A Nantucket Wedding(94)
“It does,” Felicity called back. “Good idea.”
“I’m sure they’ll be good tomorrow,” Alison said. “I think they might find the congregation and the minister in his robes so overwhelming they’ll be quiet from sheer terror.”
“I know I will be,” Ethan joked.
“No, you won’t,” his sister snapped. “You’ll be trolling the room for some good-looking single woman to flirt with.”
Ethan laughed and put his hand to his heart. “You wound me to the core.”
“I’ve never seen a summer go by so fast,” Jane said. “Has time sped up?”
“I think it’s because you were on the island so much,” Heather told her.
“And in the ocean and on the beach,” Ethan said, giving Jane an obvious once-over gaze. “You’ve acquired quite a tan.”
Jane stared across the table at her husband. “I’ve convinced Scott to spend some time with me this week. He’s such a workhorse, he hasn’t gotten any sun at all. Not to mention how he was stuck in the fog on a mountainside for day and a night.”
“Really? Do tell us more!” Cecil said.
Jane watched Scott recounting his adventure. Everyone had questions, and as Scott answered, he became more and more relaxed and talkative. So maybe, Jane thought, with the help of a little red wine and the magic of Wales, Scott was finally becoming part of the family.
At some point, the children put their paper plates in the trash as they were directed, and politely but rapidly refused the offer of fruit for dessert, and raced out into the garden to play. No one at the long table wanted dessert, and they all lingered in their chairs, slowly finishing their very good wine, talking about their own adventures, and enjoying an unusual spirit of fellowship. The sun sank, and the sky became pale blue, and then black, as the stars came out, one by one.
David rose. “We all need to go home and get our beauty sleep. But first, I’d like to make a toast to Heather and Cecil for this delicious meal and elegant rehearsal dinner.”
“Here, here!” the others cried, and raised their glasses, and drank.
“And now,” David continued, “I’d like to make a brief speech. All summer I’ve thought about this wedding, this ceremony joining Alison and me. And this is what I’ve concluded: A marriage is a private bond between two people. But a wedding is a party for everyone, a celebration of life and love, a gathering of friends and relatives to rejoice in life’s good food, champagne, dancing, laughter, and a golden moment in the passage of life. A marriage lasts years, though the good times and bad, and all the banal, boring everyday goings-on of living. A wedding is a brief flash, a unique, exceptional festivity with singing and flowers and good will among men—and women. A marriage is real life. A wedding is a fairy tale. But a wedding is also a promise that we will hold dear the joys of the fairy tale close to our hearts as we go through the years of our marriage.”
After he spoke, the table was quiet, and Felicity and Jane wiped their eyes, and Cecil took Heather’s hand, and the children and even the dogs stopped playing. For a brief moment, it was as if they were caught in a spell.
Then Scott chimed in, “Here, here!”
And all the others added their cries, and David leaned down to kiss Alison, who rose to meet his lips.
David took his seat. Alison stood.
“But wait!” she said in a joking tone. “There’s more!”
Now that the moment had come, she was nervous. Her hands trembled and she clasped them together at waist level. “David has already given me his wedding present. You’ll see it tomorrow when I walk down the aisle. Well, I have a wedding present for him, but it’s so large and heavy I can’t lift it myself. I want to thank Poppy for helping me decide on the perfect words.” Alison caught the puzzled glance between her daughters. She could read their minds: What? they were thinking. Mom had Poppy help her instead of us? In a moment, they would understand.
Alison continued. “Heather and Cecil have helped me transport my gift to their house, because it’s too big to hide out at Surfside.”
An excited stirring passed over the table. Her new family and especially David leaned toward her, captivated.
“Cecil? Heather? Would you help me bring it out?”
Alison hurried into the Willets’ house. Cecil and Heather followed. They had hidden the quarterboard behind a sofa in the family room. It was a narrow mahogany plank, six feet long, one foot wide, painted a navy blue almost dark enough to be black, all edges outlined with golf leaf. The words Glad Tidings were carved into the mahogany and painted with five layers of gold leaf, as were the pineapples, a whaling-day emblem of hospitality, which adorned each end.
Alison and the Willets had practiced carrying the heavy sign and now Cecil and Heather each hoisted an end while Alison supported the middle. They carefully carried it out to the patio.
The group’s reaction was all that Alison had hoped it would be. Poppy stood up, looking terribly pleased with herself, and the others rose, too, cheering and applauding.
David said, “Alison, what a spectacular gift.” He ran his hands over the painted and gilded and engraved words.
For a moment he couldn’t speak, and tears welled in Alison’s eyes. She was so thrilled that he liked the wedding present, so gladdened to see that it had moved the heart of the man she loved.