A Chintz ‘n China Wedding (Part 1)
Yasmine Galenorn Copyright 2024, All Rights Reserved
Do not copy or repost.
A loud crash came from the living room and immediately, before I could move, I heard a Kip call out to me.
“Mom! I need your help!”
I shoved the pan of baby quiche onto the stove as I raced toward the living room. “Kip, are you all right?” He sounded like he was in trouble and, knowing my son, he probably was.
I entered the living room just in time to see Kip sprawled on the floor. The stepladder was on its side, and one of the bookcases had tipped over, spilling books everywhere. Joe was in his wheelchair, trying to navigate over to Kip’s side between the books that covered the floor. Silk garlands of ivy, red roses, and white carnations were scattered between the books.
Racing over to Kip’s side, I knelt down. “Are you okay?”
He nodded, looking a little woozy. “Yeah, I just tried to reach too far and the ladder tipped. I couldn’t steady it in time and…well…I grabbed for the bookshelf without thinking.”
I stared at the mess. “At least nothing broke. All right, let’s start cleaning this mess up.”
Joe was already leaning down, picking up books and stacking them on his lap. “Kip and I can take care of this. Why don’t you go back to the kitchen?”
After making certain Kip was—indeed—all right, I kissed both of my guys and returned to the kitchen. Miranda and Chess were getting married tonight, and we wanted the house and food to be perfect.
***
When Miranda had texted me that she and Chess had finally set the date, and asked if they could have the wedding at home, Joe and I had been ecstatic. She and Chess were living in Seattle, where Randa was teaching at the University of Washington, and Chess had finished her residency and had opened a boutique health care clinic for women. She and her partners charged a monthly fee that bypassed insurance and provided family focused medical care for an affordable monthly fee.
Kip still lived in Redmond, working for a high-tech company called American Game-Bot Technology—AGT for short—where he programmed video games. He and Miranda saw each other on a regular basis, and Kip drove back home to visit Joe and me once a month. He was dating, but he hadn’t found anyone he wanted me to meet yet, and I wasn’t pressing.
I removed the quiche and set them on a platter, then covered them with a sheet of plastic wrap and carried them to the garage, where we had a spare fridge for parties. It was already full of trays: stuffed mushrooms, deviled eggs, salmon dip, casseroles of mac ‘n cheese to pop into the oven, baguettes ready-spread with butter and parmesan, Waldorf salad, all sorts of retro dishes that Miranda and Chess loved. A five-pound ham was there, too, ready to be carved at the buffet. Murray would pick up the wedding cake from the bakery, and Harlow and James were bringing wine from their vineyards.
As I returned to the kitchen, ready to tackle baking cookies and pies, Kip popped his head in the kitchen. “The garlands are all up, the books are back on the shelves, and now I’m going to push back the furniture and set up the chairs. Oh, by the way, it’s snowing.”
I glanced out the window. Sure enough, big white flakes were lazily drifting to the ground. The yard was already covered. I hadn’t even noticed, I’d been so busy. “I hope this doesn’t impact anybody coming to the wedding.”
When Joe and I’d had the new house built, we had the architect create a large great room that included the living and dining room, along with a solarium that had clear accordion doors that could be folded back to include the solarium in the great room. The officiate—a friend of Miranda and Chess’s, would be there, on a raised stage that Kip had put together, and there, he would officiate over the wedding. We were expecting forty guests altogether, including the engaged couple, and we had just enough room for that many chairs if we pushed all the furniture out of the way.
The doorbell rang.
“I’ll get it!” Joe called out.
I continued to measure sugar and butter into the mixing bowl, but stopped as Harlow and Murray entered the kitchen.
“What can we do?” Murray asked. “We’re here and ready for you to put us to work. James and Jimbo are helping Joe and Kip out.” Murray was my best friend. She had been the Chiqetaw Chief of Police for nine years now, and had settled comfortably into her job.
“Harlow, can you go check if Miranda and Chess need any help with their outfits? They’ve taken over the guest house out back.” A few years before, when we moved into the new house, I’d taken a small windfall that I had when I won thanks to a lottery ticket that Kip had bought for me and had a small guest suite built out back. It was basically a bedroom-bath with a kitchenette and a small seating area.
Harlow brushed past me, patting me on the arm. “Of course.”
As she headed out the back door, I looked over at Murray. Suddenly, everything hit me. Miranda and Kip were out leading their own lives, and now Randa was getting married. Joe and I were officially heading into middle age—well, Joe was ten years younger than me, so he wasn’t there yet, but still…And I’d turned my Chintz ‘n China tea shop into a catering company, as well, which I headed up while I had someone manage the tea shop.
Everything was changing, and we were all headed into a new chapter of our lives. I hiccupped and began to cry.
(Continued next month)