31. Grand Openings #2
The festival runs until late afternoon. By the time Jake announces the last raffle winner, the animal hospital has raised enough money to make Annie cry again.
She hugs Jake. He pats her shoulder and looks at me for help.
I shake my head. “You’re on your own.”
At six, the kids are loaded into Rhea’s car and Sara’s rental SUV for the transfer to Rhea’s house. Mrs. Weaver is already there, waiting to help with dinner and babysitting, which means the children will be fed, supervised, and possibly organized into committees before bedtime.
Ellie hugs me in the driveway.
“You’re sure you’re good?” I ask.
She gives me the look I have earned over fifteen years. “Dad.”
“I’m allowed to ask.”
“You’re getting married tomorrow. Go have your weird adult party.”
“It’s not weird.”
“It’s a combined bachelor and bachelorette gathering with your Navy brothers, their wives, my future stepmom, Rhea, and probably too much emotional Scotch. It’s weird.”
“Go.”
She grins and hugs Annie next.
Annie holds her longer. That still gets to me.
After the cars leave, everyone regroups at my house.
The original plan was guys here, women at Annie’s. That lasted until Bella declared she was not missing the chance to watch Admiral endure a pre-wedding gathering. Sara agreed. Rhea wanted to be wherever the best stories were.
Annie said she had no intention of being separated from me the night before our wedding just to satisfy a stuffy, old tradition.
No one argued with the bride.
So now my living room, kitchen, porch, and back yard are full of the people who carried me through the worst years of my life and the woman who is helping me build the next ones.
Stone brings out the Laphroaig first.
Herc brings bourbon.
Admiral brings a bottle I don’t recognize and refuses to discuss it.
Bella takes the bottle from him and reads the label. Her eyes widen. “Robert.”
“It’s a wedding.”
Herc lifts both hands. “I didn’t say anything.”
“You were about to,” Admiral says.
“I was respecting the moment.”
“No one believes that,” Stone says.
Sara comes in from the kitchen with a plate of food and shouts at everyone. “You all need to get something in your stomachs so this doesn’t turn into a medical event.”
I take the plate. “Thank you.”
“Just trying to make sure you don’t have a workload on your wedding day.”
Annie sits on the arm of my chair, one hand sliding over the back of my neck. “I could get used to having backup.”
“You have a lot of it,” Bella says.
The evening spreads out in laughter and arguments. The guys tell stories we have told for what seems like a hundred years. And I’m not so certain they are improving with age.
The stories, that is.
Annie hears tales of smuggling furniture into Bancroft Hall through a route no sane person would attempt. Rhea laughs until she cries when Sara tells stories of Stone trying to issue Navy instructions to a toddler.
“What?” he says, “It is never too early to start laying down the foundation.”
Sara lowers her chin and just stares at him.
“A wise man would walk away,” Herc says. ”But we are talking about Stone.”
Laughter breaks out.
Admiral sits in the chair near the window, drink in hand, pretending he is not enjoying himself.
At some point, the laughter fades into something easier. The sun is gone. The porch door is open. The house is full of voices.
Stone raises his glass first.
“To Doc,” he says.
The room settles. I look at him and shake my head once. “Don’t.”
He ignores me. “You found a new place to call home. Albeit an entire country away from your brothers, but we’ve forgiven you. You’ve found a woman who could outmaneuver you, and a future you were smart enough not to resist.”
Annie smiles into her glass.
“Annie.” Stone looks at her. “Thank you for taking him on.”
She nods and raises her glass.
Herc lifts his glass next. “To Annie. You’ve shared your town and your heart with our brother.
We respect that you are able to give him hell, and applaud you for it.
You love our Ellie, which is so important to us.
And tomorrow, you become a legit family in front of witnesses, even though you already are to us. ”
Annie’s fingers close around mine.
Bella lifts her glass. “To Beth, too. For the love that came before and still gets to be honored tomorrow.”
I can’t speak for a second. Annie leans closer, her shoulder against mine.
Admiral stands last. That alone gets everyone’s attention.
“To Gabe and Tunes,” he says.
The names move through the room with the weight they always carry.
Stone looks down. Herc’s face hardens, then softens. And I close my eyes for a moment.
Admiral continues. “And to the men still here, who keep insisting on needing me.”
Herc snorts.
Admiral ignores him.
“To the women who made them less irritating. To the children who remind us we’re not done yet. And to Doc and Annie, who remind us that love is forever growing and evolving.”
We all raise our glasses. “Hear, hear.”
And we drink.
Later, after more food, more stories, and three separate arguments about who owes whom an apology from 1994, the house begins to break into smaller conversations.
Annie slips away to the porch. I follow her. She stands at the rail, looking toward the dark line of the water.
“Too much?” I ask.
“No.” She leans into me when I come up behind her. “It’s a lot. But it’s good.”
I wrap my arms around her.
“My house has never had this many people in it.” I laugh.
“Regretting it?”
“Absolutely not.”
She turns in my arms. “You ready for tomorrow?”
I look through the window at the people inside. My brothers. Their wives. My family. The people who show up for each other.
Then I look at Annie. “I’ve been ready.”
Her smile starts slow, then takes over her whole face.
I kiss her, with the house full behind us and tomorrow waiting.
Then Herc yells through the open door, “Save it for the wedding, Doc.”
Annie laughs against my mouth.
I look over her shoulder at the people who refuse to let me stand alone, then back at the woman I get to marry in the morning.
Inside, glasses clink. Someone laughs. And Annie takes my hand and pulls me back toward the noise.
Tonight, we celebrate the people we love.