Chapter 11

Danni’s Wedding, a shocking prophecy, and a proposal.

Saturday morning was finally here, and I took Liz to see Lucille, who no longer had to work out of her house because she now owned a beauty parlor called ‘Lucille’s.’ When I returned to pick my girl up, I was stunned at the goddess who’d be by my side today.

My gawking was interrupted by Lucille, “Mahty, could ah see you for a sec in my office, hon?”

“Sure. Liz, I’ll be right back.” I followed Lucille back to her office, and she closed the door and pounced, “Martin, last summer, I wanted to open a salon and applied for a loan at the local bank but was turned down because I needed a co-signer. Finally, last October, the bank president called me up and said that a person, who desired not to be named, would cosign my loan application.”

“Wow, that’s fantastic, Lucille.”

“Any clue who this person might be, Marty?”

“Gosh, Lucille. Why would you think I know?”

She kissed me on the cheek and said, “Thank you, Marty,” She paused, then added, “for cosigning my loan. Michael, the bank president, whom I’ve known personally for many years, accidentally left the loan agreement on his desk, and I recognized the name, even though it was upside down.”

“Um, oh, okay. Well, I need to leave now, but I was happy to do it. If I get married, I will ask you to be my bride’s beautician.”

Liz was behind the wheel of the rental car and drove back to the Marriott, where I helped her get dressed before putting on my suit. We rode to the church with my parents in Momma’s latest Cadillac. I felt my pocket for the box a dozen times. Danni had invited Liz to join her and the bridesmaids in a suite close to the hall. I wandered around, getting more nervous by the minute. I checked my watch every three minutes until Clifton, the groom, grabbed me and dragged me out the backdoor onto a patio.

“What gives Marty, the master of all things electronic and rockets that fly through the universe at warp nine?”

“There is no such speed as warp speed. The speed of light is as fast as we can go, theoretically. Did Danni speak to you about my plan as the wedding winds down?”

“Yes, that’s fine; I’m not so sure it will be that long.”

“What, what did you say? Anyway, I’m a bundle of nerves; oh hell, I’m scared shitless. Liz is not a normal woman who cooks and cleans the house and lays on her back, waiting for her husband to get his rocks off. Oh, crap, I didn’t mean Danni was, not that I would know about her sex life or...”

“Marty, calm down. Deep breaths. No offense taken. Go on, get it off your chest.”

“Did you ever hear about what happened on Valentine’s Day?”

“No. A big romantic night?”

So I told him the story of Liz’s outfit that day, the visit to club Oasis, dinner, her walk through the restaurant, and all the sex we had that night, without much detail, and then I stopped talking to catch my breath.

“So that was the weekend?”

“Shit, that was Friday night. I think we got to sleep sometime after sunrise on Saturday, about 6:30. When we woke up, it was 6:15, and the sun was down.” I then told him the tale of dressing in the same clothes and having breakfast for dinner, the stares and whistles, Liz driving sixty miles an hour down San Francisco streets, returning to Oasis and my dances with men dressed as women, the lesbian bikers with knives, the ride home, the lecture, and a week alone.

“She’s not boring, is she?”

“Sometimes, I think she’s crazy, but I love her.”

One of the ushers stuck his head through the doorway, “Clifton, twenty-minute warning.”

“Man, you got it bad, Marty. Come on in and help usher old ladies to seats.”

So I helped, and I did feel a little better. I escorted two wives and their spouses to their seats, and when I returned, Ruth was waiting for me, with her husband carrying their sleeping baby girl.

“Ruth! You look fantastic. And this must be your husband and baby girl. How have you been?”

“I’m great. Marty, I’d like to introduce you to my husband Jason, holding our baby doll, Melissa.”

He shook my hand and spoke in a commanding voice, “Captain Jason Carter, United States Marine Corp, aviator. I’m glad we finally met; Ruth told me some parts of the story from the last time she was in Greenville. I would like to hear it all.”

“How long are you staying?”

“Marty, we’re here until Tuesday Morning, then we fly home to get my hubby ready to go to advanced flight training.”

“Well, Ruth, take my arm, and let me escort you to your seat on the brides’ side.” I walked back, and Liz was waiting. She still made my heart skip a beat, and I offered her my arm and escorted her to our assigned seats with the rest of my family.

“How’s Danni doing?”

“Fine, except for your mother. Who was that woman with the black hair?”

“Ruth, her husband Jason, and their baby girl Melissa.” I looked over my shoulder and whispered, “It’s starting.”

The three bridesmaids came down first and then the bride. Dad looked relieved as he walked her down the aisle, finally suffering from LDS, last daughter syndrome. Danni didn’t appear to be nervous, just very happy. Dad handed her off to Clifton, and the ceremony started. Twenty minutes later, they were husband and wife heading for the door. Since the wedding party was so small, bride and groom, best man and maid of honor, and two additional bridesmaids and groomsmen, the pictures wouldn’t take as long.

So while we waited for the festivities to start, the bar was open, and Liz and I circulated, meeting family, old and new. Dianna held Melissa while she reconnected with Ruth, while Joe and Jason were standing at the bar swapping stories about flying F-18 Hornets. Dianna and Joe paid two neighborhood teenagers to watch Julie and Rose so they could have a date at the wedding.

I bumped into Clifton’s younger brother, Phil, and he introduced me to his great-grandmother, Pearl Estelle Chartier, but she said, “I go by, Mama Pearl, Martin, and I am a ‘voyant de l’âme.’”

Phil whispered to us, “That means ‘soul seer,’ and supposedly, she can see your soul if she touches you. Of course, I don’t believe in that stuff, but she’s rich and old, if you know what I mean?”

“Pleased to meet you, Mama Pearl, and may I introduce my girlfriend, Liz Cummings.” As we shook hands, she held onto mine, and I couldn’t escape her firm grip.

“Marty, you have a hectic mind filled with numbers, diagrams, and visions of space.” She touched my chest and spoke with an even and steady voice. “You have a powerful heart, a good heart, and you think of others before thinking of yourself.”

She let go of my hand and grasped Liz’s hand, and immediately her eyes opened wide. “Your mind is all over the place; most of the time, you have good thoughts and deeds, but sometimes...” She waved her free index finger back and forth and made that clicking noise with her tongue. She moved her hand to cover Liz’s heart, gasped, pulled back, and almost fell over. Phil was waiting and caught her while I set a chair behind her.

I grabbed a glass of water off a table and offered it to her. Phil took it and made her sip a little bit of it.

“Go ahead and make your escape; I’ll distract her. She’s ninety-two and has these spells sometimes.”

“Mama Pearl, we’re going to circulate and greet more guests. I’m sure we’ll meet again.”

We walked toward the bar, and I looked at Liz, “Wow, that was weird. Did she say anything?”

“No, but It felt like I touched a live wire when she grabbed my hand.”

“She knew enough about me, gave me the creeps. Can I get you some wine to sip on while we circulate?”

“No, I’m fine, maybe later.”

The wedding party returned from taking pictures, and the reception began. First, dinner was served, and then the speeches started, and all too soon, it was time for my remarks about my little sister that Momma and Cliff asked me to give.

“Hi, I’m Marty, the only boy and number two child of Darla and Alex. Danni’s the sister I was closest to growing up because Dianna is six years older and Dixie was Momma’s favorite because she loved to shop.”

Week laughter filled the reception hall, and I was off to a rough start.

“Danni is two years younger than me, and she looked up to me until I left for college. She’d ask me when she needed a ride or to be picked up after school. If she needed a few bucks, Marty was her bank.”

Silence. Crash and burn, Marty.

“Once, when Danni was on restriction for a week, she snuck out and went to her boyfriend’s house and caught him necking on his porch with, oh, what was her name, I just saw her at the bar, um, Amanda,” and I waved at her sitting at the back table, “and they had a girl fight.”