Until the Stars Fall From the Sky (28 page)

“You have a great memory, Mindy,” Heather remarks.

“Well, how else am I goin’ to keep the good guys and bad guys straight in my head?” Mindy
asks her expression grim.

“Well, that is a good point,” Heather concedes
. “I just wish you only had to think happy thoughts. Hurry up and think of something happy.”

“Do I get to be a flower girl?” she asks hopping up and down on one foot.

“Well, I’d say that qualifies as happy,” Heather responds with a grin, “I happen to know that you’re going to be a flower girl very soon.”

“Yes!” shouts Mindy, doing a fist pump in the air, “how soon?”

Heather lowers her voice to a whisper, “Well, girlfriend, we might have a problem. Jeff has already planned most of the wedding, but I’m not sure he’s bothered to tell Kiera.”

“Tell me what?” asks Kiera, her attention drawn by Mindy’s shouting.

“Uh oh, we’re busted,” laments Mindy, hiding behind Heather’s poodle skirt.

Heather puts her arm around Mindy as she clarifies, “Actually, technically, Jeff is busted, and we’re just the messengers.”

Kiera pats her lap and Mindy climbs on. “What’s going on Mindy Mouse?” she probes gently.

Mindy shrugs as she replies, “I don’ know. Miss Heather was just s’plaining.”

I figure I should probably stick around for this conversation since I’m the main topic at issue. I’m very curious about how Kiera is going to react to this development.

At this point, Tara walks up to the other side of Mindy. She is wearing a jean shirt studded with beads and a tank top with a bandana rolled into a headband.

Mindy’s eyes grow wide and she tugs on Kiera’s skirt as she asks, in a rather noisy stage whisper, “Is that Pocahontas?”

Kiera and Heather break out in a chorus of giggles as Kiera says, “No, sweetie, this is Tara, the other member of the Girlfriend Posse.”

Tara reaches out to shake Mindy’s hand and answers with a smile, “No Half Pint, I’m just plain old Tara, Heather’s friend.”

“I’m not a Haft Pint!” Mindy argues indignantly, “I’m Mindy Mouse.”

“So, very right you are,” Tara agrees, “my mistake. Nice to meet you Mouse.” Turning to Kiera she says, “So, if you could wave a magic wand, how do you envision your wedding?”

“Over with?” Kiera answers with a half smirk on her face that turns into a grin when both girls practically choke on their own spit. After Heather stops coughing, Kiera continues, “It’s just Dad and me. Besides you guys and the girls, there isn’t anyone else I care enough about inviting to bother stressing about planning a whole big shindig. If Jeff wants it for the girls, I’m not above some pomp and circumstance; but I’d rather the ceremony just be a distant memory in our rearview mirror of life. I don’t want to spend months of my life planning for one afternoon. Maybe it’s because I’m a trucker’s daughter, but I’m just not that girly.”

Tara turns to me and winks as she says, “Remarkably well played sir, I see your ideas weren’t as half-baked as they appeared.”

Kiera looks bewildered as she pegs me with a look and states, “Will somebody
— and by that I guess I mean you — please fill me in? I feel like I’m reading a novel and somebody tore out the good chapters.”

I look down at my feet and try not to mumble as I confess my plans. Somehow, they sounded a lot more reasonable in my head. I gaze into her eyes seeking reassurance or perhaps forgiveness for what I’m about to say, “I’m glad to hear that you don’t want to spend a long time planning our wedding because our friends and family have been helping me plan a surprise wedding for us at William and Isobel’s horse ranch for a week from today.”

“I am getting married this Saturday…and my dad has no problem with that?” she asks, incredulously. “Has anybody actually asked him about this?”

I nod as l say, “Yes, everything is confirmed. Justice Gardner is officiating, your dad is giving you away, the girls
— big and little — along with Gabriel will be in the wedding party and the grandparents are on babysitting duty if we want to take an extra night at the beach for a honeymoon of sorts. Heather is doing the cake and my mom is in charge of the flowers. Donda is decorating. Tara is the DJ.”

“I want to make the card,” offers Mindy, proving that at least some bystanders were hanging on every word.

“Apparently, Mindy’s got custom stationary covered,” I easily agree. “Well, what do you think?” I let the breath out I’ve been holding in a noisy gust, as I study her reaction carefully.

Kiera is trying very hard to keep a straight face, but finally surrenders to a hopeless case of the giggles. “You all are insane. Still, if you can get this many people I love to back you up, you must be something pretty special. So, yes, I’d love to marry you next Saturday, even if I have to walk the aisle in my PJ’s.”

“Oh Sweet Pea, it would never come to that. I have a group of beautiful dresses from which to choose. You just have to show up,” Heather interjects.

“Really? You guys have taken care of all of the details?” Kiera questions. “I’m not quite sure how I feel about that. I didn’t want to have to worry about everything for months and months, but I kind of would like to have some choice in what happens.”

“Oh, absolutely,” I assure her, “we just did some of the legwork. We never intended to make the final decisions. I just didn’t want to tell you before today because I wanted the proposal to be a surprise.”

“Oh, I think it’s safe to say I’m surprised. I guess I’m okay with that, I just don’t want to be completely left out of my own wedding.” Kiera laughs lightly. “Although, I won’t have enough time to become a true bridezilla.”

Kiera turns to Mindy and throws her hands up in the air in apparent exasperation as she shakes her head and mutters, “Did you hear that Mindy Mouse? I’m getting married in seven days. I must be out of my ever-loving mind! Weddings take months, even years to plan — “

“Miss Kiera,” Mindy interrupts insistently, “I don’ think you heard the real important part. Mr. Jeff said there was gonna be horses. Lotsa horses.”

“Hmm, that’s true, I think he did,” Kiera answers. “I guess we should hurry and get home to pack because we have tons to do in a week.”

“Well, what are we waiting for then?” exclaims Mindy as she shovels huge bites of Kiera’s sundae into her mouth.

I stare down at my ring as we drive home and Mindy chatters away with Jeff about all the benefits of having a pet pony in her room. Even though the concept of marrying Jeff wasn’t a total shock, all of the romantic personal little details around the proposal were. On the other hand, given his tendencies toward full service dates, I guess I should have been more prepared. It far exceeded anything I imagined, Jeff’s inner Boy Scout should be proud.

“How did you know about the ring?” I ask, intrigued about how I ended up with the rings from my childhood fantasies. “It matches the pearls and jade from your family. It’s almost as if our legacies were meant to be combined.”

Jeff shrugs as he responds philosophically, “I don’t really know except that your dad seems to have taken a liking to me and wants to see us happy. He knows that you’ve always cherished them. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that I’ve loved you since I first laid eyes on you, so giving them to us is a pretty safe deal since they’ll still stay in the family.”

“You were amazing today, PC,” I say, lacing my fingers through his. “It was a stroke of genius to include Mindy. It far exceeded any dream I ever had.”

“You’re not ticked off that I commandeered the wedding?” Jeff asks, a distressed expression on his face.

I think about it for a minute before I answer, choosing my words carefully, “Angry? No. Confused? A little. As grateful as I am, I can’t help but wonder if maybe you didn’t trust me to do it according to your expectations and you just decided to take over.”

Jeff looks like I’ve slapped him. He runs his hand through his hair as he lets out a choppy breath and grimly admits, “I can see how you could get that impression, but I never meant to offend you. Your dad and I were talking about how to best fit a wedding into our school schedules and one thing led to another and a simple conversation suddenly snowballed into full-blown plans.”

“I should have known my dad had an active role in this,” I reply with a grin, “In fact, the more I think about it, this has his WD-40 encrusted fingerprints all over it. It’s lucky for the two of you that I’m kind of in a hurry to get married and start my little family unit or you guys would have been in some real trouble.”

Jeff nods solemnly as he acquiesces, “I understand. Under normal circumstances, I would have never suggested such a bold plan, but average and typical doesn’t really seem to be our style, does it?”

I look back at the girls crashed in their car seats, Mindy’s bright pink headphones sitting slightly askew on her head. “No, PC, it sure isn’t. Think how much we’d miss if it were,” I muse.

As we pull up to our house, Mindy wakes up and whispers, “Do we live here now? It looks
like a gingerbread house.”

Jeff and I laugh as I agree, “If you think the outside is impressive, the inside might make you want to do cartwheels. Tara and Donda did a great job making it pretty for you.”

Mindy puffs up as she brags, “I can almos’ do a cartwheel all by myself. I learned last year in Kindergarten.”

“That’s great Mindy Mouse,” Jeff acknowledges, “let’s go see what you and Becca think of your new digs.”

Mindy seems disappointed as she enters the front door. This is not the reaction I was expecting and quite frankly, I’m baffled until Mindy tugs on Jeff’s pant leg.

“Mr. Jeff, where is your dog?” Mindy asks, her bottom lip sliding out into a pout, “You said there was going to be a dog.”

Jeff puts his arm around her shoulders as he replies, “You’re right. I did say he’d be here. You girls came home from the hospital earlier than we were expecting and Lucky is still spending the night with a friend of mine who owns a grooming and kennel facility. He getting all spruced up for his big debut. He should be here tomorrow.”

Mindy nods her head in understanding as she says, “I just wanted
to make sure you didn’t kill him because I said I liked him.”

Kiera hugs Mindy tight as she murmurs, “No sweet
ie, you can like as many pets as you like, but we’d like you to help feed and clean up after Lucky, because it’s part of owning a pet.”

“You mean like a zookeeper?” asks Mindy excitedly.

“Well, sort of,” Jeff answers, chuckling. “Mindy, are you ready to see your new room?”

Mindy starts jumping up and down as she exclaims, “Yes! I’ve been waiting forever and ever. How will I know which room is mine?”

Her enthusiasm is contagious and I start to laugh as I reply, “Something tells me that you’re going to be able to figure it out all on your own. Go for it. Just don’t run too fast.”

Mindy’s eyes widen. “For reals? I can touch stuff and everything?” Mindy clarifies tentatively, running her fingers up and down the doorjamb.

I give her a small hug — because I’m allowed to do that now — and reassure her, “Mindy of course you may touch things. This is your home now. You aren’t leaving anytime soon, so you need to make yourself comfortable. Just make sure you treat other people’s things with respect.”

“Okay
, Miss Kiera, I will,” she promises solemnly. Mindy tears off through the house leaving me in her dust. Jeff is trying to follow her with his iPhone at the ready recording the whole experience.

Suddenly, I hear a shriek from the other room. It’s loud enough that Becca stirs in the carrier and I have to pat her on the back to settle her. Mindy runs back to me and starts to push my chair into the nursery. “Look! Look!” she exclaims, “There are wishy flowers and butterflies on the wall and
two
teddy bears. They look like they’re havin’ themselves a garden party. This is even better than the ideas in my brain and they were pretty awesome. Did you make these beautiful pictures, Mr. Jeff?”

“I only painted a little bit of it, Sweetheart. My sister, Donda, did all of the really cool parts,” Jeff explains, tracing Becca’s name with his finger.

“Wow! Do you think she could teach me to draw too?” Mindy asks, her voice filled with wonder.

Jeff ruffles Mindy’s hair and smiles down at her as he answers, “I’m sure she would. Your cousin, Gabriel, is no lightweight either. He draws totally rad comic books and I’m sure he’d like to draw with you.”

Mindy walks over to the changing station and examines the wipe warmer and diaper caddy. She spins
around and runs toward me. I have to catch her to prevent a collision with Becca. I pull her to the side of me and gather her into a hug. “What’s up Mindy Mouse?” I ask, concerned about her change in demeanor.

Mindy wipes tears from her eyes as she explains, “Miss Kiera, there are more diapers there than I can count and the wipey thingies are hot. It means Becca’s not going to get sick no more. Can we live here forever?”

Well, that puts my emotional day right over the top and my eyes mist over too. “Mindy, Jeff and I don’t make that decision,” I respond gently. “But, we’re going to do everything in our power to keep us all together and while we’re all together, you girls will have every thing you need.”

Mindy is quiet for a minute, but then she resolutely nods and hugs me and walks over to Jeff and hugs him tightly. “It’s okay, Miss Kiera. Mr. Jeff is the kind of man that d
on’t make promises unless he gonna do them. He is going to be at my high school grabuation and he can’t do that if I hafta go wiff another family.”

I look over at Jeff and, he too, is surreptitiously flicking tears from the corners of his eyes as I gently say, “Well, Princess Mindy, I can’t promise anything, but we’re trying our hardest.” I make a big show of looking around the room in an effort to lighten the suddenly serious mood. “Hey, kiddo I don’t see a bed for you in here, so there must be another room around here somewhere.”

“I’ll find it!” Mindy declares, bolting from the room.

Jeff hands me his cell phone so that he can push us to the next room to catch
Mindy’s reaction.

We got there just in time to see her dive into the middle of the canopy bed with the plethora of pillows in every conceivable shape and form. She studies the walls with wide-eyed astonishment, a myriad of emotions crossing her face. She curls her body into a ball hugging her knees. She peeks up at me with a look of incredulity on her face, “You did this all for me’n Becca?” she asks, “but I’m nasty an’ ebil. Nobody ever does nothing nice for us.”

Jeff picks Mindy up and perches her on his hip like a mom does with a toddler and gives her a hug as he pulls away a bit, he gently chides her, “Now, Princess Mindy, do you remember what we told you about being evil?”

Mindy blushes and nods as she chews on the end of her hair.

“Can little girls really be nasty or evil?” Jeff prompts.

“No!” Mindy responds with a half grin, pleased to get the answer correct, “cause we’re just kids. It’s not our job to be evil. It’s our job to study hard and have fun.” Mindy giggles, “Well, Becca can’t study yet, cause she’s still little, but she will when she starts preschool; I promise.”

“That’s my girl,” Jeff praises, “Your Grummy takes the having fun rule very, very seriously. Check out this doll house!” Jeff walks over to the Victorian dollhouse that has been placed on a bird’s eye maple base to make it more accessible for me.

“Miss Kiera, look!” Mindy half shrieks, “There’s a kitchen with pots and pans. The libing room even h
as a lamp that turns on and off. There’s a tiny, tiny mirror in the bathroom. I don’ know why though. That’s kind of silly. Barbie’s makeup don’t come off.”

I chuckle as I answer, “I don’t know. Maybe they just wanted it to look like a regular bathro
om.” It’s clear that Mindy is scary smart.

Mindy walks over to the wall w
here the girls’ portraits are painted and traces them with her fingers. “She made us fairies, just like in my dreams,” she says in a reverent voice, “only better. ‘Cept why is this one dragonfly so fat?”

Jeff ducks down to take a closer look and smirks when he sees where she is pointing. “Well, Mindy Mouse, Pip tried to paint that one with her nose. So, it’s a special one-of-a-kind original,” he explains.

Mindy puts her hands on her hips, “Miss Kiera, is he trickin’ me?”

I can’t keep a straight face, so my face opens into a wide grin, “No, baby, he’s not joking. I wasn’t concentrating on what I was doing because I was so excited that you were
coming home soon. So, I lost my balance as I was painting dragonflies and I ended up using my nose on accident. In fact, even my pigtails tried to get in on the act.”

Mindy laughs hard at the visual as she wheezes, “I bet you looked really funny, Miss Kiera.”

“I did look pretty funny and I bet if you look hard enough you can still find paint in my hair,” I confirm.

“Miss Kiera, is Mr. Jeff going to do your hair for your wedding? On
Bridezillas
, they said it was bad luck for a groomp to see the bride before the wedding.”

Jeff considers the quandary for a bit and answers Mindy solemnly, “Mindy Mouse, Kiera and I have pretty much done everything backwards and against tradition since the first day we met. It seems to be working spectacularly well for us. So, I don’t see any reason to mess with that streak, do you?”

Mindy vehemently shakes her head. “Mr. Jeff, can you put ribbons in my hair and leave some of it curly?” she inquires. “I think you should leave some of Miss Kiera’s pretty red hair down too,” she further instructs.

“Hmm, I think that we should ask Kiera first,” Jeff comments.

I can feel the panic settle back over me as the excitement over the girls’ room reveals dies down. The sheer volume of what I need to accomplish in the next week is overwhelming. I thought that was true before I found out I’m getting married and going on a surprise honeymoon. It’s a good thing that I’ve elected to take some hastily arranged family leave. “I suppose the first thing I need to do is pick a dress, but I have no idea where to start,” I admit.

Jeff snickers softly as he says, “Pip, I have a feeling that the Girlfriend Posse has this well in hand, if the text message I received from Heather is any indication. I am forbidden to enter our bedroom until I have her express permission. For now, it’s a bridal-party-only-zone. So, why don’t you give me Becca and I’ll feed her and change her while you two check it out.”

I unhook Becca from the front carrier and pass her up to Jeff. I raise my eyebrow in an invitation to Mindy as I pat my lap. She giggles as she declares, “I’m too big to sit on your lap, Miss Kiera. After all, I’m gonna be a flower girl. I’ll jus’ push you.”

I direct her down the hall past the living room to our room when she opens our door and it soon becomes clear why Jeff has been banished. Heather has turned our room into a mini-boutique with beautiful dresses hanging from every available surface.”

Mindy gasps as she utters, “Oh wow! It’s just like in
Pretty Woman
.”

I shake my head in disbelief as I ask, “Are you sure you’re only six, Mindy Mouse? I’m not even going to ask how you know about
Pretty Woman
. I’m pretty sure I’m better off not knowing. Do you think we should choose your dress or mine first?” I ask Mindy, completely intimidated by the task ahead of me.

It’s Mindy’s turn to shake her head at me as she explains, “Miss Kiera, don’t you watch TB? The bride always picks her dress first, usually with her mommy. Maybe you can borrow Grummy. I’m sure Mr. Jeff would share. Then you pick the bridesmaids dresses. I get confused about the rules here. I think maybe you’re ‘upposed to pick ugly dresses for the people in this job. But, no one ever ‘splains why.”