A May-September Wedding (2 page)

Hand in hand
the two stepped up to the open grave. Cal said, softly, "Good-bye,
Brenda. See you in heaven."

Felicity
managed to squeak out "Bye, Mom," and dragged her father away from
the grave before her tears could overtake her.

Cal looked up
to see Phyl Schuyler, wearing a widow’s black veil, saying her
goodbyes to her best friend. Another hundred or so people who knew
Brenda from church or her volunteer work stepped forward to pay
their last respects.

Father Gary
came over to talk. "Brenda was well loved, Cal. We’re all going to
miss her."

Cal felt a
small sense of closure beginning and wiped the tears from his face.
"I’m going to miss her terribly, Gary, I don’t know for sure what
God’s judgement will be for her or for me, but I know that she
believed and trusted in Jesus. So I believe that she’s in a much
better place than we are and I couldn’t ask her to come back."

Felicity
snuggled into her father and said, "Do you really believe that,
Dad?"

"Yes, my
daughter, I truly believe that." He squeezed her shoulders. "But it
doesn’t make it any easier on us, does it? It’s going to hurt for a
while." Cal scanned the small crowd of mourners again. His older
children were gathered for mutual comfort as the people began to
move back to the reception area near the chapel. Phyllida Schuyler
was standing alone near the grave looking as if she was
weeping.

"Felicity,
honey. Why don’t you go stand with Lydia or Elaine for a moment? I
think I need to speak with Lydia’s mum." Cal excused himself then
walked over to Phyl and stood in silence next to her for a moment
before speaking.

"This must be
hard for you, too."

Phyl turned
into Cal and threw her arms around his chest. She began to
bawl.

Cal stood
there patting her back and let Phyl cry for a while. There were a
few raised eyebrows from the people who were left, but Cal didn’t
care. Cal looked past the open grave to the fresh mound with the
new headstone that read, ‘Harald Cornelius Schuyler’.

Phyl
eventually regained control and stood up, mildly embarrassed. "I
don’t know what got into me, Cal, but thank you."

"It’s been an
awful year for you. It’s the least I can do."

"I thought I
could get through today without losing it." She dabbed at her eyes
under the widow’s veil. "But you’re right, it’s been horrible.
First Dad's heart attack, then Mum's cancer, then Brenda’s cancer,
and H-Harry…" She took two deep breaths and turned to walk toward
her children. "She was my best friend, Cal. I think I might have
been closer to her than Harry what with all of his business travel.
Don’t get me wrong, I loved Harry dearly but I spent more time with
Brenda."

"She was my
best friend, Phyl. And I miss Harry, too." Cal walked slowly beside
her toward their twelve year old daughters. "If you need anything,
you let me know. Brenda made me promise to help you out where I
could. She said you'd need my help."

Phyl looked at
Cal gratefully. "She would say that wouldn’t she?"

"Yes. Thank
you for visiting her in the hospital during the day."

"She wouldn’t
let me talk about her problems at all. Even the day before she died
she wanted to know if I was holding up okay." Phyl smiled through
her tears. "She made me promise to help you out, too, with
Felicity. And she was worried about Tim now that Harry’s gone."

Phyl felt the
mix of anger and grief that she hadn’t come to terms with. "I’m
still having a hard time forgiving Harry. I told him to stay an
extra day in North Bay to avoid the freezing rain. I told him that
Lydia would understand. But, no, he had to try to get home."

Cal had heard
this rant from Phyl before. Despite all of the advisories, Harry
tried to get home to see the play that Lydia and Felicity were in.
Harry’s car was found overturned in a ditch at the bottom of a long
downhill section of the TransCanada twelve kilometres east of
Mattawa.

Harry’s body
was already cold by the time the salt truck driver found him. A
policeman was waiting on the Schuyler’s doorstep with the bad news
when the six of them returned from the play.

The following
day Brenda’s doctor called to let her know about the results of the
biopsy: advanced ovarian cancer.
The play was the
last public event that Brenda went to.

Brenda cried
on Cal’s shoulder for about ten minutes then, in her organized and
efficient way, called her lawyer to review her will and started
making a list of all of the things that she needed to do to prepare
for an orderly death.

Phyl’s voice
broke into Cal’s reverie. "Are you okay?"

"It still
seems very sudden. We had that great Christmas party and then she
started to get the pain in her abdomen. They did the biopsy in
February and we found out about it…"

"I know. It
was the day after Harry died."

"Then she
spent the rest of March tidying up her affairs. And here we are,
not quite Victoria Day, and she’s gone. It was so fast."

Phyl sniffled.
"We’ve done so much together since Harry and I moved across the
street from you two. I was expecting that sometime around our
fortieth anniversary Harry and I would be mourning Brenda as she
was laid to rest next to you."

"But instead
she’s laid to rest next to Harry."

The whole
crowd of mourners had been moving slowly from the grave site to the
parking lot several hundred meters away. Mark came up to his
father. "We have to be on our way now, Dad."

Cal hugged his
son then did the same with Vivian and the three grandchildren.
"Have a safe drive back to Moncton, Mark."

"I wish I
could stay longer."

"I’m still
working, too, Mark. I know what you’re going through. At least you
got some time off. I wasn’t able to make it to my mother’s funeral
because they wouldn't find anyone to go to Korea to replace me. I
found another job pretty soon after that."

"Okay, Dad.
I’ll call when we get home and let you know we’re safe."

"Do that."

Elaine was
next. "Dad? Are you sure you don’t need anything?"

"Do you think
your Mom would leave me without making sure the pantry was full or
without a casserole in the freezer?" Cal tried to make light for
his grieving daughter.

Despite
herself, Elaine snickered. "No, Dad. I guess not." She threw her
arms around her father. "I’m going to miss her so much." She
stepped back. "She told me not to marry Colin. She said he’d run
out on me as soon as things got tough and she was right." She
looked through tears at her father. "I’m going to miss her
advice."

Cal brushed a
tear away from Elaine's cheek. "I’m going to miss her, too,
Elli."

Elaine’s
husband Brian came forward. "Do you want to go to the reception or
home, sweetie?"

"Do you need
me, Dad?" She asked uncertainly.

"Always. But I
think you should do what you need to. I can handle the reception if
you aren’t up for it." Cal said seriously.

"Then I think
I’ll go home and play with Emily." Elaine looked nervously at Phyl.
"I was sorry to hear about Harry."

Phyl pasted on
a polite smile. "Thank you."

They continued
walking toward the building with the chapel. Phyl spoke first.
"Elaine’s always been uncomfortable around me, hasn’t she?"

Cal gave a wry
smile. "Her first marriage was the same year as yours and Harry’s,
but you’re her Mom’s best friend and she always felt jealous that
you and Brenda spoke so often. She and Brenda butted heads more
than talking through most of the two years leading up to her
disaster of a marriage to Colin. They didn’t speak for almost five
years after she married him."

"But she has
Brian now."

"Yes, she
does, thank God for his mercy. But she’s still uncomfortable around
you."

"My parents
weren’t very comfortable with Brenda after they met her. I must
have talked about her for a year before they finally met at the
baptism. They were really shocked to find out they were younger
than you."

"They were
pretty dismissive about us having another baby so late in life.
Your mother actually said, 'But how will you be able to enjoy your
retirement?' to Brenda. Then Brenda got that funny look that always
told me that I should choose my next words as if my life depended
on it."

Phyl snorted.
"And yet Mum and Dad didn't get to enjoy their retirement either."
Cal glanced sympathetically at his neighbour.

Jeremy came
over. "Hi Dad. Hi Phyl. Dad, I just wanted to let you know that
we’ll be staying until the very end, so if you wanted to head home
early, just say the word."

"I have enough
room for you and Felicity if you want a ride, Cal," Phyl offered.
"I can stay until you’re ready to go, even if that’s until everyone
leaves."

Cal nodded and
said, "That would be kind, Phyl. It would save David from going out
of his way. Thank you." Turning to Jeremy, he said, "I think I'll
be staying until the end as well. Brenda would have expected it and
I don't want to disappoint her." He looked over at Felicity and
Lydia talking quietly on a bench outside the chapel. Jeremy headed
into the chapel with his family.

"I wonder what
they’re talking about?" Cal nodded toward their daughters.

"I told Lydia
that asking Felicity to tell some stories about her mother would
help."

"Brenda told
Felicity the same thing when Harry died."

"I’m not
surprised. I overheard some of Lydia’s stories. It’s amazing what
sticks in your head." Phyl had a nostalgic look. "She told Felicity
about one afternoon when Harry picked her up after school so that
they could come get me and Tim at the clinic in Billings Bridge.
That was one of the times when Brenda dropped me off somewhere
because the old car wouldn’t start. Anyway, when they got to the
clinic, Tim was still about tenth in line, so Harry went down to
the grocery store in the mall with Lydia to buy a big bag of
popcorn. The river was close so they took a walk over to the park
and shared their popcorn with the ducks and swans." Phyl’s eyes got
moist again. "Harry treasured all of those simple moments, too. He
worked so much that he didn't get enough of them."

They walked
over to the girls. Cal stepped up to his daughter. "Felicity, I’m
going inside to talk with your mother’s friends. Are you going to
come in or do you want to stay here with Lydia?"

Felicity
looked up with a sad and serious expression. "I think I’d rather be
here, Dad."

Cal smoothed
Felicity’s hair and said, "If you get thirsty there are some soft
drinks inside. Stay close to the chapel, though, I don’t know how
long all this will take. Some of your mom’s friends can talk for a
long time."

Felicity
rolled her eyes. "Mrs. James is the worst, but she remembered who I
was right away." She put on a miffed look, "Half of Mom’s friends
assumed I was her granddaughter. As if."

Lydia said,
"Well, it doesn’t help that Eric and Jason are both older than
us."

Felicity
looked like she wanted to cry. She looked up again and said, "I
think I’ll just stay out here with Lydia, if you don’t mind."

"I don’t." He
smoothed her hair again and turned to go.

Phyl said,
"We’re giving Cal and Felicity a ride home, lovie. But it may be a
while, as Cal said."

"That’s okay,
Mum. Seeing Dad’s grave again was pretty hard." Lydia smiled too
brightly. "Felicity and I need to talk. Here’s as good a place as
any, if Eric doesn’t bother us."

Cal said,
"Eric’s on his way home to Moncton. I know he bugs you guys but he
wouldn’t be doing it if he didn’t like you." Seeing the sceptical
looks he said, "It’s a guy thing."

Cal and Phyl
headed into the chapel and spent the next hour and a half listening
to how special Brenda had been in other people’s lives trying to
use that knowledge to paper over the gaping hole she’d left
behind.

"I still can’t
believe Mom did that." David was livid.

Cal steeled
himself for yet another rant. "Did what, David?" Cal sounded
tired.

"You know what
I’m talking about Dad – the guardianship issue. How could she have
assigned guardianship of Felicity to Harry and Phyl? What’s wrong
with me, or Mark?"

"Your mother
was expecting that I’d go before her. She asked me about it once
and I said I didn’t have any objections. And she made that will in
February before she was admitted to hospital."

"No
objections? They aren’t family." David was raising his voice
again.

Cal rolled his
shoulder and neck to ease his tension. "David, Phyl was your
mother’s best friend. Felicity and Lydia are almost twins they’re
so close. If it had turned out that both of us passed on, Felicity
would need her very best friend to lean on. That’s all."

"So what are
you going to do about it now?" David asked.

"I’m going to
abide by your mother’s wishes. Phyl told me that if anything
happens to her that she’s assigning guardianship of Tim and Lydia
to me." Cal looked at his son and said, firmly, "And I agreed to do
it. She’s agreed that she’ll look after Felicity if anything
happens to me. It would be the least disruption for the kids if it
happened that way."

"I can’t agree
with that, Dad. She’s our sister. She shouldn’t be raised by a
stranger you know nothing about." David looked self-righteous.

"A stranger?
You live in the same city as we do and we only see you once a
month, if that. We see Jeremy more often and he's stationed in
Halifax. Felicity and Lydia go to the same school, they’re on the
same soccer team, they go to summer camp together, they study
together, and I expect that they’ll be doing all of the teenage
girl stuff together. Between the soccer carpool, studying, church,
Tim's baseball, and school events, I think I see Phyl six days out
of seven. And it’s been like that for the last thirteen years." Cal
felt his voice raising. "She is not a stranger."