After three marriages, Simone did not want a big wedding. It would be embarrassing.
Adam had already done that, not interested in a repeat. No way did he want the whole tux/gown/frenzied wedding hoopla.
But Maisie wanted not just a big wedding, but an extravaganza of a reception. Guess who won?
“You’d think you were the one getting married,” Adam had grumbled at his daughter.
To which, Maisie had replied, “I am, Daddy. This is our wedding.”
He couldn’t argue with that.
Thus it was that one month later, Adam Lanier married Simone LeDeux in Our Lady of the Bayou Church. Turned out that the Catholic Church had never recognized her three civil marriages as valid, so she was free to have a priest officiate over the rituals, which pacified Adelaide Daigle, somewhat. And gave Tante Lulu free rein to take over the event.
Lucien LeDeux gave his half sister away. Helene was the maid of honor, and Adam’s brother, David, was the best man. Also, in the wedding party on the bride’s side were BaRa, Sabine, Charmaine, and Tante Lulu. The ushers were John, Remy, and René LeDeux, and Adam’s cousin Rusty Lanier. Maisie was the cutest flower girl in history with a white gown matching Simone’s white gown, a mother-daughter kind of testament, they claimed.
At the reception, which was held at a local veteran’s hall, Tante Lulu, in her pink bridesmaid gown (Maisie’s choice of color for the wedding theme), wobbled around on her matching high heels. She finally accosted Aaron LeDeux, a pilot, who had been avoiding her for weeks. “Where ya been hidin’, boy?” she asked.
“Don’t you be throwing any thunderbolts my way, old lady,” Aaron replied with a laugh. “I’m not interested.”
“Lak that matters when St. Jude is in the buildin’!”
But then her eyes were caught by a handsome man in uniform standing near the bar. It was Adam’s brother, Dave, in full dress uniform.
“Hmmm,” she said and wandered off. Lots of couples had been avoiding her that night, having heard about the strange phenomena of all the LeDeuxs being suddenly pregnant. “As if I had anythin’ ta do with that!” she murmured to herself, then grinned.
Later that night, after making desperate love for the first time since the Fourth of July party, thanks to Tante Lulu’s interference and insistence on celibacy before marriage, Simone gave her husband the promised wedding gift. A pair of handcuffs.
They immediately tried them out.
They worked.
In all the right ways.
Then Adam said, “I have a present for you, too, darlin’, but it’s nothing you can unwrap.”
She glanced down at the finally flaccid organ between his legs.
“Not that,” he said and pinched her butt, one of his favorite parts on his new wife. “I’m thinking about leaving my law practice with Luc.”
She raised her head to stare at him. “Why?”
“Well, how would you feel about a new name for your agency? Legal Belles and Beaux?”
“Oh, Adam! You would do that for me?” Tears welled in her eyes. “It sounds perfect.”