|
Wes Boyd’s Spearfish Lake Tales Contemporary Mainstream Books and Serials Online |
|
|
Wes Boyd’s Spearfish Lake Tales Contemporary Mainstream Books and Serials Online |
“Do I look all right?” Sonja worried to her friend, Mary Lou Sawtelle in the basement of the First United Methodist Church in Bradford.
Originally, Sonja was just going to wear a conservative summer go-to-church dress that Mary Lou would bring from Pontiac. However, the evening before, Barbara had made the observation that Sonja was about the size she had been when she and Chuck had gotten married a quarter-century before – and the dress was in a box upstairs. It had proved to be a very good fit, and Sonja agreed it would help the wedding seem more like the special day it really was.
As Sonja had explained to Scott on previous occasions, she didn’t have much in the way of close friends from high school, but Mary Lou was an exception to that. She was black – not just dark like Sonja was, but really black, and while Sonja didn’t like to admit it, even to herself, both of them being obvious minorities in a nearly all-white high school was the main reason they were friends in the first place. Both of them being among the best students in their class had also set them apart a bit from the others, too. While Sonja liked the few people she knew in Bradford, she was relieved that her chubby friend had been able to get the afternoon off to make it down for the wedding on such short notice.
“Nonsense,” Mary Lou smiled. “You look just fine. Relax, girl. This is going to work all right.”
“I hope so,” Sonja replied. “I guess I’m just nervous, that’s all. I mean, I think I’d be nervous about my wedding anyway, but having my mother involved is going to make it that much worse.”
“Like I said, relax, girl. Look, even if you weren’t getting married, your mother can’t actually force you to go to Israel, can she?” Mary Lou had heard plenty about Sonja’s problem with her mother, almost since it first came down; it was nothing new to her.
“Well, no,” Sonja admitted. “There’s no way she could get a court order that could make me go with her, or something. I’ve just been worried she could bitch and whine and bully me into it. “
“It’s not going to happen, not like this. The worst she could do is make a scene, and she’d have to be a real asshole to louse up her only daughter’s wedding.”
“That’s what we’ve been hoping,” Sonja sighed. “Still, I’m going to be happy to have the next hour or so over with.”
Mary Lou turned to look Sonja right in the eyes from up close. “Look, Sonja. Don’t think like that. This is going to be a happy occasion in more ways than one. You’re getting to marry a real neat guy, and even if it turns into a scene you’re going to have your mother off your back about this once and for all, right?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“Then relax,” the black girl counseled. “Enjoy being the center of attention, and if you’re at least a little bit lucky you’re going to be able to watch her squirm about this. It’s payback time, girl. Now enjoy it. It won’t be long now.”
“I suppose you’re right,” Sonja sighed. “I guess it’s just the waiting that’s getting to me. I’ll bet Dad and Gina have about had their ears chewed off by now.”
“Just be glad you’re not the one who has to put up with it. I can’t believe they’re going to be very much longer.”
Sonja started to reply, but she noticed Gina walk around the corner and into the room. “You look like you’re all set,” she said in a low voice.
“I guess,” Sonja replied. “Did it go all right on the trip down here?”
“Other than the fact that there’s a danger of the glaciers returning from the frosty attitude in the car,” Gina grinned. “She doesn’t like the fact that your father and I were holding out on her one damn bit, and she really didn’t like it when we brought her into a Christian church. But if she does fly off the handle, it’s not going to go too far, not with those friends of Chuck’s being in the audience.”
“Chuck thought it would be a good idea,” Sonja smiled. “I think he’s right. He only came up with the idea of inviting them last night, but he knows a few strings to pull in this town, and he’s pulled most of them the last few days.”
“Let me tell you, if it was frosty before we got in there, it got really frosty when Zivah saw two uniformed Bradford police officers sitting there. I get the impression they’re the ones who hassled her last Sunday.”
“Could be,” Sonja smiled. “Chuck tells me they’ve got only three full-time police officers in this town, along with a bunch of part-timers.”
“Seems like a nice little town, if you overlook the fact that it’s out in the middle of nowhere. We sure didn’t have any trouble finding the church. Your dad was able to drive right to it.”
“It is a nice little town,” Sonja agreed. “I don’t know it very well, but Scott likes it. He’s got several friends upstairs. I guess we probably won’t be living here much, if at all.”
“We like it,” they heard Barbara agree. “It’s a shame that you’re probably right, that you won’t be living here, but at least Chuck and I can hope you won’t be too far away. Gina, now that you and Bob and Zivah are here, maybe we’d better get this thing under way.”
“I guess I’m ready,” Sonja replied nervously.
“Then let’s do it. Gina, you better get back upstairs. I’ll signal the music. When you hear it, you two come on up. You’ve got a couple minutes to do any last-minute adjusting.”
“I don’t plan on letting her back out now,” Mary Lou smiled. The two older women turned to go up the stairs, and Mary Lou turned back to the bride and added, “All right girl. Time for your game face.”
“I guess,” Sonja replied. “Don’t get me wrong, Mary Lou. I want to marry Scott, I’m just worried about how this is going to go.”
“Not much to worry about,” the black girl counseled. “Your mother probably has already figured out what’s coming down. I just hope she realizes that if she screws this up she’s going to be messing up any chance to be friends with you in the future. This is going to happen whether she likes it or not.”
“Yeah, but still,” the bride nodded as Mary Lou handed her a large bouquet that had been sitting on a nearby table. Her father-in-law to be was a florist, and it was large and ornate; this was one thing he hadn’t held back on.
In only a moment they heard organ music from upstairs. “I guess that’s us,” Mary Lou smiled.
“I guess,” Sonja agreed as she turned to follow her friend toward the stairs.
The Bradford First United Methodist Church was a small white clapboard building with a tall steeple. It was not large inside, which made the audience look bigger than it was. Scott’s family weren’t Methodists, but Presbyterians, as much as they were a church family, but the size of the building, along with the fact that Sonja was a Methodist and her grandfather, James Lambert, was a retired Methodist pastor had made it a logical place to hold the wedding. As Sonja stepped into the narthex, she got a glimpse of the crowd, with her father, her mother, and Gina sitting in the front row. Even from looking at the back of her mother’s head, she could tell she wasn’t a happy camper.
Trying to stay more or less out of sight, Sonja glanced at the musicians, friends of Scott who she’d only met the night before, the Dayna and Sandy who they’d planned to see at the renaissance faire the previous Sunday before her mother’s appearance. The two were dressed in medieval costume, corsets, jackets, and long skirts despite the warmth in the non-air conditioned church; they were playing some song Sonja didn’t recognize, Sandy on the organ and Dayna on guitar.
Another glimpse, a little more into the open, gave Sonja the view of her grandfather standing in front of the pulpit, with Scott and Andy Baker to one side as Mary Lou walked down the aisle to stand with them. God, she thought, Mom has to know what’s happening!
As soon as Mary Lou joined the rest of the wedding party, Sonja stepped into full view. The music continued for a few seconds, then Sandy broke into Here Comes the Bride. This is it, she thought. Here I go.
Carrying the bouquet close in front of her, Sonja slowly walked down the aisle, as the crowd turned to look at her. Mostly she was looking at her mother’s face, but it seemed hard, impassive – and maybe a little bit confused. At least it didn’t look like she was going to jump up and start raising hell, and that was a good sign.
In seconds she was standing next to Scott, facing her grandfather. She caught a glimpse of Scott, with a big smile on his face. Yes, she thought. Despite the way this had happened, this was what she wanted to do, and right at the moment it was going better than it had any right to, especially as quickly as it had been thrown together.
She could only take a moment to look at him, for her grandfather began to speak: “Dearly beloved, we are gathered together in the sight of God and in the presence of this company to join together Scott and Sonja in holy matrimony. Marriage is an honorable estate, instituted of God, and signifying unto us the mystical union which exists between Christ and his church.”
Despite the gravity of the situation, and the attention she wanted to pay to her grandfather, Sonja wished she was able to steal a glance of her mother out of the corner of her eye, but there was nothing but silence behind her.
Earlier in the day, Sonja, Scott, and her grandfather and grandmother had a long discussion, which was at least partially a counseling session, and they’d agreed about a couple things a little different they wanted in the ceremony. The first was the absence of the minister asking if anyone present had an objection to the wedding, and her grandfather skipped right over that. However, soon he came to the part where he said, “Who gives this woman to be joined to this man?” He said it without any indication of the drama that was behind the wedding in the first place.
Sonja couldn’t help herself with that. She turned her head just enough to catch a glimpse of the front pew out of the corner of her eye and watched as her father stood up and said, “Her mother and I do.” Amazingly, Zivah still said nothing, although the thought crossed Sonja’s mind that she wouldn’t want to be in her father’s shoes on the long ride back to Pontiac.
After that, the rest of the ceremony ran off like normal, except it seemed to Sonja like it was in an awful hurry. Now that the critical part was past, she wanted to enjoy what was left. All too soon, her grandfather said the magic words, “I pronounce you man and wife,” and yes, it was what she wanted. She was Scott’s wife now; and when her grandfather told her husband that he could kiss his bride, she handed the bouquet to Mary Lou and kissed him enthusiastically.
In a few more seconds, Sandy broke into the traditional recessional; Scott took her by one arm, and together they walked down the aisle to the doors into the narthex to greet and receive their guests. Since there were relatively few guests – although more, Sonja suspected, than there would have been if the wedding had been held in Pontiac – it didn’t take long, so they could take the time to have a few words with everyone.
There were Kevin and Emily, of course – could the weenie roast at their house have been less than a week ago, when she and Scott had admitted they really wanted to get serious with each other? So much had happened in a week!
Another one of Scott’s classmates Sonja recognized was Vicky, who said, “Sonja, you’re a lucky girl to have grabbed Scott. There are a lot of girls around town who are going to be sorry they missed out on him, and I’ll admit I’m one of them.”
“Don’t worry,” Sonja smiled. “Your time will come.”
“I’m with Vicky,” Shelly said – Sonja remembered her from the weenie roast, too. “You grabbed the brass ring and came up with a great guy. And although I don’t know you other than what I learned about you at the weenie roast, I think he’s getting a great girl.”
All were nice compliments, most from virtual strangers – but Sonja knew that she was soon going to have to face her mother, who was down toward the end of the line.
The time came all too soon. There was nothing to do but deal with it.
Gina was right ahead of her mother in the receiving line; she passed along good wishes, but from the look in her eye Sonja could feel she was trying to pass along courage to deal with the situation.
Then, she was face to face with her mother. “Congratulations, Sonja,” she said with a hint of a sneer in her voice. “I suppose this means you don’t plan on doing your duty to your country.”
Sonja took a deep breath, gathering whatever it was it took to say the words she’d wanted to say for two years. “I am doing my duty to my country,” she said firmly. “One of my duties as an American is to not get involved in someone else’s military, or someone else’s wars.”
“How can you say that?” Zivah replied, with more harshness in her voice. “You’re an Israeli, and you should do your duty as an Israeli.”
“No, Mom,” Sonja replied firmly, feeling Scott’s firm grip on her arm. “I’m a natural-born American, and the only reason I might be considered an Israeli is that you went behind my back to register me. I’m proud to be an American, and I intend to stay that way. I won’t risk my American citizenship just because you want me to.”
“You may change your mind.”
“I might,” Sonja smiled, “but if I did, I’m sure my husband would have something to say about it. I don’t think he’ll let me go that crazy.”
“Sonja, we need to talk about this.”
“Not anytime soon we don’t,” Sonja grinned. “Scott and I are leaving on our honeymoon, and when we get back, we’ll have to be back in college.”
Zivah shook her head. “Sonja,” she said, softening a little bit. “You didn’t have to do it this way, you know.”
“Maybe not, but we sort of had to, you know,” she winked. “Come by the reception downstairs. It won’t be a big one, because Scott and I have things to do, if you know what I mean.”
“I don’t have much choice,” Zivah smiled. “Congratulations, Sonja. I guess you got what you wanted.”
“Yes,” Sonja grinned triumphantly and giving Scott’s hand on her arm a squeeze. “I guess I really did.”
As Sonja had intimated, it was not a large reception, just a brief party in the church basement, but anything much more than that would have been out of place in a wedding that small. There was cake and punch, and a small buffet. Once again, Sonja and Scott made the round of the handful of guests, sharing a few more words with each one. While her father and Gina were warm and proud of her, somehow her mother managed to avoid them.
“Good luck, and a safe trip on your honeymoon,” her father said. “Have a good time, and all of that.”
“I will, Dad,” she replied. “I just wish I wasn’t sticking you with Mom.”
“We were going to be stuck with her anyway, whether we liked it or not,” he sighed. “She’s not going to be a happy camper, but tough. She made her bed in Israel, and now she has to lie in it. I wouldn’t be surprised to see her on a plane tomorrow.”
“You could be right, but it’ll be good to know she’s gone.”
“Give us a call in a few days, and then you’ll know for sure. I hope in the long run we can be friends again, because your mother is a wonderful woman with several really great qualities. But she was really on her high horse and out of line about this whole thing. I’m just sorry I couldn’t protect you better when this draft thing first came up, but I was never very good at telling her no.”
“I’m not either, I guess,” Sonja sighed. “But at least this is behind us now.”
It wasn’t long before Scott and Sonja left the party in his car, which had been suitably decorated by his classmates. They drove partway across town, to his house – well, his parent’s house now, since he and Sonja had arranged for the apartment in East Lansing, although they wouldn’t be living there for a while. They’d decided to take her car on the honeymoon, since it was newer, in somewhat better shape, and it was already packed for the trip.
The other reason for the stop was to go up to his room and change clothes. Scott had to help her out of the wedding gown since it had some tricky fastenings, but somehow it still seemed strange to be helping to undress her. “That went better than it had any right to,” Sonja said as he worked at the catches behind her back.
“I honestly thought your mother would make a bigger scene than that.”
“Well, I did, too. Maybe we’ve ended that issue once and for all.”
“Yeah, when you hinted you were pregnant,” he smirked. “That seemed to settle things pretty well.”
“Scott, I didn’t tell her I was pregnant. I said we sort of had to get married, which she might take as meaning that. I suppose a lot of people would. What I meant was that we had to get married thanks to her, and if she asks me about it in the future, I’ll tell her that.”
“Sneaky,” he shook his head. “You know, though, even though she acted like she was the hardcase from hell, there’s something about her that tells me I’d like to know her better. She’s got to be an interesting woman.”
“Oh, she is,” she agreed. “There’s no doubt about it. I’m hoping this episode doesn’t close us off from her forever, but in a few years, after I can put the remaining legal issues to bed, and maybe after we have kids, we can reach out to her a little. She may be an idealist and a little obnoxious about it, but she has some neat qualities, too.”
“Well, you’d know better than I would,” he said as he undid the last catch. “There you go.”
“I think I do. I didn’t see a lot of her for years, until I saw her in Israel that time,” she replied as she snaked the dress over her head, with Scott’s help. She did it carefully, and it left her standing in front of him wearing only a strapless bra and lacy panties. “I really don’t like the thought of having to be as estranged from her as I have the last couple years,” she continued as she went about clipping the strapless gown to a hanger. While she did that, Scott checked out the view of her in her underwear as he undid his tie and took it off, then started unbuttoning his shirt. “And I’m sure it’s not over with yet. But maybe someday we can learn to be nice to each other again.”
“I guess that’s one you’re going to have to make the call on, Sonja. At least we don’t have to deal with it for a while.”
“I know. There’ll probably be some other changes along the way, and maybe time will heal some wounds,” she said as she reached behind her to unhook the bra.
“Maybe so. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see,” he grinned as she took the bra off and stood in front of him bare-breasted. It wasn’t the first time he’d seen her like that – that had been Sunday night – but he hadn’t seen her that way since then. “You know,” he changed the subject. “You’re giving me some ideas, dressed like that.”
“What makes you think I don’t have them, too?” she smiled. “But maybe we’d better not, at least not right here and right now. When we get started, I don’t think we’re likely to stop very soon.”
The little television set in their tiny living room was on, but had the sound turned way down. Scott was sitting in the living room chair, a textbook on marketing open in his lap, occasionally glancing at the set, which had originally come from Sonja’s room in Pontiac.
The scene on the set changed, catching his eye a little; the words at the bottom of the screen grabbed his attention again. “Sonja,” he called to his wife, who was busy at her computer over in the corner of the room, “They’re throwing Scuds at Tel Aviv again.”
“Oh, shit,” she replied, getting up from the computer. She turned up the TV on her way past to sit on the arm of the chair next to her husband.
From the scene on the TV screen they could make out that it was very early in the morning in Israel; there was a brief scene with a commentator, and then the view changed to one of the darkened city, taken from a high building or tower or something.
Scott took his wife’s hand and held on firmly. They’d not paid much attention to the trouble with Iraq, at least while it was first blowing up; they’d been too busy with their studies. But when the Scuds started to fly toward Israel, it was something else. “Maybe their aim will be as bad as it was last time,” he said hopefully.
“I sure hope so,” she said with a worried sound in her voice. “If they use gas this time . . . ”
Whatever the rest of her statement might have been, it was cut off at the sight of two sparks of light rising quickly in the view of the screen. “Looks like they got the Patriots working,” he said hopefully. They’d seen a clip of the American missile batteries being unloaded from huge transport planes a few hours earlier.
“Maybe. Oh, dear God, please . . . ” she said as there were two distant explosions in the dark sky.
They said nothing for a few moments, mostly watching the sight on the screen, and the commentator reporting the explosions they’d already seen. It was a minute or two before it seemed clear there had been no explosions on the ground. “Looks like they dodged the bullet again,” Scott said finally.
“Yeah,” she agreed in obvious relief. “There was a guy in class today who said when this stuff in Kuwait started they sent all the anti-missile capable Patriots they had to the Middle East. All three of them.”
“Looks like they must have built some more,” he said quietly. “Glad you’re not there?”
“No fooling,” she sighed. “I mean, if I’d listened to my mother last summer . . . well, I’d probably be out there somewhere with a rifle and a gas mask, scared shitless.”
“She probably is.”
“Maybe not. She’s probably in charge of someone who is, though. Scott, that’s where she wants to be, and that’s where she’s supposed to be, but that doesn’t keep me from being worried as hell about her. I know we’ve tried to call, but she has to have other things on her mind right now.”
“Maybe we’ll hear from her in a few days.”
“Maybe,” she sighed. “You know, every now and then there’s a little bit of me that thinks I ought to be there, but the biggest part of me tells me that I’m where I want to be and doing what I’m supposed to be doing. Being there wouldn’t be what I’m supposed to be doing. I’m not sorry I’m here with you, Scott. Not sorry at all.”
