Come Rain or Come Shine (23 page)

W
edding guests in general could be pretty clamorous before a ceremony. But he found things unexpectedly serene beneath the tent, restful in a way. A certain peace lay over the fields, over the people, over his own heart.

He looked at his son. Dooley nodded; breathed in, breathed out.

They stepped into the tent, into the welcome of music.

Not once in his priesthood had he heard the glad notes of “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling” rendered by harmonica. In the warmth of the June afternoon, he felt a chill down his right leg as he processed the grassy aisle with the groom at his side.

Joy of heaven, to earth come down,

Fix in us thy humble dwelling,

All thy faithful mercies crown.

Jesus, Thou art all compassion,

Pure unbounded love thou art . . .

Sammy and Pooh followed as the standing congregation gave forth its mighty best. There was Hal Owen's splendid baritone, Beth's crystal soprano . . .

Visit us with thy salvation,

Enter every trembling heart.

At the simple lectern made by Harley, he and Dooley embraced. The two best men peeled off to stand on Dooley's left.

Come, Almighty to deliver,

Let us all thy life receive . . .

And there was Jessie with the dogs sporting bow ties and coupled together by ribbons, a photo op of the first rank. Mid-hymn, phones and cameras were dug from pockets and handbags and there began the gleeful preoccupation that wedding guests so relish nowadays. Bowser swaggered, Bodacious looked doleful, Buckwheat effected a jaunt in his step. At row four, Bonemeal paused to sniff the shoes of Judy, the postmistress. Roughly on cue, the whole lot veered to the groom's side.

Clockwork, he thought.

Then Beth, in a turquoise frock and as radiant as any bride, came singing, heads turning . . .

Finish then thy new creation,

Pure and spotless let us be.

Let us see thy great salvation,

Perfectly restored in thee . . .

Now Rebecca Jane Owen and the strewing of the petals of Seven Sisters; carmine showering upon emerald grass . . .

As Lace and her father entered the tent with Jack Tyler, Dooley's left leg began to jiggle. He was aware of this, but his brain refused to send a nerve signal to stop it. He put his weight on his left leg, dug the heel of his loafer into the turf, and locked his knee.

He had occasionally perceived marriage to be a cosmic black hole, void of anything at all. At the sight of Lace, the science of his heart perceived the void filled with galaxies beyond number.

Lace walked the aisle on the arm of Doc Harper, the afternoon light dancing gold over her dress. She was taking the day not by force, as he could plainly see, but by grace, and smiling at him as if to say, Hooray, we have come through.

In the hand placed upon her father's arm, she held the bouquet. In the other, she held Roo, pressed to her heart. At her side, Jack Tyler, in his plaid pants, carried the pillow. Cautious and solemn he came, as if walking on eggs.

Necks craned to get a better look at the bride and the little boy mentioned in the program, who was such a surprise to all, such a hope, really. An electrical current made a buzz through the congregation.

Changed from glory into glory,

Till in heaven we take our place . . .

All this. All this coming to him, entering into him, Dooley Kavanagh. For a split second, he blanked, then came to. He steadied himself, thinking his heart could actually, though not probably, explode and he would be toast right here in front of everybody. But he was ready. He was completely ready for the tide that had the power to lift him off his feet and sweep him away.

Till we cast our crowns before Thee,

Lost in wonder, love, and praise.

The music ended, the congregation was seated. Lace looked down to Jack Tyler and gave him a smile and a nod and he walked to Beth and stood by her side near the seated musicians.

‘Who gives this woman to be married?'

‘Her mother and I,' said Hoppy. He kissed the cheek of his daughter and stepped to the front row and sat by Olivia and strapped on his Nikon.

To Dooley on his left and to Lace on his right, he, Timothy, celebrant and father, extended his hands to the couple and drew them as one to face him.

‘Dearly beloved: We have come together in the presence of God to witness and bless the joining together of this man and this woman in Holy Matrimony.

‘The bond and covenant of marriage was established by God in creation, and our Lord Jesus Christ adorned this manner of life by his presence and first miracle at a wedding in Cana of Galilee . . .'

He was twain, speaking by heart the words he had learned
so long ago, and at the same time conscious of the assembly beneath the shade of the tent.

To his left on the groom's side, his wife and Henry and Walter and Katherine, kith and kin, his own heart's blood, and . . . good Lord! Kenny! With his wife, Julie, and two small children. How had he not known this?

He gulped air, and joy with it. Dooley and his brothers had seen them, too.

‘The union of husband and wife in heart, body, and mind is intended by God for their mutual joy, for the help and comfort given one another in prosperity and adversity. Therefore marriage is not to be entered into unadvisedly or lightly, but reverently, deliberately, and in accordance with the purposes for which it was instituted by God.

‘Into this holy union Lace Harper and Dooley Kavanagh now come to be joined.'

‘Kenny,' Dooley whispered.

He got the cue. ‘Will you, Kenneth Barlowe, come forward and stand with us as a best man to your brother?'

Every eye was on Kenny Barlowe, who didn't especially resemble the brothers standing behind the priest. This one was of heavier build, with dark brown hair. That's the way it is with cattle, thought Mink Hershell. Sometimes you put two Red Angus together and get the Wild coloration, which is basically spotted.

Kenny kissed Lace on the cheek, hugged his brothers. In the congregation, a couple of handkerchiefs fluttered out.

‘I require and charge you, Dooley and Lace, here in the
presence of God, that if either of you know any reason why you may not be lawfully united in marriage, and in accordance with God's word, you do now confess it.'

A June breeze carried the breath of roses to those assembled. It seemed to Olivia Harper that time stood still. She held the hand of her husband, who had granted her a new heart in more ways than one.

‘Lace, do you take Dooley to be your husband; to live together in the covenant of marriage? Do you vow to love him, cherish him, honor and keep him, in sickness and in health, and forsaking all others, be faithful to him until death do you part?'

‘I do.'

‘Dooley, do you take Lace to be your wife; to live together in the covenant of marriage? Do you vow to love her, cherish her, honor and keep her, in sickness and in health, and forsaking all others, be faithful to her until death do you part?'

‘I do.'

‘Do those of you witnessing these promises vow to do all in your power to uphold Lace and Dooley in their marriage?'

‘We do!'

The farm dogs slept, studied the crowd, yawned. Bowser licked himself with some vigor until Jessie gave him a shove with her foot.

‘The Lord be with you!' he said to all assembled.

‘And also with you!'

Danny Hershell had not been at his mama and daddy's
wedding for th' reason that he wasn't born yet, but at one wedding he'd been at, they had lots of balloons and th' bride had rode in on a mule an' at th' end her an' her husband had rode off on a tractor. But this deal right here was one of the most different kind of thing he'd ever seen.

‘Let us pray. O gracious and ever living God, you have created us male and female in your image. Look mercifully upon Dooley and Lace, who come to you seeking your blessing, and assist them with your grace, that with true fidelity and steadfast love they may honor and keep the promises and vows they make, through Jesus Christ our Savior, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.'

‘Amen!'

Love, cherish, honor, keep. A handful! Honey Hershell hoped these kids had thought it over carefully, but even if they had, they would still not have a clue. You never had a clue about anything till it happened and you learned the truth about yourself.

Vanita Bentley fiddled with her camera to adjust the setting for shade.
In
sickness and in health
was the kicker. If it wadn't for her income from the
Muse
and the check from the government, she an' Donny Bentley would be livin' in a tent on the creek. First a broken leg on his job with NCDOT, then an infection, then the gangrene which they couldn't hardly control and now the crutch and all the doctor appointments and here were these kids opting for the same thing if push ever came to shove. She would put them on the prayer list at
First Baptist and if th' church secretary said why do they need prayer, they just got married, she would say, Please! That is th' whole point.

Mink Hershell reckoned he had slept through a bunch of Scripture reading and maybe even somebody singing, which he sort of felt guilty about except he'd been up half the night checking out th' wind damage and had to put oil in the tractor before taking it over to what he still called the Owen place but was now the Kavanagh place. He guessed he hadn't snored or Honey would have given him a jab. With the Baptists, of which he was one, it didn't take forever and a day to get married. This crowd was plowin' through the whole Bible before they would let a man kiss his wife. He consulted his program. Looks like he'd slept through the reading from Genesis and woke up in the Gospel of John.

‘This is my commandment,' Father Brad read aloud, ‘that you love one another as I have loved you. The Word of the Lord.'

‘Thanks be to God!' said the people.

Mink leaned toward his wife. ‘What's a homily?'

‘Lace, you recently asked two very thoughtful questions. Is cherish the same as love? And how do we cherish someone?

‘I believe cherish to be a higher plane within the context of love, something like the upstairs level in a home. Love must come first, for without it, it would be impossible to access the higher and perhaps even nobler realm of cherishing and holding dear.

‘So how can we cherish another? Might there be one powerful but simple method that leads to the richness we find in the act of cherishing the beloved?

‘As I studied and prayed, there it was. In Romans 12:10. A one-word marriage manual in a vigorous, no-nonsense verb.

‘Outdo.

‘“Outdo one another,” says Paul, “in showing honor.”

‘What outdo means, of course, is going above and beyond. Outdo means pressed down, shaken, and running over.