To Have and to Hold (21 page)

Madison pulled away, surprised. “You think so?” she said.

“I should dress more like you,” Tiffany said.

“Like
me
?” Madison said.

“Yeah!” Tiffany said. “I’m always stuck in outfits my mother picks for me. I mean, I like this one, but sometimes she makes me wear these hideous dresses that Grandma Diane wouldn’t even wear….”

“I think you look great,” Madison said.

Tiffany laughed out loud. “Well, maybe. I know at least my hair looks good. And it’s not just because I went to this stylist….”

Madison wanted to laugh. Tiffany sounded so stuck-up! But she wasn’t anything like Poison Ivy, Madison realized. She said outrageous things, but she seemed not to mean to come across as self-absorbed or cruel. She was just really into hairdos and dressing up….

And pinball.

“I always wanted blond hair like yours,” Madison said, tossing her own locks. “Sometimes my hair can be so scary. Look at it. I still don’t know what to do with it for the wedding.”

Tiffany nodded and inspected Madison’s hairdo. “It does look as if it’s just lying there.”

Madison made a face. “Gee, thanks.”

“Aw! Don’t get all huffy,” Tiffany said. She raised a finger to her lip-glossed lips as though she were thinking extra hard. “How about flowers?”

“Flowers?” Madison said.

“Add ’em to your hair. Like a dancer or a model,” Tiffany said. “Flowers would look super good, don’t you think?”

Madison shrugged. “I don’t know what to think anymore….”

“Okay, look. Here’s the story. I have the best hair clip in the whole world, and it’s orange-red, and it would match
perfectly
!” Tiffany squealed. “We have to get that for you, now.”

“Now?” Madison asked, in disbelief.

In a matter of moments, Stephanie’s niece had turned into Madison’s fashion adviser.

How had that happened
?

Madison gave in to Tiffany’s makeover tips. “You’re being so nice to me,” she said.

Tiffany rolled her eyes. “That’s right. We have to stick together now. We’re cousins, right?”

Madison grinned. So far, today, she liked having new cousins—a lot.

“So, are you close to Aunt Steph or what?” Tiffany asked. “You never say much about what y’all do back North.”

“Stephanie is nice,” Madison said. “We see each other a lot.”

“Did you know that Aunt Stephanie is, like, the only person in our entire family who left Texas?” Tiffany said. “Does she talk about us, ever?”

“Oh, sure,” Madison said. “All the time,” she added, exaggerating a little.

“Usually, she’d take us to all these places when she came home,” Tiffany said. “But I have this feeling she won’t be visiting Texas as much anymore.”

“No?” Madison asked.

Tiffany shrugged. “Well, of course not. She has this whole life with you and your dad up there. Why would she bother coming back here?”

“Maybe she’ll just get homesick,” Madison said.

“Yeah. Sick of home,” Tiffany joked.

“But she loves Texas,” Madison said.

Tiffany shrugged. “She loves her job and your dad. That’s all I know.”

“And everyone in your family,” Madison said. “It’s so big.”

“Mammoth,” Tiffany said. “We have a mammoth family. That’s what Kirk always says.”

Madison giggled.

All at once, Tiffany took Madison by the arm and pulled her out of the arcade and into the lobby. She motioned toward the elevators. Wanda had reappeared, followed by a gray-haired woman wearing a dark-green pant suit.

“How did you know your mom was coming?” Madison asked.

Tiffany raised her eyebrows. “Wanda radar,” she joked. “That’s what Kirk calls it.”

Wanda swept toward them.

“Gals, this is Ms. Morgan,” Wanda announced. “Did I get that right?” she asked Ms. Morgan, who nodded, waiting for her cue to speak.

“So, it’s just us girls, huh?” Ms. Morgan said.

Madison smiled back. “Yup.”

Tiffany tossed her hair. “Mom,” she said to Wanda in her sweetest voice. “Can we swing back by the house? I forgot something.”

“What now?” Wanda said.

Tiffany turned toward Madison. “Oh, nothing much,” she said. “Just this hair clip that I really need.”

Madison’s eyes opened wide. Tiffany was asking Wanda to stop home for
her
? She couldn’t believe it.

“Fine,” Wanda conceded. “We’ll swing by the house. But for one minute
only
,” she grumbled.

The morning had taken a new twist.

Tiffany wasn’t poison at all. And she wasn’t a goody-goody, either. Madison was sure now that, if she could keep her eyes open, perhaps Dad and Stephanie’s wedding might turn out all right after all.

The group of four piled into Wanda’s car and hit the road.

The first stop was Rhona’s Roadside Diner—for food.

The second stop: Pump-N-Dash Gas—for fuel.

The third stop: Wanda’s house—for the hair clip.

Madison couldn’t believe it when they pulled into Tiffany’s driveway.

“It looks like a house you’d see in some magazine,” Madison said aloud, without realizing she was speaking.

Wanda laughed. “You think?
Nawwww.
”

“Mother,” Tiffany groaned from the backseat. “We have one of the bigger ones in the neighborhood, right?”

Madison chuckled to herself. Once again, Tiffany s
ounded
stuck-up, but she wasn’t really that way at all. Madison was pretty sure that Tiffany had no idea she came across any other way but nice.

“Your place sure is bigger than our house back in Far Hills,” Madison said.

“What are you waiting for, Tiff? Get inside, and make it quick!” Wanda ordered.

Tiffany leaped out of the car and sped to the front door of the house. While they were waiting for her to reappear with the hair clip, Wanda and Ms. Morgan began chatting.

Madison opened up the book of poems and quietly read the wedding selection Dad and Stephanie had selected. Madison wished that she had memorized the poem so she wouldn’t have had to keep sneaking peeks at the page.

Madison was very glad that in a couple of hours, the whole poem thing would be ancient history.

From Wanda’s house, the foursome drove on toward the ranch for the big event. In the backseat, Tiffany opened a small lavender bag (which matched her dress, of course) and produced the hair clip she had picked up at the house, along with bobby pins, hairspray, and a giant, round brush.

“I think we should pinch the edges a little and tease it here,” Tiffany said, waving her hands around Madison’s head. She handed Madison a small mirror. “Look for yourself.”

Madison didn’t see what the fuss was about. She didn’t have a clue about hairdos. “Are you sure?” she asked.

Tiffany pursed her lips. “It’s going to look
gooooood
,” she said in a long drawl.

Madison closed her eyes and surrendered. She figured that no one with such perfect blond hair could mess it up. Less than ten minutes later, after spritzing and spraying and pulling, Tiffany was ready to celebrate her hairdo masterpiece.

“Ta-da!” Tiffany announced from the backseat.

“Well you certainly used enough hairspray!” Wanda declared, pinching her nose.

“Madison Finn!” Ms. Morgan turned around to look, too. “You look like a different person!”

“See? Told you.” Tiffany had a self-satisfied smirk on her face.

Madison grabbed the mirror. She saw the teased and flipped ’do she could never have done in a zillion years by herself.

“Oh, Tiffany,” Madison gushed. “I love it. And the hair clip really is perfect.”

Wanda let out a big laugh from the front seat. “So I guess this settles it, then, hon,” she called back to Tiffany. “Hairdressing school for you. Those stylists have taught you a thing or two, eh?”

“Aw, Mother,” Tiffany whined.

Madison didn’t let their banter ruin the moment. Despite being very tired, her new look was giving her a good feeling.

She couldn’t wait to show off her hair and dress to Dad and the others.

By ten-thirty that morning, when Wanda zipped into the driveway at Wolfe Ranch, it was brimming with wedding guests. Some had pulled up in trucks, others in minivans. A few had even come by horse, Madison guessed. There were a few ponies tethered out in front of the mansion.

“Grandma always puts out the animals and dresses people up in costumes….” Tiffany explained. “She’s way over the top, know what I mean?”

Madison giggled, because she hadn’t met a single person there in Bellville who
wasn’t
over the top. Real or not, Madison was in awe of the spectacle. She wondered what Aimee and Fiona would have thought of all of it.

Mrs. Wolfe had a waitstaff that ran around taking care of all such details as the parking of cars, taking of bags and coats, and directing of traffic. Every single person was wearing the same type of white shirt, colored bandana, suede pants, and cowboy boots; it was like some kind of wedding uniform.

“Hey!” a voice called out as Tiffany and Madison climbed out of the backseat of Wanda’s car.

Madison turned to see Kirk coming across the driveway.

“What’s up?” Kirk asked. “We wondered when you were getting here.”

“Hello, Captain Kirk,” Tiffany joked. “Madison and I are having the best morning ever, Cuz. What were
you
doing?”

Madison stood back, smiling silently.

“Well, it’s way too hot to wear a suit,” Kirk complained.

Tiffany pretended to fan herself. “Gotcha. That’s why I’m glad this dress has thin straps.”

Madison stared at Kirk as he started to crack one joke after the next. His hair looked very good. Madison wondered if maybe he, too, had gotten styling advice from Tiffany.

“Madison, I dig your dress,” Kirk commented as they walked together toward the house. “It’s retro or something, right?”

“Oh,” Madison said. She felt her cheeks flush. “You like it?”

“What about
my
dress?” Tiffany wailed.

“Yeah. Didn’t you wear that dress at Cousin Betta’s wedding?” Kirk asked his cousin.

“What?” Tiffany barked. “I never, ever, ever wear the same dress twice to a family function….”

Kirk laughed out loud. He turned to Madison. “Like I would remember what she ever wore to anything!” he cracked. “I was kidding, Tiff. Take a chill pill.”

Tiffany’s expression turned to a scowl. “I’m going to get you back for that one, Kirk!” she said, chasing him inside.

Madison dropped back a little to see if she could spot Dad anywhere among the crowd. Right now, she wanted to see him more than anyone else.

“Madison!” Tiffany cried. “Are you coming, or what?”

Madison nodded and followed Tiffany and Kirk inside. She glanced around the entryway to look at the hanging lanterns and the candles. It looked completely different from the way it had just one day earlier. Guests milled about, admiring the decor, including the family collection of steer antlers and woven rugs.

Madison couldn’t believe that Dad had said the wedding would ever be just fifteen or even thirty people. There were at least ten times that many guests standing in this room alone!

Tiffany came running over. “Madison,” she whispered. “You have to come with me. Quick!”

“Huh? Where?” Madison asked.

“It’s a secret,” Tiffany said.

She led Madison out through the back sliding doors onto a patio covered with bales of hay and branding irons and a giant sculpture of a bull. Some of the younger cousins took turns climbing on the bull’s back. On one side of the house, a huge Texas flag made out of flowers was displayed.

Madison giggled. She always imagined weddings as affairs of white tablecloths and lace. This was more like a movie set with lots of props.

“Where are you taking me?” she asked Tiffany again.

“You’ll see!” Tiffany said. “You’ll see!”

Tiffany led Madison through the courtyard into the open area where they had had the rehearsal the day before. Today it was to be the site of the main ceremony. Horseshoes had been hung up and down the length of the split-wood fence that surrounded the area. Hundreds of chairs with backs shaped like horseshoes were lined up together. One giant horseshoe painted with the words
Wolfe Ranch
hung over the altar where the wedding service was to be held.

Off to the side, Madison saw a small tent. Tiffany headed straight for it.

“Isn’t this place for food?” Madison asked, almost tripping over her Creamsicle-colored shoes.

“Shhhhh!” Tiffany said, lifting the hem of her lavender dress.

Madison followed her inside.

The tent didn’t contain catering equipment or lights. On one side was a huge mirror. Standing before it was Stephanie, tugging on her long, white dress edged in lace.

She looked more beautiful than Madison could have imagined.

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate.

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,

And often is his gold complexion dimmed,

And every fair from fair sometime declines,

By chance, or nature’s changing course untrimmed.

But thy eternal summer shall not fade,

Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,

Nor shall death brag thou wander’’st in his shade,

When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st.

So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,

So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

M
ADISON FELT A BEAD
of sweat trickle down her back. She wriggled around and pretended it wasn’t there as she stared out into the sea of people before her.

Off to the left, Dad beamed. Uncle Rick, who was standing to Dad’s left, grinned just as broadly. Stephanie looked ready to wipe a tear from her eye. In the first row, even Stephanie’s mother was quietly paying attention. Sitting nearby, Aunt Violet gave a big thumbs-up to Madison.