Christmas Wedding (10 page)

Below us, Spunky was prowling around the table legs, meowing plaintively, then crouching as if he was tempted to jump up onto Melanie’s massage table with her. Spunky is slavish in his devotion to Melanie. He is a cat I rescued two Christmases ago, but the ungrateful beast made eye contact with Melanie one day and wouldn’t stop crying until she took him home.

Downstairs, my doorbell rang and Aunt Ruby went down to answer it.

She Ruby returned to my bedroom carrying two gift-wrapped boxes. “These just came from the ‘Far East and Beyond’ antique shop down at Chandler’s Wharf. Personally delivered by the shop’s owner.”

Melanie lifted her head and said, “But we clearly told everyone ‘no gifts’.”

My masseuse was kneading my feet. “That feels heavenly,” I murmured. If she kept this up, I would not be able to get off the table to put on my wedding dress. The ceremony would have to commence without me.

“
There are cards,” Aunt Ruby said. “This one says, ‘Thank you for making my dreams come true. – Cam.’ So this box is for you, Melanie.”

Gathering the sheet around her, Melanie sat up. “Sorry, Elsie,” she told her masseuse.

I sat up too. The other box was for me. Elsie and her partner Abby were wide-eyed. As was I.

I took the second box from Aunt Ruby and read the card silently. “I’m the happiest man in the world. I’ll love you forever, Jon.” For the second time that day, tears welled up in my eyes.

“
I’ve got to get over this crying jag before the make-up artist does my eyes,” I murmured.

Aunt Ruby handed me a tissue. “Open your presents, girls, I can’t wait to see what’s inside.”

“
You go first, Mel,” I said, watching as she tenderly untied the ribbon. She was going to save the wrappings as a memento. I’d save mine too.

From inside a small flat box, she lifted out a velvet jewelry box. She opened the lid. “Oooooh,” she gushed, her mouth gaping. Her eyes lit up like stars. Aunt Ruby and I moved in closer to see.

“
A South Seas pearl!” Melanie exclaimed. “I love those pearls.” A large gleaming pearl was set in a platinum necklace. “I’ll wear it today.” She held the box so we could all see. Everyone was exclaiming, ooohing and aaaahing. “That dear Cam. He knows just what I like.”

Turning to me, she said, “Open yours, Ashley.”

My box was larger. Aunt Ruby helped me unwrap it. “Oh, look, it’s a Chinese bridal box!” I said. “Oh, I love it. I’ll take it with me on our honeymoon. The bride is supposed to store her valuables in it.”

The box was over a hundred years old, made of hand-carved walnut, and set with semi-precious stones. I lifted the lid to find small compartments. And there was a drawer at the bottom that when I drew it out contained more small compartments.

“
What will you put in it?” Abby asked.

“
I don’t know. I’ll think of something.”

“
Where are you going on your honeymoon?” Elsie asked.

“
I don’t know,” I confessed.

“
What do you mean, you don’t know?”

“
Apparently Jon read somewhere that there is an old custom that only the groom knows where he is taking the bride on their honeymoon. I think it must date back to the days when people lived in tribes or something, and in a way the man was stealing the bride away from her tribe. So Jon has planned our honeymoon, and that man is sure good at keeping secrets, because I’ve begged and he won’t even hint.”

“
How are you supposed to know what to pack?” Elsie asked.

“
A good question, Elsie. How will I know?”

“
Maybe he’s taking you some place where you won’t need clothes,” Abby said.

We all giggled.

“
She wishes,” Melanie said, lying back down on the massage table. “I wouldn’t let Cam get away with something like that. We’re taking his yacht for a long cruise down the coast to Boca. And we’re taking that little meowing monster cat with us too. We’ve both been working very hard and we’re looking forward to a relaxing time, lots of dozing in the sun, and going ashore in the evenings for dinner. It will be very romantic.”

Any place Jon takes me will be romantic, I thought, because he’ll be there. Jon is the most romantic man in the world.

Divine Elaine, our caterer, had thought of everything. She had lunch delivered to my house: turkey and Swiss cheese Panini sandwiches with lettuce and tomato, fruit cups, a variety of sodas and iced green tea.

“
I’m glad it’s just the three of us,” I said. “I know, most times the bridesmaids gather with the bride right before the wedding, but this is better. Just us and Aunt Ruby.”

“
I’m grateful to be standing in for your blessed mother,” Aunt Ruby said.

Melanie’s cell phone rang. “That’s Cam,” she said, taking the call and moving from the dining room into the reception hall. “Hello, sweetheart,” I heard her say. “Not getting cold feet, are you?” she asked, and her laughter floated back to us.

Aunt Ruby and I exchanged raised eyebrows. Cam get cold feet? Fat chance.

And then my phone rang and I checked the number before answering. Unavailable. Should I pick up? I did. Maybe it was Jon calling from someone’s phone.

An unfamiliar male voice said, “Put Scarlett on.”

“
You must have the wrong number. Scarlett does not live here,” I said.

“
I know she’s there, now put her on.”

I closed the phone and cut him off. I looked at Aunt Ruby. “Someone for Scarlett.”

“
What did he say?” Aunt Ruby asked.

“
Not even hello. Just ordered me to put her on.”

The doorbell rang again and I went to answer it. I admitted the makeup artists and the hair stylists. My guest room was being used as the dressing room, with our gowns hanging in bags in the closet, and our accessories spread out on the antique rice bed that had been in my mother’s family for a hundred years. My great-aunt’s rubies that I’d inherited had been retrieved from the safe deposit box at the bank and were waiting to be slipped around my neck.

Then Jon called and I thanked him for the Chinese bridal box and told him I’d cherish it forever and fill it with keepsakes of our life together. “See you soon,” I said.

The detritus of luncheon and the mysterious caller forgotten, I followed the others up the stairs to begin our bridal preparations.

17

At three o’clock I was ready. I looked in my cheval looking glass and couldn’t believe my eyes. Was that really me? The make-up artist had done a fabulous job on my gray eyes, making them look large and lavender. My hair was piled up on my head in a sophisticated style. Around my neck I wore Great Aunt Lillian’s ruby necklace and there were matching tear drop earrings. Not large, just very pretty and warm looking against my dark brown hair.

My dress fit like a dream, hugging my waist which was now trim thanks to Melanie who had restricted my diet with the vigilance of Jenny Craig. The lace bolero jacket we’d had made was the perfect thing to keep my bare arms and shoulders from getting goose bumps.

Melanie came in and we stood side-by-side, admiring ourselves in the mirror. Her auburn hair was upswept as well, held in place with combs that had pearls glued to them. The pearl necklace Cam had sent was beautiful around her neck, and like mine her earrings were teardrops too, but hers were pearls.

Although her dress had cost thousands of dollars, I didn’t think it was any prettier than mine which I had purchased off the rack. But I wasn’t about to tell her that.

“
Your dress is so beautiful,” I said and hugged her, careful not to smudge our makeup. Actually, our dresses were very similar, made of white lace over silk, form fitting but flared below the knees. They were both strapless, and the cut of our bolero jackets created the illusion of sweetheart necklines.

“
And you look stunning, baby sister,” she whispered to me.

“
Thanks for not letting me overeat,” I whispered back.

She laughed. “See I told you so. What else are big sisters for?”

The doorbell rang again. I went to the top of the stairs.

“
Nelda Cameron is here,” Binkie called up. Nelda’s face appeared behind him.

“
May I come up? I have ‘something old’ for both of you to wear.”

“
Please do come up, Nelda,” I called. Was Nelda finally accepting Melanie?

Nelda came into the guest room, carrying two large but flat boxes. She set the boxes on the cluttered bed and hugged both Melanie and me. Then she lifted the lids of both boxes and reached inside to withdraw fine Chantilly lace mantillas.

“
These are very old and very precious,” she said. “I’d like it if you’d wear them.”

Melanie gave me a look. “We’d be proud to wear them. Right, Ashley?” Anything to be accepted by Cam’s mother and to have peace.

Nelda shook out a veil and lifted it onto Melanie’s head. From the box, she produced an old-fashioned hatpin with a pearl head and rhinestones. “The hatpins are Victorian,” she said.

“
That’s a large pin,” Melanie said, looking at the pin which was about six inches long.

“
The Victorian ladies used to wear huge, elaborate hats, and so they needed a long pin like this to secure their hats in place,” Nelda said. “This will do fine to secure the mantilla to the curls on top of your head.”

Then she helped me arrange my veil, which was not identical to Melanie’s but very similar. She secured the veil to the crown of my head where my hair was piled high.

“
Don’t you girls look like pictures,” Aunt Ruby said, and clasped her hands together. “That was a good choice, Nelda. It always bothered me just a little that the girls were getting married bare headed. I think your decision was perfect.”

And a friendship was born between the two older women.

Aunt Ruby said, “I think we’d better go. Binkie is wearing out the carpet downstairs.”

“
I’ve got a car and driver downstairs,” Nelda said. “I’ll meet you at the church.” And she was gone.

The photographer preceded us down the stairs, snapping pictures as we moved into my reception hall where Binkie was pacing impatiently. “The carriage is here,” he said.

“
Just look at our girls,” Aunt Ruby said to Binkie. “Don’t they look lovely?” She blinked back tears.

“
They do, indeed,” Binkie said emotionally. “And so do you, my dear. You look like a bride yourself.”

Aunt Ruby had changed into her formal dress, an elegant red brocade sheath with a matching jacket. Her silk pumps were died to match, and she wore her usual double strand of pearls. The makeup artist had done her makeup as well, and she looked very youthful for a woman in her seventies.

We went out onto the porch and down the stairs, and climbed up into the carriage. For a second I had a fleeting image of another carriage but then the image vanished as quickly as it had come. My neighbors waved to us and we waved back.

The bridesmaids and the guests would be waiting at the church. The photographer snapped several shots of us and the carriage and the horse. Then he got into his car to drive off ahead of us. He had already set up a video camera on the balcony inside the church to capture the guests’ arrival and the ceremony.

I had butterflies in my stomach. In just a few minutes I would see Jon.

Our horse was a salt and pepper Percheron draft horse, an unflappable horse who braved the traffic without so much as a flick of the tail. Binkie and I sat in the red plush front seat of the open carriage, Melanie and Aunt Ruby sat in the back seat.

As the carriage rolled gently up Third Street, people on the sidewalks stopped and stared, or waved. And car traffic slowed and the passengers stared at us too.

Our driver, dressed in a black suit with a top hat, waved and smiled. We must have been a picture in that carriage. The carriage and the horse were decorated with red roses and white ribbons. How often do people see two brides being delivered to the church?

18

Just as we were crossing Ann Street, two men darted out from between parked cars. One of the men grabbed the horse’s bridal and brought it to a halt as the driver cried, “What are you doing?” But the man trained a gun on the driver and silenced him with a threatening, “Shut up or I’ll shoot.”

In an instant a second man dashed to the side of the carriage

There wasn’t time to scream. There wasn’t time to reach for a cell phone. Besides none of us were carrying cell phones. There was only time to gasp and to try to comprehend what was happening.

A sinister-looking man, a thug, pointed a gun at us and told us not to move. With the speed of a striking snake, he reached up into the carriage and seized Melanie by the arm. She was shrieking and Aunt Ruby was yelling for him to let her go.

“
Are you crazy, man?” Binkie yelled.

“
Shut up, old man, or I’ll start shooting and I don’t care which one of youse I hit.”

With a hard yank, he pulled Melanie out of the carriage, and she would have fallen onto the sidewalk except that he jerked her to her feet.