The robotic voice instructed Danielle to turn left.
Walt, who held Danielle’s iPhone in his hand, looked at it and shook his head. “Who would’ve thought road maps would become obsolete.”
The voice gave another instruction.
“I wouldn’t say they’re obsolete, exactly. I suppose some people still use them.”
“Maybe we should just get married at the county clerk’s office,” Walt suggested. “We already know where that building is.”
“I’ll find the place. And didn’t we agree we didn’t want to get married by some impersonal county employee?”
Walt looked out the side window. “We’re in a residential neighborhood. Are you sure your phone knows where it’s going? I haven’t seen any churches.”
“I’m not looking for a church.”
Walt turned to Danielle. “But I thought you said this guy is named Reverend Mike? I assumed he has a church.”
Danielle laughed. “No. He was ordained online.”
Walt frowned. “Online?”
“Sure. A lot of people get ordained online so they can officiate at weddings. Remember, the chief performed Lily’s marriage.”
“I just assumed it was because he was the police chief.”
“No. Anyone can do it. In fact, it’s pretty common for couples who don’t have a church wedding to have a friend officiate the service.”
A few moments later the robotic voice said, “Your destination is on your right…”
Danielle pulled in front of the small cottage and parked. Instead of getting out of the car, she and Walt stared for a moment.
“Are you sure we’re at the right place?” Walt asked.
“I feel like I’ve stepped back in time—to the sixties. But yeah, it’s the address.”
Colorful flowers didn’t just adorn the perimeter of the property, they covered the exterior of the blue cottage, painted in bright colors. Whoever had painted the flowers had been enthusiastic and imaginative, yet not particularly artistically inclined, considering the uneven petals and paint blotches that looked as if they were covering some prior mistake.
“I guess this is the place,” Danielle said as she and Walt unhooked their seatbelts. “But I have to wonder how Astoria’s code enforcement missed this.”
“Code enforcement?” Walt asked.
Danielle shrugged and opened her car door. “I assume Astoria has a code enforcement, and I find it hard to believe they allow this.”
Just as they reached the front gate leading to the walkway to the cottage’s entrance, a man came out the front door, waving his hand in greeting. He, like the house, looked as if he belonged in another era, considering his well-worn denim bell-bottoms, bare feet, tie-dyed shirt, a beaded headband, and long curly gray hair that fell to his waist. What he didn’t have was a beard or mustache, which surprised Danielle, considering the rest of his ensemble. He looked to be in his sixties, and Danielle wondered if he had been a hippy in his youth and had never grown out of it, or if he’d had some midlife crisis that had sent him back to relive a previous era.
“Hello, hello, are you Danielle?” he greeted her, still waving his right hand as he walked down the walkway to meet them. Between two of his fingers on his right hand, he held what appeared to be a cigarette.
“Yes, and this is Walt. Are you Reverend Mike?” Danielle asked when they reached him midway to the house.
“Yes, I am. Wonderful to meet you, Walt and Danielle.” He started to shake Walt’s hand but realized what he was holding. He paused a moment, took a puff, and then offered some to Walt and Danielle. It was in that moment that Danielle realized the man was not holding a tobacco cigarette.
“Umm…no, thanks…” Danielle said with a chuckle.
Reverend Mike shrugged, stuck the joint between his lips, and then shook both of their hands before turning back to the house and waving for them to follow him.
Trailing behind the aged hippy, Walt took a sniff and glanced to Danielle, taking note of the pungent odor. She shrugged in reply and smiled.
Inside, the small house was surprisingly clean and tidy, while staying in theme with its exterior. The living room seating was comprised of several beanbag chairs, a fairly new faux-leather couch, and a vintage oak table with an antique Tiffany lamp. Hard rock music posters and a tapestry rug decorated the walls.
Reverend Mike led them through the living room into what he referred to as his wedding room. To Danielle and Walt’s surprise, it looked like a mini-chapel. Its one window had been painted to resemble stained glass, adorned with cupids and angels. Danielle was fairly certain whoever had painted it was not responsible for the flowers on the exterior of the house, considering the better quality of the art. Two rows of wooden folding chairs led the way to the oak podium and provided an aisle for the bride.
Standing on either side of the podium, waiting for the would-be bride and groom, were two women. The elder one wore a floor-length tie-die dress, with her gray hair flowing past her shoulders. The other woman was much younger, wearing leggings and a long pink blouse, her brown hair cut in a short bob. On one side of each woman was a faux marble column, and on each column sat a wicker basket filled with artificial flowers.
“This is my wife and daughter,” Reverend Mike announced. “They’ll be your witnesses. You mentioned on the phone you would need witnesses. That’s twenty bucks extra. Each.”
Danielle began to laugh. She couldn’t stop laughing, which wasn’t necessarily a good thing, considering she was driving. The laughter made her cry, and she was unable to wipe away the tears and keep both hands on the steering wheel.
“This is not how I imagined my bride to behave after just exchanging vows.” Walt’s attempt at a serious tone missed its mark. “I have a hysterical bride.”
“We just got married by a stoned hippy. I wonder if the marriage is legal if the officiant is high?”
“You have to give the guy credit; he did try to share.”
Danielle giggled. “I know. All through the ceremony he kept handing you the joint.”
Imitating Reverend Mike, Walt altered his voice and held out his right hand, pretending he was holding a marijuana cigarette. “We are gathered here today…you sure you don’t want a drag?…Do you take this woman…this is really good stuff…”
Danielle started laughing again. “That was the most bizarre wedding ceremony I have ever been to.”
“And it was ours.” Walt snickered.
“Much more memorable than the county clerk.”
“You are right about that,” Walt agreed with a chuckle.
Danielle let out a sigh. “There is only one thing I regret.”
“What’s that?” Walt asked.
“I’m dying to tell Lily about it. Of course, she would be mad because she wasn’t there. But she would find it hilarious.”
“You’ll eventually tell her. I suppose you could tell her now if you want.”
Danielle shook her head. “No. For now, I would rather not.”
“Are you hungry?” Walt asked.
“Not really.”
“I know we were going to go out to get something to eat after the ceremony, but I’m not hungry either,” Walt confessed. “That lunch filled me up.”
“Which is saying something because you’re always hungry,” Danielle teased. “When we get home, we could grill a couple of steaks later and toss some baked potatoes in the oven.”
“A romantic dinner for two?” Walt asked.
“I’d like that. But what do you want to do now? You want to head home?”
“Would you mind if we stop at that hat store we passed earlier?” he asked.
“Hat store?” Danielle frowned.
“To be honest, I feel strange going out without a hat. I’m not completely dressed.”
“I never saw you wear a hat before.”
Walt laughed. “From the first time I met you until Clint’s accident, the only place you ever saw me was inside the house. A gentleman doesn’t wear a hat indoors.”
Danielle sat on a wooden stool in the corner of the quaint hat store and watched Walt try on one hat after another. The shop offered a variety of hats—beach hats, cowboy hats, baseball hats, and hats that Danielle suspected were worn more at costume parties. A number of hats Walt tried on fell into that category—headgear popular in the 1920s, such as flat caps, the panama, the derby, the straw boater—and the fedora. It was the fedora Walt seemed drawn to, and Danielle had to admit he wore it well. It looked sharp with his suit, and when he stood there adjusting the fedora on his head while looking in the nearby mirror, she had the whimsical thought that he had just stepped out of The Great Gatsby movie. She smiled at the thought.
They were barely home for ten minutes when Lily came knocking at the kitchen door. The door wasn’t locked, so she walked in after knocking, finding Danielle alone in the kitchen. Walt had left minutes earlier to use the bathroom.
“Wow, nice dress. Are you going somewhere?” Lily asked, taking a seat at the kitchen table.
“Umm…no, I just got home. We just got back from Astoria.”
“That’s why I’m here. I saw Melony at the grocery store, and she said she and Adam ran into you and Walt in Astoria. You were picking up the rings. I’m dying to see them.”
Danielle let out a sigh and walked to the table. She held out her right hand for Lily to see.
“Oh, take it off! I want to try it on!”
Reluctantly, Danielle twisted the ring off her finger and handed it to Lily.
Examining the ring, Lily said, “It’s really pretty. He did a great job. But Mel is right. It does look like a wedding band.”
Danielle shrugged. “It’s just a gold ring.”
Lily slipped it on and held out her hand, looking at Danielle’s ring on her finger. As she wiggled her fingers while tilting her right hand from side to side, examining the ring, Walt walked into the room.
“Hello, Lily,” Walt said, glancing from Lily to his bride.
Lily looked up to Walt and held out her hand. “I want to see yours!”
Minutes later, after Lily had finished inspecting the rings and had handed them back to their respective owners, Ian came breezing through the back door.
“I was just coming home,” Lily said as she stood up.
“That’s okay,” Ian said. He looked at Walt and Danielle. “Hey, Chris just called and wanted to know if we all want to meet them for Chinese food.”
“Oh, Chinese!’ Lily said.
Danielle and Walt exchanged smiles, and Danielle looked to Ian and said, “Thanks, Ian, but I did a lot of driving today, and frankly, I don’t really feel like going out again. In fact, I was just heading upstairs to change my clothes.”
“Have you eaten yet?” Lily asked.
Danielle shrugged. “No. We had lunch with Mel and Adam in Astoria. I’ll just make a sandwich later, but you go.”
The next moment Ian’s cellphone rang. He answered it.
“No, Danielle is tired; she doesn’t want to go out again,” Ian told the person on the phone. He then looked at Walt and asked, “Do you want to go?”
Walt shook his head and said, “Thanks for the offer. I’ll stay home and keep Danielle company. I feel guilty she had to do all the driving today.”
“No, he’s going to stay here, keep Danielle company. What? That’s a good idea. See you then.”
Ian got off the phone and said, “That was Chris. He’s going to pick up the Chinese food and bring it over. Heather’s coming too, and so are Adam and Mel.” He looked at Danielle and added, “You go ahead and change your clothes. We’ll take care of everything.”
At last they were alone. All their friends had left.
“This really was a funny day,” Danielle mused. She stood at the base of the stairs on the first floor, Walt by her side as they prepared to go upstairs.
“I got to meet my first hippy,” Walt said as they started up the stairs together.
“I got married by a stoned senior citizen,” Danielle added.
They continued up the stairs.
“We had a lovely wedding reception, with most of our friends in attendance,” Walt said.
“They just didn’t know it was a wedding reception,” Danielle added with a laugh.
“But you know the best thing about the day?” Walt asked.
Danielle paused on the stairs and turned to Walt. “I know what was the best for me.”
Walt took Danielle in his arms. “What?”
“I got to marry you,” she whispered.
After a brief kiss they continued to the second floor. When they stepped on the landing, Danielle said, “Umm…I’m going to go take a shower.”
“I’m going to take a shower too. It’s been a long day.”
“Yes, it has. I plan to hit the bed as soon as I get out of the shower,” Danielle told him as they walked toward her bedroom.
“Me too.” Walt gave Danielle a quick kiss and then continued down the hallway to the stairs leading to his attic bedroom, while Danielle entered her bedroom and headed for her bathroom.
When Walt and Danielle each finished their showers some twenty minutes later, they went to bed—first in Danielle’s room—and then in Walt’s.