A May-September Wedding (9 page)

Phyl was
puzzled by the analogy. Elaine tried to explain, "There are two
types of people who get kittens, the ones who think kittens are
cute and the ones who like cats well enough that they enjoy the
kitten phase but also enjoy their cat long term. The divorced guys
who want really young trophy wives will dump them as soon as they
stop being cute."

"That makes
sense. If Cal marries again, it will be because he wants to marry
the lucky woman. He's too sensible and honourable to marry just for
the honeymoon." Phyl's gaze got a bit vacant as she briefly
fantasized about honeymooning with Cal. Elaine politely ignored the
wistful look on Phyl's face as she turned her attention back the
stack of napkins.

"How was the
drive up, Jeremy?" Cal hugged his youngest son and then
Patricia.

"We didn't
drive, Dad. Patty's parents handed us a pair of airline tickets for
an early Christmas present. So we had a late supper and presents
with her folks last night in Dartmouth and hopped the early flight
this morning on Porter."

Patricia
leaned into her husband and said, "And don't bother offering to put
us up. I used my reward points to book us into the Chateau Laurier
while we're here. But you might have to keep Jeremy company on the
twenty-seventh. I've booked a whole day for myself at the spa."

Elaine looked
envious. Cal wisely refrained from saying anything and changed the
subject. "How are Mark and his family?"

"They looked
well when we saw them a few weeks ago. They're in Brandon to be
with Vivian's folks. I told him he needed to come here but he's
still not handling Mom's death very well. They drove, so they may
drop in on the way back." Jeremy waited to say more as he caught
his dad tracking Phyl's movements as she brought the appetizers
out. "Who else is coming?"

"Aunt Rosalind
and Uncle Will both said they'd be coming. David and his gang
should be here shortly and Uncle Jack is in the family room letting
Emily do chin ups on his beard." He spotted a car in the drive. "I
also invited Harry's parents, but they went south to Florida with
the rest of the snowbirds."

"And George is
still uncomfortable that his former CO was one of his son's best
friends."

Cal shrugged.
"There is that."

"Are Will and
Rosalind still sharing the old farmhouse?" Patricia asked.

Cal shook his
head. "Will should have given up the farm years ago, but he won't.
And Rosalind's been taking care of her baby brother since Uncle
Brian died twenty years ago ... Anyway we should clear the entrance
so that they can join us."

A wave of cold
air accompanied Cal's aunt and uncle into the house. At
seventy-five Will was still in good enough shape to put in enough
hours to make a go of the old farm. He'd ridden the fad for locally
brewed beer to a good profit in recent years alternating barley and
soybeans on his three hundred acres of arable near Winchester.
Rosalind was still ramrod straight at seventy-nine and made a
beeline for Felicity when she got her coat and boots off.

"Felicity
darling, I know that you stopped Highland dance a couple of years
ago, so don't worry about another pair of knee socks, but I did
knit you something. And I think it will go perfectly with that
beautiful red dress." Rosalind moved over to the settee and patted
the empty space next to her. "And don't worry Lydia sweetheart, I
couldn't forget you."

The girls, now
very curious, came to sit where Rosalind indicated. Felicity said,
"You can make me knee socks any time Aunt Ros. They fit me better
than any of the store bought socks."

"Then I'll
measure you before I go home. Now, sit." She handed them each a
small gift bag. "You're both old enough to take care of these
properly now that you're young women. While I want to dance at your
weddings, Brenda and Harry passing away reminded me that only God
knows how much time we have left, so I thought you should have
these now while I can still make them for you."

Elaine and
Phyl had heard Rosalind's speech and joined the group as the girls
each pulled out a soft package wrapped in tissue. Felicity put it
on her lap and unfolded the paper carefully under the approving eye
of her great aunt. Lydia did likewise.

Rosalind said,
"They aren't as delicate as they look. I bought a good quality silk
yarn so they should last a lifetime if you take care of them.
Felicity, you'll have to stand up to show it off, your arms aren't
as long as Lydia's."

Felicity
unfolded a delicate white silk shawl made of cobweb weight yarn
while Lydia displayed a similar shawl in ivory silk. "It's
beautiful Auntie Ros." She examined the pattern. "It's a Shetland
pattern isn't it?"

The old lady
beamed. "I knew it wasn't a waste of time teaching you to
knit."

Lydia very
carefully folded hers around her shoulders. "And mine is a Belgian
lace pattern?"

"Phyllida,
your daughter is as smart as she is pretty. Now girls, these are
called wedding ring shawls because they will fit through a size six
wedding ring. Elaine can show you because I gave her one when she
got married to Brian."

Elaine took
off her engagement ring and showed Felicity how light the fabric
was by passing the entire shawl through the ring.

"Now if you
look in the bottom of the bags there should be a shawl pin to go
with it, but you have to promise me that you won't eat anything
while you're wearing them." The girls both gave Rosalind exuberant
hugs and profuse thanks then pinned the shawls on.

By this time
David and his family had arrived. The men and older boys retreated
to the family room to watch football while the rest stayed in the
living room to gossip and play with the two little ones.

Cal kept
getting up to check on the progress of dinner and to make sure he
knew where Phyl was. About half the time, Phyl made some excuse so
she could join Cal in the kitchen. There were raised eyebrows and
knowing looks as the adults watched Cal and Phyl unconsciously
exchange casual touches that were more than merely friendly.

Shortly before
dinner time, Cal asked Phyl if she could go to the chest freezer in
the basement to get a bag of french fries for the kids while he
made the gravy.

She tripped
happily downstairs and walked quickly over to the freezer near the
laundry sink. When she stood up, David was standing in the door
with a piece of mistletoe in his hand.

With a bit of
slurring, he asked, "So, Heddy, is this the year I finally get that
kiss you promised me?"

"I never
promised you anything, David Richardson. It was a vile trick then
and it isn't any funnier now." Phyl held the bag of fries like a
shield.

"You were
weren't so coy back in grade ten, Heddy. How come you never kissed
me? You kissed everyone else." David was getting closer but still
blocking the door.

"You're drunk,
David, and married. Get out of my way."

"C'mon, Phyl,
one little kiss won't hurt."

Very calmly
she said, "Get. Out. Of. My. Way. If you don't I will scream and
you will have to explain to Cal, Judy and the rest of the people
here why I was screaming. Because I don't care anymore. We're not
in grade ten, David, and as embarrassing as it was for me at the
time, it will be more embarrassing for you if you don't get out of
my way."

He moved
closer but stopped blocking the door. "Have it your way, Heddy. But
stay away from my father unless you want him to know what kind of a
slut you are."

"You were vile
then and you haven't changed a bit. Stay away from me."

"But now you
don't have big strong Harry to save you. And you still owe me that
kiss." David turned on his heel and stalked away to the family
room. Over his shoulder he said, "I still have the good
pictures."

Phyl slumped
against the freezer taking several calming breaths before returning
to the kitchen. Cal noticed that her smile was gone. "Something the
matter, Phyl?"

"Can I talk to
you about it later? After everyone's gone home?" Phyl seemed on the
verge of tears.

"Do you need a
hug?" Cal asked.

Mutely she
nodded then crossed the kitchen into Cal's comforting hug. Lydia
started to bound into the kitchen in search of more glasses for the
punch but retreated quickly. Neither Cal nor Phyl noticed.

After he could
feel her start to relax, he stood her back upright and asked,
"Better?"

Phyl tried a
few smiles before she found one that wasn't too phony. "Much,
thanks."

Except for the
belligerent looks from David and the concerned looks from Cal that
made her miss what people were saying, the dinner was remarkably
social. Uncle Jack told stories of his latest trips to Botswana to
teach the men there how to drill wells with donkey powered home
built rigs. He livened up the stories with tales of wild animals
and broken down buses. Jeremy had followed his father's footsteps
into the engineering side of the Navy and was talking shop with Cal
for quite a while. The older kids were all pretending to be bored
but dropped into the conversations with remarkably astute
questions.

Everyone
rolled away from the table full. Elaine tried to orchestrate the
clean up, but Rosalind and Brian conspired to make sure she was off
her feet as much as possible, eliciting the comment, "I'm only
pregnant, I'm not sick." But she gratefully sank into the sofa in
the living room to supervise.

There was one
more incident between David and Phyl where he ordered her to keep
quiet. Phyl responded by taking Judy aside and letting her know
that maybe David had had too much to drink.

It was past
ten before the last guests left. Tim and the girls had decided to
get out of everyone's way by going to the Schuyler house,
ostensibly to sleep, but knowing them as she did, Phyl knew that
when she got home Tim would be reading one of the books he got for
Christmas and the girls would still be up gossiping.

Phyl poured
herself a cup of decaf and took it down to the family room where
Cal was gathering the leftover snacks and dirty dishes.

Cal smiled
warmly as he saw her come into the room. Phyl smiled back, but
remembered that she'd promised to talk about her and David later.
With the kids at the other house, this was as good a time as
any.

Cal opened,
"Thanks for everything today, Phyl. I thought it would be more
awkward, you know, first Christmas without Brenda or Harry, but it
turned out, well, okay."

Phyl sat on
the front edge of one of the armchairs. "It was mostly okay, but
something did happen that I have to tell you about."

At her serious
and somewhat sad tone, Cal sat down on the sofa close to her and
prepared himself to listen. "Is it about why you needed a hug just
before supper?" Phyl nodded. "What did happen?"

"David
happened. Again. I thought he'd given up." She sounded bitter.

"David? I knew
he didn't like you much, but ..."

"He hasn't
liked me for years. Not since we were in grade ten together. I
never met you then, but my mother met you a couple of times when
Father served in your command. That's part of why she was always so
weirded out by you and Brenda." Phyl took a deep breath.

"Cal, I was
pretty wild in grade ten. Mum and Dad were on the verge of a
divorce and weren't giving me the support I needed. So I looked for
attention elsewhere, and I got it. It was just kisses and some
petting, but I went through at least boyfriend a week between
September and April. Brookfield is big, but not that big. I got a
reputation for being pretty easy, but I wasn't, at all."

"Anyway,
Victoria Day weekend there was this big bush party out near North
Gower and one of David's friends invited me. There must have been
three or four hundred people and enough alcohol to float a boat."
Phyl nervously sipped her coffee.

"I don't know
how much I had to drink, really. It was two rum and cokes, but they
were strong so it might have been anything from four to eight
drinks worth. So Trevor, that's David's friend, takes me over to a
place away from the torches and the bonfire and we start to kiss.
Don't think too badly of me, Cal, but I love to kiss. It's still my
favourite part of being close to a man. This time, though, I was
too drunk to stop at just kisses." She sipped her coffee to wet her
lips.

"To make a
long story short, Trevor got my blouse and bra off and was starting
to push my jeans down when the camera flash went off. Several
times. Well, I got my clothes back on in a hurry and started
yelling at the asshole who was taking pictures." Phyl paused and
looked at her shoes.

Cal said, "Let
me guess. The asshole was David. He took his camera everywhere back
then. That must have been awful for you."

Phyl looked
into Cal's eyes to see a mix of anger, sadness and compassion. She
continued. "He promised me he wouldn't share the pictures if I gave
him a kiss."

Cal winced and
hung his head. "Oh, Phyl."

"I told him to
go to hell and walked home all the way from North Gower. The
following Wednesday, Trevor gave me a picture of the two of us
kissing and my back's completely bare. You can see enough of my
face that you can tell it's me."

"I cornered
David at lunch and asked him what he was doing. He said that I
still owed him a kiss and that I should thank him for not sharing
the really embarrassing photos. I showed Mom the picture Trevor
gave me that afternoon and it shocked my parents so much we all sat
down for a long family conference. In the end, they went for
marriage counselling and stayed together. We moved to Kanata so I
could go to a different high school for grade eleven. And that's
when we started going to the Reform church where I met Harry."

Cal stood up
to pace. "Has David ever apologized?"