Chapter 15: Déjà vu and School's out

Once we returned home things settled down to a routine where we knew what to expect each day. Things were so stable that we could actually make plans. Speaking of plans, Cathy and I had a wedding in a month to plan. Cathy was getting so excited that she was literally bouncing around the house. I was in the unique position of not only effectively being father of the bride, I was also the groom. I was going to have to rely on Tracy to help us. For one thing where there could be a problem was picking out a wedding gown. There is a tradition (or is it a superstition?) that it is bad luck for the groom to see the bride in her wedding gown before the ceremony. Not wanting to tempt fate, I recruited Tracy to help Cathy select a gown. I still got to pay for it however.

Tracy came by the house and picked up Cathy for their day of gown shopping. I gave Cathy my credit card so they could pay for their choice. While looking at a selection of gowns in one of the better shops a sales associate came over to our two girls asking if she could help them. Tracy did a double take when she saw the lady because she looked so familiar. Tracy asked her name and she said it was Elizabeth Anderson. Tracy could not remember off hand ever meeting an Elizabeth Anderson so she dismissed it and they proceeded to pick out a gown for Cathy. They looked at a lot of choices which took most of the day. Once they had decided on the perfect choice all that was left was the fitting. Tracy and Cathy went to lunch and chatted about how great the gown would look as she came down the aisle.

They returned to the shop and the fitting process was started. The store had a staff seamstress who worked diligently to make the fit perfect. After the sewing was completed they took the gown to Tracy's house to keep it until the big day. As Tracy was walking into the house she casually looked up on the fireplace mantel and her jaw dropped almost to the floor. There was a picture of Alex's sister and she was an exact copy of the sales lady from the store. It was at that time that Tracy remembered that Alex's sister was named Elizabeth. When Tracy came out of her trance she pointed out the picture to Cathy who asked why she had a picture of the sales lady on her mantle. Tracy told her that the picture was of Alex's sister Elizabeth. Cathy exclaimed "Oh my God; that is too much of a coincidence." The girls brought the picture with them to our house to show me. I knew about Alex's sister and that she had been killed at 21. I didn't remember, however, that her name was Elizabeth. When Tracy told me about Alex's sister and the sales lady's names being Elizabeth I was bowled over.

Tracy decided that this deserved looking into further. She called the store and talked to Elizabeth inviting her to lunch the next day. They met at a nice restaurant and ordered their food. While they were waiting Tracy showed the picture to Elizabeth. Her eyes got real big and asked Tracy "Where did you get my high school class picture?"

Tracy told her "You are going to find this hard to believe but that picture is of my husband's sister Elizabeth who was killed in a traffic accident at 21 years old."

"That's awful. I lost my brother when he was 21 also."

"What was your brother's name?"

"Alex."

"Oh my God Elizabeth, that's my husband's name."

"Do you have a picture of him?"

Tracy took out her wallet and showed her a picture of Alex. Elizabeth got an ashen shocked look on her face and almost passed out. She was breathing hard almost panting as she remembered her brother.

"Tracy your husband looks exactly like my brother." She dug out her wallet and showed Tracy a picture of her dearly departed brother. He was an absolute carbon copy of Tracy's husband.

"Elizabeth, would you like to come to our house after dinner to meet Alex? I know he will want to meet you."

"Sure, why not."

Tracy wrote down the address and told Elizabeth to show up at seven.

When Tracy got home Alex was already there. She told him to come and sit down that she had something big to tell him. They sat together on the couch.

"Alex, I met a lady today that I think you need to meet."

"Where did you meet her?"

"She was the sales lady at the shop where Cathy got her wedding gown."

"Why should I need to meet her?"

"Alex, you are going to be blown away by what I am about to tell you."

"Ok, so shoot."

"Her name is Elizabeth"

"Oh yeah, my sister's name was Elizabeth"

"She lost her brother when he was 21."

"What was his name?"

"You're not going to believe this but his name was ... Alex."

"Wow; that is a coincidence. When can I meet her?"

"She'll be here at seven."

They hurried through supper and promptly at seven there was a knock on the door. Alex answered the door and seeing who was there stood mute for what seemed like an eternity. Alex and Elizabeth stared at each other with tears in their eyes. Tracy came over and broke the spell inviting Elizabeth in. Walking like zombies they made their way over to the couch and sat not breaking the stare fest for a single second. At that moment a new friendship was forged from the residuals of loves lost.

After a few minutes Alex hugged Elizabeth in a tearful embrace. It was as if he had his sister back and Elizabeth had her brother back. Tracy came over and hugged them both and couldn't help feeling the emotions flowing freely about these two lost souls. Tracy was also sobbing like it was three souls joined as one in perfect harmony.

Once everyone dried their tears they reminisced about their relationships with their lost siblings. They both had loved and made love with their siblings all during their teen years until tragedy tore them apart. Alex and Elizabeth shared so much in common that there was no way they would be separated from each other from that day on. Tracy, remembering her relationship with her brother, encouraged them to relive their past. That's not to say that they made love that night but the seeds of a new union have been sewn. Only time will tell how this new kinship will grow.

Meanwhile, Cathy and I were making plans for our wedding. We had already made plans to celebrate Cathy's birthday by throwing another pool party and sleepover in her honor. It was to be held the weekend before her actual birthday since the 15^th fell on a Wednesday and a lot of the participants would be working. Tracy and Alex got invited also as well as Elizabeth. Tracy had told Cathy and me about Elizabeth so Cathy insisted that she be invited.

Wedding invitations had been printed up and we made a list of who we wanted to be there. We had decided on Tracy for matron of honor and Alex as best man. We also decided since we were both so involved in cheerleading that we would have a theme wedding. 15 cheerleaders as attendants in their cheer uniforms would make a sight to behold. The church would be awash in beauty with the bride being the best of all.

Since Cathy had seen so little of our country we decided to have a traveling honeymoon to see the sights. It meant a lot of driving but sitting for hours with that goddess of perfection snuggled up to me was my idea of heaven anyways, so the miles didn't matter that much. We planned our first stop would be a popular newlywed spot, Niagara Falls. There was a lot to see there so we figured on two days. The falls can be viewed from both sides, but, my favorite is the Canadian side. There would be the Maid of the Mist ride, Cave of the Winds, Whirlpool boat ride, Floral Gardens, etc, etc. We also wanted to see The Windy City, Grand Canyon, Mount Rushmore, Yosemite, Yellowstone, White Sands, The Alamo and Key West but we may have to put some of them off until we can take another vacation.