A Nantucket Wedding(93)

“And Canny?” Felicity asked.

“Canny’s a sweet little girl. My kids love her. Good thing, since she’s their cousin.”

“How does it work, this cousin thing?” Felicity mused aloud. “When our mother marries your father, does that make our children cousins?”

Jane said, “Step-cousins.”

Poppy moaned, “Related somehow. This is far enough for me.” Catching their looks, she clarified, “I mean I can’t walk anymore. But you go on.”

“No,” Felicity said. “I’ll go back to the house with you.”

“So will I,” Jane said.

The three strolled along in silence for a few minutes.

“Tomorrow’s the wedding,” Jane said.

“I’m going to look like a fat old crow in my black pantsuit,” Poppy complained.

    OMG, Jane thought, Poppy has an insecurity! She didn’t dare meet Felicity’s eyes, she knew her sister was as shocked as she was.

“No, you’ll look elegant,” Felicity said. “Elegant and lush and beautiful.”

“Thanks,” Poppy said, staring straight ahead.

Jane, walking next to Felicity, squeezed her sister’s hand.



* * *



—

Heather, now known as She Who Knows Everything, had convinced Alison and David that it would be cruel, not to mention irrational, to expect five children, including two boys, to be quiet and well-mannered through a rehearsal dinner at a restaurant, so the evening before the wedding, the adults rounded up the children, and in a convoy of Jeeps and Range Rovers, they drove to the Willets’ house in town. Their backyard was large, with several old maples for climbing and bushes for hiding behind. Also, of course, Henry and Charlie, the English Labs, were there, wagging their tails and hoping someone wanted to throw them a stick to fetch.

“Oh, how beautiful!” Alison cried, as the wedding party walked through the house and came to the French windows open to the backyard.

There on the patio, a long table had been set up, with a white tablecloth and a tapestry runner and vases of summer flowers in the middle of the table. Beautiful Portmeirion pottery plates had been laid, and Jane nudged Scott, whispering, “It’s a sign.”

“It’s a coincidence,” Scott told her, adding softly in her ear, “We don’t need a sign.”

The adults wandered around the yard, admiring the perennials, while the children climbed trees and played with the dogs. Then Heather and Cecil brought out large bowls of pasta, and a wooden bowl of fresh greens dressed in aromatic basil vinaigrette, and bread boards holding hot loaves of bread. The children were seated at the kitchen table, partly because the long table didn’t have room for such a large group, and also because Heather gave the children paper plates.

    “If you behave nicely and eat your dinner, you can play as soon as you’ve cleaned your plate,” Poppy announced, eyeing each child separately.

After consulting with David and Ethan, Alison had invited Esmeralda to the rehearsal dinner.

Esmeralda had answered sweetly but firmly, “Thank you, Alison, but I plan to have dinner in my room at the hotel. I have a lot of work to do. I will attend the wedding, of course, because Canny will be the head flower girl, but I’m skipping the rehearsal dinner.”

“My instincts tell me not to expect a reconciliation between Ethan and Esmeralda,” Alison had told David afterward.

“That’s fine with me,” David murmured.

So eleven people seated themselves at the long table on the patio. Tall glasses of ice water sat at each place, and a pitcher of red wine sat at each end of the table. The sun was sinking toward the treetops, and the weather was dry and cool. The dogs, exhausted from running with the children, lay themselves quietly, and hopefully, beneath the children’s table, waiting for food to drop. There were no waiters, no strangers, no noises except the singing of birds as they began to nestle in for the evening. Almost as if orchestrated on cue, everyone took a deep breath and settled back in their chairs, relaxing. Tomorrow would be formal and social and whirlwind. Tonight, they were at ease among family and friends.

Heather started the bowl of pasta around the table. Cecil poured wine for those who wanted it.

“How did the rehearsal go?” Heather asked.

Alison laughed and reached over to take David’s hand. “We held it at home. Our friends will be checking into the hotel, and swimming and boating and sunbathing and so on, and they’re starting to erect the tent. So we moved all the furniture around, and progressed from the bottom of the stairs, down the hall, and into the living room, where the hat rack stood in for the minister in front of the fireplace.”

David added, “We had Mendelssohn on someone’s phone, and the boys used sofa cushions for bearing the rings, and the little girls carried the napkin basket and the fruit bowls and pretended to toss the petals. The boys fidgeted all through the pretend ceremony, but Ethan and Poppy separated them and made them stand still. And the moment I kissed the bride—a quick peck—the boys made vomiting noises and ran outside to the deck.”

    “They’ve been warned,” Poppy said. “Perfect behavior tomorrow or no TV for a week.” She glanced down the table at Felicity. “Does that work for you?”