want to share this with everyone who’s important to me." Narrowing her eyes a tiny bit, she asked, "Don’t you?"

  "Of course I do," Jamie immediately said. "But I thought you’d want to keep it simple and quiet."

  "Heck no! This is a very big deal to me, Jamie. I never thought I’d get to have anything like this, and now that I can, I want to blow the lid off! I want this to be a party that people will remember for years!" Her face was beaming such a wide grin that Jamie’s astonishment faded away, to be replaced with a matching smile.

  "I want that, too," she said, leaning over to press her lips against Ryan’s. She kissed her cheek several times, adding a firm hug. "I want everyone we care for to be there with us."

  Ryan nodded, slipping an arm around her to return the hug. "We’ve had the private ceremony. This one’s a party."

  As she sat upright, Jamie spared a glance for her mother and grandfather, who were both doing their best not to laugh. "The only consistent thing about Ryan O’Flaherty is her consistent inconsistency," she announced. "Thank God I love every one of her adorable quirks."

  By the time they left, they had decided on either the Olympic Club or the Ritz, depending on availability and capacity; hiring a band so that Rory didn’t have to work; a noon church service, with the reception beginning at six o’clock; a full dinner with dancing afterwards; and a honeymoon trip of undetermined length and destination.

  They were settled in the Boxster, and Ryan had dropped the top, even though the night was cool. She had been going non-stop since six a.m., and she thought the cool air might help revive her. Since Jamie was tired as well, she didn’t complain, even though the weather was quite brisk.

  Riding in companionable silence until they reached the bridge, Jamie leaned over as far as she could and tucked her left hand under Ryan’s jacket, knowing that her body heat would warm it in seconds. "You pleasantly surprised me tonight, tiger," she said reflectively.

  "How so?" Ryan asked over the whipping of the wind as they passed by the massive supports of the bridge.

  "I thought you’d have a lot of problems with the ideas I suggested for the reception. I’m still amazed at how agreeable you were."

  Sparing a warm smile, Ryan said, "I’ll take that as a compliment."

  "That’s how I meant it," Jamie said, giving her side a little pat.

  "I meant what I said earlier," Ryan said. "This is the first and last time I’ll ever have a huge party like this. We might as well do it up right."

  "You’re honestly okay with all of the elements we decided on?"

  "Well, the formal dress is a little much, but I want you to be happy, Jamie. If you get pleasure out of that, I figure it’s the least I can do. After all," she said, "the bride pays for the wedding. You should have the bigger say."

  Giving her a pinch, she demanded, "If I’m the bride, who are you?"

  "Mmm … I’m not sure. I only know that I’m not the bride."

  "Maybe we’ll have the ushers ask the guests whether they want to sit on the bride or the non-bride’s side," Jamie said.

  "Works for me. I’m neither a bride, nor a groom. Those terms don’t fit me."

  "The title doesn’t matter," Jamie insisted. "All that matters is that you love me and I love you."

  "That’s a title I can get behind," Ryan said, gracing her partner with a winning smile. "I’m a Jamie-lover."

  When Ryan came home from her morning class on Wednesday, the phone rang right as she was wrestling with the key in the lock. Grabbing the device, she said, "H’lo?"

  "Hi, Ryan, it’s Amanda."

  "Oh, hi. What’s up?"

  "I think I’ve found you a group that will fit your stringent requirements," the doctor said.

  "Oh, boy," Ryan said, letting her decided lack of enthusiasm show.

  "You don’t have to go, Ryan," Amanda said. "I won’t think badly of you if you’re not able to commit to this. But I believe that at this point, you’ll get more from the group than you will from me."

  Ryan sighed, and chided herself for giving Amanda a hard time. "Let’s hear the details."

  "It meets in Oakland, which shouldn’t be too inconvenient; and the best news is that it meets at 7 a.m. on Monday and Thursday. How does that sound?"

  Forcing herself to be polite, Ryan said, "It sounds like you went to a lot of
trouble to find this for me, Amanda. I might not sound very enthusiastic, but I appreciate that. I guess the group meets tomorrow?"

  "Yes, it does. Bright and early."

  "Uhm … Jamie and I are going to Las Vegas tomorrow for a softball tournament … I’m not sure I can …"

  "When does your flight leave, Ryan?"

  Blowing out a breath, Ryan admitted, "Late afternoon. I guess you’d better give me the address – since I suppose I’m headed over there in the morning."

  Later that afternoon, Ryan rushed around the house, getting her gear packed for the short bus trip to Moraga for a double-header against St. Mary’s. The day was very overcast, and promised a good drenching, so she made sure she took the new rain jacket that Jamie had purchased for her. She was almost out the door when the phone rang; and when she heard her father’s voice on the machine, she dashed over and picked up. "Hey, Da, I’m about to head out. What’s up?"

  "Your aunt and I talked about it today, Siobhan, and we’re not willing to wait another week to see you. I arranged to take the afternoon off, so we’re going to come see your game."

  Smiling brightly at his thoughtfulness, she warned, "I’d love to have you, Da, but it looks like we might get rained out. I hate to see you drive that far for nothing."

  "Not to worry. I know it’s a risk, but one you’re well worth. Tell Jamie we’ll see her there."

  "Okay. I love you, Da. Thanks for being so supportive of me."

  "Always a pleasure, love. Now see what you can do about getting your coach to let you play an inning or two, okay? I want to see you stretch those long legs."

  "Will do," she said, knowing that he was kidding.

  On the bus ride to St. Mary’s, Ryan sat in the seat behind Jackie, and they played one of their favorite games – "guess who’s driving the car." The point of the game was to guess the sex and approximate age of the drivers of the cars they passed, and over the weeks Ryan had gotten quite good at it. But she was still no match for Jackie, who beat her every time out.