Bygones by LaVyrle Spencer

Author:LaVyrle Spencer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group USA, Inc.

Chapter 11

DURING THE FINAL MINUTES while guests milled in the vestibule and the bride and her mother were having their photo taken in the dressing room, Michael turned and saw two familiar faces coming toward him.

“Barb and Don!” he exclaimed, breaking into a huge smile. The surprise stunned him even as he hugged the couple, who had been best man and maid of honor at his own wedding. During his years with Bess they had been dear friends but in the years since the divorce, some queer misplaced sense of unworthiness had prompted him to let their friendship flag. He had not seen them in over five years. Hugging Barb, he felt his emotions billow, and shaking Don's hand brought such a sharp pang of fraternity, it simply wasn't enough: he caught him in a quick embrace that was returned with equal heartiness.

“We've missed you,” Don said at Michael's ear, squeezing so hard Michael's bow tie compressed his windpipe.

“I missed you, too . . . both of you.”

The words brought a shaft of regret for the years lost, of pleasure for the friends retouched.

“What happened? How come we never heard from you?”

“You know how it is . . . hell, I don't know.”

“Well, this segregation is going to end.”

There wasn't time for more. Others found Michael—former neighbors, aunts and uncles from both sides, some of Lisa's old high-school friends and Bess's sister Joan and her husband, Clark, who had flown in from Denver.

Soon the ushers seated the last of the guests. The vestibule quieted. The bride prepared to make her entrance. While Maryann arranged Lisa's train, Michael found a moment to whisper to Bess, “Don and Barb are here.”

Surprise and delight lit her expression. She quickly scanned the heads of the seated guests but of course, they were facing front, and furthermore, it was time for the ceremony to begin. The ushers unfurled the white runner. The priest and servers waited up front. The organ rumbled. The strains of Lohengrin filled the nave. Bess and Michael took their positions on either side of Lisa and watched Randy head up the aisle with Maryann on his elbow.

When their turn came, they stepped out onto the white runner with their emotions running as close to the surface as at any time since the plans for this day had begun. Bess's knees shook. Michael's insides trembled. They passed the sea of faces turned toward them without singling out any. They gave up their daughter to the waiting groom, then stood side-by-side until the traditional question was asked: “Who gives this woman?”

Michael answered, “Her mother and I do,” then escorted Bess to the front pew, where they took their places side-by-side.

In a day laden with emotional impact, this hour was the worst. Michael and Bess felt themselves moved by it from the time Father Moore smiled benignly on the bride and groom and told the gathered witnesses, “I've known Lisa since the night she came into this world. I baptized her when she was

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