The Ring

by Sarah Anne Carter

  He asked her a few questions about her week while they drove to The Keg, but they mostly just listened to music. When they pulled into the parking lot, Lucas finally told her what was going on.

  “I got my orders today,” he said. “They are sending me to Charleston, but I have to go to school in Oklahoma en route to my new duty station.”

  “Moving to Charleston doesn’t seem bad. You still have a few family members there, right?”

  “Charleston will be fun, especially with you there with me. But, Amanda, the school in Altus starts in June, and I start work in Charleston the middle of August.”

  “What day does the class start?”

  Lucas looked away from her and out the front windshield of the car. Both hands gripped the steering wheel.

  “June 3.”

  Amanda’s heart sank. That was only two days after they were planning on getting married – just about 50 yards from where they were parked. There was a gazebo on the water in a small park next to the restaurant. They planned to have the reception at The Keg since it was where they’d had their first date.

  “Is there any way at all to change it? Did you tell them you were getting married?”

  Lucas turned to her, and she could see he was as upset as she was about it. He reached out and grabbed her hand.

  “I’ve been trying for two weeks to get it changed, and they even reached out to the other bases to see if anyone else could take the school slot so I could go to the next one, but no one can. They’re either deployed, in the process of moving, or one guy’s wife is due with their first child at that time.”

  “What are we going to do? You can’t marry me and leave two days later. Do I come with you? Where would we live?”

  “There are several options, but we are limited because for some of them, you aren’t covered until we’re actually married. Let’s go inside, get a drink and order some food, and discuss them all. We will figure this out together,” he said and then he gently put his hand under her chin and gave her a reassuring kiss. The thought went through her head again, “Why, God, did he have to be in the military?”

  After discussing all their options, they decided to keep the wedding date the same. They would splurge and spend the night at the fanciest hotel in Seattle and then start the drive to Oklahoma together the next day. Lucas’ things would be packed up for the move before the wedding, and Amanda would keep her apartment until early August. She would fly back to Washington two weeks before her lease was up to get things packed up and loaded on a truck. Lucas would drive to Charleston as soon as his class ended and then fly back to Seattle, hopefully by August 1. Then they would drive to Charleston together, stopping for some sightseeing along the way. They should then have some time to look for a place to live before Lucas started working. As soon as he got settled on the job and could take some leave, they would take the trip to Hawaii. By the end of the night, Amanda was almost excited for the adventure of it all and realized it was because she’d be doing it all with Lucas.

  He also showed her some printouts of research he’d done on how she could get her teaching license in South Carolina. It all looked very doable over the next few months so that she could apply for jobs in the summer, if she wanted to work. Lucas said he wanted her to know that he would support her whether she was working or not. She couldn’t imagine not teaching, though. Especially since it gave her something to do when he was on trips.

  Amanda called Juliana that night and told her all the details. Juliana seemed relieved that Amanda and Lucas were able to figure out a plan.

  “That does sound like quite an adventure for you,” Juliana said. “Honestly, I don’t know if I could have helped you figure it out much. I’m using up all my brain power on the papers and projects I have due in the next two months before I graduate.”

  “Have you been able to see Brian much?”

  “Yes, he’s the bright spot in all this! We are working together on two of the projects and have a study session for other classes a few nights a week. And, yes, we actually do study most of the time.”

  Amanda laughed at that, and they soon wrapped up the conversation. Amanda could tell Juliana’s mind was elsewhere. She would tell her parents about the changes to the plan when she had dinner with them on Sunday.

  “You’re not even going on a honeymoon?” her mom asked.

  “Well, we will eventually, but he has to be in Oklahoma two days after the wedding.”

  “Mr. Browan’s brother owns The Renaissance in Seattle. I bet we can get you a discount rate there,” her dad said. He seemed to be taking the announcement very well.

  “You don’t seem upset by this much, Charles,” her mother said.

  “You’ve seen how serious they’ve been getting, and he is in the military. I knew they’d have to move one of these days, and the two Reservists at our school have told numerous stories about how quickly some of these decisions are made,” he replied.

  “I can’t believe you’re going to move all the way across the country! Although, I guess that’s where we’ll be heading next summer for our vacation,” her mom said. “Hilton Head was one of my favorite places when we’d head out to the East coast.”

  “I do have one big question for you, Dad,” Amanda said as she turned to face him. “If for some reason Lucas can’t fly back in time for me to move out of my apartment and start driving, will you go with me? I somehow have to get both the U-Haul and the car to South Carolina in August. Lucas should fly back to help me, but if his class runs longer, he might not. They have to do some flights as part of the class, and sometimes weather or maintenance cancels those and they have to add another day.”

  “Sure thing,” her mom actually replied. “School doesn’t start here until August 31 next year. Why don’t you plan on me and your dad driving the U-Haul and either you or both you and Lucas drive the car? We’re used to driving an RV, so the U-Haul would be no problem. Right, Charles?”

  “That sounds like a good idea to me. We hadn’t decided where to go this summer yet. We can do Hilton Head after we drop her off and then rent an RV to take home.”

  Her parents started talking about where they would want to stop on the way back, and Amanda smiled and hoped one day she and Lucas would be discussing memories of their travels across the country. She was so glad her parents agreed to help her move. It made it all seem less scary.

  Amanda actually saw less of Lucas in the three months before their wedding than any other time when he’d been home. He had to arrange his move, get completely current in the plane, take his physical fitness test, go to doctor appointments, and do a lot of out-processing briefings, which would clear him from different offices as he left the base. He told her he’d have to repeat the process when they got to Charleston, but it would be called in-processing. She’d be able to go along to most of those. She kept herself busy with the last-minute wedding details. Juliana wouldn’t fly in until the day before the wedding for the rehearsal dinner. She was in the process of moving herself. Both Juliana and Brian had gotten jobs at a firm in Chicago, and she would start loading up her own U-Haul the day after she flew back from the wedding. There seemed to be a million and one things that needed to be confirmed, and about every other item had something change or go wrong with it. Amanda’s mom helped her as much as she could, but school was still in session, so they were both limited in the time they could spend talking to the vendors. Just when Amanda was ready to throw in the towel and elope or just not get married, Lucas suggested they take a day off and spend it in Seattle. They had done that about a year before and had both enjoyed it. It sounded wonderful to Amanda.

  They wandered around the Experience Music Project and then had lunch at the top of the Space Needle. It was windy that day, so the Space Needle actually swayed a bit, which made them both a bit uneasy. They took pictures of each other at the top with the Victorian houses and Puget Sound in the background. In the afternoon, they wandered around Pike Place with coffees in hand from the origina
l Starbucks. Lucas bought her a big bouquet of fresh flowers, and they sat for a caricature portrait. The artist made Lucas even taller and skinner and made Amanda’s glasses larger and hair longer, but it still looked enough like them that anyone who knew them would recognize who it was. He drew the Space Needle in the background for them.

  “This will have to hang up in our new house in Charleston,” Lucas said. “Washington will always feel like home to me because it’s where I met you.”

  “I think home is going to feel like being wherever you are,” Amanda replied and gave him a kiss. “But, of course, I will always love Washington.”

  Amanda felt more ready to deal with the last two weeks of wedding hassle after that day with Lucas. She felt more at peace, too, and knew marrying him was the right choice, even if she had to put up with the challenges of marrying a man in the military. Lucas made sure they had two more dinner dates on the calendar before the wedding, and they went to Phyllos both times. The rehearsal dinner was going to be there, too. They both loved the idea of celebrating there and supporting Nicholas since he’d done so much to help Lucas with the engagement. Amanda was glad it was a small wedding party so that they could all fit in the restaurant. Lucas ended up having his cousin as his best man, and Juliana met him at the rehearsal. Kevin was an auto mechanic in Georgia but had not moved there until high school. Kevin and Lucas were the same age and had spent most of their time in the summers together since they lived only three blocks apart. Those three blocks of separation put them in different schools, though, and they played against each other in sports.

  It seemed that before she knew it, Amanda was getting ready at her mother’s house for the wedding. A limo took her, her parents, and Juliana to the wedding site. Amanda stayed in the limo until it was time for her to walk down the red runner that ran from the sidewalk to the gazebo. She was able to watch Aunt Vicky and Uncle Eddie’s baby, Alice, be the flower girl through the limo window. Vicky had to hold her as she threw the rose petals on the ground. As her father walked Amanda down the aisle, she noted that the sun was shining and there was not a cloud in the sky. What a perfect and rare day to get married in Washington! She looked at Lucas and saw his eyes were wide, and a huge smile was on his face. She smiled big in return and wished she could freeze the moment for a while and just enjoy the sunshine and the look on Lucas’ face while she wore the perfect white dress. She kept moving forward, though, and her father handed her hand gently over to Lucas. Amanda barely paid attention to what the minister was saying and neither did Lucas. They were just staring and smiling. They wrote their own vows, but wanted to keep it simple.

  “I, Amanda Lynn Schaffer, promise to spend my whole life loving you, Lucas Timothy Weston. My whole heart will be forever and completely yours as long I live.”

  “I, Lucas Timothy Weston, promise to give my all to love you with a love you deserve, Amanda Lynn Schaffer. My heart will only love you until the day I die.”

  Their rings matched and were actually three rings melded and woven together. Lucas had gotten them each a ring from Washington to represent where Amanda was from, from South Carolina to represent where Lucas was from, and from Turkey where Lucas said he was when he knew he was in love with her. He had collected the rings before he told her about the idea he had. He was nervous about what she would think, but she absolutely loved the idea of the rings being unique and representing their story. They planned to meld Amanda’s engagement ring to her wedding ring in a few months to create one ring for her. She liked the idea of them being connected into one piece. After they exchanged rings, Lucas repeated the movie star kiss from the end of the second deployment when they were declared “husband and wife.” Everyone clapped and cheered and then went to celebrate at The Keg.

  They decided to play George Strait songs for the entire reception, and while they both tried to talk to everyone who came, they couldn’t go a few songs without Lucas saying they had to dance to that particular song. The restaurant had cleared tables from one section for a dance floor. It was only when Lucas saw her parents dancing that he mentioned wishing his mother had chosen to come. His father, three aunts, two uncles, and four cousins had come from various places back East. Amanda had been most excited to meet the cousin who still lived in the Charleston area, although about an hour from the base. Thomas was engaged and would be getting married in September. Amanda was looking forward to going to the wedding with Lucas.

  They took a limo to The Renaissance and had a wonderful night, but the next morning had them both tired and they started getting short with each other as they packed up and tried to get checked out so they could make it out the door by 8 a.m. They finally got the car loaded up at 8:10 a.m.

  Amanda wanted them to take 10 minutes to eat breakfast there since she heard they had some of the best omelets in the city. Lucas finally agreed, but sat picking at a bagel and sipping coffee while she stood in the omelet line. She sat down and ate quickly when it was done, seeing that Lucas was agitated that they were running late. After all that, she barely tasted it. When it looked like she was almost done, Lucas stood up without a word and started getting them both coffee in to-go cups. She watched him and saw him put the lid on one black, but add two creamers and two sugars to the other one before putting the lid on it. She stood up as soon as she saw him do that, walked toward him, and hugged him from behind.

  “What’s that for?” Lucas said, surprised.

  “That’s because even when you’re Mr. Grumpy Bear, you still make my coffee the way I like it. And that means you love me.”

  Lucas turned around and hugged her back and then gave her a long kiss.

  “I do love you, even when we’re 30 minutes late getting on the road,” he said, but with a smile on his face. She picked up her coffee and he grabbed his and then grabbed her hand as they walked out the front door.

  “Our adventure awaits,” she declared.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  On Sunday, the first day of the drive, they didn’t stop until almost midnight. They had 12-13 more hours on the road on Monday. Except for the drive over the mountains, they took turns driving and stopped every two to three hours to stretch their legs. Lucas took the drive to the base gate in Oklahoma, as Amanda didn’t have a military identification card yet. He had told her they would get one this week when he had a lunch break. Amanda stayed in the car, barely able to keep her eyes open, while Lucas went in to find out what room they would be staying at on the base. It was in the same building, so they grabbed just what they needed for the night and went to their room and crashed. Lucas had to be at the in-processing briefing at 8 a.m. the next morning and would be back by 5 p.m. at the latest. They planned to wake up around 6 a.m. so they could unload the car and get some food for Amanda. The only place on the base she could buy food until she had an ID card was at Burger King or the food court, Lucas said. Her plan was to spend the day unpacking and making their room a little “homey” and calling her parents and Juliana with updates on their trip.

  Amanda would also email Lucas’ father to let him know they made it safely to Oklahoma. Amanda had been able to talk to him by herself for a bit at the rehearsal dinner. He seemed genuinely interested in what their plans were and talked about visiting them in South Carolina as he still had friends and coworkers there. He told Amanda that email was the best way to stay in touch with him. Amanda hoped to meet Lucas’ mom sometime soon as they’d be just a long day’s drive from where she lived in Florida. She had sent them a very nice, long handwritten letter wishing them the best and sharing some relationship advice along with a gift card to a bath and bedding store. They had requested that people consider giving them gift cards for the wedding since they didn’t know what apartment or house they would live in when they got to South Carolina.

  Amanda had just finished lunch when Lucas came back.

  “They gave us an hour lunch break today. I grabbed a sandwich at the gas station and ate it on the drive over. Let’s go try to get you an ID card today. You
’ll be able to get out of this room more.”

  They chatted about his morning on the way to the MPF office, which Lucas said stood for Military Personnel Flight. His class should only last six weeks if there were no delays in the flights. He said it didn’t sound too hard. He’d have to study some each night, but they would be able to go out and explore the area some. The Fourth of July was a four-day weekend, so he thought they could spend that weekend in Oklahoma City.

  At the MPF, they picked number 23 from the “Grab a Number” machine, and the sign flashed that they were currently on number 20. Lucas started filling out the paperwork, asking Amanda about her social security number and exact height and weight. Their number was called in just 10 minutes. Lucas seemed really surprised that they didn’t need to wait long.

  “I was hoping we’d get it done in time, but when I got my ID card, I had to wait two hours!”

  They took Amanda’s picture, had her sign the paperwork on a signature-catching machine, and then, after a few minutes, handed her a laminated card. The woman who was helping them was in uniform and had her hair back in a tight bun. She leaned over and explained to Amanda what everything on the card meant, both front and back. It had Lucas’ information, where she was allowed to go, when it expired, her medical information, and a bar code for scanning.

  “The scanning is mainly for the gate guards and the hospital to use to make sure your card is still current in the DEERS system,” she said to Amanda. Then she turned to Lucas, “She is all set for everything except medical. You’ll have to take her to the TRICARE office and get her put in their system in case she needs an appointment. You’ll have to do that when you get to Charleston, too. Also, don’t forget to get your orders amended. They can do that at the training squadron. You’re not the first.”