Chapter 32: Celebration

On a beautiful and sunny Saturday afternoon in June, Kayla and I were standing in anticipation, turned facing the rear of the church, waiting to catch our first glimpse. All the other participants were in their places, with the big man standing nervously in front. As the organ music swelled and segued into a traditional wedding processional, the bridal party started pacing majestically down the white runner that covered the carpeting of the center aisle.

After three bridesmaids and the matron of honor passed by, their escorts holding their arms through their crooked elbows, the lovely bride, clothed in a flowing white gown and a veil, seemed to float down the center aisle, accompanied by an older man I didn't recognize.

We settled down to watch the ceremony, and at the end, there were very few dry eyes anywhere I could see as the minister asked, "David McMasters, do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?" With his assent, the minister continued, "And do you, Lori Wilkinson, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

Even those in the back of the church could see her nod, and hear her soft voice say, "I do." When they kissed, I glanced over at Luscious. Her eyes were shining with unshed tears of happiness, witnessing what she later described as the most romantic thing she had ever seen.

After the ceremony, everybody was milling around outside the church, waiting for the happy couple to emerge. We all had helium balloons we were going to release, an alternative to tossing rice on them. When David and Lori came out the door, we all cheered and let go of the strings, and a cloud of white balloons floated up into the startlingly blue sky.

Lori turned around, first quickly and then once more, much more slowly, taking in the whole spectacle, as if she wanted to imprint it forever into her memory banks. She stopped for just a moment when she saw Kayla and me, and she smiled so sweetly at us, it was an instant of time that I will remember for the rest of my days.

A couple of hours later, we were standing in line to greet the newlywed couple at the reception. Lori and David had booked a smaller ballroom at one of the lakefront hotels in the city. There was a bar set up in each of the back corners of the room, a disk jockey had his equipment lined up against the front wall in front of the small dance floor, and there were a dozen big round tables spread out through the room, each with eight chairs around it. The head table was a long rectangle against the left wall, with ten chairs, all facing into the room. I had the little card with our table assignment in the pocket of my suit coat. I had a tie on, but it was tight, and I wasn't very comfortable. I must have grown out of my shirt collar sometime in the past year, I thought. Kayla had on a dress that resembled a fancy sundress, a flowery thing that swirled around her knees as she moved.

Lori's sister Joannie was matron of honor. She didn't recognize me when I shook her hand. It was understandable, considering how many people were going through the line. We also had only briefly met once, nearly a year before. She automatically shook our hands and passed us on to Lori, turning back to greet the next people behind Kay and me.

Lori's eyes lit up when she saw us, and she hugged me to her tightly.

"Oh, Sean, thank you so much for coming," she murmured in my ear.

I put my arms around her, hugging her back. "I wouldn't have missed it for anything," I said.

She finally, almost reluctantly, let me go, and turned to Kayla, wrapping her up in an equally big hug. While she was greeting Luscious, I turned to David.

"Mr. P!" he cried out. He stuck his meaty paw out for me to grasp, and gave me a big, strong handshake.

"Congratulations, Mr. McMasters," I said.

"Mr. McMasters!" He shook his head in denial. "I don't think so. If you don't call me David, don't you call me anything at all," he said with a big laugh.

He was still shaking my hand. "Okay, then, David," I agreed. He let my hand loose from his grip, and gently, as if he was handling a china doll, took Kayla into his arms and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"I'm so glad you two could make it here," he said to her.

Kayla, for her part, had tears of joy in her eyes. She couldn't say anything, so she just nodded. When he let her go, she grabbed onto my arm and held herself next to me.

David turned to the older gentleman standing next to him. He was the man who had taken Lori down the aisle at the church.

"Sean, Kayla, I'd like to introduce Tom Wilkinson." Tom held out his hand, and I shook it.

"So, this is the young man who has been teaching my grandsons how to play soccer," he said warmly.

"Tom is Lori's father-in-law, her late husband's father," David informed us. "He graciously agreed to give Lori away, as her surrogate father, at the wedding."

I must have looked a little puzzled. "Lori's father is deceased," explained Tom. "Even though my son, Lori's first husband, is gone, my wife and I love her as the daughter we never had. I was honored to be able to walk her down the aisle today."

David put his arm around Tom's shoulder, by way of thanks, before turning back to greet the next well-wishers.

A familiar voice caught my attention.

"Hello, Sean, honey."

I moved down to say hello to Wendy Marcus, standing next to Tom Wilkinson. She reached out to hug me, but I sidestepped her and turned to introduce her to Kayla, who gave me a curious, questioning look.

"Kay, this is one of Lori's best friends," I said. "Wendy Marcus, this is my girlfriend, Kayla Lehigh."

Wendy held out her hand, and Kay shook it. Distractedly, I wondered why women shook hands the way they did. Another unsolvable mystery.

"I heard you moved away," I said.

Wendy sighed. "Arthur and I are divorced," she said, rather too matter-of-factly. "Justin and I moved back east to be closer to my folks."

I looked around, suddenly missing seeing Davey and Kip. "Is Justin here, too?" I asked.

She smiled. "Yes, he's running around here somewhere," she confirmed. "I know he's looking forward to seeing you."

"I'll look for him," I said. Kay and I continued down the receiving line, until, finally, we reached the end. We wandered around, looking for our table. We found it, over close by the speakers. Since we were the first ones from our table to arrive, we chose seats that faced the head table and the dance floor.

"Would you like a Coke or something?" I asked Luscious.

"Coke would be fine," she replied. She favored me with one of her patented smiles, and I walked over toward the closest bar. As I was standing there, waiting for the bartender to fill two glasses with soda, a triple tornado hit me.

"Sean!" "Sean!" "Sean!"

Davey, Kip, and Justin nearly knocked me down, running into my legs as the three of them swarmed me.

"Hey, guys, how are you doing?"

"We're having fun, Sean!" said Kip.

"It's pretty neat, isn't it?" asked Davey.

"What's that, champ?" I asked.

"That David is going to be living with us," he replied.

I smiled. "Yes, it is," I agreed. "You like him, I guess."

"Oh, yeah, he's pretty neat, for an old guy. Not as fun as you, but he's pretty fun."

"And how are you, Justin? I heard you moved away."

"Yeah, but I'm really glad to be back. I'm staying with Davey and Kip this week, you know."

"No, I didn't know," I said. "Really?"

"Yep," he replied. "Me and my mom are staying at their house, while Mr. McMasters and Mrs. Wilkinson... oops, I mean Mr. and Mrs. McMasters..." He covered his mouth and giggled. "You know what I mean," he continued. "While they go on their vacation."

"Ah. Your mom is staying and watching you kids," I reasoned.

"Right!" They all started leaping about in agreement. Wendy was going to have her hands full while Lori and David were gone. I just shook my head as I watched them race off in search of adventure.

By the time I got back to the table, another couple had joined Kayla. Molly O'Toole and her prom date, Alex Baumgartner, were just settling in next to her.

"Hi, Sean," said Alex.

"Hey, Alex, how's it going?" I handed Kayla her Coke as Molly stood back up and moved around her chair to hug me.

"How you doing, Molly?" I asked.

"I'm doing really good," she whispered, holding me tightly.

We sat back down and watched as the bars got busier, and the tables began filling. Alex had gotten drinks for himself and Molly, and the four of us made silly remarks about the other guests we saw. The little kids were all assigned to one table near the back, with a couple of girls who looked like they might be in college riding herd over the pack. I didn't know if they were friends of Lori or David, or if they had been hired for the occasion to watch the kids, but they were paying attention to all of them, even the ones, such as Davey and Kip, who would leap up occasionally and streak over to another table or group of adults.

Once they saw Molly sitting with me, the two of them ran over to say hello to their favorite babysitter. Molly was wearing a beautiful lavender satin dress, but she still let the boys climb up into her lap, accepting the wrinkles along with the love they were displaying toward her.

Our table filled up, but the only other people I knew were Coach Bill Blaisdell, who sat down next to me, and John and Mavis Christanapoulis, whose son, Joey, played on the Warriors team.

Bill introduced his wife. "Sean, this is Maryanne, my wife. Maryanne, this is the legendary Sean Porter."

I reached across Bill to shake Maryanne's hand. She was a small, mousy woman with a timid smile, but she shook my hand with a good grip.

"I've heard so much about you, Sean, it's a pleasure to finally meet you," she said.

I introduced Kayla, Molly, and Alex to the Christanapoulises, and to Bill and his wife. As the evening progressed, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Maryanne, belying her plain, frumpy looks and rather dour demeanor, was actually a very bright third grade teacher, and possessed a dry, acerbic wit that had me chuckling appreciatively throughout dinner.

There were a lot of people hanging around the bar and standing at tables, visiting with acquaintances and family, as the room filled up. There was no sign of any of the bridal party at all. I had been to a couple of weddings as a kid, when younger siblings of one of my parents had gotten married, but the activities and traditions of weddings and receptions were just beginning to make sense to me, so I was interested and trying to pay attention to what was happening all around us.

The DJ turned down his music, and grabbed a microphone.

"If you could all find your seats, please?" he requested. The noise level in the room elevated for just a moment as knots of people dispersed, conversations ended, and everybody not huddled around the bar trying to grab one more drink before sitting down moved toward their respective tables.

"I'd like to draw your attention toward the doors," continued the DJ, once the room settled down sufficiently. "First, I would like to introduce the parents of the groom, Mr. and Mrs. Ralph McMasters."

David's parents entered the room as everybody applauded. They waved to friends, and walked toward their table, holding hands.

"And, for the bride, introducing Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Wilkinson."

Mr. Wilkinson and his wife came in, and walked to the same table, looking as happy and proud as any parent.

The three bridesmaids and groomsmen were introduced next, but the only one I knew was Wendy. They entered the room and walked slowly, amid the applause, to the head table, where they remained standing.

"Now, the matron of honor, Mrs. Joanie Monfort, and the best man, Mr. Ronald McMasters."

Lori's sister, accompanied by a man who could only be David's brother, came in, and also walked over to the head table.

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, would you please stand, and welcome, for the first time, Mr. and Mrs. David McMasters."

The applause, along with a few cheers, got very loud as we all stood. Lori and David stepped into the room, paused for just a moment, and then, with huge smiles on both of their faces, walked slowly toward their table, waving to everybody. It was an amazing sight to see.

The happy couple finally sat down, a signal for the rest of us to take our seats, and almost immediately I heard the chime-like ringing of forks tapping against water glasses. David and Lori looked out into the room, and then leaned in toward each other and kissed.

Coach Bill, in the meantime, apparently knew what was coming up, because he stood and grabbed the champagne bottle that was on our table. There was also a bottle of white wine and a bottle of red wine, as there was on every table, except for the one with the littler kids. Bill started filling glasses, starting with the ladies at the table. When he moved around to Molly's setting, she demurred.

"No, thank you. I'm only seventeen," she said.

"Nonsense," said Bill. "It's for the toast. Just clink your glasses together and don't drink any, if you don't want." He gave her an exaggerated wink. "But a little sip probably would be okay, considering the circumstances."

Molly blushed just a little, and smiled. I couldn't remember the last time I saw her blush. It was further confirmation, to my mind, that she was nearly healed.