“You’re sober,” Iris observed.
“Me and Adrienne both are. Somebody has to keep a clear head, but you don’t.”
Iris took a healthy gulp from her glass and gave me a lopsided grin. “I like these.”
“You won’t in the morning.”
“It is morning,” Iris said with a yawn. “Do you tink they’ll be offended if I call it a night?”
I looked over her shoulder at the crew who were either dancing or bellied up to the bar. “I think they’ll be just fine.”
Iris and her daughters went around to everyone thanking them and hugging necks, then they turned in for the evening. I was jealous. I wanted a shower and my bed. I looked around for Adrienne and found her taking some of the dishes to the kitchen. She’d already started to clean up, so I loaded up an armful of plates and followed her.
“I’m dead on my feet,” she said without looking over her shoulder as she dropped the dishes into the sink.
“They’re slowing down a bit. Shelby looks like she’s going to puke, so I imagine the herd will begin to thin soon.”
Adrienne walked over to me and wrapped her arms around my neck. “Remember what we did last year in this kitchen?” she asked seductively.
My hands slid down her lower back and over her backside, and I whispered against her ear, “I remember it well. This time, though, you’ll be on the receiving end.”
For someone “dead on her feet,” she delivered a toe-curling kiss. Her teeth grazed my bottom lip as she pulled away. In my lust-induced haze, I barely heard the clanking of dishes behind me.
“I’m sorry,” Sarah said and averted her eyes as I turned to look at her.
Adrienne let go of her hold on me. “Sarah, don’t worry about cleaning up. We’ll take care of it after the party. Go have some fun.”
Sarah shrugged as she set a tray on the counter. “They’ve all gone down to the beach, so I thought I’d start cleaning.”
“Everyone has gone to the beach?” I asked with a sinking feeling in my stomach.
“Including your momma and sister-in-law,” Sarah said with a big smile.
I looked at Adrienne in horror. “I’ll get some towels.” She darted from the kitchen.
I scrubbed at my face and looked at Sarah, who was on the verge of laughter. “You go ahead and take the night off, it’s going to be a busy day tomorrow. Thank you for helping us this evening.”
“All my pleasure,” I heard her say as I ran past her on my way to the beach.
We could hear the laughter from the bluff; the full moon illuminated the bodies splashing in the water below.
“Surely, Margaret Tate is not naked in that water,” I said as we made our way down to the sand.
Adrienne said nothing but snorted with laughter a few seconds later.
I waded knee deep in the surf looking for my mother and Wanda, but naked wet people all look the same in the moonlight.
“Oh, come in, Hayden, the water’s glorious,” my mother called out. I followed the sound of her voice and waded deeper into the water.
“Mom!” I said, sounding much like her when she scolded me. “Are you naked?”
“Well, that is the idea. You can’t very well skinny-dip with your clothes on.”
“Who are you?” I asked bewildered. This was not the woman I’d grown up with. “Did you have a frontal lobotomy and not tell me about it?”
Mom dog paddled over on a small wave and came to stand in front of me with her hands on her hips. “I’m a grown woman who has raised her kids, and I’m ready to live now, damn it!”
I could hear her partner in crime, Wanda, cackling nearby. The rest of the gang stayed away, probably feeling a little guilty for corrupting my mother.
I couldn’t help but laugh, as well. “Mom, you’re crazy.”
“You had to get it from somewhere, and Gloria can’t take all the credit,” she said. “Now are you coming in or not? Because I’m missing out on some good waves.”
“Nope, you go ahead and play. Adrienne and I have some cleaning up to do, but we’ll leave you some towels on the beach chairs.”
The sight of my mom’s white butt glinting in the moonlight as she turned and dove into a wave would be forever etched in my memory.
“What do you think your dad’s going to say?” Adrienne asked as I walked toward where she stood on the shore.
“I’m not telling him, and you better not, either. We’ll leave that to the new Margaret.”
At nearly three in the morning, Adrienne and I collapsed onto our bed after showering. We’d taken Mom and Wanda back to the Hideaway, and when Dad got a look at Mom’s wet hair and ruined makeup, I just shrugged. Sarah ignored what I’d told her and nearly had the bar and kitchen back together when we arrived. She’d have a nice bonus in her next paycheck.
Adrienne threw an arm over her eyes and said with a moan, “Dear God in heaven, please let the next two days pass quickly. I don’t think I can take anymore.”
“How do you know about anal beads?” I managed to ask between yawns.
Adrienne’s arm flopped down on the bed and she looked at me. “Honey, do you really have to ask that? With all the gay men coming to this inn, I’m surprised you don’t know anything about them.”
“That makes me feel better. I was a mite uncomfortable with the idea of you coming at me with a string of beads.”
“I doubt you’d get much out of it. Now turn off the light.”
Adrienne was asleep before the room grew dark.
Four hours later, we were up making breakfast. We threatened Iris within an inch of her life not to step foot into the kitchen. She had the day off to relax and prepare for the wedding that would occur that evening. She complied with our wishes, but I think it had more to do with a hangover than being fearful of Adrienne and me.
We served up breakfast and lunch, cleaned the bar, and went over last-minute preparations. Then we took a nap. I think it was the hardest I’d slept in a very long time.
Iris had insisted upon choosing what we would wear, since we would be standing with her and Colie. I didn’t argue with her choice, but it pained me to slip into the white sundress with criss-crossing straps across the back. She did take pity on me, though, and selected low-heeled sling-back sandals to accompany the dress.
I looked at myself in the mirror and sighed. It’d been a long time since I’d worn anything of the sort. On the bright side, my hair decided to cooperate. I wore it down and it cascaded over my shoulders in waves. I’d made up my mind that if it were to curl in that funky way I hated, it was going into a ponytail and I’d suffer Iris’s wrath after the honeymoon.
“You look lovely,” Adrienne said from behind me as she came into the room. When I turned and looked at her, I was truly at a loss for words. Her tanned skin glowed against the pristine white of the dress that hugged each curve of her shapely body. What little makeup she’d applied made her eyes more pronounced and impossibly green. Her glossy auburn hair spilled over her shoulders and down her back.
“I’m the luckiest woman in the world,” I managed to croak out.
She smiled and gave me a chaste kiss, keeping her distance so as not to wrinkle the dresses. “Actually, I hold that title.” She took my hand. I opened my mouth to protest, but she said, “We’ll debate it later, right now we have somewhere to be.”
I looked out over the crowd of smiling faces, while standing next to Colie and the justice of the peace on the platform we’d erected in the courtyard. Soft music played in the background accompanied by the gentle trickling of the fountain. Teddy, the ring bearer, smiled up at me as he stood next to us, dressed in a miniature tuxedo that matched Colie’s.
The audience stood and turned as the wedding march began, and I heard Colie mumble under his breath, “My God,” as he looked at Iris. She and Adrienne walked arm in arm slowly up the rose petal-strewn path, and I’d never seen either of them look more beautiful.
Iris wanted something simple, and I suppose as wedding
dresses go, the one she wore was exactly that. A tasteful v-neck number that had a mermaid bottom, with the bodice covered in shimmering beaded lace. It was exquisite, and Iris was absolutely radiant.
When they joined us on the platform, Colie offered his arm and Iris took it with a smile. They faced each other as the justice of the peace began the ceremony. Adrienne’s eyes met mine as I heard the deep baritone voice ask, “Do you take this woman to be…”
I looked at Adrienne.
“Will you respect and treasure her as long as you both shall live?”
I watched her mouth I do, while looking me in the eyes.
“In sickness, and in health, forsaking all others for as long as you both shall live?”
As Iris responded vocally, I did the same silently mouthing, I do.
Adrienne and I were so focused on each other that neither of us witnessed the exchanging of the rings. Nor did we notice the kiss shared by Iris and Colie. It was only when Teddy took our hands and began following the happy couple, that we realized the ceremony was over.
Champagne flowed, guests mingled and congratulated, and Adrienne and I were locked in some sort of haze. People talked to both of us from the minute we followed Iris and Colie down the aisle. We hadn’t so much as spoken a word to each other, but our hands stayed locked together.
“Something happened to you two up there, didn’t it?” Shelby asked with a smile. “Will we be witnessing a ceremony like that again soon?”
“I think you just witnessed it.” I drew Adrienne’s hand to my lips where I planted a kiss.
Adrienne looked at me. “I don’t need a ceremony to validate what I just promised you.”
“Then it’s sealed between us, my love.”
“Kiss on it,” Shelby said excitedly. “I’ll be your witness.”
In front of my family and all the guests, I kissed Adrienne for the first time as my wife, though they didn’t know it. We preferred it that way. No piece of paper, no words spoken by humankind could validate the commitment we made that day. It was ours alone.
The reception went well into the night, and Adrienne and I slipped away from all the noise and fanfare. We stopped by our cottage first and changed into comfortable clothes, then sneaked down to the beach hand in hand and strolled along the water’s edge. The sand and water seemed to glow beneath the full moon.
“So how does it feel to be married to me?” I asked. “Any regrets?”
Adrienne chuckled and squeezed my hand. “I’ve been yours since our first kiss right here on this beach. I’ve never had any regrets, and I know I never will.”
“You do realize that our commitment is incomplete.”
Adrienne stopped walking and turned to look at me. With her face bathed in moonlight, she was the loveliest woman I’d ever had the pleasure of gazing upon.
“Incomplete?” she said.
I dug into my pocket and pulled out the box. As I opened the lid, moonlight reflected off the two gold bands.
“Would you do me the honor of wearing this ring, so that everyone knows you’re mine and I’m yours?” I pulled Adrienne’s ring from the box.
Adrienne’s glistening eyes met mine as she presented me with her left hand. I slipped the gold band onto her finger and kissed it.
“Give me your hand, Hayden,” Adrienne said as she took the box and pulled out the other ring. She took a deep breath and looked me in the eyes as she slid the ring onto my finger. “What we’re doing may not be looked upon as legally binding, but in my heart, it is. Whatever I have is yours. All my dreams and hopes will be shared with you, and I take comfort in knowing that come what may, you’ll be right here by my side. And I promise you that I will love and support you until I take my last breath.”
It wasn’t her words that affected me so or the serious tone of her voice. It was her eyes. In them, I could see so clearly that she was making a promise that she meant to keep. A lump formed in my throat, and I knew that everything I wanted to say would come out in an emotional jumbled mess. “Till death do us part” was the only thing I could manage.
She kissed me then. We stood alone on our beach wrapped in each other’s arms, both knowing that this was where our story truly began.
Epilogue
I watched as the sunlight reflected off the band on Adrienne’s finger as she rubbed sunscreen onto Teddy’s shoulders. He could barely keep still and begged her to hurry. I listened as she reminded him to stay in the surf, then he shot off like a rocket squealing with delight as his feet hit the water.
“Do you remember the other day when we took him to the beach so you could find out what was going on in his mind?” I asked.
Adrienne’s eyes stayed fixed on Teddy as he splashed and played in the waves. “Yes, I do.”
“It wasn’t a momentary lapse of sanity,” I said, causing her to look at me. “I’ve been thinking about it a lot, we should do it.”
“Babies change your life,” Adrienne said.
“I know.”
She glanced back at Teddy and toyed with the ring on her finger. “They break your things and keep you up late at night.”
“I know.”
Adrienne reached over and took my hand, kissing the palm. “But it would be ours.”
“She will be ours,” I corrected.
“We really can’t afford artificial insemination right now, it’s expensive.” Adrienne sighed. “We’d have to save for a long time.”
“Not necessarily.”
She gave me a questioning look.
“You really don’t know, do you?”
“Know what?”
“Gloria’s secret.”
“I’m afraid I really don’t.”
“In the back of the journal Aggie gave me, there was a special message. It seems that Gloria had been putting money away for a rainy day.” I had to laugh. Of all the things Adrienne could pick out of my head, she couldn’t get this. “There was over a hundred thousand dollars in the wall behind the pantry. I counted it myself.”
Adrienne’s mouth fell open, but no sound came out.
“So this is what I’m thinking,” I continued while she sat there dumbstruck. “We’ll go get our fertilizer, then we’ll draw up plans for a house. We can’t keep a baby in our tiny cottage. I’ve picked out a spot overlooking the—”
I never got to finish. Adrienne leapt on me with alternating kisses and playful slaps for the one thing I was able to keep from her. She’d even known about the rings I bought for us in Nassau, but she never saw this coming.
It was Gloria’s secret, and I kept it.
About the author
Robin Alexander has written four other novels for Intaglio Publications—Gloria’s Inn, Murky Waters, The Taking of Eden, and Gift of Time. Her short story “Crossing the Line” appears in the anthology Romance for Life.
Robin spends her days working with the staff of Intaglio and her nights with her own writings. She still manages to find time to spend with her partner, Becky, who she admits is her inspiration.
You can email her at [email protected].
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