Tipping Point (34 page)

Cameron was waiting for her when Mac left her room with ferrets in tow. Kelly came out, already dressed, followed by Annette.

“That’s a hell of a man you have there, Mac. It’s beautiful what he’s done in just a few hours. I can’t wait for you to see it! For now, however, Annette and I wanted to give you a gift.” Mac immediately started protesting.

“Annette might be dead were it not for you, so please let us give this to you. It would mean so much to us.” Mac relented and took the box.

“You should open it now,” Annette said quietly. “You can wear it for the wedding. It belonged to my sister. She died of leukemia several years ago, and I know she would really want you to have it. Then you just need something borrowed since your dress is new.” Mac understood what she meant when she opened the box. It was an antique charm bracelet, and it had a deep blue crescent-moon charm dangling from it.

“Wow, this is really nice. Are you sure you don’t want this to be ‘borrowed’ too?” Annette shook her head.

“I’m sure. Clarissa would be so grateful to you. She was my older sister and always protected me, so you doing the same would be important to her.” Mac nodded, unable to speak, and tried her damndest not to let her eyes tear up. Even waterproof mascara had a hard time holding up to sentimental tears.

Mac had to have Kelly put the bracelet on her wrist for her. She was still holding the lead for the ferrets, in addition to her bouquet.

“Hang on, mom. I have earrings you can borrow that’ll go really well with that.” She ran off to her room.

“We’ve kicked her out of her bedroom haven’t we?”

“Don’t worry about it, Kelly. She’ll have my room tonight, and soon we’ll have the big house built. Neil and I already had plans to use the tent tonight. We’ve camped out in it before, and we wanted to do that for our wedding night.”

“Hubba hubba,” Annette joked, which startled Mac into laughing and dropping her bouquet. The ferrets were on it instantly. They only managed a sniff before she yanked it out of harm’s way.

“Here, why don’t I take the ferrets? I know what they’re like on a lead, and Kelly will be busy marrying you two.” Mac handed her the loop of nylon. They shared a lead, since they were connected by a Y-leash near their harnesses. It kept them from traveling six feet away from one another, and tying a person’s legs in knots.

“I feel stupid bringing them with me, but they were awake and getting hyper with me getting ready. Before I knew it, I had them ready to go.” Annette laughed and held up the hand without the leash.

“No explanations necessary. We’re nuts about them, and we see far crazier people than you. Believe me!”

Leigh and Kirk came out of the bathroom just then, wearing much dressier attire, and walked over to join them. Cam came running out right after, and handed Mackenzie crescent-shaped earrings to go with the bracelet. Mac figured she was all set.

“Okay, that’s it. I’m ready. Old, new, borrowed, blue. If anyone has any objections, speak now or forever hold your wicked tongue.”

“We have something for the both of you, though it’s not something you can get married with, so we’ll bring it out with us, and you can open it together,” Leigh said.

“I won’t ask how you managed that one. Why don’t we get going so my soon-to-be husband doesn’t start thinking I’ve ditched the wedding and run off with a younger man?”

They set off as a group, but they spread out as they went, Kelly leading the way, followed by Annette with the ferrets. Kirk and Leigh went next, hand in hand. Cameron walked with her mother. It almost became a traditional wedding procession, except of course for the ferrets, who had no interest in walking a straight line.

Finally Mac saw the reason for Kelly’s earlier comments about Neil. He had set up some chairs, as well as an arbor with pine boughs woven through it. There was a table to the side with food, wine, and beer, making her stomach growl and reminding her she hadn’t eaten yet.

He stood there waiting for her, with Billy beside him. A portable stereo was playing the same type of music they had danced to. For the second time she was nearly moved to tears.

As soon as Mackenzie and Cam were in place, Kelly started the ceremony. Within moments Neil was speaking his vows and sliding a band onto her finger. She’d already done the same. Neither of them had looked down at their rings. Only at one another. When they finally had their first kiss as husband and wife, it was long, slow, and deep.

When Neil glanced at his wedding band and then looked up at her face, Mac squinted at him.

“Do
not
say it.” Neil tried to look innocent.

“Say what?”

“If you say it’s the same colour as my face, I’m going to commit spousal abuse even before our first dance.”

“How is that fair? You said your ring matched my eyes. I have to come up with something at
least
as romantic. It’s my job as your new husband.” To keep him from seeing the laughter on her face, she looked down at her own ring. And burst out laughing anyway.

“How the hell did you manage to find a matching ring to the one I gave you?”

“I didn’t, actually. Just a sort of great-minds-think-alike coincidence I guess. I wanted you to know I was wrapped around your finger.”

“Aww. Alright, enough with the mushy crap. We’ve got paperwork to deal with.” Neil poked her bare arm in response, making her yelp, but they went and signed the paper for the marriage registration. It was unlikely Kelly would even be able to get it filed, much less that they would have a chance to apply for a certified copy, but it didn’t matter. The vows were spoken, and the paperwork signed. It was legal either way.

Neil whispered in her ear and Mac started laughing again.

“No, I do
not
want to be called Mac-Mac, thank you. You’re right about that one. I’ll stick with Thane. Not like I could change it to McKinnon anyway. We’d never get the legal paperwork in time.”

“I know. I’d never ask you to change your identity. I don’t understand it myself. Getting married doesn’t mean you forget who you are.”

“Yes! Exactly. But let’s not get into the finer points of patriarchal society. We’ve got some old-fashioned dancing and sex on the menu, and I’ve been meaning to get me some of that!”

“A woman after my own heart.”

“You keep saying that. I do not think it means what you think it means. I’m pretty sure I already caught it, or I’d very much like to know what I’m doing with Christmas wrapped around my finger.”

“Christmas? Oh, yeah, I can see where you might get that idea. But does Christmas come early this time?”

“If you play your cards right, it just might. But only so long as I get my turn next.”

“I doubt that’ll be a problem.”

“Not with you doing the work, no. Your manual labour skills are impressive. Speaking of which, this is all very beautiful by the way. You almost ruined my mascara.”

“Did you get poked in the eye by a tree branch?”

“Funny guy. No, it made me a sappy fool for a second or two, however. It was perfect for us. Not overdone with a zillion flowers or anything. Good thing we’re planning on kicking everyone back into the house soon, though, seeing as there’s no lighting. It’s going to get dark soon.”

“What, you don’t think I’m capable of ulterior motives?”

“The most devious, actually. It’s one of your best traits.”

“I thought it was my...” She gave him a poke in the ribs.

“Let’s get something to eat so I can keep up with you tonight, and then we’ll crank the tunes and have that romantic crap they call dancing. I kinda like it.”

Once she got some food into her stomach they opened the gift from Leigh and Kirk, which turned out to be a large silver picture frame with their names and the date engraved on it.

“This is really beautiful, guys. Thank you so much!”

“I took a bunch of pictures while you guys were getting hitched, and Leigh took video, so we’ll be able to put an actual wedding picture of you in the frame as soon as we print it off tonight.”

Touched, Mac had a hard time hiding the tears that were on the verge of overflowing her lower lids. She grabbed them both in a quick hug, and then Neil did the same.

The younger generation wasn’t done surprising them, though. Cameron turned off the music, and Billy brought out his guitar. Mac’s mouth dropped open when he began to play a familiar tune and Cameron started singing along. They’d chosen Nat King Cole’s
L.O.V.E.
and it took everything she had to keep from bawling her head off. She was just so damn proud of the two of them for doing something so meaningful for her and Neil.

When the song ended, Mac grabbed Cameron into a bear hug, while Neil did the same with his son. Then they switched, which embarrassed Billy and freaked out Cameron a little bit. She was not a hugger, and only rarely tolerated them from her mother, much less a man she’d just met, but Neil just laughed.

“That’s what you get for doing something so wonderful for your mother and me. Thank you. Truly. It means a lot to both of us...as you might have noticed from the mascara running down your mom’s face.” Cameron let out a shout of laughter at that.

Once the ferrets had been taken back to the house, they all started dancing, with everyone using their phones to take more pictures. Neil seemed determined to keep most of the songs slow ones, so he could hold her in his arms, but the rest of them had something to say about that. They wanted to party and let off some steam.

By the time it got dark everyone was full, and laughter carried on the wind behind the six people heading back to the house, most of the food in their arms. Billy had offered to drive Leigh and Kirk back to the cabin, since Cameron would be there to open the gate, but they opted to stay over and play games. Kelly and Annette were talking about joining in, so it looked like everyone had a fun evening planned.

25

L
ET THE
G
AMES
B
EGIN

A couple of bottles of white wine were left in ice buckets on the table. One was a really sweet ice wine, while the other was a tart sauvignon blanc. Neil was poking fun at her so-called infantile taste in
vino
, but she wasn’t having any of it.

“I’ll have you know, ice wine isn’t cheap stuff. They sold a bottle of it for thirty grand a few years back. Not that I’d pay that much for it myself. I’m generally happier with Molson Canadian.
Far
more infantile. I have eclectic tastes. At least we won’t be stealing from each other’s wine cache when the shit hits the fan. For that matter, I get the advantage there, I think. Not too many people go for the stuff.”

“I wonder why. Of course, that’s in an ideal world. People will go for anything if they’re desperate.”

“True enough. I mean, look at us.” Neil growled at her, drained the last of his extremely tart wine, and yanked her empty goblet from her hand to set on the table that still contained the last of the food.

“Let’s see about desperate, shall we?”

“I knew you’d see things my way eventually.” Mac loved poking at him, because this was the usual result. Not that he wasn’t aware of that.

“Be gentle with me, cowboy. It’s my first time.” He snorted.

“My ass.”

“You want me to be gentle with your ass? Okay. We can go there.”

“Yeah, we’ll see how far you get with that. I meant you’re nowhere near virgin status.”

“Who said anything about virgins? I said it was my first time. First time banging you as a married woman. And I’m all injured and shit.”

“You’re a crispy critter, definitely. I wonder if you’ll make a lot of crunching noises. Could be weird for me.”

“You need to get out more. Well, maybe not. You start stepping out you really will hear some crunching, though that will be your bones. Alright, take me to bed, cowboy. And make it good. I’ve got things to do.”

She certainly did plenty of them, though they all took place in the tent with her accomplice. Music continued to play outside the tent, and just under it she could hear the river and the wind. It might have been a short honeymoon out of necessity, but it couldn’t have been a better one.

They woke up early enough to watch the sun rise, which was extremely rare for Mac. Normally she was still up at that time, not
waking
up. It was beautiful all the same, and more so with Neil beside her, the sleeping bags wrapped around them as they looked over the still-swift current of the river.

Oddly, she felt no sense of surrealism from having married someone she’d known less than a week. She smiled at the thought of Ian’s reaction when he found out. He’d call her crazy and wish her well, whatever he might think privately, and no one ever really knew how well things would work out between people.

When the sun had risen they dressed silently in the clothes Neil had brought out with the camping gear, and headed into the house for breakfast. There was a lot of work to be done today. At least for anyone who would be allowed outside in the sun. Her floppy hat that looked so nice with her sundress was just not meant for daily use. Although the goats might enjoy chewing on the ribbons.

Neil got the morning chores completed, and brought in the stuff from the night before. Mac took care of breakfast. She was starving, so she made everything she could think of. Pancakes, bacon, omelets, toast, scrambled eggs, and even cold cereal, were put out for everyone.

They all dug in, though not everyone could sit at the table. Kelly and Annette took their heaping plates over to the futon and sat down. Mac decided she was going to have to make a bigger table for all of them, along with some more chairs. She figured there would at least be one more person once the shit hit the fan and she went to get Allan, but she would plan for more.

Leigh and Kirk took the rental car to the cabin to look after the animals there. Once Neil’s truck was emptied, Mac gave him a list of things she needed from the hardware store. The additional insulation she needed for the sheds was at the top of the list. When she added mattresses to the list, Neil went out to hook up the horse trailer. He didn’t argue with her, since he saw where things were going just as clearly as she did.