CiCi smiled broadly and nodded to Walker.
“We were wondering whether you two might be able to spare a few minutes before lunch,” Walker said.
“Sure, I guess so. But what—”
Before Pepper could finish, Jon stepped from the stairwell into the hall.
“Good! There you are!” CiCi set upon a very startled Jon. She greeted him at the top of the stairs and looked at the small clutch of papers in his right hand. She pointed to the documents. “Can you wait a few minutes before filing those?”
“Well, yeah, I suppose. Is something wrong—”
“No, everything’s great.” CiCi grabbed Walker’s hand and pulled him toward the stairs. “Follow us, you two!”
“You might want to tell them what they’re about to get into,” Walker suggested before they hit the stairs.
“Aw, what’s the fun in that?” CiCi moaned as she climbed the first stair. “Really, this will only take ten, fifteen minutes, tops.”
“Where are we going?” Pepper asked.
“Judges’ chambers,” Walker said and they all headed up the stairs to the third floor of the courthouse.
“What’s going on?” Pepper asked Jon in a whisper as they trailed CiCi and Walker up the stairs.
“I think they’re about to get married,” he said, “and we just got drafted to be their witnesses.”
18
When they opened the door to the judges’ chambers, Brady Craft greeted them at once.
“Hey, guys, Rachel’s here with the baby, so if you need another witness she’s—oh, I see we’re all set,” Brady said as his eyes fell upon Jon and Pepper.
“Figured it out yet?” CiCi asked over her shoulder.
“Yeah, but why not have Rachel or Sherry as the witnesses? Not that I mind being drafted into service,” Jon said, referring to Sherry, the judges’ secretary.
“Sherry’s out and Rachel wasn’t supposed to be here this morning,” Brady said. “Took the baby to the doctor for a checkup. But when these two called and told me that they wanted to get married today, as in right now, I called her. She hightailed it out of the doctor’s office and brought Jacob Elijah along so as not to miss the ceremony.”
“Or miss performing the ceremony myself.” Rachel emerged from the inner office with the baby on her hip.
“No, it’s my turn,” Brady said.
“What do you mean it’s your turn?” Rachel asked. “We’re keeping score now?”
“You did Hannah and Kyle!”
“I won that coin toss fair and square!” Rachel cried. “I can’t believe that still bugs you!”
“I thought you needed to feed him,” Brady said, changing the subject and gesturing toward his son.
“You don’t think I can nurse our child and perform a wedding ceremony at the same time?” she asked warningly, her eyes narrowed.
“And standing on your head, Rach,” Brady caved, “but that’s not the point.”
The argument between his parents over which one would solemnize the marriage of Catherine Charlotte Summers and Walker Cain caused Jacob Elijah to start laughing. The baby’s mirth stopped the spat and everyone joined his laughter.
“Rachel, let Brady do it,” CiCi advised as she tickled the baby, thereby producing a fit of squealing giggles from the child, “or you’ll never hear the end of the complaining. Although I totally believe you could do both at the same time. And the standing on the head thing too,” she added with a little wave of her hand.
“Good point,” Rachel said, “but let’s go to my chambers. The view is nice from my windows, and it’s so bright and sunny today.” Rachel turned and the group followed her back to her office, where she sat on a small loveseat. She reached underneath her clothes, adjusted her bra, then stuck the baby under her large, flowing blue blouse. “Don’t mind us,” she said as she cradled the baby to her bosom. “Go right ahead.”
Brady walked over to his wife and kissed her on the cheek and whispered something to her that sounded like “chocolate” and “bourbon.” Rachel turned deep red and hit Brady in the arm, eliciting a little ow from her husband.
“I gotta say, Rachel,” CiCi said, “I really admire you. I don’t think I could whip it out and nurse a baby like that in front of just anyone.”
“Well, you’re not just anyone. You’re friends, right? Besides, after giving birth on a distillery floor with Goose Davenport as my midwife, I really don’t have any modesty left.”
“How are you two going to explain this to Hannah?” Brady asked the betrothed. “She’ll kill you for not giving her that church wedding she expected to see in June.”
“Like she can talk! She went off and eloped like that,” CiCi said, snapping her fingers, “after she returned to Bourbon Springs and then went straight off on a honeymoon without telling anyone. We’re at least going to stop by the clerk’s office and then the distillery on our way out of town. Hannah Davenport will be duly informed of our newly-wedded status.”
“I like my job and want to keep it,” Walker said.
Brady arranged the couple and the witnesses in front of the window. Rachel had been right to bring everyone into her office. The sun poured into the room, and the view of the courthouse square below was a nice backdrop for the ceremony.
CiCi and Walker joined hands and Brady began the ceremony, speaking from memory and beaming at his friends. At the beginning of the ritual, Pepper and Jon were watching the couple and the judge; but within the next minute, they only had eyes for each other as Brady directed CiCi and Walker to exchange rings.
Pepper had a sudden flash of insight so intense that she stopped breathing for a few seconds. She knew that this is what she wanted with Jon.
Her thoughts started drifting to the time they’d spent in that bedroom at Hannah’s, to the comfort he’d given her after her mother’s death, and then BB’s untimely demise.
She wanted the friend and the lover, and he was right there in front of her for the taking.
All she had to do was ask.
“And by the powers invested in me by our great Commonwealth of Kentucky,” Brady said, deliberately drawing out his words just to make CiCi squirm. She was bouncing on the balls of her feet to the point that the woman was almost jumping up and down for joy.
“Get on with it!” Rachel yelled from across the room, where she had finished feeding Jacob Elijah and was burping him on her lap with soft pats to his back.
“…I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may—”
And at that moment, just as CiCi and Walker were leaning in for the kiss, the baby let rip a belch so gut-shakingly deep and loud that it commanded everyone’s attention and stopped the ceremony cold.
“Well,” Rachel said into the consuming and shocked silence as she wiped the baby’s chin with a hastily-produced tissue from her pants pocket, “not that you needed something to remember this special moment, but I suspect that’s going to be hard to forget.”
Everyone laughed—even the baby—except for CiCi.
“Say it!” she urged Brady.
“What? Oh, yeah—you may now kiss the bride,” Brady said through laughs.
CiCi squealed, threw her arms around her husband’s neck, and pulled him into an epic kiss.
“I said that the groom could kiss the bride, not for the bride to attack the groom,” teased Brady.
The newlyweds broke apart.
“Who’s complaining?” asked a rather winded Walker.
CiCi and Walker embraced again, and Rachel decided to cause a little trouble.
“Wait—was that legal? Did you finish the ceremony? Or did this little guy,” she said, holding the baby to her chest where he nuzzled against her long brown hair, “throw you off? I’m not sure I heard all the right words.”
“You shut it!” CiCi cried, still in Walker’s arms.
“Don’t make her hold you in contempt,” Walker warned his new bride with a smile.
“She can’t. We’re not in open court,” Jon no
ted, reaching for Pepper’s hand.
“And the Honorable Judge Richards is full of it,” added Brady. “All the words were there.”
“You’re sure?” asked an uncertain CiCi.
“Look what you did, woman,” Brady chided his wife, then turned back to CiCi. “No worries, Madam Clerk. I’m sure. I declare that the belch had absolutely no impact whatsoever on the legality of your ceremony. I’ll sign an order to that effect if it’ll make you feel better. Now where’s that marriage license so we can get it signed and make it all legal?”
After the required signatures of the judge and witnesses, Walker and CiCi moved across the room toward Rachel. CiCi put her arms out and cried, “Hug!”
Rachel winced. “Better not.”
“Why?” said an obviously disappointed CiCi, who dropped her arms to her sides.
“Because karma just paid me back for my crack about whether Brady finished the ceremony.”
“Say what?” CiCi asked.
“Jacob just peed all over my pants,” Rachel explained, and gestured to her lap as Brady rushed to take the baby from her. “So if you don’t want wee smell all over your wedding dress, I’d advise you to keep your distance.”
CiCi and Walker both took a step back from Rachel in tandem, as Brady held the baby at arm’s length and Rachel stood.
“Let’s get you changed, little guy,” Brady told his son as he placed him on his back on the loveseat.
“Whenever you’re done there,” Walker said as he reached into his jacket, “I have something here for a toast.” Walker pulled out a flask.
Brady made quick work of the diaper change and went to wash his hands before returning with some paper cups for the toast. Rachel declined with regret since she was still nursing the baby.
“Is that Center Cut?” Rachel asked.
“Nothing but,” Walker said. “Pulled it myself yesterday.”
Brady offered the toast, and all drank save Rachel. Although not much of a bourbon drinker despite being a Bourbon Springs native, Pepper knew what she’d just sampled was extraordinarily good bourbon and couldn’t help but saying so.
“Damn,” Pepper said in a throaty whisper after the first sweet sip had washed over her tongue and slipped down her gullet. “That’s the best bourbon I’ve ever tasted. No doubt about it.”
“Only the best for today,” Walker said and kissed his bride.
CiCi sighed. “If we could only find some of those wedding bottles that Booker Davenport allegedly stashed away somewhere.”
The group chatted for a few moments about the unlikelihood of such a discovery, despite Walker’s recent find in a hidey-hole in his office. Bottles of so-called wedding bourbon—bottled exclusively for the nuptials of Cass and Emma Davenport over forty years ago, were now practically nonexistent, although some continued to harbor hope the stash old Booker had hidden away would be uncovered.
After some hugs all around (except with Rachel, who only got a kiss on the cheek from the bride and groom), CiCi and Walker departed for the clerk’s office and then the distillery and parts unknown.
“Thanks for being such good sports about this,” Brady said to Pepper and Jon after CiCi and Walker left. “When CiCi called this morning and told me what they wanted to do, I told her that if she wanted to keep it a secret from the clerk’s office, she’d have to find her own witnesses.”
Pepper said she didn’t mind at all, and asked whether she could hold the baby.
“Sure,” Rachel told her, “but be warned. He’s due to poop soon.”
“I’ll take the risk,” she said as Rachel handed the child over to Pepper.
* * *
The sight of Pepper holding the baby made Jon’s heart nearly stop. She looked completely at ease with the infant. But before he could get too wrapped up in the image before him and thinking about the future, Brady pulled him away into the secretarial area.
“Wait,” Jon said, having a feeling he was about to have the same conversation he’d had with Harriet. “Let me guess: did Nina Cain recently call you?”
“Afraid so,” Brady said.
Jon briefly recounted his conversation with Nina. “She’s looking for information, but I told her I didn’t have that much factually. Refused to give her my opinion.”
“Same here.” Brady glanced over his shoulder toward the door into the inner chambers. “I was just about to graduate from high school when all that stuff with Walt happened. But Nina said she called me because I’m one of the judges down here. I had to tell her that I didn’t really know anything, which felt strange. Here I am, a local elected official, but I couldn’t tell her a damn thing about Walt.”
“But that’s Walt’s problem, not yours,” Jon said.
“Maybe, maybe not. If there’s nothing here in Craig County that says he’s a horrible person, they’ll let him back in.”
“You think so?”
Brady nodded. “He’s been out too long and he’s too clean from what she revealed. Unless there’s a smoking gun—or an exploding one at that—Walt Montrose is going to get his license back.” Brady shared that he’d heard about the cemetery reconciliation. “Is Pepper supporting him now? I find that really hard to believe.”
“She forgave him,” Jon said. “As for anything more than that, you’d have to ask her.”
Pepper and Rachel came into the foyer area with Jacob Elijah in Pepper’s arms. Pepper handed the baby back to Rachel, who cooed at her son. The baby babbled at his mother as Pepper rubbed the top of the child’s small plump hand. Jacob then became very still, stiffened, and his face reddened. The smell of baby poo quickly permeated the room.
“At least he was polite enough not to do it on you,” Rachel said with a sigh to Pepper. “He usually waits to go on Mommy. Not really sure what to make of that.” She excused herself to go change another diaper.
“And with that,” Jon said and grabbed Pepper’s hand to pull her toward the door, “I think it’s time for lunch.”
“Or not.” Pepper wrinkled her nose at the stench as she waved good-bye to Brady.
Once in the elevator, Pepper couldn’t stop talking about Garnet Center Cut.
“I really need to get a bottle of that,” she gushed as elevator doors closed, “but I hear it’s hard to come by.”
“Just ask Hannah for a bottle.”
“You think she’d mind? I don’t want to impose. Center Cut has become one of those hard-to-find bourbons.”
“Pepper, the woman is about to jump out of her own skin she’s so excited at the thought of those joint tours, and she let you spend two weeks at her house. I don’t think she would mind at all. You’re her friend, don’t forget that.”
They walked out of the courthouse together holding hands.
“Never in a million years would I have thought I’d be friends with Hannah Davenport. Then again, there were a lot of things I never thought would happen.” She stopped and took his other hand in hers and smiled at him.
He knew they were directly in front of the courthouse and a parade of people were filing in and out just behind where they stood, but he didn’t care. He wanted to kiss her.
Jon put a hand on Pepper’s face and kissed her deeply, craving her touch and presence after witnessing such a sacred (yet wacky) ceremony in the courthouse. The wedding, the friends, the baby, and the silly intimacy of the whole past half hour had left him in some kind of haze of love and desire, and he knew that he couldn’t attribute the buzz he felt to the scant drops of bourbon he’d just consumed.
Although the bourbon probably didn’t hurt.
Pepper didn’t flinch, despite the public spot, and kissed him back and put her arms around him. But she did break the kiss first and then looked across the street at Over a Barrel, which was doing a brisk business. The line was almost out the door.
“Want to go somewhere else?” he asked when he saw where Pepper was looking. “The Rickhouse? It’ll be much quieter and private there,” he suggested.
“I can t
hink of an even more secluded spot, although not as close.”
“GarnetBrooke?” he asked, not really believing she was suggesting they go all the way back to the farm for lunch—or for whatever it was he hoped she had in mind. Jon thought he was picking up some kind of unspoken message or vibe from her, but he didn’t want to presume too much only to be disappointed and insult her in the process.
“No, I was thinking of going to your place,” she said. “It’s—what—only five minutes away by car?”
“Yeah, he said slowly, trying not to read too much into her words. “But I don’t think I have much to eat. I’m as bad as you are for not getting to the grocery.”
“I don’t care.” She pressed herself against him.
“But—”
“There’s something at your house that I want to see. And I’m not hungry, Jon. For food, that is.”
19
Jon grabbed her hand and pulled her northward in the direction of his office, but she stopped him and revealed she was parked behind the courthouse.
After a short drive later in her car, Jon was trying to put the key in the lock to the front door of his house but was so excited that he failed to execute this simple maneuver, and dropped the keys.
“Why are you acting like you’re about to burglarize your own home?” Pepper asked.
“Because I’m thinking about all the things I want to do to you when we get inside and they’re pretty damned naughty,” he said as he picked up his keys and finally opened the door.
It was a small ranch house, nothing fancy. Pepper hadn’t been to Jon’s house much lately; she recalled the last time being around Christmas when she’d dropped off some cookies for him. He’d moved to the small home after his divorce. Jon had told Pepper once that he could’ve bought Leigh’s share of their marital residence when they’d broken up, but he didn’t want to stay in the house. “Too big for one guy and too many bad memories,” he’d said.
They entered into a darkened hall, with a formal living room and dining room on the right and a family room directly in front of them. Jon turned on a table lamp in the cramped foyer, throwing a little bit of light into the small space.
Bourbon Springs Box Set: Volume II, Books 4-6 (Bourbon Springs Box Sets Book 2) Page 79