No Plans for Love (37 page)

"I didn't miss anything," Alison responded.

Then Sherry saw the sign. Above the large oval that proclaimed Sturgis and Son, was the changeable sign of black letters: WEDDING OF MARK BLAKELY AND SHERRY WINNETTE. 11:30 AM. "I'm getting married in a car dealership?"

"Grammy's idea. We couldn't find any place else," Mom explained. "We fixed it up real nice and rented tables and chairs."

That fostered the next question. "How many people are coming?"

"We don't know for sure since there wasn't time to mail invitations," Sam explained. "Invitations were done over the phone or in person and some people didn't know if they'd make it or not. We're prepared for about fifty guests."

"Fifty!" Sherry figured she better shut up right there.
One step at a time
, she reminded herself.

"Pull up to the door," Grammy said, "so I don't have to walk so far."

Alison got out and went around to open Gammy's door and help her out. Sam came around to take her mother's arm and lead her inside. "I'll be in as soon as I park the car," Alison called after them.

"What about me?" Sherry asked.

"You wait in the car until I come out for you. We have it all planned. Rev. Hartman has only a short time so we have to get it right. Just close your eyes and relax until we're ready for you. I hope your father gets here soon or I'll have to give the bride away."

I hope he gets here soon, too
. Sherry thought,
I don't want to be given away by a woman in an orange
suit
. She could see her wedding unraveling right before her eyes. She tried not to think about it. Instead she gazed out the window at the azure sky. It was a perfect Indian summer day.

Something red in her peripheral vision made her turn her head just as Mark parked his truck and got out. Chad stepped down from the passenger seat. Mark spotted Sherry and started toward her but Chad grabbed his arm and pushed him toward the door just as Linda drove up and parked next to Mark's red truck.

Chad said something to her and she looked toward Sherry. Then she came over and opened the driver's side door. "Why are you sitting out here alone?"

"Mom told me to."

"Oh. The groom isn't supposed to see the bride in her dress prior to the wedding ceremony. I'll sit with you. They don't need me in there." Linda tucked the full skirt of her aqua dress around her and slid behind the wheel. "I won't be your maid of honor today. Instead I'll be your bridesmaid."

"I don't care what you call yourself as long as you're here."

"Lisa will be your maid of honor."

"Lisa! She turned me down flat on Wednesday evening. She even hung up on me."

"Well, she came home for the wedding, according to Mark's dad, quite contrite and willing to do what you asked her to."

"What changed her mind?"

"I don't know but Mark said his dad called her last night to give her 'a piece of his mind'. Anyway, she's here or at least she's supposed to come along with her dad."

"Everything's just coming apart," Sherry cried. "There's Rev. Hartman and we aren't ready yet. I just knew it was going to be like this."

"We may have to make a few adjustments but we'll get you married," Linda consoled her. "We have a bride, a groom, a best man, and a maid of honor. And a minister."

Alison came out to inform them, "Rev. Hartman will give us ten minutes. If Frank and Sam aren't here by then, we'll have the wedding without them." She turned and went back inside.

Exactly ten minutes later, Sam's gray van pulled in the parking lot. Frank got out of the passenger side and opened the sliding door to help Lisa down. Lisa hiked up her full-length, salmon-colored gown and stepped down.

"Oh, no," Sherry groaned. "She's wearing heels."

"Why is that a problem?" Linda asked.

"Lisa is almost as tall as Mark without heels. She'll tower over me."

"No time to mourn about that. They are ready for us." Linda opened the door and got out of just as Alison came out the door.

She motioned them over. "As soon as the music starts, Linda will walk up the aisle and take her place. When she is halfway up, Lisa can go. When she gets in place, Pat will start playing 'Here Comes the Bride.' Then Sam will escort Sherry up the aisle. Are we ready?"

Jan came out the door with flowers. She gave the wrist corsage to Lisa; one white rose boutonniere she gave to Alison to pin on Sam's lapel; she gave Sherry her bouquet and pinned the other boutonniere on Frank's lapel. Jan's corsage was already pinned to her light blue suit. She and Frank went in to take their seats at the front of the room.

Everything went as planned until Sherry was walking up the aisle on her father's arm. "Oh, no," she whispered. "I forgot to give Lisa Mark's ring."

"Where is it?" Sam asked trying not to move his lips.

"Pinned to my bra strap."

A grin spread across Sam's face. "Just do as I tell you."

When they stopped one step back from Mark and Lisa, Sam put his right arm around Sherry. "Give me your bouquet and unpin the ring."

The minister had been looking down at the marriage service he was reading and didn't notice until he said, "If anyone knows why this man and this woman shouldn't wed, let him speak now or forever hold his peace."

One of the guests must have made a funny remark because a titter of laughter ran through the room. Rev. Hartman raised his eyebrows when he saw Sherry with her hands inside her dress. "Is there a problem?"

She brought out the ring, and holding it between her thumb and index fingers, showed it to him. The ring popped out of her fingers and rolled away when it hit the floor. Mark quickly stepped on it. Sherry could feel her faced getting hot as Mark bent down and nonchalantly handed her the ring as if it were planned that way.

Rev. Hartman cleared his throat and continued, "Who gives this woman in marriage?"

"Her mother and I do," Sam answered. As Sherry stepped forward beside Lisa, Sam sat down beside Alison.

By then Sherry was completely flustered. She stumbled through her vows but Mark gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. Then he was slipping a wedding ring on her finger, saying, "With this ring, I thee wed."

She almost dropped the ring again as she slid it on his finger. "With this ring, I thee wed."

"By the authority invested in me by God and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, I pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss your bride."

With his hands on Sherry's shoulders, Mark leaned to kiss her as Rev. Hartman said, "What God has joined together let not man put asunder."

Chad stepped forward and snapped his handcuffs around Mark's wrist and grabbed Sherry's to do the same.

"What the h...heck?" Mark asked in surprise.

"I give  you Mr. and Mrs. Mark Blakely," said Rev. Hartman.

Mark took Sherry's hand and started back the aisle when they were suddenly pelted by handfuls of birdseed. "Run!" he said and pulled her along until she slipped on the birdseed and nearly fell. By pulling her left arm across her chest, he got his arm around her back and lifted her off her feet and whirled her around just inside the door.

Through clenched teeth, she whispered, "Unless you want everyone here to see those zebra striped panties, you'd better put me down."

Mark realized that, in his haste to pick her up, he'd gotten the back of her dress pulled up. He set her on her feet and turned her around to unwind their arms. "Chad, take these darn things off us."

Chad grinned. "I don't have the key."

"I don't believe you."

"I really don't. I left it at home."

"You better do something soon," Sherry put in. "The bride has to use the rest room." She folded her hand over her thumb and managed to pull free. As she darted for the rest room, she could hear Mark threatening, "If you don't unlock these, you'll get them back in pieces. There are bolt cutters in the shop at home."

Linda came to the rescue as she plucked the key from her cleavage. "I saw that you left the key so I picked it up."

"Too bad I didn't know that or I'd have searched you. I'm good at pat-down searches."

Linda unlocked the cuffs and returned them to Chad. "Stick your toys back in your pocket before I use them on you."

"How soon do we get to eat?" Mike Delong held out his hand to Mark. "Like, dude, you don't have to help with the milking tonight. I'll fill in. That's my wedding gift to you." He was dressed in jeans but he wore a white shirt and tie beneath his FFA jacket. Sherry noticed several other boys dressed like that and guessed they were also Mark's students.

"I need to sit down," she announced suddenly. "I feel dizzy."

Mark quickly escorted her to the table set up for the wedding party with the participants in the middle and the parents and grandparents at either end and on the other side.

While a couple of the guests swept up the birdseed for safety's sake, Frank went to the front of the room and used a stainless steel bowl for a gong to get the guests' attention. "Find your places. As soon as I ask the blessing, we can see what all the ladies have cooked up for us. Wedding party, parents and grandparents first. Let's bow our heads." Frank not only asked a blessing on the food but prayed for Mark and Sherry to have a blessed marriage.

The afternoon became a blur to Sherry. It seemed she was a spectator watching the event through a wall of water. When a man she didn't know came around with a cartful of champagne bottles, Chad said, "The bride and maid of honor can't have any of the hooch or I'll have to arrest you for providing alcohol to minors."

The man turned the bottle with the label toward Chad. "It's non-alcoholic."

People kept coming around introducing themselves and offering best wishes. Most of them were  strangers to Sherry. When a pretty blond woman stopped across from Mark and said, "See, I told you to come back to the woman you love."

Sherry had never seen her face before but a picture of the back of her head hung on the wall in her kitchen. The young man she was with shook hands with Steve, Chad and Mark. She guessed he was the fiance who came back from Iraq.

The woman reached across the table to shake Sherry's hand. "I'm Rochelle Logan. You want to keep a short leash on that guy."

Sherry gave her innocent stare. "I don't think so. I've been thinking more along the lines of a shocker collar."

"Yes!" Lisa burst out.

Sherry ate little. She did manage to commandeer the stainless steel bowl Frank used as an attention getter for potato chips which she nibbled along with the tiny chicken salad sandwiches, scalloped potatoes, and fruit salad Jan brought her. By the time they were ready to cut the cake her stomach was feeling very queasy. "If you smash it in my face you will regret it," she warned Mark as they walked to the table where the three-tiered cake sat.

Hannah handed Sherry a chef's knife with a white ribbon around the handle. Mark put his arm around her and wrapped his hand over hers as he guided the knife through the thick layer of white icing with pink roses. They each took a small bit and put in the mouth of the other. Mark sucked Sherry's finger into his mouth. "Very tasty," he said when she pulled back.

Suddenly Sherry clapped her hand over her mouth and ran for the restroom. She barely made it in time. As she stood against the wall by the toilet, Rose came in with a glass of water. "Rinse your mouth and drink the rest."

Sherry did as she was told. As soon as the water hit her stomach, she brought it back up. Mark stood at the door watching. "I think we better cut things short so I can take you home."

"I'll be all right in a minute." She forced a weak smile.

Rose went out the rest room door and told the roomful of guests, "I think she'll live. Pregnancy complicated by nerves."

The rest of the wedding was a hurry up affair. Lisa caught the bride's bouquet because she was the tallest with the longest reach. Mark removed the lace garter from Sherry's leg and tossed it over his shoulder. Chad made a jump to catch it but Mike Delong beat him to it.

Alison packed herself a lunch from the food there and changed into her work clothes in the rest room. She told Sherry and Mark, "I won't be home tonight. Grammy and Sam have invited me to stay over with them so you have the house to yourselves for one night." She kissed each of them and left.

They had plenty of help loading the wedding gifts in Mark's truck and Jan's SUV. Chad hung a "Just Married" sign in the rear window of Mark's truck. As soon as she was in the door, Sherry went upstairs to change clothes.

After Frank and Jan helped carry in the gifts and put them on the dining room table, they left the newlyweds alone. Mark went upstairs to change to jeans and a tee shirt. When he came back down he found Sherry in the den with an afghan wrapped around her.

"I'll make a fire in the fireplace. If you're tired, lie down and rest a while. I won't disturb you." He kissed her and went to the kitchen to make coffee.

Chapter 33

Sherry came out of her sleep slowly, opening her eyes and closing them again. A blanket was spread over her. Mark must have covered her after he made a fire in the fireplace. She had been so cold when they got home.

She went to the kitchen where she found Mark washing dishes that she didn't recognize. "What's this?"

"The dishes from the wedding feast. Many of the guests brought their gifts full of food. Mom brought over some of those plastic dishes she uses to freeze in and we put some of it in the freezer. The rest is in the fridge. What's left of the cake is on the counter. And we can't leave food on the table unless we move the chairs away. Mitzi learned to climb up. She has a sweet tooth. That's why there's a slice of cake missing where she licked away the icing."

"Where is she?" Sherry looked around but didn't see the kitten anywhere.

"I put her out in the breezeway so she can't get into any more mischief while I'm busy."

"I have to get something to eat. Now." She opened the freezer to take out the ice cream. "I thought you said you put things in the freezer. There's nothing in here that wasn't here this morning."