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The minister asked if anyone objected to the marriage, and an awkward murmur swept around the church. No one said anything, and the murmur rose to a giggle. The minister interrupted the giggling, enjoining the bride and groom to take their vows seriously, and he threatened them with hell-fire and other unpleasant consequences if they didn’t.
The congregation responded with laughter. Max laughed the loudest of all. He practically brayed in the minister’s face. The minister hastened to complete the formalities. He first asked Luke if he took this woman, Katherine, as his lawful wedded wife, and other questions Kathy didn’t hear. She did hear Luke say, “I do,” loud and clear over the fidgeting and whispering of the congregation.
She also heard the minister address her. “Do you, Katherine, take this man, Luke, to be your lawfully wedded husband, to love, honor, and obey him, to have him and to hold him, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?”
Kathy swallowed. “I do,” she replied.
She didn’t hear the rest of the minister’s remarks until he said, “I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride.”
Now Luke would see her face puffed up like she’d been stung by a nest full of hornets. Quite likely, he would think she’d contracted some dread disease between Mary’s house and the church. He wouldn’t want to kiss her with her eyes swollen shut and her nose leaking like a faucet.
He drew back her veil and their eyes met. But instead of shrinking back in horror, he smiled at her with the same twinkling eyes his brother had. Kathy smiled through her tears. She and Luke shared a mischievous chuckle. Then Luke passed his arm around her waist and pulled her in tight against his chest.
Kathy sucked in her breath in astonishment at his boldness, but she didn’t have time to react. Luke leaned in and planted a kiss on her lips. For all his shy hesitation at the train station, when Max seemed to dominate him and practically force him to face his bride, Luke took possession of her now.
Kathy felt his lips press against hers, and her body melted against his. He held her close just long enough to feel her yield to his embrace. Then he pulled away with a loud smack of his lips.
The congregation erupted in laughter. Kathy gaped at Luke, but he only chuckled at his own antics. Kathy glanced around, but she only saw Annabel, Max, and the whole congregation laughing. Annabel wiped tears from her eyes and stepped up to Kathy.
“Don’t worry,” she told Kathy. “We aren’t laughing at you.” She broke into uproarious laughter again. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t laugh. It’s just that we’re all so happy. I’m sorry.” She tried unsuccessfully to quell her laughter, but only wound up laughing harder.
The minister raised his voice and shouted over the din. “Let us leave now in joy and love, to serve our fellow men.”
This statement apparently freed the congregation to leave the church. Luke took Kathy by the hand and conducted her back up the aisle to the door of the church. The congregation exploded into the aisle behind them, talking and laughing, and burst into the sunshine outside.
Somewhere at the far end of the aisle, Kathy became aware of Adelaide running after them. She caught up to them and hastened to lift Kathy’s train. She carried it back across the yard to Mary’s house. She followed Kathy and Luke upstairs to the same room, where she dropped the train on the floor.
“Thank you, Adelaide,” Luke said.
Adelaide stared back and forth between the bride and the groom.
“Thank you, Adelaide,” Kathy said.
Adelaide still didn’t take the hint. She just stood there, staring at the two of them and waiting for her next commission to tend to the bride.
Kathy finally took her by the hand. “You can go downstairs now, Adelaide. We’ll be down in a minute. I won’t need you to carry my train anymore, and I think your mother probably wants you to help her in the kitchen.”
Adelaide understood at last that she was dismissed. She nodded and slipped out of the room, but she forgot to close the door behind her. Luke went over and closed it. Then he faced Kathy.
“They’ll all be downstairs by now, stuffing their faces and telling bad jokes.” Luke paused and regarded Kathy. “Thanks for being a good sport about that kiss. I hope you weren’t too offended by it.”
“The kiss?” Kathy asked.
“Yeah,” Luke replied. “When I made a smacking noise when I kissed you and everyone laughed. It’s just that we have sort of tradition in this town of making everything into a joke. I hope it wasn’t too much in bad taste.”
“A tradition?” Kathy asked.
“Well,” Luke explained. “Not really a tradition. It’s more of a bad habit. My brother, Max, started it. We all play practical jokes on each other whenever we can. We especially do it at church, or anything having to do with church. The minister can’t stand it. That’s one of the main reasons we do it, to make him mad.” Luke burst out laughing in spite of himself.
“I didn’t realize....”Kathy began.
Luke turned suddenly serious. “I shouldn’t have made a joke out of you. That was wrong. I just thought I’d make everyone laugh to lighten the mood. People become so serious at weddings. You know what I mean?”
“I wasn’t offended,” Kathy replied.
“That’s good,” Luke exclaimed. “I didn’t want to ruin your special day.”
“You didn’t ruin it,” Kathy replied. “It just surprised me. That’s all.”
“I’m sorry about that,” Luke repeated.
“You don’t have to keep saying that,” Kathy told him. “It’s okay. We can let it go.”
Luke started to say something else, but stopped himself. “Okay.”
“Anyway,” Kathy remarked. “It was our first kiss.”
Luke gave her a wry smile. “Would you like to do it again?”
“What? Here? Now?” Kathy glanced around.
“Why not?” Luke asked. “We’re all alone.”
Kathy glanced around the room again. “Is that what we’re supposed to be doing up here? Are we supposed to be consummating the marriage up here in this little attic room?”
“Well, maybe not consummating it,” Luke explained. “But there’s a hundred people waiting for us downstairs. I think we’re just supposed to spend a little bit of time alone before we are mobbed by wild merry-makers.”
Kathy giggled. “I see what you mean. And you do seem to have a tendency to turn everything into a joke.”
Luke bit his lip to stop himself from smiling. “Sorry. I’ll try to stop.”
“You don’t have to,” Kathy assured him. “Now that I know to expect it from you, I don’t mind so much.”
“Okay,” Luke replied. “So what about the kiss part?”
“What about the kiss part?” Kathy asked.
“Was it...you know...all right for you?” he asked. “Did you like it all right?”
Kathy smiled at him. “I liked it.”
He took a step closer to her. “So...would you like to do it again?”
Now it was Kathy’s turn to laugh. “Okay.”
