Chapter 1
“Welcome, welcome.” Fern Carmichael gushed as her guests entered. Behind her, her husband, Brandon, took their coats and hung them in the closet. “Come on into the living room. We’re having drinks before dinner.” She escorted her in-laws into the room and introduced them around. “You remember my parents, Angie and Randall Perkins. My brother, Douglas, and this is his girlfriend, Emily Brown. I hope you guys remember Jackie and Jake Carmichael.” Hugs and handshakes exchanged, and Brandon passed out drinks. They caught up on what’d been happening in their lives, and Fern smiled when her children came running into the room and realized their grandparents were there. The next half hour was pandemonium, and she loved it. She caught her mother’s eye, and together they nodded and made their way into the kitchen to finish getting the Easter dinner on the table.
“So, what do you think of Emily?” Fern asked her mother as she drained the potatoes and started mashing them.
“It won’t work with Douglas. She’s too snooty for him. Mark my words, she’ll say something that will piss him off, and he’ll dump her.”
“Mom, just because you don’t like her doesn’t mean he’ll do that. He seems to like this one.”
“Mark my words,” Angie said, and put the ham on the platter, made the gravy and pulled other items from the stove. Jackie came in and joined them, and in minutes the three of them had the meal on the table. After they sat down at the table, said grace and passed the dishes, they settled down to enjoy the meal.
“Mom?” Eleven-year-old Brian asked at one point. “What’s today?”
Fern looked at her husband and masked her snicker as she answered. “Easter Sunday.”
“I know that.” Brian rolled his eyes and looked at his younger sister who giggled at him. “What’s the date?”
“Why, you have a hot date on this date?” Brandon grinned at his son.
“No, I have three book reports due on April 19th.”
“Well, at least you know ahead of time.” Fern did snicker then. “To answer your question, it’s Sunday, April 11th. You’re off from school this week, so you’ll have plenty of time to write those reports.”
“He has to read the books first.” Sarah giggled at her brother.
“Perfect, so now I know that if you’re playing your video games, you’ve finished your work.”
“Mom,” Brian whined, and looked at his father for help, and none came from him. “Fine.” He huffed and sat, disgruntled as he continued eating.
“Oh my god.” Angie suddenly dropped her fork and stared at her children, then started giggling.
“Honey, I know you had a glass of wine before dinner, but I’ve never known one glass to make you this giddy.” Randall frowned at his wife.
“No, I’m not.” Angie waved her hand before her face and had to wipe her tears of laughter. When she looked around at the concerned faces, she grinned wider. “Don’t you remember? Today, Easter Sunday, April 11th?” When they continued to shake their heads, she grinned. “It’s Wanda’s twentieth wedding anniversary.”
“Oh my god!” Fern started laughing, quickly followed by Douglas. “I wonder if she’s celebrating.”
“Wait.” Brandon frowned. “Are you talking about Wanda, your little sister? She’s only twenty-three, how the hell could she be married for twenty years?”
“It’s a long story,” Fern said.
“We have time, indulge me,” Brandon said, and the look on his face said he wasn’t going to take no for an answer.
“Okay,” Fern began, and refilled several wine glasses and sat back in her chair. After taking a sip, she settled in. “For those of you who don’t know, Wanda’s the youngest in our family. When she was almost three years old, she became sick. Extremely sick. After several weeks of tests, her diagnosis was Leukemia. She was sick for a long time, she had to stay in the hospital the entire time.” She wiped her sudden tears, and her mother took over.
“We got to the point that we had to call in our minister. He was about ready to administer last rights. She was that sick,” Angie said and gripped her husband’s hand. “I’ll never forget. She looked up at the minister and asked if she could have one last wish before she died.”
“He said he’d do anything for her.” Randall took over the story. “She looked up the minister, and said, ‘Before I die, I want to marry my best friend, Christopher.’ The minister said if she healed, he would make it happen. He stayed with her for several hours, and when she fell asleep, he left. Unbeknownst to us, he left the hospital and went to Christopher’s house and sat for hours talking to them about Wanda. Christopher was a boy in the neighborhood that Wandaloved. Well, as much as a three-year-old could be in love with a five-year-old.
“Miracle of miracles, Wanda started getting better a couple of days later. Oh, she wasn’t out of the woods yet, she would have a long hard road ahead of her.”
“Oh my god,” Jackie said. “I could never imagine going through something like that, especially with a child so young. How did you do it?”
“Lots of prayers and relying on friends and family. The day after Wanda asked for her wish, Christopher and his family came to the hospital to see her. Before then they knew about it because they’d bring over a casserole or something to help us out. We told people who asked about Wanda’s condition, you know, to keep her in their prayers. Not once during this entire time, we never covered up the truth about how ill she was,” Angie said.
“But when Christopher and his parents came to see Wanda, she lay there so sick. He walked right up to the bed, bent down on one knee and asked her to marry him. It was cute. He said he’d plan everything. And of course, she said yes. Before he left, he put one small hand on her cheek and kissed her forehead. He told her to get better so she could walk down the aisle in two weeks.
“Sure enough, two weeks later was Sunday, April 11th, Easter Sunday. We were all at church for the service and after the service, Christopher ‘married’ Wanda. He even talked to her doctor and made sure she was there at church that day. She had on a white Easter dress, and because she didn’t have any hair, she had a wreath of flowers around her head.”
