I Promise (7 page)

“I was just telling Todd we had the photos Bob took of you two at Thanksgiving developed and then sent copies of the best one into our newspaper's society section as well as yours,” Marti said. “They'll appear this weekend. Oh, and I took the liberty to write a little story about your engagement.”

“That was fast,” Christy said.

“It's perfect timing, really, this weekend being Christmas and all. I didn't want to miss the opportunity to get it in there in time.”

Christy nodded and gave Todd an encouraging grin.
“I'm getting a drink of water. Anyone else want anything?”

“Sure,” Todd's voice squeaked out.

Christy had to smile again.
My poor Todd. I don't think he's ready for this. But I do know that the reality check will be good for him.

She walked toward the kitchen, where she could hear her dad and Uncle Bob talking.

“You're not leaving us, are you, Christina?” Marti called out. “I've barely begun to go over the details here.”

“I'll be right back.”

“I only have one question for you to answer,” her dad said as Christy reached for two glasses from the cupboard. “Have Todd and you discussed a wedding date?”

“The sooner the better.” Uncle Bob raised his bottle of mineral water in a mock toast.

“Have you been talking to Todd?” Christy asked her uncle as she filled the glasses with ice.

“No, not yet. But I'll tell him the same thing I'm telling you, which is what I was just telling your dad. Don't let finances hold you back. Martha and I would love to help out on that end.”

“Your mother thinks you should wait until next Christmas,” Christy's dad said.

“So I heard. What do you think, Dad?”

He was a large, quiet man who tended to hold his comments until he had time to think them through.
His expression told Christy he was honored she had asked his opinion.

“Well, you know how I feel about your having the privilege of getting a college education. Neither your mother nor I had that opportunity.”

“I know,” Christy said. “I agree. I told Todd we should wait until I graduate.”

“You're so close to being finished,” Bob said. “I don't see why you couldn't complete your final semester after the wedding. You could even skip this next semester, get married after Todd graduates in January, and then go back in the fall.”

“Hello in there!” Marti called from the living room. “We're waiting out here. You three aren't discussing wedding plans without me, are you?”

“Yes,” Christy called out brashly.

Her uncle grinned and toasted her again. “Go get 'em, bright eyes!”

Christy motioned with her head for her dad and uncle to follow her as she carried the two glasses of water back to the living room and handed one to Todd. “Come on. You two should be in on this.”

“Sit over here.” Marti handed Christy a thick bridal magazine and pointed to a picture of a model in a wedding dress with a full skirt. “I was glancing at this on our drive down here, and I wondered if you had considered this sort of veil. I'm assuming you'll be wearing your hair up and back to show off your face.”

Christy placed the magazine on the floor. She smiled at Todd. “I'm going to wear flowers in my hair.”

Todd smiled back at her. His expression of frozen panic began to melt.

“I don't see why you couldn't add some flowers to the connecting headpiece of this veil.” Marti retrieved the magazine and studied the picture.

“Aunt Marti, we're not ready to talk about those kinds of details.”

Marti looked up at Christy. “You're right. First things first. Todd tells me you've begun to look at rings but haven't made a decision yet. I'm sure you know that you'll be hard pressed to size the ring in time for Christmas. But it can be done, if you make your selection today. Tomorrow morning at the latest, I would imagine. I'm assuming you're going to get your ring for Christmas.”

“Martha,” Uncle Bob said firmly, “let the kids take it at their own pace. You said on the way here that you wanted to listen to them and let them tell you where they wanted us to help out. I think we better let them do the talking here.”

Marti pulled back. She seemed to take Bob's reproof better than Christy would have guessed. “Yes. Of course. Fine. Go ahead. Tell us your plans. All we know so far is that you haven't decided on a ring. Or a date. Or any of the other essentials.” Aunt Marti glanced at Christy's mom and in a lower voice added, “But she knows she's going to wear flowers in her hair.”

Christy felt a familiar mixture of anger and pain rising inside. She knew she should ignore the barb. That's
what the others in the room seemed to do automatically.

“Why don't we start with the date,” Bob suggested. “Todd, I was telling Christy and Norm that the wedding's expense shouldn't hold the two of you back. You know that Marti and I would be honored to help out in that area.”

“What about school?” Christy's mom looked concerned.

Marti jumped in. “You do know that most reservations need to be made a year ahead of time for your reception to be held at, say, the Newport Bay Yacht Club. And a custom-made dress can take at least six months, sometimes nine, depending on how many fittings you need.”

Christy noticed that David had disappeared. This would have been a good time for her brother to ask his key question about what Todd and Christy wanted to do.

“We've been discussing the options,” Todd said calmly. “We haven't come to a conclusion yet.”

Christy wished they had. She wished they had every detail planned so that this impromptu meeting would be about their outlining a well-thought-out schedule instead of the free-for-all it was becoming.

As if by prearrangement, footsteps sounded on the front porch, followed by the voices of a couple of Christmas carolers belting out, “We wish you a merry Christmas.”

“Do people still do that?” Marti asked.

Christy went to open the door. There stood Rick and Katie, grinning and singing merrily.

“Ho, ho, ho! Wouldn't you know? Your wreath fell off the doe,” Katie said, holding out the evergreen circle as Christy invited them to come in.

“It didn't fall off the door. We haven't put it up yet,” Christy said. “Todd and I bought it at a tree lot on the way here. I left it on the porch so the pine needles wouldn't get all over the carpet.”

“Oh.” Katie turned around and returned the wreath to the front porch. “Sorry about that.”

“Rick?” Marti called out from the couch. “Rick Doyle? Goodness, we haven't seen you in years.”

“I wondered if that was Bob and Marti's Lexus in the driveway,” Katie muttered under her breath.

Christy nodded and whispered to Katie, “Your timing is perfect!”

Rick stepped into the living room, where Aunt Marti greeted him with a string of questions.

Marti glanced beyond Christy to see who had come with Rick. “Well, hello, Katie. I suppose you've heard the good news about Todd and Christy.”

“No.” Katie put on a straight face. “What happened with Todd and Christy? Did they win the lottery?”

“Katie knows.” Christy gave Katie a hidden pinch on the arm.

“Ouch!”

“Rick and Katie were both there when I proposed,” Todd said.

“Rick, you were there?” Marti's brain seemed to be
working hard to put all the pieces into place. “You didn't tell me all this, Christy.”

Rick explained about his position as the manager of The Dove's Nest, and Marti promised she would visit the café sometime.

“Why don't I get us something to eat?” Christy's mom rose from the couch. “You kids must be hungry. Katie, have you and Rick eaten yet?”

“Not exactly,” Katie said.

“I'll make some sandwiches.”

Christy thought of how some things never changed. Her aunt always would find delight in holding court, and her mother always would revert to feeding people when she didn't know what else to do.

The next hour and a half developed some twists and turns Christy never would have imagined. Todd flipped through one of Marti's bridal magazines in the kitchen while Christy and her mom made sandwiches. Dad went out front and busied himself hanging the wreath. Marti grilled Rick for details of his life since she had last seen him and actually listened respectfully as Rick described his new commitment to Christ and the way his life had changed.

Twice during the conversation Christy exchanged subtle glances with her uncle. Ever since Bob had turned his life over to the Lord, tension had existed between Marti and him since Marti didn't see eye to eye with Bob on his views of Christianity. Over the years Marti had heard it all from Christy and Todd. For some
reason she seemed willing to listen to Rick. It was a mystery to Christy.

“We came by to see if you guys want to go Christmas caroling with us tonight,” Katie said after they had eaten. “A group is going to meet at the church at six and go from there.”

Christy looked at Todd as he rose to help Christy's mom clear the kitchen table. Moving out of the wedding-decision spotlight sounded good to Christy, and the caroling would be fun.

“It's up to you.” Todd leaned over and spoke to Christy as he slid past her. “Your aunt and uncle have an hour-and-a-half-drive home. I think they would like a little more information from us before they leave.”

Christy excused herself from the table and followed Todd to the kitchen sink, which was less than ten feet away from the company gathered at the table. In a low voice she said, “Are you suggesting we come up with a wedding date right now to satisfy my aunt?”

“Not necessarily.”

“I think you and I need to talk about it some more,” Christy said. “It needs to be our decision. Yours and mine.”

“I agree,” Todd said.

“So what do we tell them?”

“That depends. Do you want to go caroling with Rick and Katie?”

“Sure. Do you?”

Todd shrugged. “Whatever.”

Just then Christy's mom stepped over to the sink with more dishes. “Are you two going caroling?”

“I guess so,” Christy said less than wholeheartedly.

“We don't have to,” Todd said quietly.

“I think we should.” Christy took a step toward her goal of being more decisive in their relationship. “After all, it is Christmas. We should focus on celebrating Christ's birth, not on figuring out all our wedding plans in one afternoon.”

Christy thought her statement made perfect sense. However, later that night, as she and Todd were standing side by side singing “Silent Night,” she thought of how her decision—their decision—to go caroling had prompted anything but a silent night around her parents' house. Marti and Bob left with Marti in a controlled huff, and Bob saying, “When you two are ready, you let us know how we can help.” David reappeared and announced he had hoped Todd would take him to a movie. Mom returned a stack of board games to the closet after she realized everyone was leaving. And Todd started coughing halfway through the caroling. He stood silently at the last two houses they went to and told Christy his throat was too scratchy to sing.

The ones who seemed to enjoy the caroling the most were Rick and Katie. They were awfully chummy while dashing from house to house, laughing all way—ho, ho, ho.

Bah humbug. I wish we had stayed home where it was warm, even if it meant dealing with my aunt for another few
hours. She certainly was ruffled when she left without any answers.

Christy thought about her aunt's comment concerning how long it would take to size a ring. It would take even longer to have one custom made.

We shouldn't be here. Todd and I should be at the mall, checking out the rings at the jewelry stores. Maybe the ring I have in the back of my mind has already been designed, and it's out there somewhere.

One look at Todd told Christy she wouldn't be able to convince this guy to go ring shopping that night. Besides, all the stores probably were closed. They could go tomorrow.

It was almost ten when the caroling concluded. Rick and Katie invited anyone who wanted to join them at Rick's parents' house for his fabulous hot chocolate.

“I'm fried,” Todd replied to the invitation. “If you want to go without me, Christy, that's okay.”

“No, I'm pretty tired, too.”

They strolled back to their car in the church parking lot while the others took off for Rick's house.

“What a night.” Christy linked her arm in Todd's and gazed up at the sky. Only a few stars peeked out from behind the thin clouds that looked like lacy ribbons woven through the December sky. “It's so beautiful.”

“It is beautiful. And so are you,” Todd said in a deep voice. He stopped by the side of their car and drew Christy to him in a warm hug. Pressing his lips against
the side of her cheek, he murmured, “So when do you want to get married?”

She could feel his warm breath circling the back of her neck, lacing invisible fingers through her hair. “I don't know. We have to figure it out.” She kissed his earlobe. “The sooner the better.” She planted a string of little kisses on his neck. “When do you want to get married?”

Todd slowly, deliberately pulled away. “Red light.”

“Hmmm?” Christy felt snuggly and dreamy and wanted to stay cuddled up in his warm embrace.

“This is getting a little too, ah . . . yeah. A little too close for me.”

A space of several inches now separated them. The cold night air moved right in and sobered Christy.

“I think we're better off talking about this another time. Another place.” Todd unlocked Christy's car door. “Until we're married, we're going to be sitting at one very long red light. I don't think it's going to do either of us any good to start revving our engines.”