Chapter 42

The reception was held in the fellowship hall, with tables overflowing into the church foyer and choir practice room. A large area in the middle of the fellowship hall was left open for the couple to dance. The reception was dry. All that was served was punch, lemonade, coffee, and water. There was a huge abundance of cakes, cookies, bars, and Christmas sweets of every shape and size placed at separate tables. The wedding party was seated at the head table as usual, but the wedding party was seated unusually. The twins sat between Andi and Paul, so the newlyweds had to lean over the twins to kiss. The best man and maid of honor sat together to Andi’s right. The bridesmaid and groomsman, who both were also the officiants, sat on Paul’s left. Wonka curled up at Paul’s feet.

Soon the guests started tapping the plastic tables with their hands, calling for a speech. Larry Snow walked across the dance floor with the wireless mike and stood in front of the head table. As pastor John reached for the mike out of habit, Macy slapped his arm down and Larry smiled and handed the microphone to Gus, who took it reluctantly. He and Lucy had a bit of a discussion. The tradition at Springville Congregational was for the speaker to step out on to the dance floor at weddings so everyone could see him or her. In fact, a small table with champagne flutes filled with sparkling cider stood waiting for the speakers. Holding hands, Gus and Lucy walked out to the middle of the floor.

“All of you know me,” Gus started, “and you all know Paul, so let’s drink a toast to their happiness...” Gus stopped because of the good-natured booing for his attempt to weasel out of a speech. He started again. “Years ago Paul moved to Springville, he bought that rundown old Victorian over on Howard Avenue and he hired me to help him fix the place up. It took me a year to realize that Paul and our new pastor John were brothers, because he never talked and John was working for me and didn’t say a thing! Paul was in a very dark place, his wife had died, and he eventually retired and moved here. I guessed it was to be close to John, but Paul would just say “I wanted this house.”

“He also bought the old Sprague farm out on Trevette road. I helped him there too. We wired up a small yard barn with lights, and we recently added on to the cabin as it’s now called. As we grew closer as friends, Paul kept hiring me to do work on that big old house on Howard avenue. He eventually joined us here at Springville Congregational, and he reunited with John, but he was still sad and alone. Then a few weeks ago he told me he was going to go out to the cabin, I told him ‘you’re crazy! There’s a storm headed our way,’ and he just smiled, packed up some food and headed out there.”

“Five days later he came back a new man, a happy man. He brought home this beautiful little family and he hasn’t stopped smiling. I can see the love radiating from these two, this isn’t just a whirlwind romance, this is a deep love. After talking to both of them, I know this romance was God’s reward to these two. I think this is why Paul had me and my men so busy at that empty old house, he was planning to fill it. As Andi described it to me, he was feathering a nest for his little chicks.

Gus lifted a flute of cider. “So here’s a toast to you, Paul and Andi, go fill that big old house with love and laughter, and all those little chicks.”

“Hear hear!” responded the guests, and they drank to Paul and Andi. Gus then handed the microphone to Lucy.

“Most of you don’t know me, I’m Lucy Kocis, I’m a pulmonary emergency surgeon at ECMC, if you’re ever in say, an accident and end up at ECMC, after the ED stabilizes you and determines what kind of surgery or treatment is necessary, they may send you to me. To be honest I’m overjoyed to meet you here, but I don’t ever want to meet any of you in my OR.

“I met Andi in med school and our careers kept us close together for many years. We both ended up at the University Hospital in Denver and were roommates for several years. Andi is a warm loving woman who can be so silly, especially with her girls. But you watch, when she puts on her doctor glasses and puts her stethoscope around her neck, she’s a different Andi. She’s a serious doctor who concentrates on nothing but your health until it’s time to take off the doctor glasses.

“Andi married another fellow several years ago, and he was not a nice man and he left her pregnant with twins and buried in debt. I learned to hate that man, but to love Andi as she dug herself out of the hole he left her in and raised these little preemie angels.

“I eventually moved out here, and Andi found out that there was a medical conference at South Boston and used that as an excuse to visit me, so she flew out here and drove off the road in a snowstorm. You all know about Paul rescuing her, right? Only some of you? To make a long story short she goes off the road in a storm, the cops are all off the road due to the driving ban, and the town of Concord police called Paul to see if he could render aid to a woman and her two children stuck out in the middle of nowhere. At the height of the blizzard Paul hooks a hay wagon to his tractor, chains up the tires, and goes looking for Andi. That was Wednesday. Sunday morning they come out of the cabin engaged and madly in love.

“As for me, I didn’t trust Paul, I was sure he took her to his cabin for some hanky panky, but Andi made darn sure that I knew that yes, there was a little hanky, but there was no panky at all. In fact, I know right now Andi is thinking “Shut Up, I want to get to the panky.”

Lucy paused for the laughter and continued. “I kept an eye on Paul, wanting to hate him, I even spied on Paul and Andi at every chance to see if he was taking advantage of her.” Lucy pointed two fingers to her eyes and then rotated her wrist to point at Paul. “That’s right, I didn’t trust you, I didn’t want to trust you. I wanted to hate you like I hated that other guy because I did not want my dear friend to hurt again. And then,” Lucy paused and gulped for breath, her free hand reached out for Gus’ free hand. “And then Andi’s ex came here to Western New York! He was planning to extort money from Andi and Paul by attempting to gain custody of the twins.”

The folks in the crowd that knew Paul and Andi the closest gasped. Andi leaned over and was whispering frantically to Paul, who was reassuring her quietly. John just shrugged when Macy asked him about this plot. Paul never mentioned it to him. And the twins simply continued to devour the treats placed before them, their faces a glory of chocolaty goodness. Windfalls of goodies like this come rarely and cleanup will be a sweet sorrow.

“Men of this church,” Lucy said over the hubbub, “Men of this church, Paul, and Gus, and Ernie, were able to convince this piece of slime to drop his plans and just go away. And afterwards Paul prayed for that man, he prayed for that man to turn his life around for the better. I thought, ‘what kind of man prays for such slime?’ A man like Paul does, and I want a man like that close to my friend Andi for now and for the rest of her life.”

Lucy held Gus’s hand tighter and raised her flute of cider with the other hand. “To Andi and Paul, may your love be encouragement to all those that are still waiting for the love of their lives.”

Hear hear! Responded the guests.

Finally, it was Paul’s turn. “I just want to thank you all for all the love you’ve shown Andi, a newcomer dropped in your midst without warning. Thank you for letting us hijack your candlelight ceremony, I hear from John that the actual wedding ceremony only took sixteen minutes. I also hear from Macy that the ceremony would have only taken eight minutes if we would have kissed more politely.”

He paused for the laughter. “I truly love Andi. When I first saw her stuck in the snow, and she looked at me with real distrust, I was hurt. I wanted to rescue her, but she wanted to protect her babies from a man she didn’t know and didn’t trust. I completely understood that, so I prayed that her heart would open just a crack, and it did. And the rest is history. I want to stay by her side, protecting and guiding her for as long as the Lord lets me, and if in that time I can’t be there for her I know that Springville Congregational Church will step forward to aide her.”