“There’s no dead people here right now,” I say.
I look over at Miss Billings who has come out of the lounge and is looking horrified.
“I thought she knew,” Miss Billings said to me.
“It’s all right,” I say. Sometimes there’s a moment in life when you just have to gather your pride around you. Now is a moment like that. “There’s nothing wrong with working with dead people. I’m proud to work here.”
I stand victorious.
I stand alone.
Gary points a finger at me and I swear his finger is as bony as his mother’s. “You’re behind this?”
I nod. I figure he will yell and scream some and, if he’s going to do that, he’d better do it now before the guests start to arrive. I wonder if Elaine will let me hide in her blanket with her.
Instead of screaming at me, though, Gary turns to Elaine. She is still huddled in her blanket, but I’m sure she can hear.
“Isn’t this the screwup you told me about?” Gary says and his voice is not pleasant and he’s still pointing at me. “I don’t see how you could let her have anything to do with our wedding.”
“She was just trying to help,” Elaine says.
I notice out of the corner of my eye that Jerry walks around the circle of people here. I’m hoping it’s so he can be closer to me, but then again, he might be heading for the parking lot and his pickup.
“We don’t need her kind of help,” Gary says. “I still can’t believe you’d let your half cousin work on our wedding.”
Gary’s voice dwindles as he shouts until, at the end, he’s almost talking normally.
I look over at Elaine to let her know that I think the worst of this is over when I see that she’s let the blanket fall to the floor. She takes a step forward and her head is high and her eyes are flashing. Her cheeks are even rosy and she hasn’t had any of Miss Billings’s Pearly Pink blush.
“I’ll have you know,” Elaine says. “My cousin did ten times more to make this wedding happen than you did.”
Wow. I’m impressed with Elaine and feeling a little warm toward her.
“Now, I know she’s not perfect,” Elaine continues.
Well, I could have done without that observation.
“But,” Elaine spits out. “She’s still my cousin, and we’re going to sit together whenever we want and eat deviled eggs.”
Okay, now I think Elaine has succeeded in scaring Gary and his parents, whether because they don’t understand the reference to deviled eggs or because they can’t believe anyone who would marry into their family would be so lower-class as to actually eat them, I don’t know. In any event, there is a full minute of silence in tribute to Elaine’s magnificent outburst.
By the way, the train on her dress looks about right on her when Elaine stands there with her shoulders back like a warrior bride.
“I think we should be going,” Gary’s mother finally says. “Gary, bring the car around.”
I look over at Aunt Inga to see if she’s praying. She has a very serene look on her face so I try Doug. He doesn’t seem to be praying, either. I know God hasn’t listened to me in the past, but He and I have new rules, too. I offer up a prayer for help. I’m not sure I think it’s a good idea for Elaine to marry Gary, but I don’t want to be the reason he decides not to marry her. That wouldn’t work in well with my reconciliation plan between the two of us.
“No one will know it’s a mortuary,” I say to anyone who will listen. “We have a tunnel. And there’s no hint in the courtyard.”
“Gary!” His mother says a little sharper this time.
I can see Gary is looking at Elaine.
“No, Mother,” Gary says. “I’m staying.”
Elaine looks as surprised to hear this as I am.
“Well!” Gary’s mother says as if she doesn’t know what to do now.
I’m starting to hope that this will be one of those funny stories couples tell at their fiftieth anniversary parties. I’m sure we can smooth it all out. Maybe Elaine won’t hate me.
“I think you should go, Gary,” Elaine finally says into the silence.
I look at Elaine to see if she’s okay. I wouldn’t want her to make a decision like this based on one wrong step Gary or his mother had taken. But she looks better than I’ve seen her look for days.
Gary looks at Elaine for another minute, but then he turns around without saying anything and walks out of the chapel with his parents walking behind him.
It’s about then that I realize Jerry is standing right behind me. He didn’t go to the parking lot after all.
Elaine turns to look at us. “Now what do we do?”
“It’s already almost five-fifteen,” Aunt Inga says. “It’s too late to stop people from coming.”
“And the caterers have already started dinner,” Aunt Ruth adds.
“Well, then,” Elaine says with a grin, “let’s have a party.”
I’m not the only one who looks at Elaine to make sure she’s not just putting a brave face on it, but she looks as though she’s fine. Just to be sure, I follow her into the kitchen.
“I’m so sorry,” I say.
“Don’t be,” Elaine says. “The engagement stopped being fun months ago. I don’t know why it took me so long to figure out that the marriage would be torture. I couldn’t be in a family that didn’t like me as much as Gary’s didn’t like me.”
“So you’re okay?”
Elaine nods. “I’m tougher than you think.”
I grin. “What makes you think I don’t know that?”
“Oh, you.” Elaine waves me off with a laugh.
“You’re a beautiful bride, by the way.”
Elaine grins back at me. “Next time though I’m going to elope.”
I doubt anyone wants Elaine to elope next time. People said later that this was the best wedding they’d attended in years. The soloist my mother had brought volunteered to do love songs by request while people ate their prime rib dinner. The evening was warm and the roses were fragrant. Even Aunt Ruth and Uncle Howard seemed relaxed and happy.
About halfway through the evening, Doug and I start our rounds. I had suggested that we try to look like casual friends so we could undo those false impressions we created at Elaine’s engagement party.
I wasn’t quite sure what body language we would use to get our point across, but Doug did. When we get to Aunt Ruth, he takes my hand.
“We’re committed friends,” Doug announces to Aunt Ruth. “Maybe with a future.”
“And maybe not,” I add just so we all know. “We’re just friends for now.”
Aunt Ruth looks at us a moment. “So, you’re committed friends with no expectations? No plans? No future?”
Doug and I both chuckle.
Aunt Ruth shakes her head and fans herself a little wearily with one of the embossed napkins she’d ordered for Elaine’s wedding. “I don’t think I’ll ever understand the way you kids date these days.”
“We’re not dating,” I say.
“I know,” Aunt Ruth says with a sigh.
I’m sure Aunt Ruth will spread the word to the other relatives that Doug and I, while friends, are not on the verge of anything remotely resembling an engagement announcement.
“It feels better to have the truth out there,” I say as we go over and sit down at one of the tables.
Doug nods. “It also feels better to make a commitment or two.”
I smile at him. He’s right about that.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1) Have you ever been locked in a competitive struggle with a sibling or someone else as Julie and Elaine were? How did you handle it?
2) The story of Joseph and his brothers in the Bible reflects some of the problems that Julie had with Elaine. Read Genesis 37. What similarities do you see?
3) Did you notice how the roots of Julie’s struggle with Elaine began with the jealousy of their respective mothers? Have you carried on any family squabbles like this?
5) Why do you think Elaine used to torment Julie? Did someone treat you like that when you were growing up? How do you think a Christian should handle this kind of thing?
6) In the course of the book, Julie makes peace with her cousin, Jerry. Eventually, she sees him with new eyes. Can you think of a similar relationship you have had?
7) Elaine’s mother is very determined to climb the social ladder—she even pretends to live in another town. Some people would say this is a white lie and that it doesn’t make any difference. What do you think? What were the consequences of lying in the family? What other consequences might there be?
8) Julie learned a lot about life while working at the mortuary. What are some of the lessons she learned?
9) Julie’s friend Doug had a difficult time making a commitment because of his childhood. Is there something from your childhood that makes it difficult for you to make commitments? How do you deal with this?
10) Was there, or is there, anything else in your childhood that was or is a problem between you and God? How have you dealt with it?
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GOING TO THE CHAPEL
Copyright © 2007 by Janet Tronstad
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Going to the Chapel Page 26