Katie looked at Opal. "Let us do it here. If you can wait until Monday afternoon, we'll all be home from school, and we'll make it the best wedding ever."
"Will you sing?" Opal asked.
Katie grinned. "I'd be honored."
Opal looked at Florence. "And you'll be my flower girl?"
Florence nodded, bouncing in her seat a little. "Can I carry bluebonnets? To match my dress?"
"Of course you can! They're my favorite flower!" They hadn't been before, but now she thought of Florence in conjunction with bluebonnets, so they were her favorite.
By the time Edna Petunia and Cletus came into the dining room with the food, the wedding was pretty much planned out. "Will you give me away, Cletus?" Opal asked.
He nodded, motioning his head toward Edna Petunia. Opal knew he wanted her to assign Edna Petunia to do something that she would consider an important task.
"Edna Petunia, I need the most beautiful hat you've ever made. Will you make me something special?" Opal asked. Edna Petunia had been a hat maker before she retired to help Iris's family. She had some of the most hideous hats Opal had ever seen, but she'd also made some beautiful ones. For whatever reason, she only wore the ugly ones.
Edna Petunia nodded regally. "I will make you a hat. And one for your flower girl as well. No flower girl would ever look like a princess without a hat."
"It needs to be blue to match my flowers and my dress," Florence told her.
"I can do that." Edna smiled at the little girl. "Even though I think they're getting married too fast, I'm thrilled that I get a wonderful little granddaughter like you sooner."
Florence grinned. "I'm happy to get you for a grandmother."
"Well, now that everyone is thrilled with everyone else, can we just eat?" Cletus asked, making everyone laugh.
Nathaniel looked at Opal, and realized his dreams were coming true.
Chapter Seven
Nathaniel brought Florence over to the Sanders' house before he headed out to work on Monday morning, promising he'd be there by four for the wedding. Florence was thrilled to be part of the excitement of getting ready for the wedding. She helped Edna Petunia make a wedding cake, and then she and Opal went for a walk to pick some bluebonnets.
Once Florence's arms were full, Opal said, "Leave some just to look pretty beside the road. This should be enough for our bouquets and to decorate the parlor. It will be beautiful."
Ruby showed up just after lunch and the two sisters spent time together while Florence helped decorate. "Are you nervous?" Ruby asked.
Opal nodded. "Of course, I am. Not so much about the wedding, but about the wedding night." She knew it wasn't proper for her to discuss it, even with her sister, but she felt like she was going to burst with anxiety.
"I'm sure it will be fine," Ruby told her. "Nathaniel seems gentle, and you do love his kisses."
"I hope it goes as well as I think it will," Opal said. Florence is staying here tonight, and Martha is going to bring her to me on her way to school in the morning."
"Are you going to keep working?"
Opal shook her head. "I will for the first week or so, to give Dr. Iris time to hire someone else. I don't want to leave her with no one to watch her children."
"I can understand that. It's not long until Dr. Iris has that baby, and then one of the girls still in school could take over for you. Could you take Florence to work with you?"
"I'm sure that wouldn't be a problem. When I talked to Dr. Iris at church yesterday, she was so grateful I was going to keep working until she found a replacement, she would have agreed to anything."
Ruby grinned. "I'm sure she would have!" She looked down for a moment. "I saw Dr. Iris this morning."
"Why? Are you sick?"
Ruby shook her head. "I'm expecting!"
"You are? Really? I'm going to be an aunt again?" Opal jumped off the bed she'd once shared with Ruby and flew across the room to hug her sister. "Telling me is the best wedding present you could have given me!"
"That's what I thought, so that's why I told you today. I've suspected for a couple of weeks now. We just haven't had a chance to talk in what feels like forever!"
Loud noises rose from downstairs, and the two sisters looked at each other. "School's out," they said in unison.
"The boys were supposed to walk home with the girls, so my two are adding to the regular noise." Ruby shrugged. "Children are noisy."
Opal nodded. "Why didn't we ever notice that when we were children?"
"No idea."
The door burst open and ten girls piled into the room with them. Opal counted to be sure. Who was missing? Sarah Jane wasn't there, but she was probably downstairs, helping to get the food ready. Penny was missing. She was probably working on making sure the decorations were right. Martha was absent, but she rarely spent time with the other girls. And Florence must have stayed downstairs to help Edna Petunia and Sarah Jane. Everyone else was there.
And they were all talking at once. "How long before the wedding starts?" Katie asked.
"Just about forty-five minutes. You girls need to all go get ready."
"What about you?" Theresa asked. "You're not ready, and you're the bride."
"Ruby and I are about to get dressed. Everyone out." Opal stood up, gesturing toward the door. She loved all the girls, but she really only wanted to be with her sister right then.
"Are there any questions you want to ask me about the wedding night?" Ruby asked. "There's no one but you I'd answer them for, but I'll answer for you."
Opal shook her head. She did have some questions, but she'd rather ask her husband. He'd been married before, so surely he knew all about marital relations. "I think I know what I need to know. I'll be fine."
"Good. I have no desire to talk about that with anyone but my husband."
Opal laughed. "Then I'm honored you offered to talk to me about it."
"Let's get you into your dress." Ruby stood and held the dress, while Opal dropped her robe. She was wearing her undergarments beneath the robe.
Opal put her arms through the sleeves, and Ruby helped her fasten the dress. Together they walked to the mirror.
Opal felt like crying. "I feel honored to wear the same dress you and Mrs. Hayes both wore."
"Edna Petunia is probably going to sew another right away, just so none of the others will need to wear the same one."
Opal laughed through the tears. "She's a cantankerous old woman, all right."
There was a knock on the door, and Ruby opened it. "Edna Petunia. Come in. She's all dressed."
Edna Petunia stood in her finest. A lavender silk gown, a hat with some sort of dead creature on it, and peppermint sticks in her cleavage. She looked just perfect to Opal. "You look beautiful, Edna Petunia."
"Oh don't give me that posh! I know better." Edna Petunia held up a box. "Brought your hat."
"Oh, let me see!" Opal opened the box and smiled as she removed a beautiful white hat with a short veil attached to the front. There were bluebonnets draped around the sides and front of the hat. "I'll match my new daughter."
"That you will." Edna Petunia put the hat on Opal's head for her. She touched her eye with a handkerchief. "Bug must've flew into my eye."
Opal smiled, thrilled that the old woman would cry for her. "Thank you so much for the hat."
"Happy to do it. Not happy to do it so fast, but happy to do it." Edna Petunia looked at Opal, looking a bit sick to her stomach. "Do I need to talk to you about the wedding night?"
Opal shook her head. "No, ma'am. Mrs. Hayes talked to all of us while we were still in New York."
"Well, hallelujah! That woman did something right with all of you!" Edna Petunia wiped her forehead with the handkerchief as she left the room. "Praise God! I don't have to explain how babies are made to these girls. The hardest part of parenting is over!"
The girls looked at one another and laughed when she closed the door behind her. "I don't think Edna Petunia wants to talk to you about you
r wedding night!" Ruby said.
"I think you might be right." Opal looked in the mirror again, adjusting her hat just a bit. "I think I'm ready."
"I know you are. You look beautiful. I always wanted to look like you."
"What? I always wanted to look like you. I tell everyone you're the prettier twin." Opal grinned at her sister, wondering what was making them so nostalgic all of a sudden.
"I've always considered you the prettier sister." Ruby grinned. "Just goes to show that we always want what we don't have." She took a deep breath. "We should go down. It's time."
The wedding flew by. Opal would remember very little of it later. Katie sang, and Florence stood proudly with her basket of flowers. The kiss was the only thing she remembered later. A soft brush of Nathaniel's lips, and his eyes held a promise of love to come. She didn't know where the word love had come from in regard to him, but she felt like it was coming. Someday, she would have a marriage like her sister's. Like Edna Petunia's. Like Dr. Iris's. She would have a marriage filled with love. It wasn't starting out that way, but it was fine. Soon, her marriage would be perfect like theirs.
*****
After the wedding, they had cake and punch. Florence danced around like the little princess her father treated her as. When it was time to go, Opal found Florence, hugging her close. "Martha is going to walk with you to the house in the morning, and then we're going to go straight to the Harveys' house. All right?"
"Yes'm. I'm happy you're my new mama!"
Opal grinned. "Me too! Have a good night with your new aunties!"
"I will!" Florence rushed over and hugged Nathaniel. "I'm going to miss you, Papa."
Nathaniel smiled, picking up the little girl so they were eye-level. "I'll miss you too, but I'll see you tomorrow night." He kissed the tip of her nose and put her back on the floor, watching as Florence rushed back to Katie and Hattie, who seemed to be her favorites of the orphans.
Nathaniel held his hand out for Opal. "Are you ready?" he asked.
Opal nodded, a grin on her face. On her way out the door, Sarah Jane pushed a basket into her hands. "A wedding gift from me. I baked you a pie, and made some fried chicken and mashed potatoes for your supper. No woman should be expected to cook on her wedding day."
"Oh, thank you!" Opal was thrilled to get the simple gift. She would have more time with her new groom thanks to Sarah Jane's thoughtfulness. They didn't have much time to be alone together, after all.
When she got out front, she was surprised to see a nice buggy parked there. She'd thought Nathaniel didn't have one, because they walked everywhere. "You brought a buggy?" she asked.
He shrugged. "I prefer to walk, but seeing as how we're all dressed up, I thought it would be best if we had a buggy to go home in." Truly, the buggy had been more for Stella's comfort than anything else. He didn't care to drive it, because it made him think of her.
"Since this isn't my dress, I really appreciate it. The other girls will all need it as well," she said, taking his hand so he could help her into the buggy.
"Why will the other girls need it?" he asked, wondering why she looked so amused.
"It was Mrs. Hayes's wedding dress when we first moved to Texas. Now Ruby has worn it, and so have I. Ruby and I were joking that it would go through all fifteen of us."
He grinned. "Does Edna Petunia ever get jealous of how you girls feel about Mrs. Hayes?"
Opal shrugged. "She doesn't seem to, but I have no idea really. She knows we run to Mrs. Hayes if we have questions. Ruby and I more so than the others I think. The younger girls are learning to lean on Edna Petunia."
"It's odd to me that you all call her by her first name."
"It's what she told us to call her. It would have been strange calling her 'Mother,' because we were all older when she took us in. And she's so old. 'Grandmother' may have worked, but I think she's determined she's too young to be our grandmother."
They got to his small ranch, and he rushed around the wagon, helping her down. "I'll put the horses up. Why don't you go heat up whatever it is Sarah Jane sent for supper?"
Opal started a fire in the stove and put the food in the oven to reheat. She looked around the kitchen and smiled. Nathaniel and Florence had made sure the dishes were done up, so she wouldn't have to start out cleaning their messes. It was a nice surprise. She'd truly expected to have to do them herself as soon as she got there.
By the time he came back into the house, she had set the table and the food was warm. "It's ready," she said with a nervous smile. She hadn't changed out of her wedding dress, but she had pulled her biggest apron on to keep from messing it up.
Nathaniel washed his hands before sitting down, and Opal served them both. She was surprised at how incredibly nervous she was now that they were alone together. She'd agreed to this, though, and she couldn't back out now. She wanted to ask him for more time before the wedding night, but she didn't think he'd allow it. He was too antsy to wait.
Opal searched her brain for something to talk about while they ate, but she could think of nothing. She was much too nervous to come up with a topic for polite conversation.
He could see how nervous she was, and reached for her hand, holding it tightly in his. "It's all right."
Her eyes met his, and she gave a little laugh. "Am I so transparent then?"
"What's a wedding night without a nervous bride?" he asked. He brought her hand to his lips, and kissed her fingertips. "I would tell you not to be nervous, but I'm nervous too."
"You are? Why? You've been married before!"
"I have," he agreed. "But you're a very different woman than Stella was."
When he said nothing else, she frowned at him. "Florence sure thought a lot of her."
"She was a good mother to Florence. She took good care of her, and treated her like a little princess. She wasn't much on household tasks, but she was good at making her daughter feel special." He didn't know if he was ready to talk about his marriage yet.
"Her daughter? Isn't she your daughter as well?" Opal frowned at him, wondering why he'd worded that so oddly.
"Actually, no, she's not. Stella was pregnant with Florence when she married me."
She looked at him with surprise. "Oh, I see."
He laughed, but the sound was harsh. "No, you don't see, but that's okay. It's probably better that way."
Opal blinked, trying to understand exactly what he was telling her. "Was she married before?" She knew some women got pregnant before they married, but she'd never known one who had.
He shook his head. "No. Florence's father was married to someone else."
"He was? Did you know she was carrying?"
"Not until we'd been married a few months. Everyone assumed the baby was mine, and I let them assume it. We moved here while she was still pregnant, because I didn't want people adding things up. I was off helping some friends in another state when she was conceived. When I got back, she was suddenly interested in me. Our mothers encouraged us to marry, because they'd been friends for years." Nathaniel shrugged. "I shouldn't have trusted her as I did. But how's a man to know that a woman is interested in him only because she's carrying another man's child?"
Opal swallowed hard, feeling badly for him. No wonder she'd never seen a resemblance between him and Florence. "You're sure she's not yours?"
He nodded. "I couldn't be more certain. There's no way she's mine."
"How do you know?" Opal asked. Did Florence look just like his first wife's lover? What a slap in the face that reminder would be.
He frowned. "I will tell you all this, but not now. Let's save this discussion for another time."
She nodded. "I understand." But she didn't. She wanted to understand, because it would help her know the man she'd married better. He was right though. Their wedding night was not the time for such a discussion.
Chapter Eight
Nathaniel watched Opal do the dishes with a brooding look on his face. Why had he ever brought up his first marriage wit
h her? She was as different from Stella as night and day. His first wedding was weighing heavy on his mind today, and it shouldn't have been. Today was a day for rejoicing.
When she finished the dishes, she turned back to him, a wary look on her face. She wished she knew what to say after all he'd revealed, but without knowing everything, there was really nothing she could say.
She removed her apron and walked to him, wishing to see the spark of excitement and happiness in his eyes again. She sat down on his lap, turning to him and pressing her lips to his, hoping that would bring him back to the man he'd been an hour before.
Nathaniel clutched her to him, kissing her passionately. His hands stroked over her sides and up to her breasts, cupping them in his hands.
Opal moaned and turned more fully toward him. "I don't know if I'm more nervous or excited about tonight," she whispered against his lips. "I know I probably shouldn't be excited, but—I like it when you touch me."
Her words brought Nathaniel the ease of mind he needed. "I'm so glad!" He clutched her to him, resting his forehead against hers for a moment. "Why don't you go get ready for bed? I'll step outside to give you time to change into your nightgown."
She looked at him for a moment, sensing he needed her with him. "Instead, why don't you help me take my wedding dress off?"
His eyes widened, and he grinned. "Really? You wouldn't mind?"
She shook her head, getting to her feet and taking his hand, leading him into his bedroom.
Nathaniel shut the door behind them, reaching for her. "I want to touch you so badly," he whispered.
"We're married. Touch me."
He needed no further invitation, pulling her to him and unfastening the buttons at the back of her dress. His hand slipped into the opening he made, but they hit her corset instead of bare flesh. Pushing her dress down over her hips, he turned her around so he could apply his attention to the lacings of her corset. "I will never understand how ladies breathe in these things!"
Opal (Orlan Orphans Book 3) Page 5
