After our initial dances and a quick visit to the cat reception inside, it was time to enjoy the special luncheon our caterer Dana had prepared. Charles and I fed each other each bite like the love-drunk fools we were.
I did pause briefly to make sure Frank was enjoying his vegan meal after all the special measures we had to take to get it for him. He seemed happy enough with what looked like a mixture of beans and rice and fajita veggies. He caught me staring and offered an awkward wave before returning his full attention to the food in front of him.
I eyed the woods to see if my animal friends were still watching from the sidelines, but they appeared to have cleared out and gone back to their daily lives. I’d have to thank them for coming later. It really did mean a lot that they’d shown.
Pringle, for his part, had stayed away as I’d instructed. A part of me felt bad for exiling him, but I just didn’t want to risk him ruining anything else—whether intentional or not. Nan believed he had good intentions, and based on the little show with Octo-Cat at the kitty party inside, she did understand the animals in our lives quite well. Still, I didn’t know if I could ever really trust the raccoon again.
“Everything okay?” my husband asked after we’d polished off our shared plate of fish.
I kissed him, which one of our guests saw and began clinking her water glass. Soon a chorus rose up asking us to kiss again. Like I needed a reminder to kiss my husband.
“Everything is wonderful,” I told him, still leaning in close. “I’m just thinking about Pringle.”
A sudden wave of concern flooded Charles’s shining green eyes. “I haven’t seen him around. Is he okay?”
“Oh, man. You have missed out on so much, thanks to your mother wanting to keep us separated for tradition’s sake.”
He nuzzled my cheek, much like I’d seen Octo-Cat do with Grizabella. “Thank you for doing that. It meant a lot to her,” he whispered, then kissed me again.
I leaned into him with a happy smile. “Of course. There’s just so much to catch you up on, and with a certain film crew roving about, I’m not sure I can do it right now.”
“Later then,” he said with a dopey smile of his own. “We do have the rest of our lives together, after all.”
“Ladies and gentlemen. Honored guests.”
I glanced up to find Mags standing beside the cellist after having coopted the microphone from my mother. “Just because the bride and groom chose to skip their speeches doesn’t mean I won’t delight you with mine. Buster, roll tape.”
I had no idea who Buster was, but apparently he was listening because right on cue, someone set up a projector screen behind Mags, and a film began to play for all to see. It began with a photo of me and Charles taken at the altar, then splintered into hundreds of tinier pictures that showcased Charles and me both together and apart. The Frank Sinatra version of “My Funny Valentine” played in the background, but even after it stopped, the pictures kept flashing by onscreen.
Now that the music had ended, Mags took over narrating. “Big shout-out to Mama Longfellow who provided the pictures of Charles, and to the many, many folks who shared photos of Angie. This one’s my favorite by the way.”
Everyone laughed at the photo of me and Mags bundled up against the cold sporting red noses and hot cocoa at the holiday festival downtown where two people had been murdered in an ice sculpture garden—they probably didn’t know about the murders that happened shortly after this photo op though.
“Aunt Linda is now coming around with some mementos for everyone,” Mags boomed next. “Show them what you got, Aunt Linda!”
Maggie’s great-aunt waved and then held up a gorgeous candle made in our wedding colors. The bottom layer was hot pink, the middle layer was an understated softer hue of the color, and the top had been cast in white. The finished candle had then been carved carefully to reveal a big cursive L protruding from the rest of the design. L for Longfellow. That was my name now. Aw, heck yeah.
“I want one!” I shouted, and Mags rolled her eyes. “Duh, I made a ton extra, and they’re all yours. Light one each year for your anniversary and think back to this special day. Love you, cuz!”
She then went on to tell me in great detail just how much she loved me and how much richer her life has been since we found each other. Mom and Dad made speeches too, along with Charles’s parents. It all boiled down to how much everyone loved us, thought we were a great couple, and wanted us to live a life of happiness and love.
All the speeches made me tear up, but it was Nan’s new husband Grant who really pulled at my heartstrings. He took center stage with his bride, pulling her out onto the dance floor and holding one of her hands in his while hanging onto the microphone with the other. His words were projected for all to hear, but his message was clearly just for her.
“I know we don’t have many years left, but I look forward to spending every last one of them… every last day, minute, second, with you. I didn’t think there was anything left for me in this life, but then I found you and that all changed. I feel like a young lad again, and I’m the happiest I’ve ever been. Who knew that our golden years would truly be the best of our lives? I love you to the moon and back, Dorothy Loretta Lee Gable, and I will keep on loving you until this old heart can love no more. Until then, every beat will be shouting your name so that the whole word knows exactly who it belongs to. My wife. My best friend. My whole world.”
I swear there wasn’t a dry eye in the place after that one.
The cellist began to play again, inviting everyone onto the dance floor.
“I love you like that,” Charles told me before offering another kiss.
“I love you like that too,” I responded, and kissed him again. One day I would have to share the vows I’d written just for him. Maybe I could recite them on the long drive to our honeymoon destination.
The honeymoon was a gift from my parents. For one week we’d be staying at a stately old home in the heart of Richmond, Virginia. The place boasted an enormous garden made private by a tall brick wall around the perimeter. Somehow my parents had managed to book the entire enormous estate just for the two of us. It would be a bit of a drive, but Charles had insisted on road-tripping it rather than flying. We’d sat down together weeks ago and planned each stop along the way to extend our trip into a truly memorable affair.
We’d leave tomorrow morning since we planned on partying late into the night. Nan and Grant would have free rein of the place until our return. Before Nan had realized that she would be married too, she’d agreed to wait an extra couple weeks before moving out so she could pet sit while Charles and I were away.
Once again I found myself torn between enjoying the moment I currently found myself in and anticipating all the good things that would happen next. First world problems, I tell you.
“Excuse me.” Someone poked me in the arm as Charles and I swayed together to another one of Nan and Grant’s questionable song choices.
“No cutting in. I’m not ready to let her go,” Charles mumbled without even looking at the interloper.
“I don’t want to dance,” the other man said in a deep, almost threatening voice. “I want to be given what I’m owed, and I’m not leaving until I get it.”