Wedding Bell Blues

by Meg Benjamin

  “Daisy’s there.” Lars closed his eyes again. “I don’t want Sherice to get her. I don’t trust her not to grab Daisy and take off somewhere without letting me know where they are. The perfect revenge.”

  Pete stared down at his hands. No way he could argue with that. “Cal will miss you.” To say nothing of Mom. Pete sighed, thinking of the battles on the horizon.

  “Cal understands. We’ve already talked about it—I called him just before you got here. And it’s not like I can be in the wedding now, anyway, right?” Lars looked back at his shredded tuxedo.

  Pete glanced up at Janie. She still stared into the closet, her hands balled in fists at her sides. As he watched, her shoulders began to tremble again.

  Uh oh.

  Pete got up quickly, moving to put his arms around her. Janie leaned against him for a moment, then drew a shuddering breath. “Looks like Plan A just went all to hell.”

  Pete nodded, rubbing his cheek against her hair. “I’d say so, yeah.”

  “Any ideas?” Janie raised her wide eyes to his.

  Pete started to shake his head when he heard the sounds of footsteps headed their way. “Close the closet door,” he said quickly.

  The front door swung open without any knock, and Pete stared into the bright sun suddenly filling the room. A man stood silhouetted in the light, a familiar shape. His broad shoulders blocked the sunlight momentarily—one hand was tucked behind him.

  “Lars?” the man said.

  “Dad?” Lars pushed himself slowly to his feet.

  Pete stared up at his father’s face, darkened by the dazzling sunlight at his back. He felt a sudden wave of relief, almost as if he were still twelve years old and his father had arrived to save him from the results of his most recent stupidity. “I thought you weren’t due for another day.”

  His father shrugged. “I finished up early. And I brought another guest for the wedding. Hope that’s okay.”

  A small figure was suddenly silhouetted alongside him, blinking in the sunlight. Pete heard Lars catch his breath.

  “Daisy,” he murmured. “Oh, baby, it’s so good to see you.”

  He knelt in front of his daughter, pulling her into his embrace.

  “Da!” Daisy crowed, grabbing his nose. She giggled as he swept her up into the air.

  Pete’s eyes prickled while his chest constricted. He looked down to see Janie watching father and daughter. Her eyes were suspiciously bright. “Maybe we should go get a cup of coffee.”

  “That sounds good.” His father put an arm around Janie’s shoulders. “C’mon, sweetheart, you can tell me exactly who you are and what the hell happened to this nice little wedding I was supposed to be part of.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Looking at Asa Toleffson, Janie had a very clear idea about where the Toleffson boys got their size. He loomed over one side of the table at the Coffee Corral in the same way Pete loomed over the other. She suddenly felt a little like a munchkin.

  Asa’s thick sable hair was sprinkled with gray, but his eyes were the same dark, velvety color as Pete’s. He was still a remarkably good-looking man. Janie wondered if Pete would look like that when he was in his sixties.

  Asa took a swallow of coffee and sighed. “Good stuff. Not up to Norwegian standards, maybe, but still good.”

  “Konigsburg’s German,” Janie explained. “I don’t know how they feel about coffee.”

  Asa shrugged. “Lots of sugar and cream, I imagine.”

  “Okay, Pop, how’d you get Daisy down here?” Pete leaned forward on his elbows. “I thought Sherice had parked her with her relatives.”

  “Sherice’s mother called me a couple of days ago. She had a chance to go to Las Vegas with some friends for a week. Asked if I’d look after Daisy.” Asa shrugged. “I never understood why Sherice didn’t want her here. Little girls like weddings, don’t they?”

  He paused to inhale part of a kolache. “I guess bringing Daisy along was a better idea than I realized. I haven’t seen Lars looking that bad since he was in college. And that was only during Homecoming.”

  Pete narrowed his eyes. “How much do you know?”

  Asa shrugged. “Basically nothing. But I’m guessing the situation’s not good. Maybe you can start by telling me why Sherice wasn’t in their room.”

  Pete had a gift for summary, Janie realized. Maybe it went along with being a lawyer. Asa said nothing as Pete ran through the events of the previous week, but his expression became progressively darker as Pete described last night, or rather the part of last night that didn’t involve their activities in Pete’s bedroom.

  When Pete had finished, Asa sat shaking his head. “Well, damn, son. You tell your mother any of this?”

  “No. Cal may have, but I haven’t checked in with her yet.”

  “Best get me over there, then.” Asa started to rise from his chair. “Somebody needs to fill her in, fast.”

  “You didn’t see Mom when you got here?” Pete raised an eyebrow.

  “Just for a few minutes.” Asa’s expression changed slightly, but Janie didn’t know him well enough to interpret what was going on.

  Pete’s brow furrowed as he stared at his father. “What’s up, Pop?”

  “We’ll get into that later. For now, I need to go talk to Millie. You want to come along in case she has any questions?”

  Janie reached over to touch Pete’s arm. “Go ahead. I’ll go relieve Docia at the bookstore for a while.”

  “Don’t tell her about the dresses yet, okay?”

  “Don’t worry. I’m not going to take that on by myself.”

  She watched the two Toleffsons walk out of the Coffee Corral, then looked around the room. Every woman was turned toward the door. A couple of them wore slightly dazed expressions, as if they’d just seen something so amazing they weren’t sure it was real.

  If nothing else, the Toleffson family had definitely spiced up the fantasy life of Konigsburg’s female population.

  Pete told himself to relax as they approached the bed and breakfast where his mother was staying. Maybe he wouldn’t have to say anything. Maybe Cal had already talked to her. And maybe he could get a side of fries with that large order of denial.

  His mother was sitting in the dining room, a folded newspaper beside her breakfast plate. Pete had the feeling she hadn’t gotten much reading done, though.

  His father took a chair across from her, reaching a large hand to cover hers. “Well, Millie, looks like we’ve got ourselves a real mess here.”

  His mother raised her gaze to his, blinking. “Yes, we do. Poor Lars. And poor Sherice.”

  Pete felt as if he’d taken a cannonball in his stomach. He collapsed into the chair opposite her. “Poor Sherice?”

  “Every story has two sides, Peter.” His mother’s lips thinned. “She stopped here this morning on her way out of town.”

  “Why would she stop to see you?”

  “I imagine because she wanted me to hear her side of it before I started hearing all the other versions.” His mother picked up her cup of coffee from the table in front of her, her brow furrowing.

  Pete’s chest constricted further, if that were possible. “Sherice’s version? Oh, this ought to be good!”

  “Now that’s just why she came here.” His mother’s chin came up mutinously. “That kind of attitude. At least I was willing to listen when nobody else was.”

  “Well, Otto sure as hell did,” Pete muttered.

  “Peter.” His father’s voice was sharp. “Shut up for a minute. Okay, Millie, what was Sherice’s story this time?”

  “She said she went to that bachelorette party with Docia, but some woman insulted her, so she had to leave.”

  Some woman. Pete pressed his lips together, fighting the red surge of anger. It wouldn’t help to yell at his mother. He knew that from long experience.

  His father gave him a quick warning glance. “What happened next?”

  “Well—” his mother looked down at her coffee
cup again, “—I guess they’d been drinking a lot at that bachelorette party.”

  His father nodded. “And?”

  “And Sherice and Lars haven’t been getting along…” His mother still wasn’t looking up. Pete had a feeling even she wasn’t buying this part of Sherice’s story.

  “So anyway this Otto person came along as she was walking back to her motel and offered her a ride. Then he lured her into…well…petting, I guess.”

  “Lured?” His father’s eyebrows lifted almost to his hairline.

  “Petting?” Pete croaked.

  His mother shrugged. “Sherice said she didn’t know what came over her. She’d never done anything like that before.” She finally looked up at his father, her mouth a tight line again. “She said she’s very sorry.”

  “Mom…” Pete found it difficult to talk through clenched teeth.

  His father gave him another level glance. “Pete, don’t you have wedding stuff you need to do with Ms. Dupree? Don’t worry. We’ll work this out.”

  Pete blew out an acrid breath and headed out the door to find Cal. Better you than me, Pop, better you than me.

  Janie hadn’t had too much trouble keeping the news about the dresses from Docia. The shop had been busy, and she had the feeling Docia didn’t really want to think about anything else just then anyway.

  Janie didn’t want to think about it either, but of course she had no choice. She spent the morning fending off the mingled sympathy and curiosity of all the Konigsburg customers. By mid-afternoon her face ached from maintaining her blandest smile.

  Around four, Lars walked in, looking happier than she’d seen him look since he’d arrived in Konigsburg. His daughter rode on his shoulders, her chubby fingers knotted in his dark hair.

  Lars swung her in front of him, one arm around her middle, while she giggled.

  “Da!” she squealed. Her mop of dark curls reminded Janie of Pete. Particularly when he first woke up. Janie chewed on her lip and hoped she wasn’t blushing too visibly.

  “Daisy, this is your Aunt Docia, your almost-Aunt Docia, that is.” Lars grinned up at them blissfully.

  Daisy stared at them with the same laughing black eyes Janie had seen with Lars, Cal, Pete, and, of course, Asa. “Da!” she said.

  Docia dropped to her knees in front of her. “In the ballpark, sweetie. Can you say ‘Docia’?”

  Daisy gave her a wide-eyed look, then extended a dimpled hand toward Docia’s red curls. “Da!”

  “Close enough.” Docia leaned forward and gave her a hug, while Daisy giggled, running her fingers through Docia’s hair.

  “Do you mind if I bring her to the wedding? I know she wasn’t invited. I didn’t know if you were allowing children.”

  “Are you kidding?” Docia swung Daisy up in her arms. “I’ll invent a new role for her. We can all waltz down the aisle together.”

  Lars shrugged. “Oh, that’s okay. I mean, since I can’t be in the wedding anymore, I’ll just hold her.”

  Docia stared at him blankly. “You can’t be in the wedding? Since when can’t you be in the wedding?”

  Lars glanced at Janie. The creases in his forehead became more pronounced. “Well, I mean, since the tuxedo got…ruined, I just figured…”

  Docia turned to stare at Janie, her expression stony.

  Janie sighed. “You’ll need to have a margarita in front of you before I explain this one.”

  They left Lars to finish checking out the few customers who were still in the shop. Daisy had discovered Docia’s cat, Nico, and was rapturously in love. Nico, in residence on top of one of the bookcases, was playing hard to get.

  Janie positioned Docia in a booth at the Dew Drop and brought her a margarita, then gave her a summary of what she’d found in Sherice’s motel room. It probably wasn’t as good as Pete’s, but she figured nobody’s summary would make Docia feel happy about the whole thing. “It’s not that bad, Docia,” she lied. “We’ll work something out.”

  “Absolutely.” Pete slid into the booth beside her. “As far as I’m concerned we’re already ahead here. We traded Sherice for Daisy. You can’t tell me that isn’t a great exchange.”

  “Daisy’s here?” Cal slid into the other side of the booth with a wary glance at Docia’s stony expression. “How did that happen?”

  “Dad brought her.” Pete waved two fingers at Ingstrom, who slid a couple of beers across the bar for him and Cal.

  “Dad?” Cal stared at him blankly.

  “Oh, man, let me guess—you’ve been hiding in the clinic all day.”

  “I’ve been working in the clinic.” Cal humphed. “I’m trying to make up for the amount of time I’m going to be gone for the honeymoon. Dad’s here?”

  Pete nodded. “He’s with Mom. The general message is, butt out for now.”

  Cal took a long pull on his Dos Equis. “Gladly. So the crisis is over, right?”

  “Wrong.” Docia drained her margarita. “Tell him.”

  Pete did. Cal’s eyes widened as the story unfolded. He set his bottle down sharply on the table.

  “What the hell was that all about? Why take it out on Lars? He didn’t put her into that truck!”

  Pete grimaced. “Oh, it gets even better. Sherice made a stop on her way out of town.”

  When he’d finished speaking, Pete and Cal sat staring at each other.

  “So why did she stop to talk to Mom? Does she want to get back with Lars?” Cal shook his head. “But if she does, why shred his tuxedo?”

  Pete shrugged. “I don’t think she wants to get back with anybody. I think she just wanted to stir things up a little more before she left. And she knew Mom was her best bet for doing that.”

  “Okay,” Docia snapped. “Good riddance.” She turned to look at Cal. “Did you tell them what we decided last night, Calthorpe, in case there were any further disasters?”

  Janie leaned forward so that she could look Docia in the eye. “This isn’t a disaster. It’s minor.”

  “Minor?” Docia narrowed her eyes.

  Janie shrugged. “So you’re down one attendant, so what? You’ve still got Allie and Bethany.”

  Cal closed his eyes. “Okay, go ahead. Tell her.”

  Docia waved at Ingstrom for another margarita. “The wedding’s off. We figured we should tell you before we told anybody else.”

  Beside him, Pete heard Janie catch her breath. “No, Docia, don’t. Please. You’re perfect for each other. All this other…stuff. It just doesn’t matter.”

  Docia shook her head impatiently. “That’s not what I mean, Janie. The marriage is on, it’s the wedding that’s off.”

  “You mean the ceremony?” Pete asked carefully. He was slightly dizzy all of a sudden.

  “This whole misbegotten…mess. Yes. The friggin’ ceremony. That is off.” Docia took a swallow of her drink. “I am not doing this dog and pony show anymore. It’s over.”

  “We’re going to Vegas.” Cal’s voice had a hollow quality.

  Pete stared at him. “You hate Vegas.”

  Cal shrugged. “Better than the Ozarks.”

  “We’re going someplace where this whole wedding business can be taken care of in an hour or so,” Docia explained. “No dresses. No cakes. No family. Just us.” Her mouth compressed to a thin line.

  “You could come with us,” Cal mumbled. “We could go to some shows or something. Maybe even gamble.”

  Pete tried to picture Cal gambling. It didn’t compute.

  “Docia, please.” Janie’s voice was soft. “Your mama’s worked so hard on all of this. You’ll break her heart.”

  “Mom will be very…disappointed,” Pete added, carefully. In fact, of course, their mother would make their lives a living hell for the foreseeable future.

  Cal didn’t look at him. Bad sign. “She’ll get over it.”

  Pete exhaled in a sigh. Cal obviously was dealing with his own large order of denial. “I’m not sure I will.”

  “Docia, why do you think you have to ca
ncel?” Janie took a long sip of her own margarita. “What exactly is the problem?”

  “The problem? What’s the problem?” Docia’s voice crackled, and then suddenly her face crumpled, her eyes swimming. Cal reached for her, pulling her against his chest.

  Pete’s hands fisted on the table, helplessly. Damn Sherice. Damn Otto. Damn everybody.

  “The problem,” Docia continued, her voice thick, “is that this whole thing has spun out of control. It’s a train wreck. Everything we plan goes wrong. Every time we try to fix something it gets worse. I’m tired of it. I’m just…” she waved a hand, helplessly, “…tired of it.”

  “What if we could fix it?” Pete heard himself say. He had no memory of planning to say anything like that. Maybe he was possessed.

  Janie turned toward him, nodding. “Yeah. We can fix it. You just relax and trust us.”

  Cal stared at her for a moment, then turned to Pete. “Fix it how?”

  Oh, good question. Too bad he had no answer whatsoever. “We’ll take care of it. Tell us what the problems are and we’ll make them go away.” Whatever spirit had possessed him clearly wasn’t finished yet.

  Docia’s brow was still furrowed. “Take care of it how?”

  “Give us a problem.” Janie leaned back against the booth. “Any problem.”

  Docia blew out a breath. “The last I heard, Mama had the guest list up to around four hundred, and that’s just for the ceremony. She may be up to eight hundred or so for the reception. I’m not going through with this whole Hollywood wedding idea. Make this less of a grand opera and more of a country wedding that fits in Konigsburg. Get that guest list down to under a hundred and make it our friends and relations.”

  Janie nodded again. “We can do that.”

  Pete had a feeling she was going to nod at everything Docia said. He forced himself to open his fists. “Okay, simplify the wedding. We can work on that. That strikes me as enough for one day, but, of course, you can always call us if you think of something else.”

  “I’m not done.” Docia turned back to Janie. “You’re my maid of honor. Period. End of discussion. I need you back in the wedding.”