A May-September Wedding

By Bill
Sanderson

Copyright (c)
2011 William A. Sanderson

Smashwords
Edition

Copyright (c)
2011, William A. Sanderson, all rights reserved.

This is a work
of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the
product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and
any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business
establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

Cover
photograph,
Into the Sunset,
copyright (c) 2011 by Hassan
Rishwan Jalyl, used under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 license. The cover may be copied,
distributed, transmitted or modified under the same terms provided
that the work is attributed to the copyright holder, Hassan Rishwan
Jalyl, and that any work resulting from the modification,
alteration or transformation is licensed for use under the same or
similar license.

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Prologue

Chapter One –
May

Chapter Two –
June

Chapter Three –
July

Chapter Four –
August

Chapter Five-
September

Chapter Six –
October

Chapter Seven –
November

Chapter Eight –
December

Chapter Nine –
January

Chapter Ten –
February

Chapter Eleven –
March

Chapter Twelve –
April

Chapter Thirteen –
May

Chapter Fourteen –
June

Chapter Fifteen –
July

Chapter Sixteen –
August

Chapter Seventeen –
September

Chapter Eighteen –
October

Chapter Nineteen –
November

Chapter Twenty –
December

Epilogue – Family
Camp

Copyright Notices

About the
Author

Books by Bill
Sanderson

Coming
Soon

Brenda
Richardson looked through the window at the moving van across the
street. "Cal, you and Jeremy should help them."

Cal paused his
reading. He spotted a young pregnant woman struggling with a crate.
"Let’s go, Jeremy."

"Aw, Dad…"

Cal stuck out
his hand. "Cal Richardson. Need some help?"

"Harry
Schuyler." He glanced at his wife, Phyllida. "Yes. I’d love some
help."

Phyl glared as
Jeremy grabbed the box. Brenda said, "I’m Brenda. Don’t mind
Jeremy."

"I’m Phyl."
She finally looked at the grey haired woman. "You’re pregnant,
too."

Brenda smiled.
"Then we’ll have something to talk about, neighbour."

Cal stepped
sideways to avoid spilling the coffee. Harry looked up, said sorry,
then did a double take. "Cal?"

Cal
straightened and looked at the rapturous expression on his
neighbour’s face. "Harry? I thought Phyl wasn’t due until next
week."

"Well, Lydia
had other plans." Harry took in the awestruck expression on Cal’s
face. "How’s Brenda?"

"Mother and
baby are doing fine, Harry. We called her Felicity."

"When was she
born?"

"Yesterday
evening at seven-twenty-two."

"You’re
kidding. Lydia was born at the exact same time."

"Well,
Brenda’s in 4A068. And she’s counting on this coffee."

Harry laughed.
"Phyl’s there, too."

"Name this
child." The priest held a quiescent Lydia in his arms.

"Lydia
Gertrude"

"Lydia
Gertrude. I baptize you in the name of the Father, and the Son, and
the Holy Spirit." He handed a whimpering Lydia back to Harry and
took Felicity from Brenda.

"Name this
child."

"Felicity
Ramona."

The priest
said the words of baptism as he poured the cold water over her
head. Felicity squirmed and wailed as her head was dried.

There were two
more babies baptized the same day and that part of the service
finished with, "We welcome you into the body of Christ."

Phyllida stood
on the porch knocking franticly.

Brenda
answered the door. Taking in the panicked look on Phyl’s face she
invited her into the house.

"What’s
wrong?"

Phyl pointed
at the infant seat and said, "She’s burning up and the car won’t
start. Harry’s travelling again."

Brenda held
her palm to Lydia’s forehead and asked, "Have you given her any
medicine?"

"Yes, but the
fever isn’t going down."

"Probably an
ear infection. Let me get Felicity and we’ll go to CHEO."

Brenda waited
calmly with Phyl, remembering many panicked visits to hospitals.
Lydia’s ear infection subsided before they got home.

Brenda sighed
as she surveyed the remnants of the two birthday cakes with the two
candles. Felicity had white icing and cake crumbs mashed into her
curly brown hair. Lydia had chocolate icing on her nose and cheeks
contrasting with the fine blonde hair falling over her face.

A noticeably
pregnant Phyl was busy with a camera recording the event for
posterity while the girls giggled like mad and the grandparents
watched fondly.

Picking up a
damp cloth, a smiling Brenda proceeded to wash the giggling girls’
faces, getting smears of white and brown icing all over her red
blouse.

"A toast to
Cal and Brenda." Harry raised his glass. "To twenty-five more
years."

The guests
raised their glasses. "To Cal and Brenda."

The happy
couple stood under a banner that read ‘Happy 25
^th
Anniversary’ and kissed while David took pictures.

Phyl snuggled
into her husband. Harry looked at his wife. "It’s been a good four
years, Mrs. Schuyler. Think we can make twenty-five, too?" She
kissed him.

The punch bowl
fell off the table with a wet crash.

Lydia said,
"Oops."

Felicity
began, "I was just trying to get a cookie…"

Brenda and
Phyl said, simultaneously, "Girls, don’t move."

Brenda had her
hand on Felicity’s chest as they watched the school bus approach
the stop. She could feel her daughter’s heart thumping with
excitement but she felt like a phase of her life was ending.

Phyl held
Lydia’s hand while rocking Timmy’s stroller.

The girls
jostled a bit, but as usual Felicity the brave went slightly ahead
of Lydia the prudent. They climbed the stairs into the bus and
waved from their seats.

Phyl noticed a
tear forming at the corner of Brenda’s right eye and the sad
expression she wore. "Would you like to come over for coffee?"

Phyl watched
fondly as Harry and Cal tried to teach the girls to swim. The day
was perfect: twenty-four degrees, a light breeze, scudding clouds
that gave occasional cool shadows, and sun warmed water. She and
Brenda were sitting with Tim and Eric, Brenda’s oldest grandchild,
while Eric’s parents went for a child-free walk.

She looked
wistfully at Brenda’s newest granddaughter Jean in the bassinet
next to them. She and Harry had agreed that two children were
enough, but she wasn’t entirely happy with it. Then she looked
again at her handsome husband playing with Lydia and banished the
thought.

Cal watched
the sun sink into the trees on the west side of Wolf Lake, glad
that Harry had talked him into the canoe trip despite feeling each
of his fifty years.

Let me
see,
he thought,
watching the glory of a sunset and the
quiet emergence of God’s star strewn heavens or spending the
evening trying to sleep while Felicity and Lydia have a ‘sleepover’
with ten of their girlfriends from school?

He looked over
to where Harry and Tim were roasting marshmallows over the campfire
then up to see the first star emerge from the purple firmament.

No
contest.

"Well, you
don’t look over the hill." Cal flirted with his pretty neighbour as
she opened another teasing birthday card for her thirtieth
birthday.

Phyl stuck out
her tongue at him. "This from the man who complains about being too
old to sleep on the ground."

Brenda said,
"Don’t listen to the old man, Phyl. I think he’s buttering you up
so that you’ll take Felicity for the weekend so that he can have
some alone time with me."

Phyl watched
her best friends banter and then smiled at Harry hoping that they
would be like that in twenty years.

Phyl enjoyed
the polished grace of Cal’s muscular frame as he guided her around
the dance floor for the sixth time that evening. "I’m glad Harry’s
not the jealous type."

Cal winked.
"Well, you dance so beautifully. Brenda tries, but…"

Phyl laughed.
"And Harry can’t tell left from right."

The music
stopped. They returned to their table. Brenda was laughing so hard
there tears were rolling down her cheeks. Cal grinned. "What’s so
funny?"

Harry grinned
and said, "She overheard someone say it was lovely that you would
dance with your granddaughter."

Cal glowered.
Phyl smirked. Brenda lost it, again.

"Thanks again
Brenda. It’s hard to surprise Harry." They looked out Brenda’s
kitchen window at the birthday crowd. "You’ve been such great
friends."

"Does it still
feel weird? Us being older than your parents?"

Phyl hugged
her best friend. "Well, at first it was. But you guys never treated
us like kids."

"It felt a bit
weird for me, too, at first, but since Felicity was born I have
more in common with you than with my classmates from the high
school reunion. They’re all stodgy."

"Well, you’re
only as old as you feel."

"Thank you,
friend."

"They’re
kissing again." Felicity complained to Lydia.

"So are my Mum
and Dad. That’s what mistletoe is for." Lydia was matter of
fact.

"But my
parents are old."

"So are
mine."

"I have a
brother who’s older than your mother. I have two nephews that’re
older than us. So your parents can’t be that old."

They watched
as Cal and Brenda kissed. Harry cleared his throat and said, "Hey,
Granddad, there are kids present."

Blushing, they
separated then returned to the sofa.

"See, even
your dad thinks it’s gross."

Lydia rolled
her eyes. "So why’s my Papa kissing Mum, hmm?"

Cal dropped a
handful of dirt onto Brenda’s casket. Through his tear filled eyes
he watched as the children came forward to do the same.

Mark, the
oldest, was stoic and unnaturally dry eyed. David, with tears
streaming down his face, was trembling so hard he only managed a
pinch of the dirt. Elaine, who should have known better than to
wear mascara, took her time and said some quiet prayers before
dropping her handful. Jeremy, in his Navy dress uniform with a
black armband, performed his duty in a crisp fashion.

Felicity clung
to her father. She whispered, "Daddy, I can’t do it. Please don’t
make me."

Cal’s face
softened as he spoke to his baby girl. "You don’t have to,
sweetheart, but let’s step up and say good-bye. Can you do
that?"

She hugged her
father ferociously then stepped back and said, "I think so."