Christmas Bliss (27 page)

“Yes, thank goodness,” BeBe drawled.

“And I’ve got a surprise for you,” Mama added. She reached into her tote bag and lifted out a small cardboard box. She plucked out the contents and placed it squarely in the middle of the groom’s cake. “Ta-da!”

“How sweet,” BeBe said.

It was a plastic bride and groom cake topper. The bride with orangish skin and a gown of crimped white crepe paper, the groom with a dark crew cut and a black tux. They stood under a heart-shaped arch fashioned from yellowing pipe cleaners.

“I made that myself in my crafts class when Joe and I got engaged,” Mama said proudly.

“Wow.”

My strictly unsentimental mother wiped away what looked suspiciously like a tear. She had never saved any of my baby clothes or my childhood toys, but she’d saved this one memento of her own wedding forty-some years ago.

“I love it,” I said. And I did.

While Mama was interfering with the restaurant people, I snuck upstairs and put in an SOS call to Uncle James.

“Jonathan and I are on our way over right now,” he said. “Is your mother driving you crazy? John’s offered to sedate her iced tea with one of his mother’s chill pills.”

“Yes, she’s driving me crazy. But no, I don’t guess you should slip her a mickey,” I said reluctantly. “But I do have another emergency. Can you run over to the Publix and pick me up some kind of a cake from their bakery?”

“You want a store-bought cake? I thought you baked your own cake.”

“Jethro and Jeeves ate most of my cake. Just get me the biggest cake they have. It doesn’t matter what it looks like. Yellow would be best, but I can’t be picky at this point.”

*   *   *

“Shouldn’t you be getting dressed?” BeBe glanced at the kitchen clock. “It’s nearly six.”

“In a minute,” I replied. “You’re sure Mama’s not coming?”

“The coast is clear. John’s mom has got her in the den, and your mama is talking her ear off about her Pinterest boards.”

“Good.” I opened the cardboard bakery box and quickly sliced the sheet cake into quarters. With my spatula, I proceeded to wipe away the thick blue-tinted commercial frosting, along with the flowery orange “Happy Birthday Bubba” piped writing.

I put the first quarter on the milk glass pedestal, iced the now-nearly naked cake with my own cream cheese frosting, spooned on a thin layer of lemon curd, and placed the second layer on top of that. I followed up with the third and fourth layers.

“Genius!” BeBe said. “Nobody would ever guess you didn’t bake that.” She glanced over at the groom’s cake. “Think your mama will be mad that you out-caked her?”

“Probably,” I said.

“What goes on the top?” BeBe asked. “It does look a little naked.”

“I know,” I said. “I kept looking for just the right vintage topper while I was in New York, but the junking up there was pretty slim pickings.”

“You didn’t buy a single thing?”

“Just some vintage Christmas ornaments…” A thought popped into my head.

I ran upstairs and was back five minutes later with the pink hatbox.

“What’s all that?” BeBe leaned in to look.

I plucked the pastel bottle-brush trees from their tissue wrapping and planted a small grove of them on top of the cake.

“Ohhhh,” she breathed.

Digging around in the layers of tissue, I finally found one of the vintage mercury glass Christmas tree decorations. It was the largest of the church ornaments, the only one that still had an intact steeple. I pressed it firmly into place in the frosting, then stepped back to admire the effect.

“Absolutely the perfect thing,” BeBe exclaimed. “Are you sure you didn’t plan this, Weezie Foley?”

“Trust me. I planned nothing that has happened today.” The doorbell rang. She gave me a gentle push. “Go. Get dressed. I think your wedding guests are starting to arrive.”

Chapter 35

BeBe

“Okay,” Weezie said. “I think I’m ready.”

But Marian was still fussing, plucking at nonexistent stray threads on the dress, tugging the bodice up, and the hem down.

“Mama,” Weezie said sharply. “I love you, and I love the dress. But if you touch me one more time, I cannot be responsible for my actions.”

“Honestly,” Marian said. “That’s the thanks I get for working my fingers to the bone. If I had talked to my mother like that on my wedding day…”

“Mama?”

This time Marian got the message. She headed for the doorway of Weezie’s bedroom. “I’m going to go downstairs and try one more time to get Joe to put on his good shoes.”

When she was gone, Weezie sat down at her dressing table and opened the bottom drawer. She took out a small silver flask and took a long swig.

“Bourbon?” I said longingly. I held out my hand, took the flask, and inhaled sharply.

“God, I miss this stuff.”

Weezie took the flask back and took one last swig before capping it and returning it to the drawer. She reapplied her lipstick, then stood up and fluffed her skirt.

“Now I really am ready,” she announced.

“You look amazing,” I told her. “Like something out of a fairy tale. And I’m not just saying this because you’re my best friend, but you truly are the most beautiful bride I’ve ever seen.”

“I can’t believe this day is finally here,” Weezie said. “But I keep feeling like I’m forgetting something.”

“Not the groom. I saw Daniel and Harry pull up in Harry’s truck half an hour ago. You’ve got your something old and something new, right?”

She nodded. “Mama’s dress is the old. The borrowed are your pearl drop earrings and the bra and panties set you gave me are the new. Although I can’t believe you spent two hundred fifty dollars for two pieces of lace that tiny.”

“That’s what maids of honor do,” I said. “You wouldn’t believe the amount of vicarious pleasure I got shopping for sexy lingerie. Not after I had to go buy nursing bras. Ugh!”

“You’ll be back to your old size in no time,” Weezie said.

“What about your something blue?” I asked.

“That’s it!” she said, snapping her fingers. She scrabbled around in her jewelry box, finally bringing out a small blue rhinestone brooch in the shape of a Christmas tree.

“Is this the one you bought the year you and Daniel got engaged?” I asked, pinning it to her satin waistband.

“No,” she said quietly. “This was his mom’s. Daniel found it with her things after she passed away last year. Paula didn’t have a lot, you know, but it really touched him that she’d kept it for all those years after he and his brother saved up to buy it for her the first Christmas after their daddy left.”

We heard the sharp tap of high heels from the hall outside. The bedroom door opened, and Marian stuck her head inside. “Weezie! It is ten after seven and we have a house full of people downstairs wondering if you’ve changed your mind about getting married. For goodness sake, young lady, stop dawdling!”

*   *   *

The first person I saw when I walked into the parlor was Harry. He was standing in front of the fireplace beside Daniel, dressed in his new charcoal suit, with a silver tie that matched Daniel’s and a small orange blossom boutonniere. His graying hair curled just the tiniest bit over his collar. His deep fisherman’s tan was a sharp contrast to the crisp white dress shirt. He was clean-shaven, and when he looked up and saw me walk slowly into the room, his face broke into a broad smile that I knew was meant for me and me only.

Just a smile, but it literally made my heart flutter.

Cookie Parker was seated at a glossy white baby grand piano, and Manny was standing beside him, with a violin. They were playing Pachelbel’s Canon in D. But when Manny caught sight of me standing in the parlor doorway, he gave Cookie a subtle nod, and they segued into “Moon River,” which I knew Weezie had chosen because the composer, Johnny Mercer, was from Savannah.

I turned my head ever so slightly, and Weezie nodded. She tucked her arm through her daddy’s.

The music swelled, and I made my way slowly toward the makeshift altar, where Daniel and Harry stood to the left of James Foley, decked out in a navy pin-striped suit—but no necktie, not even for his favorite niece.

The room was filled with so many familiar faces, all of them turned to see the radiant bride gliding toward her future.

Finally I reached the altar. I turned. Weezie handed me her bouquet, and I planted a quick, impulsive kiss on her cheek before stepping to the right.

Joe Foley seemed reluctant to release his only daughter’s arm. He looked uncertainly at his brother. “Hi, Joe,” James whispered. “Good job.”

“Daddy?” Weezie whispered. “It’s time.”

But Joe was not about to be hurried. With a trembling hand, he caressed the bride’s face.

“You are every bit as beautiful today as your mama was when she wore this dress.”

“Oh, Daddy,” Weezie whispered. “Thank you.”

“Be happy, baby girl. You hear?”

He turned to Daniel. “You make her happy, son. Every day.”

Daniel reached out and shook Joe’s hand. “Thank you, sir. I will. I promise.”

Joe gave me a wink. “She got it right this time, didn’t she?”

“She sure did,” I whispered.

Weezie and Daniel stepped under Cookie’s not-really-Jewish canopy/chuppah, and I broke tradition and stood beside Harry, twining my fingers between his. He gave my hand a squeeze.

*   *   *

“Who gives this woman in marriage?” James asked.

Joe Foley stared blankly at his brother. Weezie nudged him gently.

“Oh. Oh, I do. Marian does too,” Joe blurted.

Laughter rippled from the front seats.

From there, the ceremony proceeded as weddings do. But my attention had wandered. I was busy looking out at the group arrayed around Weezie’s parlor.

Joe had seated himself in the front row beside Marian. She was clinging to him and weeping, and he was patting her back. James’s partner, Jonathan McDowell, sat at the end of the Foley family row with his mother, Miss Sudie, and Jon was beaming with happiness for his partner’s favorite niece.

I glanced toward the back and saw that Manny had joined Cookie on the piano bench and they were holding hands.

My own grandparents, Spencer and Lorena, had announced that they had no intention of missing my best friend’s wedding, even though Granddaddy looked the frailest I’d ever seen him, and was wearing a small oxygen mask. Grandmama sat right beside him on the stiff gilded chair, her hand tucked into his elbow.

My back was killing me, and I was suddenly feeling dizzy. I leaned slightly against Harry, and his arm crept around my waist, his hand resting lightly on top of my belly. Suddenly it all felt so right. Harry and I, standing in this room, two more links in a circle of love that radiated out from Weezie and Daniel.

*   *   *

“Jean Eloise Foley, do you take this man, Daniel Thomas Stipanek, to be your lawfully wedded husband?” James asked.

The baby kicked me hard. Harry pressed his hand against the sensation, and the baby kicked back. “I felt it,” he whispered, turning to me.

“I do,” Weezie said firmly.

“And Daniel Thomas Stipanek, do you take Jean Eloise to be your wife?”

“I do,” Daniel said.

Something came over me. I clamped my hand over Harry’s. “I do too.”

“Really?” Harry looked astonished.

“Really,” I assured him.

*   *   *

“Time to cut the cake,” Cookie announced. He handed Weezie a beribboned sterling silver cake knife and led her back to the dining room.

I’d been sitting throughout most of the reception. I was tired and too nauseous to eat anything. I nudged Harry in the side. “Look at that.”

“The cake? Do you want some?”

“God no. I mean, look at it. Weezie had to slap it together at the last minute from a bakery cake because Jethro and Jeeves ate her cake. All the stuff on the top, the little church and the Christmas trees, those are vintage Weezie. But that cake topper, that was Marian’s. She must have stuck it on top of Weezie’s wedding cake.”

“What’s wrong with the chocolate cake?” Harry asked. He did love chocolate.

“That’s Weezie’s mom’s cake. It’s a shame the dogs didn’t attack that one.”

“Jeeves is pretty particular about his chow,” Harry pointed out.

We stood up and joined the crowd about to watch Weezie and Daniel cut the ceremonial first slice of wedding cake.

Harry was snapping pictures of Weezie and Daniel, and Weezie and her parents, and me and Weezie with my cell phone when I gasped and grabbed the back of a dining room chair.

“It’s time,” I said, feeling my face flush.

“What?” Weezie asked.

“Now,” I repeated.

Harry looked from Weezie to me and frowned. “Now? You want to announce our engagement now?”

“Your engagement!” Weezie cried. “You’re getting married? When did this happen?”

“Now,” I repeated. “Right now.”

“Uh, BeBe,” Harry said uneasily. “You don’t want to steal Weezie’s thunder. This is her and Daniel’s big day. We can announce our wedding date later.”

“Now!” I said it as loud as I could. “Get the car right now and stop arguing with me. I think my water just burst!”

Epilogue

BeBe

Five hours after we arrived at the hospital, Michael Garbutt sauntered into the delivery room at St. Joe’s/Candler wearing a big blue shower cap and surgical gown and mask. He barely noticed me, instead giving Harry a hearty slap on the back.

“Man, I was just about to sit down to dinner with the whole family when the answering service called to tell me you were on the way here.”

“Sorry to interrupt your Christmas Eve,” Harry said, glancing down at me.

“Hey, it’s all good. I’ll take any excuse to get away from the in-laws,” Michael said. Finally he looked down at me.

“How you doing, Mama?”

I was limp and sweaty and exhausted. I’d been in hard labor for what felt like an eternity. How did he think I was doing?

“I’m okay,” I mumbled.

“The contractions are coming pretty close together,” Harry volunteered.

“She’s fully dilated,” the delivery nurse said.

“All righty then,” Michael said, gleefully rubbing his hands together. “Let’s go get ourselves a baby!”