Peggy Dulle - Liza Wilcox 05 - Till Death Do Us Part (11 page)

“How’s the other place?” Tom said.

“Very different than the last. Tell me what you liked about the place in Oakdale.”

“Okay, that means you like this place better and you don’t think I will.”

“You know me so well.”

“Honey, I’d married you naked on the beach, as long as the ceremony actually happens and you marry me.”

“Wait a minute. I thought at first that was a really nice thing you were going to say but do you think I’ll back out?”

“Not intentionally, but things happen when you and I are together. Wait, I’ll amend that – things happen even when you are by yourself. Fate sometimes has different ideas than we do.”

“I suppose,” I said, thinking back on Tom’s and my time together. A lot had happened: two car crashes, drugged by clowns, attacked by dogs, fallen into an abandoned mine, almost falling into a large sink hole, had a gun pointed at me several times, and almost exploded by a bomb.

“My idea would be for you and me to go down to the courthouse, not tell anyone, and get married before fate could find us, but I know you have your heart set on a wedding.”

“I do,” I said.

“I love hearing you say those words,” Tom laughed, then added. “In just a few words, describe the last place to me and then do the same thing for this place. Don’t think about what I would like, think about yourself for once.”

“The last place was rustic, like a cowboy and the garden areas were quaint and beautiful. This place is magic,” I sighed.

“Go with the magic,” Tom said.

“Thank you,” I told him. “Since I picked the place, you pick the food.”

“That’s fair since I know you have some of your own opinions about food. Of course, I doubt they’ll do take-out for your guests.”

I laughed. “Maybe Chinese food?”

“No. How about a meat dish and chicken dish? No fish and no fancy food. I want real food.”

Savanah came around the corner and handed me a menu. “Tell Tom he can pick out the food and drinks to taste since you chose the place.”

I laughed and nodded. “Okay, Tom, you need to pick out several dishes and then the week before the wedding we’ll come taste them and make our final decision. Here are your choices.” I
read him the list. There were twenty-five chicken choices, eleven meat choices and over fifty choices for appetizers.

“Wow,” Tom said. “That’s too many choices. Just pick two chicken and two beef, Liza. I can’t decide.”

“Are you sure?” I asked him. “You’re the chef in this couple.”

“Yeah, but without tasting them all, I wouldn’t be able to decide. You can’t know how good something is unless you taste them.

“We’ll get to taste them the week before the wedding, with other couples deciding on their menus.”

“Perfect just choose a bunch and when we taste them, I can decide.”

“Any allergies in your family?”

“No, my family can eat anything and everything.”

“I can’t wait to meet your family. You’ve already met all of mine.”

“Mine’s a barrel of monkeys and I mean that literally. My Aunt Charlotte raises and trains monkeys for the movies and circuses.”

I laughed.

Savanah came around the corner and said, “We’ve got some picking to do, Liza. Did Tom pick the food?”

“He can’t decide, there are too many choices.”

“We’ll decide for him, then.” She pointed to the phone. “Say goodbye, we’ve got work to do.”

“I’ve got to go, Tom.”

“Happy wedding planning, Liza.”

“I love you, Tom.” I told him.

“I never get tired of hearing those three words. I love you, Liza. Have fun.”

I went inside and Amelia showed me several books of colored material. We spent the next two hours picking tablecloths, covers for the chairs, napkins, menu cards to tuck into the napkins, napkin rings, silverware, and stemware.

“We can get the menu and place cards etched with the two hearts on the top and the table numbers printed at the same time they do your invitations so they’ll match. You’ll have to make a guest list, assign tables and write their names on the place cards later. When you and Tom have tasted the food and decided on the menu, we’ll add that information to the menu cards,” Savanah said.

“During the appetizers, we’ll have people serving them and a couple of people helping people find their tables and their seats,” Amelia added.

“Can’t people just go and sit where they want?” I asked.

Both Savanah and Amelia looked at me as if I had lost my mind.

Savanah patted my hand. “If you do that, Liza, then you’ll end up with families that have to separate because there aren’t enough seats at a table for them. I’ve even seen it where the immediate family of the bride and groom didn’t have seats
because they stayed with the bride and groom for pictures and by the time they got to the reception, there weren’t any seats for them.”

I shook my head. “This is so much more complicated than I ever thought it was.”

Savanah smiled. “That’s why you have me. Oh, and Amelia does have a wedding on Friday, but it’s not until seven o’clock, we can do the rehearsal around two in the afternoon. Will that work for you, Liza?”

“I’m sure that’s fine,” I told her.

Savanah and Amelia started scouring through another catalogue, looking at wedding favors. I just sat back and let them pick five and then show them to me. I was starting to glass over – we had made so many decisions already today.

My phone rang. It was Tom. Had he made a decision about the food?

“Hey, Liza. I know I said I didn’t want any choices but can you make sure the music guy lets me sing?”

“Really?” I asked, not sure I heard him right.

“Yes.”

Silence. I just didn’t know what to say. Karaoke at a wedding?

Tom continued, even though I had stopped speaking or breathing.

“Yeah, Pamela hated my karaoke, but you know that I love to sing and I want to sing at my wedding. A few of my cop friends
are in a band and they’ll want to sing, too. And my cousin Stella does a mean rendition of
Crazy
and she’ll want to a chance with the mic, too. And I want us all to sing
We Are Family
, as the last song before we leave.”

“Okay.” I just didn’t know what to say.

“Thanks, Liza. love you.” And he hung up.

When I looked up, Savanah and Amelia glanced over from the book they were flipping through. I’m sure my face said it all.

“What does he want?” she asked, her eyebrows rising with mock horror.

“Karaoke.” I said, deadpanned.

“No!” Both Savanah and Amelia said together.

I nodded.

“He can’t,” Savanah said.

“It just isn’t done. Sometimes one person might sing a song, but an entire karaoke party?” Amelia asked.

“We can let him sing, but not anyone else,” Savanah insisted.

“Yeah, a husband singing a song to his new wife is nice,” Amelia added.

“It’s the only thing he wants and we’ll give that to him,” I insisted, even though I wasn’t too sure either.

Savanah and Amelia both shuddered.

Savanah turned to Amelia and asked, “Can your music guy do karaoke?”

Amelia shrugged. “Joe’s a great guy. I’ll ask him.” She left to get his number and call him.

“Do we have to let him do karaoke at your wedding?” Savanah asked.

“It’s his wedding, too, and he has a beautiful voice.”

“And everyone else who will be singing will have a beautiful voice, too?”

“I can’t guarantee that.”

Savanah shuddered again. “Did you tell him about the rehearsal on Friday at two?”

“No, I was in shock over the karaoke. I’ll tell him when I talked to him next.”

“Okay.” Savanah went back to the wedding favor book, volume three.

Amelia came back a few minutes later, and said, “Joe can do karaoke, even though he says he’s never done it at a wedding before.”

I smiled as best I could. Karaoke at my wedding – I didn’t see that coming.

“I don’t see anything that I like,” Savanah said, as she closed the favor book.

“Do we have to have them?” I asked.

Both women looked at me.

“You always get this stuff you don’t really want. You throw it in a drawer and find it years later. Can’t we do something that people will actually want?”

Savanah and Amelia looked at each other and then together said, “Candy bar.”

“Candy bar?” Now that was an idea I could get behind.

“Sure, we’ll have different styles and sizes of glass bowls with lots of different kinds of candy in them. We can have a box or bag with your and Tom’s name and the date on it for them to fill and take home with them.”

“I like that idea.” I was all for candy.

“Are you sure no alcohol at the wedding?” Savanah asked.

“I don’t drink,” I told her.

“That doesn’t mean your guests won’t want to drink.”

My phone rang again. All three of us stared at it.

“What does he want now?” Savanah muttered.

I answered my phone. “Hello, Tom. The DJ has karaoke for you.”

“That’s great. I thought of something else.”

“Yes, what?” I winced in anticipation.

“Can we have no alcohol at our wedding?”

“Of course.”

“That’s great. At the last wedding, half my family got so plastered that it was embarrassing. I’d like to start our life together without you thinking my entire family is a bunch of drunken rednecks. Which they are, but I don’t want you to see that at our wedding.”

“Okay. We’ll have champagne for the toast but that’s it.”

“Perfect. I know that a few of them will have a flask with them, but it won’t be enough to get them or anyone else drunk.”

“Okay, no problem.”

“Thanks, Liza. Hey, I forgot to ask you. When is the rehearsal?”

“I’m glad you asked. It’s on Friday at two.”

“Why so early?”

“There’s a wedding at the Gardens at seven that evening.”

“Okay. Can you suggest a place for the dinner after the rehearsal?”

“Why?”

“That’s part of the groom’s responsibility.”

“I’ll think about it,” I told him.

“Great.” And he was gone.

“No alcohol except the champagne for the toast,” I told them.

“Okay, then you’ll need to pick some more drinks to taste,” Savanah told me, which I did, including four punches and three teas.

“I think we’ve got it all,” Savanah announced another hour later.

“No, what about the cake?” I asked.

“Oh yeah, we can’t forget the cake.” Amelia pulled out another book. “What kind?”

“Chocolate,” I told them. The cake was something Tom and I agreed upon right away.

We looked at cakes for another thirty minutes. I finally picked a simple traditional three tiered cake with diamond shaped designs that would match the beading on my dress.

“What about the cake topper?” Amelia asked.

“Can we just make it a flower bouquet like mine?” I asked. I didn’t think much of the little plastic people on top of cakes.

“Of course, that’s simple. I can also have my baker make a few purplish red flowers and put them on it to tie it into the overall theme of the wedding.”

“That would be great,” Savanah told her.

A few more decisions later and we were ready to go. I thanked Amelia and we got back into the Jeep.

As we drove toward the freeway I asked, “Is there anything else I need to do?”

“Well, there is the wedding book, but personally, I’d get a photo frame for people to sign rather than a photo album you’ll throw in a drawer. You can put your wedding picture in it and have it on your wall. Also, some people have programs printed for the ceremony, but I don’t think they’re necessary. What do the people do with them after the ceremony?”

“Throw them away,” I told her.

Savanah nodded and said, “Since we’re going to be driving on the freeway most of the way home, can we put up the top?”

“Good idea.” I told her.

We pulled over into the parking lot of a strip mall. I turned off the engine and got out. Savanah did the same so she could button up the other side. That’s when I noticed the black sedan again. It was parked in the shade by one of the stores. Now I was sure it was the same one. I had seen it at least three times today
and it didn’t have a license plate in the front for me to take down its number.

I didn’t want to scare Savanah, so I said, “Let’s do this quick. It’s getting late and I want to get home.”

She nodded and smiled.

That’s when I felt the poke in my back and a low gruff voice said, “God, it took you long enough at that stupid place. I’ve been sitting here for hours waiting for you!”