Page 6 of The Wedding Gift
“Amen,” Darla whispered under her breath.
“Amen!” Claud said loud enough that the whole church echoed his amen.
“But God will lead and guide you along the right path if you just ask for His help,” the preacher said. “Now, in light of the fact that Roxie and Claud Marshall are celebrating their sixtieth wedding anniversary this weekend, and their fifty-ninth year living in Tishomingo and attending church right here, I’ll ask Claud to deliver the benediction.”
“Sweet Jesus!” Roxie gasped and leaned over toward Darla. “He’s never prayed in church before.”
Claud stood up and bowed his head. “Thank you, God, for giving me the strength to live with Roxie all these years, and for helping her to live with me. I’m grateful that she’s a good cook and a fine-lookin’ woman. We’ve got to get on home now because the pot roast will burn if we don’t, so I’ll make this short. See you next Sunday if not before. Amen.”
Darla nudged her grandmother on the shoulder. “Not bad for the first time.”
“‘Strength to live with me,’ my hind end,” Roxie grumbledas the whole congregation stood up and started moving toward the door. “I could tell you a thing or two.”
“After dinner, and when everyone goes home, I’ll meet you on the back porch. I’ll bring the sweet tea. I need to talk to you,” Darla whispered.
“I’ll be there soon as he starts to snore.” Roxie cupped her hand over Darla’s ear and whispered, “He eavesdrops, and, honey, he learns more gossip at those domino games he plays than I do at a dozen Prayer Angel sessions.”
“It’s not nice to tell secrets in church,” Sarah said.
“It’s not a secret if you already know what I’m telling your sister.” Roxie grinned. “The pot roast won’t be worth eating if we don’t take it out of the oven pretty soon.”
“We’ll slip on out,” Gloria said, “and get things started for Sunday dinner. Kevin and I are hoping to get back to Denison before too late. I’ve got to meet at four with the caterer for the wedding.” She blew them a kiss, grabbed her husband by the hand, and pulled him toward the side door.
“I’d rather be going with her,” Roxie said, “but it would be rude not to shake the preacher’s hand since he was so nice to mention us by name. Where’s Claud?”
Darla pointed. “Over there with his cronies. The way they’ve got their heads together, I’d guess that the domino table isn’t their only place to gossip.”
Roxie marched across the aisle and looped her arm in Claud’s. “Unless you want to eat a burnt Sunday dinner, we’ve got to get going.”
“The old ball and chain still holds on tight, even after sixty years,” Claud said, chuckling.
“If you want to get rid of that ball and chain, you know where the door is,” Roxie said. “Don’t let it hit you in the hip pockets.”
“She’s still full of sass after all these years.” Claud laughed and patted Roxie’s hand. “See you boys tomorrow morning.”
The drive from church to the house took five minutes and would have been less if Darla hadn’t had to stop at two of the three traffic lights on Main Street. Her car hadn’t even had time to cool down when she parked beside her grandfather’s pickup truck. She was on her way from the circular drive to the house when her phone rang, so she sat down on the porch steps and dug around in her purse until she found it. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly before she answered it.
“Hello, Andy,” she said.
“Hello, gorgeous,” he responded. “My schedule has been changed slightly. I’ll be leaving for California a day early, darlin’, so you’ve only got six days to get your things packed. I didn’t hear a word that preacher said this morning. All Icould think about was how much the camera is going to love you when we get to Hollywood.”
“I’m not going with you. I’m getting married in thirteen days.” Darla’s heart was beating so loud that she could hardly hear anything else.
“You’re just punishing me for leaving you behind when we graduated. I deserve it and respect you for it, but, honey, we both know that you’re going to leave Tishomingo in the rearview mirror with me, so admit it.” Andy lowered his voice to a seductive level. “You weren’t made for a life of boredom. You were made for better things, like stardom. With your looks and my connections, you’ll be the main attraction in films in no time.”
“I have a good job. I’m marrying an awesome man, and…” she stammered.
“And all of it is boooooring.” Andrew drew out the last word into several syllables.
“That’s a matter of opinion,” she argued. “What happens when you get tired of me again?”
“Nothing lasts forever”—Andy chuckled—“but I can guarantee you an amazing, exciting life while we’re together. Whether it lasts or not will be up to you.”
Sarah poked her head out the door and said, “Hey, sister, we’ve almost got dinner on the table. Tell Will that Gramps gets grumpy if anyone holds up Sunday dinner.”
Darla held up one finger and nodded.
“If you go with me, we’ll still be asleep at this time on Sunday.” Andy’s deep voice was darn near irresistible. “We’ll party until dawn when we finish up scenes in our movie, sleep until the middle of the afternoon, wake up, and make wild, passionate love. Life is never dull and boring in my world.”