Bonus Scene: A Chintz ‘n China Series Pt 2

Everything was ready. Miranda and Chess were almost ready, still out in the guest house. Harlow texted me that they’d be coming in through the kitchen in five minutes. I glanced in the great room, where everybody was milling, waiting. At the front, under an arch covered with green ferns and white roses, along with red carnations, Kip stood waiting. He was Miranda’s best man. Alice, Chess’s cousin, was her bridesmaid, and she was waiting at the front, too. Jimbo—Murray’s husband—was waiting with them. He’d gotten his online ordination from the Universal Church of Life, and he was going to marry them. His long beard was neatly braided with tiny roses and bits of fern, and his hair was pulled back in a salt-and-pepper ponytail that reached his lower back.

Joe entered the kitchen, his wheelchair smoothly rolling over the tile. “Are you ready for this?” he asked.

I shook my head. “It feels like I was calling her in off the roof just yesterday. I can’t believe she’s getting married. How did the time fly?”

“I know, love. I know.”

But fly it did. I remember when we met, when Harlow had been in a wreck, down in a ravine. Joe had helped rescue her. He’d been a paramedic at the time, and even though he was ten years younger than I was, he had convinced me that we belonged together. Now, years later, we were still in love, still happy, and Kip and Randa treated him like their father. He was more their father than Roy had ever had been.

The kitchen door opened and I turned to see Miranda there, a vision in black. She had opted for a black wedding gown, mermaid style that fit her figure perfectly, with sparkling crystals blinging out the waistband and where the massive floof of ruffles blossomed out at her knees. Behind her, Harlow carried her train so it wouldn’t drag in the snow.

Behind Harlow, Chess entered, wearing a white satin tuxedo, with a white satin top hat. Chess was gorgeous, with red hair that was coiled up in braids atop her head. She had a red handkerchief peeking out of her jacket’s pocket, and she carried a silver walking stick. Together, they looked ready for the most elegant ball ever.

I gasped, taking in the sight. Joe squeezed my hand.

“Oh baby, you look so beautiful,” I said, my heart racing. “You too, Chess.”

“Where’s Samantha?” Miranda asked, looking around.

“We locked her and the others in the master bedroom, so they can’t get out.” I understood why she asked. Samantha and her kittens had been with us from the beginning, from shortly after we moved to Chiqetaw. They were as much fixtures in our lives as were Murray and Jimbo, and Harlow and James. “I think you should say hi to them after the party, okay?”

Randa nodded. She looked at Chess, nervously smiling. “I can’t believe we’re doing this.”

“I can’t believe you said yes,” Chess said. “Together forever?”

“Forever together,” Randa said, and the look in their eyes told me how much they were in love. “Are you ready?”

Chess let out a long, slow breath. “Absolutely.”

They turned to me, waiting.

I motioned for Harlow to take her seat with James. Murray was in charge of the music, and she silently moved to her station at the back of the great room and asked people to please take their seats. Another moment, and the flutes of Mannheim Steamroller began to echo through the room. The solarium had enough height for the music to reverberate off the walls.

Chess took her mother’s arm and she began to walk her down the aisle to the Carol of the Birds. I glanced at Joe and he squeezed my hand again as the music switched to Embers, again by Mannheim Steamroller. On cue, about a minute into the song, I looped my arm through Miranda’s on her left side, and she reached down for Joe’s hand on her right. James, Harlow’s husband, began to push his wheelchair forward.

As we walked her down the aisle, flashes of the past flickered through my mind. Randa on the roof, watching the stars overhead…Randa crying because her father had forgot her birthday again…Randa excitedly showing me her report card and telling me she’d been nominated valedictorian of her senior undergraduate year…Randa telling me she’d met a woman named Chess and was going out on a first date with her…

The solarium had wide windows all around and skylights overhead that gave us a backdrop overlooking the backyard, and outside the snowflakes danced down. As we approached the altar, James wheeled Joe to the right, where he sat next to two empty chairs. I kissed Randa on the cheek and then moved to sit by him.

Chess’s mother kissed her and joined us. Her father hadn’t accepted that his daughter was gay yet, and had refused to come, so we had accepted Chess as our daughter, as well as our daughter in law.

The music faded.

(Read Part 1)