Chapter 5: Wedding Plans Initiated

Spot called three days later and told me she’d had a long talk with Steve about the wedding and that she was ready to approach pastor Leon. She then warned me that her ideas of the perfect wedding wouldn’t be the same as mine, but that it was her day and she wanted to have things her way, while still wanting me to be proud of her.

Warning signs flashed in my brain. I’d had a nightmare the other night, after Spot had mentioned she wanted to get married while naked. Now I worried that she was going to say all the attendees would have to be naked too, so they wouldn’t make her feel uncomfortable. I knew I could never do that.

I was fairly sure pastor Leon would never, either, although the man kept surprising me with how accommodating he kept proving himself to be. I didn’t even want to imagine my tall, trim, African American pastor, standing at the front of the church with his tackle in full view. Everyone knows black men have oversized equipment. It turned my stomach to be forced to picture it, so I didn’t.

It was such a relief when Spot told me she had a special video clip she’d watched a thousand times, of a bride in a veil just like I wanted, being walked slowly down the aisle in an outdoors wedding.

It worried me briefly when she said the bride in the video clip had crawled on all fours, but I was relieved when she added that the camera had caught the smartly dressed guests all looking at her happily from their seats and her suit-clad groom looking eagerly over his shoulder at her coming towards him.

If I wasn’t required to be naked to attend, I could certainly overlook my daughter crawling down the aisle. It WOULD be her wedding, after all, and her and her groom wearing full wedding regalia brought a happy tear to my eye.

We just had to convince the pastor and the parishioners that my daughter had every right to be married in a ceremony of her choosing, in our church.

I knew many parishioners attended every one of the weddings we hosted. I too had been to my share.

Spot said that if the meeting she had scheduled with pastor Leon went well, we could go from there to a special bridal shop she had contacted. I was immediately excited!

My excitement waned when Spot asked a favor. She wanted me to collect her from her home and escort her, saying she didn’t drive anymore. That wasn’t a problem at all. The problem was she wanted me to hold her leash.

Thoughts of me parading Spot around as I’d seen Steve do that first day at church, filled me with trepidation. Could I do it? People would see me and think I was the deviant, leading another person around on a leash!

I tried to talk her out of the idea, begging her to pretend she was a normal girl for just a few hours but she was adamant that she WAS normal and it was a condition of us going alone together.

She didn’t actually say it was a condition imposed by Steve; it sounded more like one SHE had imposed on herself. I crossed my fingers and agreed. I would try to talk sense into her after I’d picked her up.

Spot gave me no choice at her house. She wore cutoff jeans that only covered most of her bottom and an incredibly form-fitting tee shirt that seemed to showcase her braless bust and draw attention to her butt.

She flat refused to leave the house without her leash and my daughter is every iota as stubborn as I am. My choice was to either stand up pastor Leon, or acquiesce to holding her leash.

She had her puppy ears firmly in place but at least she wasn’t wearing her tail - or if she was, it was somehow hidden under her jean shorts. I was sorely tempted to call her bluff. She really was not dressed appropriately for visiting a church but pastor Leon though, did not deserve to be stood up.

I felt so stupid holding her leash on the walk from her front door to the car and she didn’t make it easy on me either, pulling hard on it as if she really was a puppy walking on two legs and eager to go for a car ride.

I had to chide her twice for being so eager but that didn’t slow her down a bit. In a way I secretly enjoyed her enthusiasm. Of course I couldn’t let her know that.

At the church, I parked, then got out of the car. After a moment I realized Spot wasn’t doing the same. She sat there panting as if she was a real, overheated dog. She made me open her door for her and only then did she climb out and hold her leash out to me.

I tried to refuse it, reminding her that we were in public now. Her response was to drop to all fours and look up at me, as if begging. She refused to move until I took her leash. At least she stood up once the leash was firmly in my hand.

Inside, pastor Leon was in his office, waiting for us. He hugged me as he usually does, just lightly touching shoulders, then he petted Spot on her head as if he’d been doing that her whole life. Spot beamed.

Pastor Leon opened with good news. The church council had approved Steve and Spot for church membership and they’d agreed she could be married there if her wedding plans were approved by them.

I breathed a huge sigh of relief, which caused Spot to look sharply at me.

I covered it by telling her I had been worried the church would refuse to associate itself with her alternate lifestyle at all, but really, I was relieved someone could veto anything too outrageous she wanted to do.

Pastor Leon asked when she wanted to have her wedding and Spot’s eyes shone when she dreamily asked for a specific spring date. She’d clearly discussed her wishes with Steve.

Pastor Leon consulted his diary and smiled. The date was available. He said God had to be smiling on her because three weeks before and four after that weekend were all taken. That date itself had only opened up due to an unfortunate cancellation.

The cancellation had to be Beth and Horizon, the lesbian pair. Horizon had been rumored to have been having second thoughts and had been seen with some unknown man. I was sure the Bible study group would eat up that little tidbit when I dropped it into conversation.