Three Weddings and a Bar Mitzvah

by Melody Carlson

  Anna’s face lit up a little. “And knowing that gives me hope for my situation too.”

  “Now you go to bed and I’ll finish cleaning up,” Lelani told her firmly. “And I will not take no for an answer.”

  Normally, Lelani did not like to interfere in the lives of others. But something about Anna’s story—the idea of Edmond falling for a girl like Lucy and dumping Anna like that—well, it just didn’t ring true. Not that she thought Anna was being untruthful. She simply thought that Anna must be mistaken or confused. And because Anna was soon to become her sister, Lelani felt she had the right—no, make that the responsibility—to intervene. Or at least to get to the bottom of this.

  As she waited for Edmond to meet her for coffee at Starbucks, she vowed to be very discreet.

  “So how are you doing?” Edmond asked as he set his coffee on the table where Lelani was already seated. “Getting any pre-wedding jitters yet?”

  She smiled. “Not really. But I am counting the days.”

  He sat down and just looked solemnly at her.

  “I know you’re curious as to why I asked you to meet me,” she began.

  “A bit.” He took a sip of coffee and waited.

  “It’s about Anna. I realize that it’s probably none of my business, except that I love Anna and I know that she’s in a lot of pain right now.”

  Edmond seemed surprised by this. “Anna’s in pain?”

  Lelani gauged his reaction, then nodded. “She and I had a long talk last night. She didn’t want to tell me what was going on, but I sort of forced it out of her.”

  He leaned forward slightly. “What is going on?”

  Lelani wondered how much to say. Out of respect for Anna, she didn’t want to throw all the cards on the table. On the other hand, she wanted to be honest and find out the truth. “Anna told me about you and Lucy.”

  “And what did Anna say?” His voice was tinged with defensiveness.

  “That you and Lucy are dating and—”

  “We are not dating.”

  “Really?”

  “I know that some people assume we’re dating, and I realize we have been seen together, even by Anna, but I swear to you, we’re not dating.”

  “Okay. You’re not officially dating. But Anna said that she saw the two of you together in your office in what looked like a … well, a compromising position.”

  He looked slightly disgusted. “Anna walked in just as Lucy had me practically pinned to my desk. But honestly, I didn’t start it.”

  “According to Anna, you’d been enjoying Lucy’s attention.”

  He nodded. “I suppose that’s true. Lucy is an attractive girl, and it was fun being pursued by her. At first.”

  “But what about Anna?”

  “That’s a very good question.” He looked perplexed as he adjusted his glasses. “And it was something I was always asking myself. What about Anna? I move forward and she moves back. I tell her how I feel and she clams up. I felt she was sending me a message.”

  “What?”

  “Obviously that she wasn’t as interested in me as I was in her.”

  “You truly believe that?”

  “Yes.” He took another sip of coffee.

  Lelani didn’t say anything. She knew it wasn’t her place to proclaim Anna’s love for Edmond. That would be going too far. “And so you allowed this … whatever it was with Lucy, to continue?”

  He laughed in a sarcastic way. “It wasn’t like I could stop it. Lucy is, shall we say, a persistent young woman. To be honest, she was starting to feel like a stalker.”

  “Was?”

  He nodded soberly. “I told her this week that she had to stop chasing after me, that I wasn’t interested in her, and that if she refused to leave me alone, I would have my uncle cancel her internship at Erlinger Publishing.”

  “Really, you told her that?”

  “I did. I tried to tell Anna about this on that very day. I suspected she’d heard the rumor that Lucy and I were seriously involved. Lucy must’ve started that one herself. But Anna didn’t seem the least bit interested in speaking to me. And I suppose that made it easier for me to believe what I’d heard about her.”

  “You heard something about Anna?”

  “I dismissed it as idle gossip at first. But the way Anna was treating me—and then that bouquet of roses—it all seemed to add up. Anna’s involved with someone else.”

  “I think you’re mistaken.”

  Edmond actually looked hopeful for a moment. Then he just shook his head. “No, I think it’s true. She’s been in a good mood. And then there was that huge bouquet of roses.”

  “Anna thought maybe you’d sent them.”

  “Me?”

  “She wasn’t sure. The message on the card was a little unclear, but she thought it might’ve been your way of saying you were sorry.”

  “But I didn’t send the roses.”

  “Then I’m sure Anna is still in the dark over who did.”

  Edmond looked clearly puzzled now.

  “So there’s really nothing between you and Lucy?” Lelani studied him carefully.

  “There is absolutely nothing on my end. Like I said, if Lucy continues to pursue something, she’ll be sent packing. I’ve already told my uncle that I’m fed up.”

  Lelani finished off her coffee, then looked at her watch. “I’m sorry, but if I don’t get going, I’ll miss the bus and be late for class.”

  “How about if I give you a ride?”

  “What about work?”

  “Some things are more important than work.”

  As Edmond drove, they continued to talk. Lelani didn’t divulge all that Anna had told her, but enough to let Edmond know that Anna still cared. A lot.

  “What should I do?” he finally asked as he was about to drop Lelani off.

  She considered this. “First of all, Anna needs to know that there really is nothing, and that there never has been anything, between you and Lucy. And that might include an apology.”

  “An apology?”

  “Yes. Although you say you weren’t involved with Lucy, you allowed it to appear as if you were, and you even admitted that you enjoyed Lucy’s attention. That hurt Anna deeply.”

  He nodded. “When you put it like that, I get it.”

  Lelani gathered her bag. “And, once you regain Anna’s trust, I suggest you be honest with her. Encourage her to be honest with you. Don’t play games.”

  “Right.”

  She opened the door. “Thanks for the ride.”

  “Thanks for the advice.” He grinned. “Hey, am I still invited to your wedding?”

  “Of course.” She stopped herself from adding, “After all, you’re almost family.” Because the truth was, she had no idea how this thing between Edmond and Anna would play out. Love was tricky that way.

  As she walked to class, she felt optimistic for both of them. And yet, she felt a bit concerned too. She had said a lot more than she intended. Mostly, she hoped that Anna wouldn’t feel betrayed by any of this.

  Twenty-five

  Megan

  “So how goes life in the art department?” Harris asked Megan after school on Friday.

  She retrieved her reusable lunch sack from the break-room fridge, then sighed. “One more week. Just one more week.”

  “That bad, eh?”

  She forced a smile. “No, it’s actually gotten a lot better. I did take your advice about music, and I even brought donut holes several times. But the kids are so antsy. It’s like they’re literally climbing the walls.” She shook her head at the memory of how she’d caught Jackson doing some kind of cartwheel on the cement wall in the art room. But she had not sent him to detention for it.

  “Don’t
take it personally. They’re always like this at the end of the year.”

  “Well, next week, I plan to take the class outside. We’re going to sketch trees and whatever we can find on campus.”

  “Sounds like a good idea.”

  “Unless they decide to run away.”

  He nodded. “And that could happen.”

  “I figured.”

  They were both heading out the door now. “So, how is that MIA boyfriend of yours? Any word from Africa?”

  “The guys have sent messages via our church,” she admitted. “Not much information, really, but they’re alive and the well is coming along, and they seem to be making some good connections with the locals.”

  Harris nodded, but with a knowing sort of look.

  “Okay, you’re probably wondering what kind of a boyfriend goes halfway around the world and doesn’t even communicate with his girlfriend.”

  “The thought crossed my mind.”

  “Marcus is a good guy.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  Megan was at a loss for words. She knew she was expected to say something like, “And I know our relationship is rock solid and when he comes home, we’ll still be together, yada yada yada, blah blah blah.” But she also knew that wasn’t really true. For all she knew, Marcus had moved on. Not only geographically, but romantically as well. Still, she wasn’t about to admit this to Harris.

  “Have a good weekend,” she said as she turned down the hall toward the art room.

  “You too,” he called out cheerfully. “And if you ever get lonely or need to talk, my number’s in the book.”

  “Thanks,” she called back. Not that she would take him up on this offer. She was only being polite. Besides that, she had a full weekend planned, so full that she had begged out of the family reunion her mother was attending. Tomorrow her church was having a rummage sale to earn money for Zambia. And later that evening was Lelani’s big shower at the Mendezes’. As for Sunday, well, Megan planned to crash and prepare herself for her final week as a middle-school art teacher.

  She went into the art room and looked around. Despite the crazy kids and the trials they had put her through (perhaps were still putting her through), Megan really liked this job. She especially liked it when she connected with a student, like today. when she’d complimented Morgan Franz on her charcoal sketch and then witnessed the quiet girl’s eyes spark happily. Suddenly they were engaged in a real conversation about light and shadow and how it was kind of like life.

  “It’s all about contrasts,” Megan told her. “If we didn’t experience darkness, we might not appreciate light.”

  “I suppose the dark times do make the light times seem brighter,” Morgan admitted.

  “And everyone has to go through some kind of darkness at least once in a while,” Megan told her.

  “Sometimes it seems like the darkness never ends.”

  Megan nodded as she placed a hand on Morgan’s shoulder. “I know exactly what you mean.”

  And then there were students like wild-child Jackson, who had tried her patience again and again, but it seemed that his attitude toward her had changed ever so slightly. Maybe it was because she’d been trying to show her students that she cared, not just about their performances in class, but about their lives as well. That felt good.

  She loaded the last of the ceramics into the kiln then turned it on to fire. By Monday these pots would be ready for their final glaze. She liked to think this wasn’t really the end of a very short career. But so far, no one had made mention of Megan being at Madison next fall. As far as she knew, Heather would return to teaching art and Megan would be job hunting. Still, she was trying to keep a positive outlook. And she was trying to trust God for her future, even though, as Morgan had said, the darkness seemed endless.

  Megan swept up the pottery dust and dumped it into the garbage can, then turned off the lights. If she hurried, she could catch the next metro and make it home by five. Not that she had anything to look forward to particularly. As she gathered her bag, she remembered how she used to look forward to Friday nights and doing something with Marcus. Now those memories seemed as remote as Zambia.

  As she rode the metro, Megan thought about Kendall’s idea to bring Nana back to Bloomberg Place. Megan’s first reaction had been to say no. But after giving it some thought, she looked forward to helping care for Mrs. Weis. She liked the old woman and could understand Kendall’s concern for her being shut away in the nursing home. If nothing else, it might make for an interesting summer. And it would buy Megan some time to figure out her life, which felt as if it was being turned completely upside down.

  She remembered how life had been last June. Her father had just been diagnosed with cancer, and then, too quickly, he was gone. She felt a lump in her throat. It had only been a year. So much had happened since then, both good and bad. Yet, just this past spring, she had felt that her life was falling neatly into place, almost as if she finally had some kind of control. Now that seemed laughable. She thought of all the pieces of her life that were spinning farther and farther away.

  Her mother’s house was on the market and would probably sell before summer ended. Her friends were getting married and leaving. Her boyfriend was quite likely not her boyfriend any more. She would soon be unemployed. And, unless this thing worked out with Kendall’s grandmother, Megan might just find herself homeless. Oh, she knew her mother would welcome her back, but that wasn’t the same as being on her own.

  Megan didn’t particularly like the idea of having her little pity party on the metro, and yet it did seem a fairly good place to feel sorry for oneself. Until she looked around.

  She saw others who seemed even more down and out than she was. There was a mother with two small children and a vacant, lonely expression in her eyes. And a man with his head hanging down, reeking of alcohol and hopelessness. Megan made an effort to smile at people like this. She had no idea if it made the slightest bit of difference in their world, but it helped her to feel better about hers. She was determined not to give in to despair. Instead, she would put her hope in God. Really, what else was there?

  After getting off the metro, Megan always enjoyed walking the last few blocks toward Bloomberg Place. The walk helped to clear her head, and the weather had been spectacular lately. They were all hoping and praying that it would continue like this for next weekend’s weddings, both of which were planned for outdoors, although they had backup plans for rain since this was, after all, Oregon.

  So far, things had fallen into place for Lelani and Gil’s wedding. Megan gave God the credit for most of this, since it seemed somewhat miraculous. Or maybe it was the result of keeping things simple. Kendall’s wedding, on the other hand, seemed to be all over the boards. Her mother changed her mind constantly and, as a result, the plans became layer upon layer of complication. Megan felt sorry for Kendall, but at the same time she was amazed at how Kendall seemed to go with the flow, keeping her focus on the fact that she and Killiki were going to live happily ever after. Megan sure hoped that would be the case.

  But when she entered the house to find Kendall on her knees with her face buried in the cushions of the sectional and sobbing her heart out, Megan didn’t know what to think. She dropped her bag and ran over to Kendall’s side. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  Kendall turned around and threw her arms around Megan and sobbed even harder.

  “Is it Killiki?” Megan asked urgently. “Is he—”

  “No,” Kendall cried. “Killiki is okay.”

  “The baby?”

  “No, not the baby.” Kendall pulled away now, wiping her wet face with her hands.

  “What then?”

  “Nana!”

  “What happened?”

  “She—she died!” Now Kendall started to cry even louder.

  Megan wrap
ped her arms around Kendall again. “I’m sorry, Kendall. I’m so sorry. I know how much you loved her.”

  Kendall cried for a while longer and then finally started to hiccup. “I—uh—I just feel so—uh—sad.”

  “Let me get you some water.” Megan hopped up and hurried to the kitchen, returning with a glass of water and a box of tissues. “Here, drink this.” She waited as Kendall gulped down the water.

  “Thanks.” Kendall took in long, ragged sigh. “I’m sorry to be such a basket case. But I just can’t believe it.”

  Megan patted Kendall’s back in soothing way. “I understand.”

  “I wanted to take her dress shopping to—tomorrow. I—called her nursing home to see—to see if she was better—she’d been sick. And they told me she died.” Kendall’s chin started to tremble. “Just like that.”

  “That seems a bit harsh.”

  She nodded. “So I called Dad. And he had already heard about it. But he—he didn’t even call me to tell me.”

  “Maybe he didn’t understand that you and Nana were close, Kendall.”

  She sniffed and Megan handed her a tissue. “But Dad acted like it wasn’t a big deal. He said she was old—that she’d had a good life—and that I shouldn’t let it spoil the wedding.” She was crying again. “But I wanted Nana to come to my wedding!”

  “I know you did.” Megan sighed. “And maybe she will. You know. Maybe she’ll be watching from someplace else.”

  “I don’t know.” Kendall wiped her eyes. “I don’t even think she was a Christian, Megan.”

  Megan didn’t know what to say.

  “What if she wasn’t?” Kendall looked intently at her.

  “What if she was?” Megan said kindly.

  “But how?” Kendall frowned. “She never went to church or anything.”

  “A lot of people find God outside of a church. Didn’t you?”

  Kendall nodded. “Yeah. I guess so.”

  “There are some things we just have to trust God to take care of, Kendall. Things that are out of our control. This might be one of them.”