Chapter 5
I hadn’t wanted to admit it to Alicia, but I was nervous. Walking into the Lottery Headquarters to collect a fortune was new to me. Granted, I had read the process on the Lottery Commission’s web page, but reading it and doing it were two different things.
It took a lot longer than I had thought. First, I had to fill out several forms. Then I had to wait while the lottery official reviewed the forms. When he said everything looked good to him, he congratulated me, and told me it would take at least five weeks to process everything and cut a check. He also told me, the Lottery Commission would contact me when the check was ready for pickup. He said to call, if I hadn’t heard from them in six weeks.
That surprised me for I thought I would be getting the check that day. Bummer! They explained everything else on the web page. Why didn’t they mention that? Maybe I just missed it.
We had lunch before we headed home, and during lunch, I explained what happened to Alicia when I submitted my ticket. On the way home, we tried to relax, and we talked about our next few weeks. We decided to have Alicia’s Mom, Phyllis, come over for dinner the next night. We also decided to start planning our wedding, and Alicia believed her mother would want to be involved. She also said that Phyllis wanting to be involved would prove to be an understatement.
Phyllis, Alicia, and I were having a pre-dinner drink the next day. Alicia and I let Phyllis know she was welcome to help us plan the wedding. That was when the wedding planning started.
As we enjoyed our drinks, Alicia told Phyllis that she and I had decided we wanted a fairly small, simple ceremony. Phyllis told us we should go all out because getting married was something we would want to look back on later in our lives. We discussed what she meant by all out.
What I figured out was, Phyllis had a very large, fancy wedding that she loved. A large wedding was what she had always thought Alicia would have. At first, I thought she wanted a large wedding for Alicia, because it was Phyllis’s dream for Alicia. I came to realize that a fancy wedding was what Phyllis believed Alicia actually wanted, but would not admit to wanting.
To resolve the issue, I told Alicia that I was okay with a large wedding, if she was. I made that suggestion because it occurred to me that if Phyllis was right about us looking back and being glad we had a big wedding, we would be thankful. If she was wrong, then it really didn’t matter to us one way or the other.
During dinner, I basically sat, listened, and kept my mouth shut. I was more than willing to support their planning, but I did not want to get into a contentious discussion between my future wife and future mother-in-law. Alicia and Phyllis had different ideas about what constituted a nice wedding. They eventually created a basic outline of the wedding and what had to be done before the ceremony. Early in their discussion, Alicia left the table to go get a notepad and pen, so she could list what they decided needed to be done. When she returned, the planning slowed down so Alicia could record their decisions. When asked, I concurred with their decisions. Prior to their coming to a decision, I would only say that I would be happy with either approach to what they were discussing. Their main disagreement was when.
I recall Phyllis saying, “Weddings shouldn’t be rushed. People might think you have to get married.”
Alicia’s response was, “Jeb and I don’t want to wait, Mom. We want to start a family right away. I would like to get married, before I get pregnant; and we are already trying to get me pregnant. If we wait, people will probably be right about me being pregnant, when we marry. Furthermore, I may already be pregnant.”
After that, Phyllis had a hard time disagreeing with Alicia’s opinion of ‘as soon as possible’ being the only good answer to when.
Sam Timmons had arranged for me to receive a one hundred and fifty thousand dollar advance payout from the estate. The advance was deposited to my checking account the week after I arrived home. As the cost of the wedding started to mount, it was evident that we would need more than the partial payout, since our lottery winnings wouldn’t come through in time to pay for the wedding. We also wouldn’t receive our lottery payouts before the planned date of the wedding. I decided to call Sam and ask if the estate could front me some additional money.
“Morning, Sam. It’s Jeb Connor. How have things been with you?”
“Fine so far, Jeb. How are you doing?”
“Real good, Sam. Best of all, Alicia and I decided to get married.”
“Well congratulations again, Jeb. She is a fine person and I think the two of you will be good for each other. When is the wedding or do you still need to set a date?”
“Yes, we are hoping to get married three weeks from now, and that’s one of the things I called about.
“Alicia and I just want to get married, but Phyllis thinks we should have a big wedding. Since the two of us are trying to get along with Phyllis, we sort of agreed to a big wedding. Our problem is that it’s starting to look like the advance from the estate isn’t going to be enough to cover all of the wedding’s costs and the other expenses we will be incurring.
“Do you have an idea of when the estate will clear probate? If not soon, would it be possible to get an additional advance of about two hundred thousand dollars?”
“Sorry, Jeb, but probate will probably take at least another four months. As far as an additional advance goes, I will talk to the judge and explain your situation. Considering that you are the sole inheritor, I don’t think she will have a problem with a man trying to give his future wife a nice wedding ceremony and a comfortable lifestyle. I can let you know her answer in a couple of days. If she approves my request, it will take a day or so to sell some of Charles’s investments and get the funds to you. Is there any possibility of delaying the wedding?”
“Yes, we can wait if we have to, Sam; it’s just that we would prefer to not wait.”
“I understand, Jeb. My wife and I felt that way just before we got married, so I know how the two of you feel.”
“Thanks for letting me know that Alicia and I aren’t the only ones to feel that way, Sam. Oh yeah, Alicia reminded me to tell you and Carol that you are on the guest list. We will have to get the invitations out as soon as we can, so our guests can make travel plans. We both realize it is a bit of a trip for you, but she said if you decide to come, you may need to do a bit of rescheduling to make time for a trip out here.”