by Diana Palmer
“That sounds really exciting,” Maud said. She glanced at the watch on her right wrist. “Ten minutes to go.”
“Yep, we’re getting there,” Molly said. “Your dad will be knocking on the door in about a minute before you walk down the aisle. He’s excited and so proud of you, Maud.”
“He’s super excited!” Maud said, smiling. “I’m so glad he’ll be with me.”
Once her dad arrived, the photographer asked if the three of them could stand together for some impromptu pictures and they complied. Afterward, Molly said, “I’m going down to the fridge and get all our bouquets. I’ll be back in five minutes! You look beautiful, Maud!”
Maud smiled a little, her stomach tight with anticipation. Not one who craved the limelight and attention, she wished for a justice of the peace at the courthouse instead. But her mother would have had a conniption over that idea. She wanted a big wedding, and her parents had paid for the whole shindig. Smoothing the dress, her mother came forward and blew her an air kiss.
“Soon, darling girl!” She squeezed Maud’s hand. “You’re so beautiful in that dress!”
“Our dress,” Maud said, giving Lydia a fond look of gratefulness. “It gives this dress so much more meaning to me that both of you have worked on it.”
“Indeed. Well, I’m going to get my seat. Lydia? Coming?”
“Yes,” she said, picking up her small white beaded purse.
“Molly will put the flowers in my hair,” Maud told them. “Skedaddle!” They all hugged one another and then left.
For about three minutes, it was silent in the room. Maud slipped into her low white heels, hating to even wear them. She’d much rather be in a pair of her old cowboy boots or her work boots. At least her toes wouldn’t be pinched in her boots with the severely pointed toes on these darned heels. What a pain!
Molly came whizzing in, arms full of two cascade bouquets and her hairband ornament. Breathless, she grinned, pushed the door closed, and settled the flowers in place on a couch. Grabbing the hair spray nearby on a table, she quickly placed the hairband over her head, the flowers fresh and in place.
“Perfect! The guys are already up there at the altar! Everyone’s excited!” She turned, handing Maud her cascade of the huge yellow daisies that had been placed with orange carnations and cream-colored roses. The same flowers were in her hair. “You look gorgeous! Steve is gonna faint when he sees you! He’s never seen you so dolled up,” she said, and she laughed, grabbing her bouquet, which was about half the size of Maud’s.
“There’s our cue,” Maud whispered, her voice squeaky with nerves, listening to the organ song now starting to play.
“I’ll get the kids out in front of me right now! Just peek out the door once we get them about a quarter of the way down the aisle.”
“And that’s my cue to come out.”
“Yep!” Molly said, and squeezed her hand and slipped out the door, leaving it open for James to enter. It was Molly’s job to get the children lined up, give them a last-minute reminder of what they were to do, and then send them down that white-carpet aisle. Maud smiled, peeking and seeing cute little Sherrie Muir with a large willow basket full of daisies and cream rose petals. She was having a ball throwing them into the air. People along the aisle laughed and smiled hugely at the child as she passed by them.
“Are you ready?” James asked her, giving her a kiss on the temple.
“More than ready, Dad. You look great in your tuxedo!” she said.
“Are you disappointed I’m not in western gear?” he asked, giving her a grin.
“Not at all. You and Mom represent the East Coast. Steve and his friends and family represent the West. I think it’s fine.”
Her gaze drifted up to the front. Rev Sheila was in her cream-colored robe, a bright red mantle around her neck and hanging halfway down it, the black Bible in her hands, smiling beneficently at everyone.
Her heart pounded to underscore how handsome Steve looked. He wore a black light wool western tuxedo. The coat had two buttons, showing the white cotton shirt he’d chosen and the thin black tie around his throat. With that black Stetson on his head, he looked dangerous, sexy, and all hers.
His best man, Brad Truelove, was dressed in the same type of tuxedo, but wore a green silk vest beneath the coat, the same color and fabric as the maid of honor’s dress. Next to him, Steve’s groomsman, Chris Cooper, another student he’d met at Princeton, was dressed the same as Brad. They’d grown very close over the years. Both guys, she knew, were from the East Coast. She wondered how they felt wearing western duds, cowboy boots, and Stetsons. She grinned and giggled. It was nerves. Her father smiled at her.
Little Sherri Muir got the hang of throwing flower petals around and started skipping and dancing about halfway down the aisle. The church erupted with laughter and clapping.
Maud’s throat tightened as Sam stood up when little Todd, the ring bearer, drew closer. He held out his large hand to the boy, who was looking all around, tripped, almost fell, but held on to that green pillow that had a pair of fake wedding rings on it.
Once Sherri was at the altar, standing next to Todd, and he was standing next to Sam’s tall, calm side, the organ music changed.
Molly looked back at Maud, grinned, turned, and then became solemn and stepped forward, her movements measured with the beat of the slow music. Maud slipped her arm around her father’s waiting arm. Her heart started beating so loudly she could hardly hear anything. She held the bouquet in front of her and waited until Molly made it up to the front of the altar.
Maud felt her father gently tug her arm as a signal to start walking down the aisle with him.
The organ music thundered, sending vibrations throughout the packed church, as the wedding march filled the area. Everyone stood, turned, and faced her.
Oh! She felt like a fly pinned to a piece of cardboard in a science class! But she knew most of these people. They were her friends, and her neighbors. Her father glanced down at her, and she melted beneath his look of love.
Suddenly, all her nerves dissolved and, in their place, she felt a lightness entering her heart, appreciating that all these people took pains and care to come in their best finery to see her married to Steve. It brought tears to her eyes and she swallowed hard and kept doing that slow step forward. They were all celebrating her and Steve’s coming happiness. How could she be nervous about that? Maud just wasn’t used to such intense scrutiny, an introvert, a shadow who quietly walked through life and liked it that way. It could have been overwhelming if she hadn’t focused on the wonderful celebration that was here, in this church.
When her gaze moved to Steve, she no longer heard much of anything else. It was as if her whole life, her reason for existing, was standing and waiting for her at the altar. She saw the warmth in his pale blue eyes that reminded her of the wide sky during the heat of August in Wyoming. She clung to his gaze, feeling an invisible warmth reach out and encircle her in an embrace. It dissolved all her nervousness and anxiety.
In its place was a wonderful, flowing happiness sweeping through her chest, her heart swelling with such joy she thought she might faint from the euphoria now enclosing her. She saw nothing but Steve. As she approached the altar, Molly took her beautiful cascade of flowers, smiling broadly.
James moved forward, taking her elbow and guiding her to where Steve stood. Her father gave her a watery smile, and she knew he was just as emotional as she was. Maud reached up, kissing her father’s cheek, seeing tears glimmer in his eyes. She saw Steve’s parents wiping their eyes, too.
Steve’s hand was warm, solid, and calming to Maud. He stood so tall and proud beside her. Rev Sheila was beaming broadly at them.
James shook his hand. “I know you love my daughter and she loves you. Welcome to our family.”
Steve nodded. “Thank you,” he choked out.
James turned and sat down in the first pew next to Martha, who was dabbing her eyes with a white linen handkerchief. The organ music
began to fade away.
Maud faced Steve. They reached out, claiming each other’s extended hands. The pastor began reciting the ageless words that so many couples had heard before, but for Maud, as she repeated them, they were brand-new and she meant every word she spoke. She drowned in Steve’s moistened eyes. His voice shook with emotion as he spoke those same words back to her. Their whole world anchored to a sweet halt, embracing them as their many friends and families listened intently with their eyes, ears, and hearts. When it came time for little Todd to hold the pillow up toward Steve, the child beamed proudly. The real wedding ring was already in his hand, but Steve went through the motions of taking the one on the pillow. He thanked Todd, patting him gently on the shoulder and then aiming him toward Sam, who took him back to his side once more.
Maud lifted her hand and Steve took it, saying the words he meant with all his heart as he slid the simple gold ring onto her finger. And then, Maud took a larger plain gold ring for him, whispered the words, tears leaking from her eyes, as she slid it on his finger.
“You may kiss the bride,” Sheila pronounced, her voice husky with feeling.
Maud stepped forward, Steve cupped his hands around her shoulders, drawing her near, guiding her to him, and she relaxed. It was over. It was real. This was forever.
As he leaned down, his mouth brushing hers, she felt a flare of such overwhelming joy that tears were running down her cheeks, trickling into the corners of her mouth. He kissed her with all the tenderness he had inside him, her tears melding and connecting them.
Tears of joy.
* * *
“I have one more gift to give you before the day’s over,” Steve confided to Maud. They had spent four hours at the annex, dancing and chatting with their friends and relatives. The photographers were everywhere. Five hundred people showed up and all the wives had brought casseroles, and a feast was had by everyone. They managed to slip out about five p.m. and drove back to the main house where they had one wing of the log cabin that they would call home for now. Tonight, they could sleep together, make love with each other, and no longer have to hide how they felt from anyone. It was a day of freedom as far as he was concerned as he pulled out a long, thick roll of paper from the nearby closet in the living room.
Maud poked her head out the bedroom door, pulling on a favorite old pink T-shirt that hung over her hips and had short sleeves. She had traded in her beautiful wedding dress for a pair of gray sweatpants and comfy old tennis shoes. Taking the hair ornament out, she had brushed her hair so it rested once more on her shoulders. “Really?” She wandered out into the living room where he was unrolling the papers. Looking at them, she realized it looked like architectural drawings for a house. Sitting down next to him, she said, “Is this the surprise you were hinting at last week in the barn?”
Steve grinned. “Yeah, it is.” He slid his arm around her waist, pulling her close. “This is going to be our home, Maud. I worked with Sam on these months earlier. My parents have given us ten acres of land about a mile down the road. It’s away from all the busy areas that their home is a part of around here. Lydia thought you’d appreciate the grove of trees, with the house built on one side of them, and it will protect it from the hard west winds of winter.”
“That’s wonderful!” she said, blossoming into a smile. “Ten acres? I know where that grove of pine trees is, Steve. It’s one of my favorite places to go ride and have a picnic. It’s such a quiet place. I just love that area!”
“Well, it’s all ours now,” he said, spreading out the blueprint. “I’ve drawn up the plans, but I want your input and ideas.” And he laid out the two-story log cabin. It had a total of five bedrooms. Maud had often wished out loud to have four children; two boys and two girls. He knew that because of his career, which had made him an instant global architect star, they could afford a large family. He absorbed her excitement as he showed the lower part of the home would be wide open and not hidden behind walls or partitions, as most homes were nowadays. Anyone in the L-shaped kitchen could look up and see the family in the dining room or living room. It was a huge and masterful project that must have taken him weeks to figure out the underlying construction to make it structurally sound.
For nearly an hour, they were bent over the coffee table and the many drawings he had labored over for nearly a month. Maud had good ideas, things he could change in the blueprints. Things she wanted in her kitchen, or in the four bedrooms that they hoped someday would be for each of their children.
Finally, Maud sat up and leaned back, taking his hand, kissing the back of it. “You’re so visionary, Steve. How is it a kid of a Wyoming rancher has such an incredible and creative mind?”
He flushed. He liked the pride in her eyes over his efforts to create their new home that would be built starting a week from now. “I honestly don’t know. My family has always been ranchers here in Wyoming for over a hundred years. You know from being out here in the summer for the last four years that being a rancher means having to be super creative. We make do with things or create tools or fixes, from whatever we have lying around.”
“That’s common sense talking,” she agreed.
He glanced at the blueprints. “Building and designing need total common sense.”
She moved and tucked her legs beneath her. She slid her arm around his shoulders, resting her head against his neck. “I love it. I love you.”
“My dad is going to work with the local contractors. He’ll be managing the whole project.”
“Yes, and winter comes early in September. They don’t have much time to bring everything in. And who is going to build it in the winter?”
“Sam has several construction companies lined up and they plan to have the shell up and enclosed with a tin roof by mid-October. Then? All the inside work, the drywall, the stringing of electric and putting in the plumbing, can be done. The main contractor, Ryan Collier, out of Driggs, Idaho, just across the border from the valley, will be managing the crews who are coming and going. Getting the cabin enclosed means everything. Usually, if we’re lucky, mid-October will bring some snow, but not the five-foot blizzards of December onward.”
“That’s an amazing time line, Steve. You’re leaving at the end of September for Africa.”
He gave her a sad look. “Yeah, even though I’m excited about going to Africa to put my plans on the ground, I’m going to miss you, and miss the building of our home.”
She squeezed his shoulder, commiserating with him. “I’ll miss you so much. . . .”
“I’ll be calling you every night when I’m in the city. But five days a week I’ll be out in the boondocks where there’s no electricity or phone lines.”
“We’ll deal with it,” Maud whispered, kissing his cheek. She could feel the heaviness around Steve. They had had four happy years living together. Now, they were going to endure two years apart, off and on. It was hard on both of them. “And I’ll send you photos every week so you can see how the cabin is taking shape.”
“I’m going to look forward to them,” he said, emotion in his voice.
“We can look forward to the rooms, the paint colors we’d like, the type of furniture you and I want. I’ll be cutting out a lot of magazine pictures on these things and stuffing them into the envelope as well.”
Steve leaned back, placing his arm around her shoulder. He kissed her slowly, sliding his hand along her cheek, holding her in place to absorb the sweetness of the woman he loved more than his life. He nibbled on her ear and she giggled, lifting her head away, giving him a chastising look.
“That’s not fair!”
“No,” he admitted, sliding his fingers through her loose, shining hair, “it’s not. I’m going to miss sneaking up on you and doing it.”
“Joker!” she said, and she laughed, kissing him hard and swiftly.
“I like making you laugh, sweet woman. Your eyes are incredibly beautiful when you do it.”
“You’re a silver-tongued devil, Whitcomb,”
she said, and she slid her hand along his jaw, leaning forward and whispering against his smiling mouth, “but I love you anyway. . . .”
Chapter Six
September 30, 1970
Steve moved quietly, rolling onto his side, watching Maud sleeping deeply next to him. Outside the window, he saw the autumn dawn peeking around the edges of a blanket put up over the glass. The construction work on their cabin had accelerated because he’d wanted their bedroom in the house completed before he left for Africa. Everyone involved had worked hard and on weekends to enclose the shell of the cabin to protect it from the coming snow, which had already fallen three times earlier. His father had gotten several men to complete their bedroom on the second floor, put in the electric, the plumbing, drywalled it, and painted it so he and Maud could have this night in their own home before he left for Africa. He could dream, when alone, of this night together with his wife. It would sustain him over the months that he’d be gone from her warm, loving arms.
He watched the slow rise and fall of her chest beneath the pink flannel granny gown she wore, and the purple goose down comforter that lay across her shoulders, which kept them toasty on the below-freezing night. There was no heat in the cabin yet. Their master bathroom was off the bedroom, and they’d enjoyed a hot, steamy shower together in it last night. But no heat in the cabin meant piling on the blankets, plus the comforter. They’d made love and then slept. And woke up again around three a.m. and loved each other a final time. Each had fallen into an exhausted sleep in the other’s arms after that.
The windows did not have drapes on them yet, but that would come with time. The blankets would do. The queen-size bed was the only thing in the room, along with two small braided brown, cream, and yellow rugs on either side of it. The floor was still in its plyboard phase, the oak flooring not yet due for arrival. Still, it was their bedroom and Steve would carry this special memory in their lives with him to Africa. From the time they had been married in June, to a few days ago, they had gone over every detail of what color each room in their cabin would be painted, the appliances to be ordered, the furniture chosen for each room; and it was all placed in Maud’s thick, growing scrapbook, along with ordering information for each piece.