by Shirley Hunt
“Ready?” He excitedly asked.
Looping my arm around his I leaned in and smiled, “I’m ready.”
Perhaps saying it a bit too loudly to get attention or to ruffle some feathers Blake then said, “I really do like the dress that you are wearing. It’s beautiful and looks elegant on you.”
Playing into it I said, “Does my coach have to turn into a pumpkin at midnight?”
“Only if you want it to.”
If Alexander and Melinda heard they did not say a peep. That suited me just fine.
Chapter Eight
Sometimes it seems the more you’re waiting for something the longer it takes to even get here. Other times when you’re not waiting for something it comes rushing right up on you. I did wait for our wedding date to come up on us at a snail’s pace but it ran at us at full speed.
Before I knew it the cakes were done, the dress was altered, and the building for the reception was done. How could this have possibly been done so fast? I could hardly remember saying what we needed.
I had lucked out in the fact my sister had decided to make the cakes. There were some things money certainly couldn’t buy and I was happy for that.
The one thing I wasn’t happy about is I was all but forced to have Melinda in the bridal party. At first I resisted and while Blake couldn’t blame me for that he also wanted to keep the peace so I had relented. After the wedding, however, I wanted to stay as far away from them as humanly possible. I didn’t care if we lived in Antarctica; I wanted to be away from them!
With the help of the stylist the last bobby pin I would need was placed in my hair when we heard a scream that sounded an awful lot like Melinda. The stylist jumped, digging that pin deep into my scalp.
I hissed in pain and mentally grumbled at Melinda’s scream and what I assumed was general carelessness. She was the type of person I assumed would have a stroke if she broke a nail. Right now I didn’t see any reason to think differently.
Still, despite my anger at her, there was curiosity.
“What happened?” I asked in the most patient voice I could possibly muster under the circumstances. It was not easy either as I felt as if the school yard bully was trapped in a room with me.
I could hear the clucking of over women as they were all gathered around Melinda’s backside and hip. Under different circumstances it would have been rather entertaining. Still, the stubborn, hurt, and angry part of me hoped that this would force her to change dresses. She had chosen to wore a screaming fire engine red silk satin dress with crystals beaded all over it. I had suspected this was somehow done to upstage me as the bride. Despite it being the bride’s day there was often someone who wanted all the attention on themselves and Melinda did like her attention. This kind, however, I don’t think she wanted.
“My dress split! It split right open in the back! Alex bought this dress for me and he’ll have kittens!” She wailed.
I could’ve just blamed this on a dose of instant karma and hoped that she would change. I could have but something wouldn’t let me.
“My mom left an old sewing kit here. Take the dress off and I can mend it,” I said.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes! Now take it off because we don’t have much time!”
She reluctantly did so and handed it to me. Someone else gave her a robe so she would not be sitting there practically naked in front of all of us.
Though I was not that familiar with this type of fabric I did my best to mend it with as small stitches as possible. If it at least held until the end of the ceremony or the reception I would be happy. I was also grateful Mom had spent that time teaching us basic mending skills.
“You should thank Amanda for what she’s doing,” my sister spoke up.
Melinda muttered something of a quick thanks but my sister was having none of it.
“You treat us all badly because we’re not wealthy like you and now that you need us you still treat us poorly?”
Before it could escalate I cut in, “I’m not doing this for you, Melinda. I’m doing it for Blake as I know it would also be important to him.”
“If it were me I’d just let you waddle down the aisle with your ass exposed to half the world!” My sister snapped.
“Stop it! All of you!” I ordered as if I were talking to a group of unruly kids. “It’s my wedding and I want you all to behave!”
I clipped the stitches to Melinda’s dress and turned it right side out before handing it to her.
“There, that should do it until the end of the ceremony. You might want to enlist in a backup dress just in case.”
Melinda took the dress from my hands, “I do have one. Thank you.”
To my surprise she actually did seem grateful.
It was a small victory but still a victory. Perhaps this would be the one little thing that might help me gain an ally while navigating my way through this family.
If nothing else it at least stopped some problems for now.
Mom had indeed been right in always carry some small necessities with you on the day of your wedding.
There was a knock on the door followed by an announcement that it was time for the ceremony to begin. I would have been the first one out the door but Melinda reached it before I could. For a moment I thought that she was trying to upstage me when she stopped and looked from side to side.
“All clear! No sign of the groom in sight!” Melinda said.
It was an old custom that the bride and groom should never see one another before the wedding. While it may be a dated custom part of me still felt glad that Melinda was making sure that Blake was not around to see me.
Even Melinda’s attitude seemed to be tamed down as we walked to the ceremony. She was actually putting forth an effort to do nice things for me. I didn’t know if she could out right apologize to me for her actions due to pride or something else that she wouldn’t reveal. Perhaps this was her way of trying to make things right by doing the right and nice things.
Thankfully the rest of my party was also calmed down and there were no more spats. If there were I certainly was not informed of or about them.
The grand doors of the church open and off walked my bridal party followed by me. I could see Blake at the very end of the aisle looking almost relieved that I was in fact standing there. I was equally nervous and hoping that he was standing in his place when the ceremony began.
We had opted for a quick ceremony with the exchange of vows and rings. I liked the idea of having a quick ceremony and I suspect Blake liked it too.
At the end of the ceremony we were practically rushed out of the room and to a large limo that was waiting for us.
“Are we going home?” I asked my new husband.
“We will eventually, but right now we have our honey moon to attend to.”
“Where will we be going?”
“You will find out soon enough.”
We both smiled at each other.
Mom was right about one thing.
The wedding ceremonies always seemed to go off perfectly.
I felt it was both perfect and very happy.
I know I was happy.
Part Three
Chapter One
For our honeymoon we could’ve gone anywhere in the world. Blake had even promised me that we could see any far off corner of the world that we could possibly dream of. It felt like no corner of the world was off limits.
Despite this promise I felt I did not want to go off to see some new part of the world. I suppose in some way that could have sounded ungrateful. It was not a lack of gratitude that motivated me but more of a wish that I wanted to see my own country. I wanted to see the famous land marks and places in America that I had never seen before. I suppose some part of me did sound a bit petty for wanting to stay in the country this time. There were so many land marks that I had never seen before.
Imagine seeing the General Sherman tree! A tree that was growing when Jesus walked the earth!
A
nother part of my reasoning behind it is I wanted to see some of the locations and artifacts I had studied so much about in school. I suppose as children we all dreamed about living back in a different time period and being able to see what tools people used not only to survive but to thrive.
I knew of various doll companies making historical dolls that focus on particular eras of time. I wish those had been popular or had been made when I was growing up! I know my sister and I would have begged our mother for them. As a girl I had liked changing my doll’s clothes and playing Laura Ingalls Wilder with my sister. I suppose almost all girls do.
For the time being we were staying inside the honeymoon suite of an old hotel that had been built around the 1920’s. The hotel had quite the history about it and some of it was tragic. The hotel had been listed as “absolutely fireproof” yet history had a way of proving them wrong. When the hotel burnt down in the 1940’s it was re-built with many of the same aesthetic features that the original hotel had.
Many years later the hotel was once again remodeled to bring it up to code. For the most part most of the furniture and lighting were reproductions as it would not be safe to have original pieces in the hotel. It wasn’t the fear of theft that motivated them but rather the fear of lead based paint and other things that could harm guests.
While the 1920’s style wasn’t something that I would personally pick I did enjoy seeing some of the pieces as they were quite attractive. It made me think of those pictures I had seen of my great-grandmother in the styles of those days and wearing T-strap black shoes. Despite the ugliness of the racism and segregation of that time period she still allowed herself to stay beautiful and with a kind heart. If I had been in that position I don’t know if I would have felt the same. It made me both admire her and yet feel sad because she grew up in such an era.
I had perched myself on the corner of the bed and flipped through a few pamphlets I had picked up in the lobby. A boldly colored one was about the hotel’s history and the occasional alleged ghost tour. There was no mention of how many people, if any, had died in the fire. Many people had hoped that no one had died and the ghost tour was just something to drum up attention.
Other pamphlets had text and large and brightly colored photographs about popular tourist spots. Everything seemed bigger and bolder than the last and I didn’t know where to start looking.
Blake came into the room and chuckled when he saw me looking over everything. “Did you get all those tourism brochures from the lobby?”
“You’d be doing the same thing if you didn’t know where all the tourist hot spots were,” I told him with a grin.
“Not all of the hot spots,” he retorted and then laughed.
“Oh, so there is some part of the world that is still a mystery to the great billionaire Blake?”
“If I knew where everything was where would the fun be in seeing and learning about them?”
We both laughed at that and Blake came up next to me. He took the pamphlet from my hand and asked, “Where do you want to go for our honeymoon?”
“I’d like to see more of the States,” I admitted.
Blake nodded, “Then where too?”
I paused and thought about it. Blake had asked a very good question as I had never considered that little fact until now. Finally I said, “Would you believe I’ve never seen Plymouth Rock?”
Blake grinned at me and chuckled lightly, “Really?”
“Yes and what’s so funny?”
“It’s going to be a surprise when you see it!”
I acted skeptical and folded my arms across my chest, “Uh-huh?”
Grinning Blake nodded and quickly kissed me. “Get dressed and I’ll take you there today.”
Blake was not kidding when he said it would be a surprise. I knew that the area around Plymouth Rock had been more or less fenced off and was for viewing only.
The open building around it reminded me of those old Roman temples with their tall marble pillars. High above the pillars something was engraved into the marble that I couldn’t quite make out. I had thought it must have been some sort of design that had been weathered away by time and the elements. I did wonder at first if the pillars and designs had been brightly painted like the old statues in Rome.
Stepping around the pillars made me feel as if I were going back into time. After all, how often did you see such pillars around and about in everyday life? I felt I could have easily been back in ancient Roman times when people looked down upon the spectacles below them.
I knew Plymouth Rock now safely rested at sea level and was encased by a black fence.
I could hear the sound of the sea roar in front of us and see the waves come crashing against the rocks surrounding the land. I did rather enjoy the smell of the sea and the sight of the waves.
Around us stood a small gathering of people which surprised me. I surely did expect to see more people around and about wanting to see this famous rock.
Beside me Blake was quietly snickering.
“What is so funny?” I questioned him.
“I’m just waiting for your reaction.”
I had imagined Blake was waiting for me to look at the rock and marvel at how big or weathered it was. I thought to myself that there was no harm in amusing him and went to the black fence to comment on the supposedly large size of the rock.
The joke, however, was on me when I looked down.
Below me was not the large or impressive looking stone I had imagined it to be. Instead a weathered small rock with the year 1620 etched on it stared back up at me. I certainly had not expected that! It was really nothing like what we had been taught in school. In school we had always imagined the rock to be this gigantic and larger than life object that was depicted in paintings. At first I wanted to blame the small size of the rock on erosion but perhaps it really was that small.
“That’s it?” I blurted out.
The moment I had spoken Blake burst into gales of laughter.
A few others who had come to see the rock also turned to look at us.
“Got another one, huh?” A man asked.
“No one ever expects it to be so small!” Blake laughed. “I said the same thing when I was a kid and I saw Plymouth Rock for the first time.”
“You were waiting this entire time for me to be surprised, eh?” I asked him.
Grinning Blake nodded. “It never gets old seeing people’s first time reactions. My personal favorite is ‘where’s the rest of it?’”
Going over to Blake I nudged him in the ribs. “Alright wise guy.”
Still chuckling lightly Blake nodded and slid his arms around my shoulders. “Okay, let’s go see some of the other sights. It’s a good thing that we have plenty of time as it can take more than a week to see everything.”
“Really?” I asked.
Blake nodded, “I have been here more times than I’ve got fingers and it feels like I’ve still got more to see and learn about. When I was a kid my parents used to vacation here every summer. We’d always see something new and different. As a kid I never really appreciated or even enjoyed it. To me it was something that I was being separated from my friends and dragged along to. As an adult I can enjoy and appreciate it more. I do hope my parents know that now.”
“I think they do,” I replied. “They took you there for some great learning opportunities and you did learn, didn’t you?”
“Yes, of course!”
“Then something was done right.”
Chapter Two
Touring Massachusetts was fun and Blake was right in that you can be there for a week and still not have seen everything! I was grateful that I had these chances but also wish my family had had the same opportunities when I was growing up. At the same time I had debated if I would have appreciated them as much back then as I did now?
I had asked Blake if I could buy a disposable camera to take sightseeing pictures? It was unusual but some places still did develop film!
“Why not use yo
ur phone?” Blake asked, as he appeared clearly confused by my seemingly strange request.
“Where’s the fun in that? Holding a camera, a real camera, in your hands is quite the experience.”
“When I was a kid I once held my mother’s vintage camera in my hands and dropped it. I wasn’t allowed to hold a camera again for a long time.”
“I’m sure you won’t drop this one,” I told him. “Besides, I’d feel bad if we used something really expensive and it got lost or stolen.”