Come Pour the Wine (23 page)

“You’d better eat, sweetie, or they’ll carry you down the aisle on a stretcher.”

“God, Kit … did you ever think it would happen?”

“Truthfully? No. But you’re irresistible, kiddo. I understand he’s even crazy about your folks.”

“And they thought he was wonderful. The whole thing’s like a dream, I didn’t know anything could be so perfect—”

“The biggest surprise of all is Mama McNeil. Talk about miracles.”

“She’s really been a darling, Kit. There was only one complaint.”

“Oh? What was that?”

“She wanted us to wait so she could entertain for us … but when I explained, she took it well. The thing I’m a little nervous about is meeting Bill’s whole family tonight at dinner.”

“Don’t worry about them. Alice is a little ding-a-ling, oblivious to everything but her children. She’ll be adorable, congratulate you, then bend your ear about Randy making the rowing team at Yale, Gwen being a French scholar and the twins budding Johnny Weissmullers. One word explains her … boring. Betsy is something else. After she birthed three kids, she traded in marital bliss for tennis, bridge and membership in every women’s club in Long Island. I don’t know if she realizes or cares, but Tom has cheated on her for years. Harriet and Gordon are the real winners. I always wondered how they got into the family. Anyway … you’ve apparently already charmed the only one in the family you had to worry about, so put your mind at ease.”

Tuesday and Wednesday were also hectic, and she had a dozen last-minute things to do before leaving for Kansas on Thursday morning.

Bill wasn’t too keen on letting her go. “I’m going to miss you like all hell,” he said.

“I hope so,” she answered, nibbling playfully on the lobe of his ear as she got into bed with him.

“I don’t see any point in your going home.
I
have to be there in a week.”

“Darling, we went over this. I’ve got to, you know I do—”

“I don’t know anything of the kind. All we have to do is be there three days in advance to get our blood tests and license.”

She laughed. “Well, a little abstinence will make you want me more on our wedding night—”

“The hell it will,” he answered sullenly. “You may regret this. I could get used to doing without you …”

“Do you think so?” she whispered, getting on top of him.

As their lips met, all thought of tomorrow, of any time but this moment, was forgotten.

Exactly as he had feared, the next few days seemed to stand still. It was the nights that drove him out of his mind, and by Sunday evening he told himself he should have insisted they go to Mexico. Being alone gave him too much time to ask questions. There were moments when the idea of a large wedding seemed frightening. Yes, by God, tonight he made up his mind he couldn’t be separated from Janet any longer. Her presence was what constantly reminded him that he wasn’t losing anything, he was gaining … if he ever needed her, it was
now.
He’d already spoken to her that day, but he just wasn’t going to wait it out. He couldn’t …

“Janet,” he said, sitting now on the edge of the bed, speaking to her in Wichita, “meet me at the airport tomorrow. I’ve taken about as much of this stupid separation as I’m going to. The company’s in between major projects right now anyway, and this is as good a time as any to give a chance to those take-charge types I hired, see how they handle it when the buck stops at their desks instead of mine. Why the hell I didn’t think of this before, I’ll never know.”

She couldn’t believe it. “Oh God, darling, I’m so pleased …”

Hanging up, he smiled at himself, then laughed out loud, thinking that for a guy who’d resisted marriage he’d sure made a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree turnaround. By God, he was
happy …
well, wasn’t he? … of course he was … and he’d stay that way, even if it killed him….

Now the time seemed to be flying. There was scarcely a moment for them to be by themselves, what with all the affairs given in their honor. Which didn’t exactly displease Bill. Since he obviously couldn’t be sleeping at Janet’s side in her parents’ house, it was a little easier to get through the lonely night when he was woozy from too much champagne.

Janet, however, was not quite so fortunate. Sleep eluded her and she lay awake in the dark, thinking about the future she would share with Bill … that soon the pillow she hugged to her side would be replaced with her husband….

Kit, Nat, Charles and Carol had arrived three days before the wedding, and Bill’s family arrived en masse the following day. Martha Stevens had reserved rooms for them at the local inn, making sure that each of them received flowers or fruit baskets with cards of welcome.

That night they all gathered at the Stevens’s home for a buffet dinner, and by the time they finished the meal and went into the study to view the wedding gifts, Violet was decidedly impressed and taken with Janet’s family. She’d imagined the Stevenses would be middle-class midwesterners, simple, provincial and folksy, but to her relief Martha was elegant, poised, warm and accomplished, her charm altogether infectious. She was totally taken with Dr. Stevens, who was not only urbane but a
gentleman …
somehow she saw a hint of Jason in him. Breeding, Violet thought, could not be acquired … one was born with it. Violet didn’t miss a thing—the antiques were magnificent, and handed down,
not
bought. Tonight she approved more than ever before of Bill’s choice. Janet would indeed be an asset to him. In fact, when all was said and done, he’d picked a girl much like
herself,
whether, of course, he realized it or not …

Well, it would be her little secret. She would never let him know, but yes indeed, Bill, it turned out, was a very sensible young man after all….

The moment had arrived.

When Bill saw Janet moving down the aisle, her arm on her father’s, he was deeply moved. If he had thought she was beautiful before, she was absolutely extraordinary now. And in that moment, all the doubts that had secretly plagued him about giving up his freedom were stored away deep within his subconscious. She was magnificent, this Janet Stevens. Soon to be his wife.

One hundred guests shared his opinion.

She took her place alongside him, and the two looked quietly, adoringly at each other as the minister began. The ceremony was a long one, the explanation of the union explicit … Abruptly Bill felt a moment of acute anxiety, which Janet sensed … and she too became nervous.

Finally the part he had been waiting for … “I now pronounce you man and wife in front of God and this assembly. You may kiss the bride.”

Relieved it was over, Bill did just that. In fact, he did it for so long that there was nervous laughter from the guests.

Walking back down the aisle on her husband’s arm, Janet looked at Kit. The smile said
thank you.

Bill whisked his bride into the waiting limousine, and the long entourage followed.

At the country club, the reception line was long and tiring, but no one would have guessed it from the happy faces of the family as they stood accepting congratulations and best wishes … they were the perfect couple … the most handsome … their lives were sure to be joyous, everyone agreed as Bill and Janet moved out to dance alone on the dance floor.

She looked near-ethereal with the bouffant gown billowing about her and the veil draped over her arm. The perfect couple …

Now the pictures were taken. Janet wanted a replica of her grandmother and grandfather’s daguerreotype and she stood poised slightly behind Bill, who was seated. This was her tribute to her grandmother, who had not only passed on her name to Janet but also a gown befitting this momentous occasion in her life.

At five she and Bill left the festivities and went upstairs to the country club’s reserved rooms—he to his, and she to hers—to change. Dressed in her pink silk suit she looked at herself in the mirror, then at her mother, who had come up to help her dress and to spend a few minutes alone with her. In that moment all the childhood years in Wichita came rushing back to her. How wonderful the dreams, and memories, were. But the future that lay ahead was another gift of life, and she faced it with no doubts. Bill had stood by her side today as she knew he would the rest of her life … Leaving the room, she walked out into the hall, where Bill was waiting for her. Her hand in his, they proceeded down the staircase to where the guests and family all waited. She paused halfway down the stairs, throwing her bouquet to one of her favorite cousins. There were tears in Martha’s eyes, and a tightness in Dr. Stevens’s throat and visible weeping from Violet. Then a flurry of excitement as the two dashed out with the traditional throwing of rice….

Sitting in the car alongside her, Bill took Janet in his arms and kissed her. This was his
wife.
“I love you more than those words can say, Mrs. McNeil.”

“And I you, Mr. McNeil.”

The bridal suite looked like a bower of flowers. They toasted each other with champagne. Lovemaking that night was better, more deeply felt than before. The difference, Janet was certain, was in knowing that they
belonged
to each other, and the feeling was a kind of exaltation …

Later he said, “Darling, how did you ever put up with my nonsense?”

“Who knows?”—she said it with a straight face, then smiled—“but that’s the past … I want to spend the future doing just what I promised your mother I’d do—making you happy. And I assure you, it will only be doing what comes naturally.” Whereupon she kissed him, long and soundly. “Can’t, in fact, wait to get started …”

“You already have …”

The next day, in a flurry of last-minute good-bys, the two families waved to the newlyweds from the window of the airport.

Violet and her family were to take the evening flight to New York, and as Martha stood with Violet at the boarding gate the two women embraced.

“It was the loveliest wedding, Martha, and you’ve made us all feel so welcome. Thank you.”

“Oh, my dear … Janet has been blessed with a family such as yours.”

Violet was rarely given to sentimental tears but now she gave in to them. “You’ll have to come to New York so we can return your hospitality.”

“We will, Violet, and you’re always welcome here.”

Martha was filled with a sudden loneliness as she watched Violet and her family walking across the airfield. Her husband took her hand, as if guessing her feelings. At this moment she regretted not having had more children, that their only child was to be settled so far away from them. But perhaps there would be grandchildren. And if God was good to them, maybe she and James would live to see great-grandchildren.

W
HEN BILL CARRIED HER
over the threshold to his apartment she remembered the first night she had spent here. On that night she would never have possibly believed this would be her home and Bill her husband. There was still a feeling of unreality about it all, and the month they had just spent in Bermuda had done nothing to bring her down to earth. But now that they were back, life soon settled into a comfortable pattern.

Each morning she fixed breakfast, then saw Bill off to the office. After her household chores were finished she would dress and sometimes meet Bill for lunch. Then she would shop for groceries, prepare dinner and wait for Bill to come home. Their evenings together were the best part of her day. Now there was a security about it all, with no doubts to be suppressed and no feelings that went unexpressed.

They spent Sundays with Violet McNeil—at Janet’s insistence, though Bill wasn’t too keen about it.

“Janet, my mother’s going to expect us every Sunday. I’m warning you.”

“I think it’s the least we can do. She is your mother and we have a duty—”

“I don’t want to do things out of duty. Besides, if we start out this way she’s going to sulk and feel neglected if we miss a week. I don’t want to be put in that position. Not again.”

“Let’s indulge her a little. It means so much to her.”

“You’re going to regret this, honey. Set a precedent and people take you for granted. My mother is going to be an albatross—”

“We’ll work it out …”

And so they went.

They had just opened the door on their return from the first of their Sunday visits when they heard the phone ringing.

It was Nat, telling them that Kit had just gone into the hospital in labor. Charles and Carol were with him but he wondered if they might not come too.

They found him pacing the hospital corridor. Charles, who was pacing in the opposite direction, was little comfort, and Carol had long since given up trying to calm either one of them. If her husband acted this way over his sister, God only knew what he’d be like when her time came.

Janet and Bill did their best to ease the tension, but finally they too fell into silence.

They waited….

Meanwhile, Kit in the delivery room refused to take anything. Not Kit, she wanted to be awake when her children saw the world for the first time. At the end she let out a scream, but the pain carried more than its own reward as she saw her newborn babies being held up and smacked on the buttocks. Drenched in perspiration she laughed euphorically. “Welcome to the world, my precious darlings …”

At long last the doctor came out of the delivery room. He looked from Charles’s anxious face to Nat’s, not sure which was the father until Carol intervened.

When Nat heard the news he braced himself against the wall for a moment, then let out a war whoop. “By God, I don’t know how Kit knew we were going to have a boy and a girl.”

Janet’s thoughts were very different, though on the same subject. Like a few million women before her, the gift of a newborn child to another women stirred the most profound yearnings in her, at this moment striking her like a living thing … a living person…. She looked involuntarily at Bill, then quickly away, as though not to give her message away before he was ready to receive it….

“Did you ever see anyone so happy as Nat and Kit?” Janet asked as she curled against Bill that night.

“Never. With the exception of thee and me.”

“Think of the times they’ll have with their children, watching them grow up and become their own people. When I went shopping for a gift for the baby shower, I looked at all those tiny things and suddenly realized how easy it would be to spoil a child …”