“How’s Jessie coming with the cake?” Vinny Toricelli asked Asa.
“She’s startin’ on it tomorrow. I tell you, she’s been busy as a one-eyed man at a go-go girl convention.”
Sam Gardner had forgotten about the cake. Maybe weddings weren’t so bad after all.
On Friday morning, Sam wrote his Sunday sermon—a brief meditation on the joy of marriage while people still had matrimony on their minds. The drawback to preaching in a small town is that everyone knows everyone else too well. Sam spent two hours trying to think of a couple in town whose marriage was without blemish, whose union could serve as an inspiration to the congregation.
He thought of Miriam and Ellis Hodge, but then remembered that the summer before last Ellis had to move to the barn for a month. So much for the Hodges. Then Sam remembered his grandparents, who were now deceased and therefore unlikely to divorce. Sam often waxed eloquent about dead people, knowing they wouldn’t do something the next week that would necessitate a retraction.
He finished his sermon around noon, went home for lunch, then drove the back roads to Cartersburg to visit Alice Stout at the nursing home. Her room was warm and his stomach full; sitting in a rocking chair at the foot of her bed, he fell asleep. When he stirred a half hour later, Alice was still talking, so he closed his eyes for another fifteen minutes. Then he said a little prayer for Alice, thanking God for her life, such as it was, hugged her good-bye, and drove to the Hodges’ for the wedding rehearsal.
It was early and he was the first to arrive, so he helped the Hodges arrange the folding chairs into rows underneath the white tent.
“This is some affair,” Sam commented.
“It’s simply lovely,” Miriam said. Then she sighed. “Ellis and I were married at the parsonage on a Friday night after the cows were milked.”
“We’re just as married,” Ellis pointed out. “I don’t know why people go in for all this folderol.”
“I’m just saying it would have been nice to have the memory.”
Sam was beginning to regret he’d raised the subject and was quite relieved to see Deena and Dr. Dan Pierce turn into the driveway. They passed the barn and drove through the gate over the cattle guard, then down the pasture lane toward the pond, rolling to a stop beside the tent.
Miss Rudy was seated in the back, clutching Emily Post’s book on wedding etiquette. She’d read the book three times in preparation for the big day. Dr. Pierce’s best man, his only brother, sat beside her, looking rather glum. When he’d agreed to be the best man, he’d hoped Deena’s maid of honor would not only be fetching, but morally indiscriminate, someone who believed in free love and living for the moment.
Instead, he’d ended up with Miss Rudy, who’d already made him spit out his chewing gum. “You’re not a cow. You don’t have a cud to chew. This is a wedding, not a baseball game. And there’ll be no slouching either. Stand straight up, keep your hands out of your pockets, and try to look as if you have a little pride.”
They were the only attendants. Deena avoided the usual custom of having every woman she’d ever spoken to serve as a bridesmaid. So it was just the four of them—Deena, Dr. Pierce, Miss Rudy, and one unhappy brother. Sam was elated. The fewer the people, the shorter the ceremony. It was almost as good as a funeral.
Deena’s parents and her grandmother Mabel were the next to arrive. Deena’s father had grown up in Harmony and then gone to college to become a lawyer. He’d graduated, moved to the city, married, and came home only at Christmas, just long enough to eat. Most people in Harmony didn’t care for him, believing he’d risen above his station and gotten a big head. If he’d stayed home, Morrison’s Menswear would still be open, selling Red Goose shoes, bib overalls, and plaid sport coats and sponsoring a Little League team, as the good Lord intended.
When Sam stayed up after the news to watch Green Acres, he’d occasionally see Deena’s father on a television commercial for his law firm, agitating people to sue someone. He’d sent Deena to college to become a lawyer, was sorely grieved she’d spurned the law to open a coffee shop, and took every opportunity to remind her of his disappointment.
It had been his idea to have the ice swan, which was now residing in a wooden crate, packed in dry ice. As swans go, it had a rather short neck. It looked more like a large duck, which infuriated Deena’s father, who’d spent five hundred dollars to have it made and delivered out from the city. He was on his cell phone within five minutes of his arrival, threatening a lawsuit if a new swan with a long neck wasn’t delivered in time for the wedding.
It was obvious he had been gone too long. When people live in a small town, they learn to settle for ducks. They take their car to Logan’s garage because the rear end thumps. A week later, Nate Logan phones to tell them their car is fixed. They get in the car and the thump returns a mile down the road, but the car no longer drifts to the left, so they quit while they’re ahead.
People in the city have too many options. It’s too easy to take their business elsewhere. But Nate has the only garage in town, and people don’t want to anger him in case their car breaks down the next week and they need a tow. So they bite their tongues, pay their bills, thank Nate for his good work, then gripe about him behind his back.
The Hodges watched from the second row as Sam called the wedding party forward. Ellis leaned over and whispered in Amanda’s ear, “I’ll give you a hundred dollars if you elope when it comes time to get married.”
“No, thank you. I want a big wedding with an ice goose,” she whispered back.
“I thought that was a duck.”
They both snickered. Miriam glared at them.
Sam gave his customary wedding rehearsal speech. “Remember, it’s not the wedding that’s important; it’s the marriage. So let’s relax and have fun and don’t worry if anything goes wrong. If anyone makes a mistake, it’ll give you something to laugh about when you’re old and gray.”
“Better not be any mistakes, as much as I’m paying for this wedding,” Deena’s father muttered under his breath. “Five hundred bucks for a swan that looks like Daffy Duck.”
Sam prayed for the Lord to bless their marriage, then put the wedding party through their paces, showing them where to stand and what to say.
“What are we doing for music?” Sam asked Deena.
“There’ll be a string quartet. They had a bar mitzvah tonight, but they’ll be here tomorrow an hour before the wedding,” she promised.
“There goes another thousand dollars,” her father muttered.
“You know what a string quartet is?” Ellis whispered, leaning into Amanda. “A banjo, two guitars, and a mandolin.”
Amanda snorted, trying not to laugh out loud. Miriam elbowed Ellis in the ribs, hard. He grunted in pain. “Some pacifist you are,” he said.
“And you better be thankful I’m a pacifist, or you’d be dead by now,” she whispered fiercely. “Now behave yourself.”
Miriam was never one to let religion get in the way of doing what needed to be done.
Sam had made his way through the introductory remarks and was now at the vows. “Okay, Dan, you’ll go first. All you have to do is repeat after me. In the presence of the Lord, and before these friends…”
“In the presence of the Lord and before these friends,” Dr. Pierce echoed.
“I take thee, Deena, to be my wife…”
Dr. Pierce repeated the line, staring at Deena, who appeared faint with joy.
“Promising, with divine assistance, to be unto thee a loving and faithful husband, as long as we both shall live.” For someone who didn’t care for weddings, Sam was stirred by the vows and felt his chin tremble.
Dr. Pierce recited the last sentence, then leaned forward and kissed Deena on the forehead.
“Curb your hormones,” Miss Rudy scolded. “Sam hasn’t pronounced you husband and wife yet.”
The rest of the rehearsal went smoothly, and by the time they finished the sun was still two hours from setting. It was mid
-June, and it didn’t fall dark until almost nine o’clock. They stood under the tent going over the details for the next day. The sky in the west was lit like fire, a swirl of red and orange.
“Red sky at night, sailors’ delight,” Ellis said, smiling at Deena. “Looks like you’ll have good weather for your big day.”
“This is all so picture-perfect,” Deena said. “We can’t thank you enough for letting us have our wedding here. It’s so beautiful.”
“I even moved the manure pile,” Ellis volunteered, gesturing south toward the barn. “Didn’t want to be downwind of it tomorrow.”
“We can’t thank you enough,” Dr. Pierce said. He turned to Deena. “We need to be moving along to the rehearsal dinner.”
Deena turned to Miriam. “He won’t tell me where it is, except that it’s outside.”
“I told you, we’re going to the Mug ’n’ Bun in Cartersburg. Root beer and hot dogs all around.” He winked at Ellis, who thought root beer and hot dogs sounded pretty good.
They heard the crunch of gravel at the same time and turned to watch as a white, rust-speckled car made its way slowly up the Hodges’ driveway, rolling to a stop at the sidewalk leading up to their house.
“I wonder who that could be?” Miriam asked.
Ellis reached over instinctively and put his arm around Amanda. “Probably a traveling salesman. I’ll go shoo him off. Amanda, honey, why don’t you and Miriam finish lining up these chairs. I’ll be right back.” He walked down the pasture lane around the barn and toward the house, stopping beside his brother, who was standing beside his car.
“Hi, Ralph.”
“Hi, Ellis.”
“What brings you this way?” Ellis asked. “I thought we had a deal.”
“Sandy and I were hoping we could see Amanda,” Ralph said. “It’s been a long time.”
“Absolutely not. That little girl is doing just fine, and I don’t want anyone or anything upsetting that. Now why don’t you get back in your car and go back to California or wherever it is you live.”
Ralph stood silently, his head bowed, drawing a dusty circle in the gravel with the toe of his boot. He looked up. “Things have changed, Ellis. We went to AA, and we’ve been sober two years now. We wanted to tell you how sorry we are for all the trouble we caused. And we was hopin’ to see our daughter.”
“She’s not your daughter anymore. You had your chance. Now please leave.”
Ellis Hodge is not, by nature, a hard man, but he steeled himself, then pointed toward the road. “I’ll have to ask you to get off my property.”
Ralph reached in his back pocket, pulled out a thick envelope, and handed it to Ellis.
“What’s that?”
“That thirty thousand dollars you gave us to leave, this here’s ten thousand of it. I’ll pay you back the rest of it just as soon as I can. We don’t want your money. We just want to be part of Amanda’s life again, that’s all.”
“You keep that money,” Ellis said, pushing it back in Ralph’s hand. “We had a deal. Now you move along and don’t come back.”
“Can we at least say hi to her?”
“No, you can’t. It’ll only upset her. Let’s just leave well enough alone, Ralph. Now you be gone.”
Sandy was seated in the front seat, peering across the pasture toward Amanda, tears coursing down her face.
“She’ll be eighteen in two years,” Ellis said. “I can’t keep you from her then. But as long as I’m responsible for her, I’ll be doing what I think’s best.” He hesitated for a moment. “Maybe when you get to wherever it is you’re going, you can send her a letter.”
Ralph opened the car door, got in behind the wheel, and turned the ignition key. The car coughed to life. He backed down the driveway, stopped at the end for a truck to pass, then turned onto the road and drove west, away from town. Ellis watched the whole while, to make sure he didn’t return, then walked back across the pasture to the white tent, where Amanda and Miriam were finishing up.
“Who was that?” Miriam asked.
“Just some fella who got turned around. He missed the turnoff to Cartersburg, but I got him on his way.”
They lowered the side flaps on the tent, then began walking toward the house.
“What’s for dinner?” Ellis asked with forced cheerfulness.
“How about we go to McDonald’s?” Amanda suggested. “We haven’t eaten there in a long time.”
“McDonald’s it is,” Ellis said, placing his arm across her shoulders.
“Would you look at that sunset,” Miriam said. “What a beautiful day this has been.”
Ellis didn’t comment. He just drew Amanda closer and looked west.
“Red sky at night, sailors’ delight,” Amanda said. “Red sky at morning, sailors take warning.”
There’s a red morning coming, Ellis thought to himself. A blood-red morning.
Six
The Whole Shebang
Sam Gardner’s alarm jangled him awake at six o’clock. He groaned, rolled over, and flailed at the clock to silence it.
“Time to wake up,” Barbara said cheerfully, raising the blinds high enough for the sun to shine directly in Sam’s face.
“Go away and don’t come back,” Sam grumbled, burrowing under the blankets.
“I bet Dr. Pierce would never talk that way to Deena.”
“Leave me alone,” Sam muttered.
“It’s time to get up. The wedding’s today and there’s lots to do. Besides,” Barbara reminded him, “you told me to wake you up at six.”
She pulled the blankets off Sam with a mighty tug, then yanked the pillow from underneath his head, taking off the pillowcase. “Hop up, Sam. It’s laundry day and I’ve got to wash these sheets.” She grabbed the fitted sheet, loosened it at the corners, and with a quick pull rolled Sam off the bed onto the floor.
He lay next to the nightstand, contemplating the ceiling. “I must warn Dr. Pierce what he’s getting himself into.”
Barbara gathered the sheets to her chest and sighed contentedly. “Don’t you just love weddings? Two people starting a life together. Isn’t it just wonderful?”
“Simply precious.”
Barbara dumped the bundle of bedding on Sam. “Why don’t you make yourself useful and start these sheets in the washer? Then maybe I’ll fix you a little breakfast.”
“Pancakes and sausage?” Sam asked hopefully.
“Nope, cereal.”
“I bet Deena would fix her man pancakes and sausage for breakfast.”
“Not after fourteen years of marriage and two children, she wouldn’t.”
Sam eased himself up off the floor, stretched, scratched his belly, then went downstairs to the kitchen and began rummaging through the cabinet where they kept the cereal. “Where’s the Cap’n Crunch?”
“The boys finished it off yesterday. You’ll have to have some of my Special K.”
“How about I go to the Coffee Cup?” Sam asked.
“Fine with me. Just don’t be late for the wedding. And don’t forget you promised to weed the flowerbeds today.”
He showered, combed his hair, sniffed the clothes he’d worn the day before, and then pulled them on. It was a radiant morning, sunny and seventy degrees, so Sam walked the three blocks to the Coffee Cup.
Heather Darnell was waiting tables, her hair pulled back in a French braid. She looked positively exquisite, and Sam was briefly tongue-tied.
“I’ll have French braid,” he said.
Heather looked at him, confused. “Pardon me?”
“I mean French bread, uh, French toast. With sausage, and a glass of orange juice.”
“Coming right up, Sam.”
He glanced around the restaurant. Though it was only seven o’clock, the place was full of refugees—men whose wives had driven them from their homes with talk of weddings and threats of chores.
Asa Peacock walked past and clapped him on the back. “You ready for the big show?”
“As ready as
I’ll ever be,” Sam said.
“Boy, you couldn’t pay me to do a wedding. I’d be afraid I’d screw up. Three hundred people staring at you, just waiting for you to make a hash of things. I don’t know how you do it, Sam.”
“Lots of practice, I suppose,” Sam said. A pang of anxiety rolled through him, making his stomach churn.
“Yessiree, I’d worry about leaving somethin’ out and ruinin’ the whole shebang.”
“I was at my nephew’s wedding last year,” Kyle Weathers said, “and the minister got so nervous, his voice box locked up tighter than a drum. Then he started hyperventilating and the next thing you know he was fainted dead away on the floor.”
“Weddings didn’t use to be that big a deal,” Asa said. “Then they got to spending all that money and blew the whole thing out of proportion and now it’s a big production and nobody better dare mess up.”
By the time Heather came with his French toast, Sam had lost his appetite and asked if she had any Tums.
After breakfast, he stopped by the church to read through the wedding ceremony one more time to ease his mind. He usually did fine at weddings, unless the bride and groom deviated from the norm. He typically didn’t preach at weddings and with good luck could conclude a wedding within fifteen minutes of starting.
Thankfully, Deena’s wedding promised to be brief. There was no special music, unity candle, or readings from Kahlil Gibran about how if you love someone, let them go and if they return to you they are yours, but if they don’t, they’re with someone else, or words to that effect.
The only thing that gave Sam pause was Deena and Dr. Pierce’s asking Dale to give the closing prayer in gratitude for his loaning them his Mighty Men of God ring for their engagement. Though they’d asked him to keep the prayer brief and cheery, Sam feared Dale would get the cheery part out of the way as quickly as he could, then harangue people about living in sin. At the last wedding Dale had attended, he’d stood during the Quaker silence and spoken at length about not having to buy the cow if the milk was free.
Sam gathered up his Bible and his wedding book, then headed for home to dress for the wedding. Barbara was upstairs getting ready, and Sam’s father, who had promised to babysit their sons, was in the backyard playing pitch and catch with them. Sam’s mom was sitting on the couch, thumbing through a magazine.
A Change of Heart Page 4
