“Oh my god. You were five, and she was three. But this isn’t a legally binding contract,” Christina said, and shook the paper.
“That’s what I told the clerk at the courthouse. But because it showed up in her system, she said it’s legal and binding. Said I had to find her to get an annulment. Or have her sign divorce papers. But I thought I heard that she’d died.”
“Either way, you’re still going to have to get documentation whether she’s alive or dead. What are you going to do?”
“I took a leave of absence from work. I stopped here on my way to California to see if I can find her. Hell, Dad. I don’t even remember her name.”
“Perkins.” Christina frowned down at the document. “Wanda Perkins.” She pointed to the name and then sucked in her breath. “Chris, you signed this.” She pointed to the bottom, and sure enough, there was his father’s signature.
“Oh my,” Chris said. “Can you read who the maid of honor was?”
“Angie Perkins. That was Wanda’s mother. Christopher, you were friends with Wanda’s brother. He was two years older than you.”
“That I remember and I remembered the ceremony. The only thing I remember about Wanda was mud pies and a very, very sick girl standing beside me with an IV pole beside her, a white dress and flowers around her bald head. I know that’s not politically correct, but that’s what I remember. Oh, and cupcakes and Kool-Aid.” He grinned when his parents laughed.
“If you give me a few minutes, I may have some pictures of it,” Christina said, and hurried away. Twenty minutes later she came back with a shoe box. “Shortly after your father retired and we moved here, your father was bored one day, and I told him if he wanted to do something he could sort the pictures. He sorted them by where he’d been stationed. These are everything from California. All your school pictures, report cards, pictures of your friends.” She pushed the box to him and went to fill coffee cups for the three of them.
Christopher paused as he studied the box. After his mother joined them, he slowly lifted the lid, but before he did, he saw on the front and the top the years written there. It had been when Christopher was three to five and a half. The first thing he saw was a school picture. He pulled it and flipped it over.
“Kindergarten.” He smiled at himself and set the picture aside. Halfway down, he found a stack of about a hundred photos of his ‘wedding’. “Oh, my. She was sick, wasn’t she? I’m not one to know much about fashion, but you can barely see her features with that white dress.”
“That’s why her sister put the colored flowers on her head. Try to make her look less sick,” Christina said. And together they spent the next couple hours going over all the pictures. “When was this one taken?” Christina turned a photo over, and they saw Christopher was lying in a hospital bed with Wanda, whose head was on his chest and his arm was around her. It looked like they were both sleeping.
“That was the day you took me to the hospital to tell her we were leaving. Dad had received his orders to go to Japan. She asked me if I’d hold her. A nurse told me she’d taken our picture. I didn’t notice it at the time, but she was so tiny.”
“She was. Now that I see these pictures,” Chris said. “I remember her. I remember when her father walked her up the aisle, I wanted to run down and pick her up and carry her.”
“Who is this?” Christopher pointed to a boy he had his arm around, and they had grins on their faces.
“That’s Douglas Perkins, Wanda’s brother. That’s her older sister Fran, no it sounded like a plant.” She flipped the picture over and smiled as she read the back of it. “Fern.”
“You don’t know where any of them are now?”
“No.”
“Can I take these with me?”
“Yes, they’re yours. I was waiting for you to visit to give them to you. There are several more up in the attic.”
Christopher nodded, and he noted that all the pictures were labeled on the back. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to spend the night here, then head out for California in the morning. Even though Amber and Iaren’t engaged anymore, I can’t have this hanging over my head. I need to get to the bottom of it. If she died, like I thought I’d been told, then maybe I can get a copy of her death certificate and turn that in. If by some miracle, she’s alive, then I can have her sign divorce papers. Either way, I need to clear this up. I know for a fact that I won’t be getting back with Amber, like ever, but I don’t want this to hang over my head in case I find someone in the future. It’s best to get this done and over with now.”
“Understandable,” Chris said. “And yes, you’re more than welcome to stay, Son. We’ve got a spare room.”
“Thanks. I’ll go out and get my bag.” He stood, and they watched as he dumped his coffee and actually washed and dried the cup, then put it away and wiped the clean counter. They waited until he went outside before his parents looked at each other and grinned.
“Still has to have everything in its place. This,” Chris said as he picked up the ‘marriage certificate’. “Must be killing him. What was that word he always used?”
“Chaos. Our son hates anything out of place. Don’t know where he got that from, but I guess it could both be a blessing or a curse.”
“Probably stemmed from the fact that I moved us every two or three years for twenty years.” Chris sighed and looked up as Christopher joined them.
“I hate to be a party pooper, but I pushed through and drove for thirteen hours. If you don’t mind, I’d like to go to bed.”
“Sure, let me show you where the room is,” Chris said and took his son up the stairs. Knowing his son,he wouldn’t want a tour of the house tonight. Chris made sure there were towels and that there was shampoo. After leaving him, he went and found his wife in his office.
“What are you doing?”
“Christopher is a list person. You know this. I thought I’d make a list of addresses. You know, give him the address of where we used to live, the church we attended, the hospital, the Perkins’ address.”
