56. Anderson
56
ANDERSON
I lean to my bride again. “This is why you never litigate, isn’t it?”
She’s gone pale at the thought. “Public speaking is not my forte. Please don’t ask me to.”
“No one is going to ask you to. I think Mom just wants to say a few words to get things started. She’ll speak, we’ll dance, everyone will eat, and then we'll go home. Okay?” I give her hand a supportive squeeze. “No big deal.”
She gives a brave nod and forces a smile on, and I feel guilty she’s so uncomfortable. But I know how much all of this means to Mom and Dad and, oddly, June’s father, too. He was moved to be invited to sit at our table. But given what she’s told me about the man, maybe he’s working on a scheme. I’m not sure if he can fake the kind of emotion that is on his face. If so, I understand why people get taken in by him.
He looks every bit the proud father most would be on a day like today.
To my surprise, Cole is the first to take the mic. “Hello, everyone. Thank you for coming today. I’m Cole West, the youngest disappointment.” He gets some good laughs out of that line, and thankfully, few in the audience know it to be true. But he grins, carrying on. “When Anderson and I were young, we didn’t always get along. In fact, I can still remember the time I stole his bike, and he chased me through the house with a horsewhip.” He chuckles, shaking his head, and I am glad he is starting with a mild anecdote. “When Mom caught us, Anderson lied and said we were playing Indiana Jones. I, being a genius, backed him up. I think that was the first time we ever really teamed up together. After that, Mom and Dad were up against a united force, and they didn’t stand a chance.” He smiles at me, raising his glass. “Now, Anderson has a new partner. Be careful with that one, brother. She’s way smarter than you and far better-looking.”
I smile and flip him off, and he laughs with the crowd.
Cole goes on, “May you strive to be worthy of her for the rest of your lives. Cheers.”
Everyone raises their glasses and drinks. To my utter shock, my father is the next one to head to the microphone. I would have thought for sure it’d be Mom, and that would be that. We’re outdoors, but there is not enough air. Is he going to be classy about this, or is he going to use today to humiliate me and June?
“I’d like to thank everyone who could make it here on such short notice. We would have liked to give more notice, but we only learned of their nuptials a week ago.”
Great. He ’ s going for humiliation.
“Love is like that, though. Sometimes, we do impulsive things. Things that perhaps we ought not do, but you know, deep down, they are exactly what you need to do.” He pauses, frowning.
I have no idea where he’s going with this, but I’m sweating bullets. I’m also wishing I had some actual bullets.
“My son met his bride at a charity auction.”
Oh, holy shit.
“Or rather, they met when they were students at Appleton Academy, but they reconnected at the charity auction, and they have been inseparable since. I am happy to know the woman who won my son’s heart is charitable and generous, qualities my son has, thanks to his mother.”
Maybe he isn ’ t trying to humiliate us?
He turns to Mom, smiling adoringly. “June thanked me and Kitty for making Anderson into the man he is because he’s such a good man, and she loves him so very much. But truly, his good qualities are there thanks to Kitty. I have been lucky enough to have a partner who makes up for what I lack and who supports me and takes care of me. A wife who has made my house into a home and shown me what it truly means to love someone.”
Mom softly says, “Oh, Elliot.”
He looks past her to me. “It is my hope that you get to have that too, son. When I look at June, I see a woman full of possibilities, but knowing what I know about her, you are in for a lifetime of happiness. Anderson, if you’re smart, you’ll hold onto June with both hands and never let her go.”
Wow. I knew he approved of her, but this? A knot burns in my throat, part shock, part emotions I can’t pin down. I bring her hand up and kiss the back of it. “Thanks, Dad.”
He smiles and nods. “To the happy couple.” With that, we drink again, and Dad sits down.
After that, it’s Mom’s turn. “Well, for any of you who don’t know me, I am Kitty West, the mother of the groom. Welcome to our home, and thank you all for coming.” She smiles and sighs. “Anderson has always been headstrong, so it shouldn’t have surprised me that he eloped. He’s always done things on his own timetable. I think that’s why he was born five weeks early—he’s never been one for patience.”
Leave it to Mom to start from my very beginning.
“Every mom thinks her son is special. I just happen to be right,” she says slyly, earning some snickers from her friends. “When my father passed, Elliot was away overseas, and Cole was too young to understand. But Anderson got it, and he took care of me.” She pulls something out of the pocket of her dress, and when I see it, I’m stunned.
There ’ s no way she kept that …
She goes on, “He made me this ring out of the daisies my father had planted here. He said it was like having a piece of him with me and that my father wasn’t really gone. He was right outside in our garden. Every time I miss my father, I think of this ring, though. Not the garden. I think of Anderson and how he did everything he could to cheer his mom up when she was at her lowest.”
The knot in my throat grows.
Mom turns to June. “You thanked us for giving you Anderson, but the truth is, we are lucky to have you in our family, June. You are smart, kind, and patient. We could not ask for more in a daughter-in-law. Please consider this your official welcome into the family.”
June sniffles as she smiles. Her eyes shine with tears, but she’s keeping it together. “Thank you, Kitty.”
“And as a nosy mother-in-law, I have some advice for the newlyweds.” She turns to the audience. “Accept your partner’s weirdness, and they will accept yours. Always make time for each other. Never assume malice when aloofness is probably the issue. And dating doesn’t end with a ring on the finger. Woo each other forever, and you’ll never have a bad day. To the newlyweds!”
Once again, we drink, and after not eating for a few hours, the champagne is bubbling in my head. But I don’t care. We can sleep in my old room if we’re too buzzed. After Dad’s speech, it’s hard not to think everything is going to work out. If he can get past his bullshit with June, then we can conquer mountains.
As I finish my flute of champagne, I can’t help but wish to get on with things. Just announce the first dance, and we can ? —
“Anderson,” Mom says, smiling. “Your turn.” She holds out the mic.
Shit. “Uh, I didn’t prepare anything?—"
“Say something nice about your bride.”
A nervous chuckle pops out of me and I find my feet, while she sits back down. I rake my fingers through my hair, smiling at the crowd. “Good evening everyone. Thank you for coming. On behalf of my wife and I, it means the world to us that you’d take time out of your busy lives to celebrate this special occasion.”
Okay, what next?
“I will never forget the day I met June Devlin. We were at Appleton, and she was the new kid. She was nervous and a little shy, and all I could think was, ‘There goes the most beautiful girl I have ever seen; but I wasn’t a suave preteen by any stretch of the imagination. I was your run-of-the-mill boy with a crush at first sight, so I said something smarmy, and she decked me, and I knew it was love.”
That gets some laughs, thankfully. I might have dressed up the truth a little, but I didn’t think she’d mind.
“After that, we were in school together a lot, but she was too good for me, and I was too bad for her. It took years before I started to become a man worthy of June. And I’m still working on that,” I tease. “But tonight is for celebrating the future, not digging up the past.” I raise my glass. “To my bride, June Devlin, who has shown me the meaning of love from day one. To June!”
“To June!” the audience says before we drink together.
When I look back at her, I see Mom looking right at her, too. She has expectations in her eyes. She wants June to make an impromptu speech, too, I just know it.
Nope. I am her husband, and that means I’m here to protect her.
I signal the band and mouth, “First dance.” The lead singer nods, motioning to her compatriots, and they start to play. I stroll to June, hand out. “May I have this dance?”
She beams up at me. I think she knew what Mom wanted, because she looks so relieved. As she skirts past Mom and Dad, neither tries to stop her. I take her in my arms, and we have the whole dancefloor to ourselves.
In her ear, I whisper, “Better?”
“So much.”
I chuckle, holding her close. “How was my speech?”
“Perfect. Thank you for not asking me to do one, too.”
“You don’t like public speaking, so I’m not about to do that to you. And I’m not going to let Mom do it to you, either.”
“What’s her deal about that? You didn’t even have a choice.”
I smile and nod. “I should have been prepared for it. Growing up, Mom always had this Kennedy fantasy that her children would be raised to be in politics, comfortable with public speaking, and all of that. Any chance she got, she put us on the spot.” I shrug. “It’s useful now, but back then, I hated it.”
She lays her head on my shoulder, and I breathe her in, relishing the scent of my wife. “I know this reception was kind of thrust upon us, but I’m glad for it.”
“Oh?”
“I like seeing you here. You seem more comfortable here with your family than in the city.”
“That’s probably because my dad gave a good speech that didn’t humiliate us, and like you said, the bar is in hell for him.”
She laughs, and we’re blinded for a moment because the photographer gets in close for that picture. I give him a look, and he backs off. June says, “Honestly, I’m having a good time. I didn’t expect to, but I am. I know we got married a week ago, but this sort of makes it feel real.”
“I know exactly what you mean. It just feels like this is how things are meant to be. Like everything is going to work out. We’ll have big family events here, birthdays, holidays. We can even invite your folks if you want.”
“I think I’d like that. But only one of them per event. No sense in bringing the drama of the both of them together.”
I nod. “Obviously, marriage doesn’t always work out, but …” I sigh and smile at my wife. “When I look in your eyes, all I can think is, ‘And they lived happily ever after.’”