The young Asian man wrapped a white napkin around the bottle of A. Charbaut et Fils and popped the cork. 'Shall I pour, sir?'
'No, thank you. We'll wait till our guests arrive.' The waiter put the bottle back into the footed silver wine cooler and Kenny saw him out. When he opened the door he found Mary and Casey just ready to ring the bell.
'Heyyyy… good morning!' he greeted them jovially, kissing their cheeks as they came inside. 'How did everybody sleep?'
Casey gave him a curious glance. 'Gee, you're in a good mood this morning.'
'You bet,' he said, clapping his hands once and shutting the door.
More greetings and kisses were exchanged with Tess while they got Mary seated on the sofa.
Casey eyed the ice bucket. 'Champagne? At ten o'clock in the morning? What's the occasion?'
'Sit down, honey,' Kenny said. 'Tess?' He pulled out a chair for her, then seated himself.
Casey eyed them both suspiciously while Mary lifted silver lids and sniffed the food.
'What's this? It looks good.'
'A ham-and-cheese omelette,' Tess answered, hoping she'd guessed right, for Kenny had placed the order.
'Who's for champagne?' he said, pulling the green bottle out of the ice.
'Not me,' Casey said. 'I can't stand the stuff.'
'None for me, either. Gets me goofy,' Mary said. 'I'll have some coffee, though.'
Kenny began filling everyone's cups and Casey watched him curiously as he came to hers. 'Dad, what's the matter with you? You know I don't drink coffee.'
'Oh!' He stopped pouring and set the silver pot down. 'Well… then drink your orange juice, because Tess and I want to make a toast.' He sat down and caught Tess's eye, giving her the go-ahead.
She lifted her flute. 'Momma… Casey…' Another flute, a stem glass and a coffee cup joined it. 'The toast is to all of us, and to our future happiness. We called you down here to tell you that Kenny and I are going to get married.'
Mary looked stunned, as if she'd drop her cup.
Casey exclaimed, 'I knew it!'
'How did you know it?' Kenny said.
'Well, you've still got your tuxedo pants on, Dad,' she said, leaping to her feet to hug him.
'Oh…so I do.'
'It's obvious you didn't spend much time in your room last night. Oh… sorry, Mary.'
'Married?' Mary interjected belatedly. 'But… but when did all this happen? I thought you two… oh, my… oh, gracious…' She started crying.
'Momma, what's wrong?'
'N-nothing. I'm just so happy.' She covered her nose with a linen napkin. 'You're really going to marry Kenny?'
'Yes, I am.' Tess touched her mother's hand tenderly while the old woman stuck a stiff napkin under her glasses and dabbed at her eyes. Then the two shared an awkward hug across the corner of the table.
'Oh, my gracious me, this is too much.'
Next, Casey threw a hug on Tess, and both of them felt tears gathering in their throats. 'You guys…' she said, growing emotional, 'you sure know how to make a girl happy.' When the emotional level got critical, she cracked a joke. 'Does this mean I have to call you Mother, Mac?'
'Mother Mac? Oh, please, no.' They all laughed, because there were tears in a lot of eyes.
Then Mary said, 'Kenny, come here,' and put her arms up. He left his chair and went to hers, leaned down into her embrace and felt her loving arms fold around him as he dropped to one knee. 'Oh, Kenny,' she whispered, but could say no more. She could only feel her tears roll over her downy cheeks as he held her.
'I love her very much,' he whispered, 'nearly as much as I love you.' He pulled back and looked up at her, squeezing her hands hard.
'It's just so unbelievable.'
'It is… I know.'
Mary freed one of her hands to take one of Tess's. 'You and Kenny,' she said.
'But the hard part is, Momma, I have to take him away from you.'
'Oh, don't be silly.' Finding her spunk, Mary released their hands and flapped her napkin impatiently. 'I can get along just fine without him. I've got two sons-in-law and those big, strapping grandsons. They can help me when I need it.'
'But you'll miss him.'
'Well, of course I will. But-oh, my-how happy you've made me.'
Suddenly Casey had a thought. 'Oh, my gosh!' she exclaimed. 'You'll be my grandma, Mary!'
'Well, now, that's a job I'll like!'
It took a while before they got around to eating breakfast. Who could eat breakfast with happiness like this chasing everything mundane from the mind? But finally somebody realized the food was getting cold, and they removed the lids and were two minutes into the meal when Casey stopped, and said it for all of them.
'Hey, you know what? This is going to be absolutely perfect-I mean, all four of us as a family. It's like it was meant to be.'
It certainly was, their smiles all said.
Meant to be.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
They were married less than two months later in the church where she had sung in his choir. The wedding was scheduled for one o'clock on a Wednesday afternoon, because the church was booked for all the weekend days that month, and so was the bride. She had sung in Vancouver the previous weekend, and would be singing in Shreveport the next.
But on this day-a hot, late-summer, high-sky day with the temperatures in the nineties and the cicadas singing in the backyards-she would belong not to her fans, but only to her man.
One hour before the ceremony was scheduled to begin, Mary was in her kitchen, all dressed, when she heard Tess and Renee coming down the stairs. She'd been listening to the two of them talking and laughing and traipsing through the house most of the morning. Now here they came, ready at last.
'Well, Momma, here I am,' Tess announced from the doorway.
The old woman turned and put a hand to her mouth.
'Oh, land… oh, me… I think this is the happiest day of my life. I believe I'm happier today than I was the day of my own wedding.'
'Don't you go cryin' now, Momma, not after Renee and I got your makeup all pretty.'
Mary got control of herself and made a stirring motion. 'Turn around. Let me see.'
Tess turned a full circle, showing off her bridal dress. It was very simple, made of white linen, with cap sleeves, a square neck, and a stovepipe skirt whose hem was created by points of open cutwork that overhung her ankles by three inches. On her feet she wore white linen pumps, on her head, instead of a veil, a circlet of baby's breath with her hair pulled up high inside it. Her only jewelry was a tiny pair of sapphire ear studs matching the ring Kenny had given her: an emerald-cut sapphire surrounded by diamonds.
'Isn't she gorgeous?' Renee said, leaning against the doorway.
'Lord o' mercy,' Mary said.
The bride was definitely the prettiest thing in that kitchen, which hadn't changed a whit. The same ugly wall clock pointed to the hour. The same curled-up plastic doily sat on the same old-fashioned table. The same wounded Formica bled white up through a thousand scratch marks.
But the house was a cool seventy-two degrees, because Tess had said, 'Momma, if you want me to get married at First Methodist you're going to have to let me put air-conditioning in that house, 'cause if you think I'm getting dressed in that attic in the middle of summer, you're wrong. I'll melt like an ice cream cone and you'll have
