Once Within A Lifetime (33 page)

When
they got there, he found some coffee on the patio and offered some to his guests and then took some for himself. He went inside, saw Triessa coming downstairs, and went to greet her. As she reached the bottom step, he picked her up and swung her in a circle and kissed her before putting her back down on the floor.

“
Good morning sweetheart. Did you sleep well? You look a lot more rested today. I am sorry. I should have made sure you got more rest. I will watch for that from now on. I want you rested and well. I need to take special care of you.”

“
Yes, my darling, I rested very well and feel fine this morning. Did you all make out alright? Did they get settled in alright? I was too tired to go down and show them where they would be sleeping.”

“
That is okay. I could do that. There was no need for you to go. They rested well and were eager to see everything, as I am sure, the rest were. Come out and have some coffee on the patio. Dirje and Cord are there waiting.”

“
Sounds wonderful to me. Mom and Dad will get breakfast for everyone before they bring them over, but I expect to see them soon.”

They
went outside; she greeted her company, sat down, and they had their coffee while they waited for Nancy to bring breakfast to them. When she came, Triessa introduced the guests to her cook, Nancy, and told her that they would be staying here until the wedding and that the rest were at her mother’s.

Triessa
just thought of something and asked Dirje when they had to go back. She knew it would be awkward if they all stayed here on the night after the wedding.

“
Well, we really should go back soon. We scheduled to leave the same evening of the wedding so we can be back on Sunday, and Cord will be able to get his work situation taken care of. It is difficult since he is in charge of the projects and has to work out certain details for them to take care of. He did enough to carry them through and his friend, Peter, will be able to handle the rest until Cord returns. I am sure you both won’t mind. You won’t know whether anyone else is around and it would be very awkward for you. We will definitely plan to come back sometime later, if it is fine with you two.”

“
Oh, we most assuredly want you to come back to visit; that is expected, whenever you can. We deeply appreciate your understanding. That is what happens when you have already been through it. We can keep in touch so you will know when we are here. And we will see you when we are in your area. You have not even seen the place yet. We are eager to show you everything. I hear voices; that will be my parents with your brother and family.” She got up to go see and sure enough, they were coming onto the patio. “Do you want some coffee?” she asked them.

“
No, thank you, we have had plenty and had a wonderful breakfast,” replied Matt. “We are raring to go to see everything here. We have heard so much about it. You finish your breakfast and we will just wait here for you.”

They
were nearly finished, so it took no time to get done. They got up and started around the corner of the house to go see the Rose Garden first because she knew that was the most desired place to see. They walked up to start through the garden and her guests were amazed at the beauty of it. The children ran ahead; they were so thrilled to be here. They went by the swans and were just overwhelmed. They appeared as such large birds to them, for they were quite small. They watched them swim about and pointed at them and laughed. This was quite a treat for them. Then they went to see the goldfish. These were fine too, but no match for the swans as far as the children were concerned. The little girl, Anne, pointed back toward the swans, wanting to go back, but her mother told her they would catch them later.

At
last they arrived at the Rose Garden and the children wanted to open the gates.

“
Carefully,” said their father, “These are not to be treated roughly. Gently push and then walk through. That is right. Good job.”

They
all followed and gasped at the beauty and the details which had been added for the wedding.

“
This is a glorious spot,” exclaimed Matt. “Hey, Chantelle, don’t you think we should come here and do it again here? That would be a wonderful anniversary present. What do you think?”

“
Well, it would be wonderful,” she agreed. “It is certainly something to think about, if it would be all right with them.”

“
No problem,” replied Todd, “As long as it is not this Saturday. It is taken then.”

They
all laughed and looked around some more.

“
If any of you have any ideas, please feel free to tell us. You will see it fresh and we have been working on it for some time now. It would be so easy to overlook some really nice point. We are always open to suggestions. Tomorrow we plan to get together with the minister, and then Triessa and I will see him for a while by ourselves. After that we will all get together to see what we will be doing and get everything set up.”

Triessa
looked at her watch and said, “I will soon have to go pick up Phylicia. I will go, darling, and you can stay here with your family. I won’t be any longer than necessary.”

“
All right, sweetheart. That sounds fine but please hurry back. I will miss you desperately.”

“
I will, to be sure, my love.”

They
all went back to the house where she showed them around, then took them up to her studio. They were quite amazed that anyone could dream up with such a plan. She told them how and why it all came about and they were thrilled with it all.

“
You are so blessed to have such a wonderful place. The whole thing is superb. And look out this window at the garden we just came from. It is awesome,” remarked Matt. “And now, because of Todd, we will be able to share this magnificent place. How wonderful.”

“
This is my favorite place. I come up here to dream, plan and design. It really is the place for it. I can get right in the mood when I come in the door. Except for the first time I left Todd after we had met, and I had to come home to do some more work. That time I could only get in the mood to go back to him as fast as possible.”

They
all went downstairs and it was time to go to pick up Phylicia. She told Todd to get things set up for their lunch. They would probably have to eat in the dining room to have enough room for everyone.

“
I will take care of it, my sweet. Just get there and back as soon as possible.”

He
went to the car with her and kissed her goodbye, waved to her as she drove off and then went back in to be with the family.

When
she arrived, she saw Phylicia standing near a magazine rack looking at them. She walked up and said, “Oh, dear, have you been waiting long? I am so sorry to be late. I was showing Todd’s family around. They all came at different times and it has taken several tours. Let’s get your things in the car and start back. Did you have any lunch?”

“
Yes, we had a nice lunch on the plane. I should have waited and we could have had a nice lunch together. But we will. Now you will have to do another tour. I am glad I am here in the daytime so I will not have to wait until another day to see it all. I am so eager. My plane left a little earlier than scheduled and that’s why I am here sooner. I am happy to be here.”

“
I, too, am glad you are here. It is so good to see you again and in a different setting than we are used to. You will definitely have to come back when we can be more free and spend time together. Now everything is so up in the air. Tomorrow we will be busy with the minister and a meeting to see what everyone will be doing on the big day. I never had such a hard time waiting for anything in my entire life. Oh, is it real? It is still so hard to believe sometimes. How my life has changed. Todd is so wonderful and respectful. We love each other so very much. We are glad it has all worked out well so everyone in the family can be here.”

They
got the luggage in the car and started back to the house.

“
There are so many places I would like to show you, but I do not really have the time right now. You will surely have to come back. My friend and hairdresser, Leslie, will come by and take care of my cosmetic needs early on Saturday and will have time to help the rest of you who need it. I want to look so beautiful for Todd; he is so pleased and appreciative of everything and notices every little detail. Well, here we are. I can show you around. All the rest have seen it.”

Todd
heard her drive up and went out to help Phylicia and Triessa out of the car.

"Where do you want to put the luggage?" he
asked.

“
Do you mind staying with me in my room?” she asked her friend. “There is plenty of room and I would love to share it with you, if you don’t mind. That will solve trying to figure out something else at this point.”

“
It is fine with me,” she replied. “This way we will be able to talk more and catch up. I can fill you in on the fashion world while you have been absent. I brought some things to show you.”

“
Great,” answered Triessa, for her heart was still with it. Then she looked at Todd and said, “Darling, I am going to take her out to the Rose Garden. We will be back soon. I will see you inside when we get back. Did you take your family down to see the cottage and the lilies while I was gone?”

“
Yes, I did. They were spellbound at the beauty and the aroma. It is so lovely now. I will go in with the rest and impatiently await your return, my love. At least, you are near and will be right back, so I can handle that.”

The
girls walked out through the garden and again Triessa explained about the garden and how it got planned and Phylicia was spellbound with it all. The swans were captivating to everyone who saw them. They were so beautiful.

“
Oh, my dear, how can you ever leave this to go on your trips? You have such a wonderland here to enjoy. It is no wonder you are full of dreams and ideas. There is no end to your creativity.”

They
came to the Rose Garden and Triessa opened the gate and let her friend go in. She gasped in amazement.

“
So this is the spot of the wedding. How absolutely marvelous. Much of it is all planned and ready, I can see.”

“
Yes, this is the spot. We had considered many places, one of them being where we met. When we were here in the garden, Todd suggested that we get married here and I was so pleased and amazed. He proposed to me again here. I do not know why I had not thought of it before. It seemed that we should choose some unusual, faraway place. It just hit us both at the same time. We will stay here the first night, and then leave early the next morning for our honeymoon. We have had a hard time trying to nail that down but have come up with some ideas. At some point, before we return, we plan to visit Monaco and we will get in touch with you so we can do some things together. We plan to be gone for about a month. We have purposely not made plans until we come back so we can have our minds occupied only with each other while we’re gone.”

“
That’s a marvelous idea, I think,” replied Phylicia. “Please do get in touch with me when you come my way. I would feel very bad if you were there and I did not see you.”

They
went back to the house and Triessa took her friend inside to introduce her to everyone who had not met her. It would soon be time for dinner. Her folks had gone back home and planned to come back for their guests in the evening. There would be quite a few for dinner. She went to Todd and asked him what he thought about seating arrangements.

“
Between the dining room and the patio, we can work it out; don’t you think? I wonder if Nancy needs anything. Let’s ask her.”

She
appreciated their concern but told them, “No, I am all set, I got a few extra things the last time I shopped because I knew there would be quite an army here at the end. Thank you.”

“
As far as seating is concerned, I think we can work it out. We cannot be in both places. Would it be all right with you if we split up and one of us could be at each table? I could take Phylicia, Dirje and Cord out on the patio. The rest could eat in here with you. Maybe we can work out something else for the next few days so we won’t have to be separated all the time at mealtime. Maybe I can speak with Reese or your dad and they will know what is available.”

“
Sure, my love, that is fine for this time. I will feel a little lost, but we can manage for one time all right. I think we could get another table to set up in the dining room. We may need it in the future when family comes to visit.”

He
laughed and shook his head. “You are right. This is what happens to big families. We will get on it the first thing in the morning. We will need it tomorrow when we have everyone together for the meeting. Oh, my darling, isn’t it amazing all the things we did not even think about before. Guess it did not hit us how many would be here until we saw them all together. But we can take care of them.”

“
Do you think we should become wedding coordinators?” she asked laughing.