Shoe Strings

How long had she just stood there?   Cinching her robe tight around her
waist, she ran out into the bright sun just as his car was pulling away from
the curb.   Barefoot, nearly naked,
and panting, she lunged for the hood.   He braked to a halt.   The
hopeful look on his face behind the windshield nearly did her in.   He was out of the car in a
heartbeat.  
    “If you think you can just propose to me and then leave for
two weeks,” she said as she made her way to where he stood by the open car
door, “you’re not as smart as you look.”
    A truck driver blew his horn; Jesse’s car sat blocking the
narrow road.   They ignored it.   “If you think you can run half
naked-down the street and expect not to get…attacked, you’re not as smart as
you look,” he said with a decided twinkle in his eye.  
    “I guess we’d better pool our meager resources and muddle
through the rest of our lives together, then.”   She settled into his arms.   “We’re just not smart enough to go it
alone.”   She handed him his ring as
the truck honked again.   “Put it on
me like you’re supposed to,” she ordered.   “On bended knee.”
    He sent her a scathing glare before bending down in the
street like a hero out of an old movie.   “Marry me, Angelita.   Please.”
    She held out her hand and he slipped his mother’s ring on
her finger.   “It fits.”
    “I knew it would.”   He stood and pulled her into his arms.   “Is that a yes?”
    “Jesse,” she purred.   “You’re smarter than that…”   The honking turned into catcalls.   Angelita heard nothing but the beating of her heart.

 

 
    Chapter 34
    The pretty Methodist church, with its long stained-glass
windows and stone foundation, sat at the end of town, its parking lot
full.   The banisters, wrapped in
tulle whose ends flapped in the late afternoon breeze, gave away the wedding
about to happen inside.   Lita picked
up the box from her passenger seat and rushed through the doors.
    “I need to see the bride,” she said to the formally dressed
older woman who stood near the entrance and seemed to direct the flow of
guests.   “It’s important.”
    The woman’s brow creased as she poked her head inside the
chapel, rapidly filling with jubilant guests.   “Now?”
    Lita nodded and tapped her hand over the box.   “Please, it’ll only take a moment.”
    The woman ushered her along the back hallway, past an office
and several rooms used for children’s Sunday school.   She pointed up a narrow staircase.   “Top of the stairs, first room on the
right.”
    The wooden stairs creaked as she climbed.   The potpourri sitting in bowls along the
small windows couldn’t mask the musty smell of the church.   Lita heard the murmur of muted voices
behind the closed door before she knocked.   A woman, small, slender, but with the same bright green eyes as Kerri
Ann, answered.   “Can I help you?”
    Lita heard a gasp and then Kerri Ann’s familiar voice.   “Mama, let her in.”
    When the woman stood aside and opened the door, Lita caught
her first glimpse of Kerri Ann, so stunning in her pale gown.   “Oh, Kerri Ann.   You look…spectacular.”
    “Thank God you made it,” Kerri Ann said.   “I was about to send out a search
party.”   She pulled her inside.   “Don’t you dare start crying.   I just finished retouching my makeup.”
    Lita fanned her face, blinked furiously.   “Okay, okay, I won’t cry.”   She held out the box.   “I hope you like them.”
    Kerri Ann took the box in her hands and lifted the lid.   “Oh, they’re gorgeous.”   She looked up at Lita and smiled.   “They’re better than I imagined.”
    “Thanks for the vote of confidence.   Try them on.”   Kerri Ann slipped out of the plain,
dyed-to-match shoes hidden under her gown.  
    She eased her foot into the three-inch peep-toe pump Lita
had designed with lace.   “Look at
the color.   They match perfectly.”
    “You’ve got great taste, Kerri Ann, in wedding dresses and
in men.”
    She clasped Lita’s hands and stood up, towering over the two
women in the room.   “Mama, this is
Lita.   Lita, my mama, Trudy
Russell.”
    Lita shook the woman’s hand and kissed Kerri Ann on the
cheek before heading for the door.   “I’ll see you later.”
    “Have you seen Jesse?”
    “Not yet.   I
will, after the ceremony.”  
    Kerri Ann cocked her head and raised her brows.   “Bryce said he’s been a nervous