Forever (22 page)

Scott looked at Roni and suddenly realized
-- by way of the icy look she suddenly gave him --that was probably in the Top 5 of the dumbest things he has said in a while.

“You.
Are. An. IDIOT! This is NOT about being ‘married’ you dumbass,” Roni seethed. “This is about the biggest night, the biggest event of our lives so far. It’s not about shacking-up you stupid shit; it’s about our WEDDING! Now; do you want to try that again?”

At this point, Scott was terrified to move his mouth, because whatever he said next could either determine which piece of furniture he slept on tonight, or even the future location of his testicles.

“There’s nothing to be nervous about, because you have planned this all sooooo well and I have the utmost confidence that everything will go perfectly because you are in charge. Honey,” Scott said, in kind of a robotic way.

“Are we going to need to have this conversation again?”

“Um….nope. Not...not at all.”

“Good. Don’t forget it.”

****

CHAPTER 26

Scott’s alarm jangled. He looked over at the clock, which read 2:00 PM. It was December 23rd. It was time to go home and get married. He threw on some sweats and bopped down the stairs.

“Coffee?” he asked Roni as he came into the living room.

“It’s ready,” she said, barely looking up from her meeting at the dining room table. Amanda and Esther were sitting at the table and as has been the case for weeks, wedding notes scattered all around them.

“Don’t worry about the kitties,” Esther told Roni. “We’ll be over twice a day to check on them. They’ll be fine.”

“And I’ll be over when Todd and I get back,” Amanda said.

“And I’ll make sure the mail is brought in,” Esther added.

“You ready, love?” Amanda asked Roni.

“I think so,” Roni sighed. “I want to get through this, but I’m so excited for it, too. We’re only going to do this once in our lives, right Footer?”

“Once. Right, honey,” he replied, trying to sound unconvinced.

“Don’t push it, Footer,” she said, smiling at him.

“I’m heading east,” Amanda said.

She hugged Esther,
then hugged Scott. “Get her there safe, Footer. And you have a good trip, too.”

“I understand my role as groom is to serve the bride and show up on time when I’m supposed to.” Scott said, winking at Amanda.

“Roni! He really has learned his lines,” Amanda said, giving him a quick peck on the lips. “He’ll be fine!”

“I think chicken-cordon-bleu will be good for the reception. I am very much looking forward to it.”

“Shut it off, Footer. We have two more weeks for you to use your material,” Roni said.

Amanda and Roni shared a long hug. “I will see you in five days. Scott will be at Stapleton at 10:10 Tuesday morning to pick you up,” Roni said. “I’m so happy you’re in the wedding now.”

“Me too! I look really hot in a black evening gown.”

Esther left the table. “Well kids, I’m leaving, too. You know, you two remind me of Jack and me about 35 years ago. And I hope you two have as many years as and as much happiness as we’ve had. And we still have a lot of years to go.”

There had been a real debate about which vehicle to take home. Roni really wanted to take the Sky Bird, but with as much stuff as they were hauling home, and would be hauling back, both Scott and Ray had convinced her that Sarge made more sense.

For their honeymoon, they were granted a week in Keystone to go skiing.

Roni looked up and down her departure checklist. “Where the fuck is our ski gear?”

“In Wild Horse.”

“Oh, that’s right.”

Scott grabbed the steno pad and looked up and down the list. “Baby, everything on the list is in the back. We’re full. It’s 4:00. It’s time to go.”

Of course, she was emotional. “You think I’m nuts, don’t you?”

“I have always thought you were nuts, McIntyre.”

“You know, Footer, I really had wondered how these last few months would go. I really wondered if we’d drive each other crazy. But it worked. We’re about to leave our house as Scott Mitchell and Roni McIntyre and come back as husband and wife.”

“It has been a year since we spent that night together,” Scott said, taking her in his arms. “I didn’t know it that night, but where we are and where we’re headed doesn’t surprise me at all. We were always supposed to end up together; we just finally got around to it.”

She hugged him.

“Now,” Scott finished. “Let’s load up. I hear IHOP in Hays calling our name, and I am hungry.”

Roni was still asleep when Scott awoke Friday morning at the farm. It was nearly 9:00 when he reached the kitchen and poured a cup of coffee. Ray and Kat were in the study and Scott joined them, looking for the morning’s Denver Post.

“How’d you sleep, Scotty?” Kat asked as he sat down.

“Wonderful. I love that new mattress in her room. I think I was out 10 minutes after we hit the pillow.”

“Is Her Majesty still out?” Ray asked, passing Scott the sports page. “She looked exhausted.”

“Oh yes,” Scott said. “She’s spent about 16 hours a day on the wedding since Thanksgiving. I think she’s as mentally tired as she is physically tired.”

“Well, now she’s not going to get any choice about taking help,” Brooke said as she came into the room in a Colorado football sweatshirt and gray sweatpants. “Amy and Kimmy are on their way out and we’re meeting Maggie at the church at 11:00 for that photo walk-through.”

“Do I need to be there?” Scott asked.

“Nope. You need to get with your boys and get things organized,” Brooke said. She had really taken on the role of maid of honor with great zest.

“Well, Scott, did you ever think you’d see this day?” Ray asked.

“Planning our wedding?”

“No!
The Broncos in the playoffs.”

He was right. On top of everything else going on, the Denver Broncos were playing their first-ever playoff game the next day, hosting the Steelers at Mile High. Scott had grown up with the orange and blue, and finally after 17 years of existence, they were in the post-season.

Just then, they all heard a familiar and frightening sound floating down the stairway that made Scott shudder.

“Scott Alan Mitchell! You seriously let me sleep until 9:30?
AUUUUGH!”

“Her Majesty is up,” Scott said. “Brooke, she’s all yours.”

“Leave him alone, Roni, we have plenty of time, but you need to get in the shower…” Brooke’s voice trailed off as she went up the stairs.

“You can use our shower, son” Ray said with a laugh. “I’m guessing the other bathroom will be occupied for a while.”

“Then I can make a quick getaway.”

“Might be wise.”

The Broncos beat the Steelers on Saturday, 34-21. The
McIntyres and Mitchells gathered at the ranch to watch the game. Maggie and Rick were there, too, but Maggie, Roni, Amy, Kimmy and Brooke were upstairs working on the wedding.

However, they would cheer at appropriate times.

The families attended Christmas Eve service together, and for the first time in a long while, Roni and Scott went home separately.

It wasn’t their idea, but Donna really wanted to have one last Christmas morning with her children. Roni was more understanding about it than Scott, but he went along with it. But after presents and breakfast, he was heading for the ranch.

“I really don’t sleep very well without you, you know that, right?” Scott said to Roni outside of the church.

“Almost the last time, Footer,” she said. “After this, it’s pretty much all ours.”

“Yep. Merry Christmas, Cowgirl.”

“Merry Christmas, Footer.”

Roni looked nervously at her watch.

“Is it broken, babe?”

“What?”

“Your watch. You keep staring at it.”

“No.
Just thinking.”

The original plan was for Scott to pick Andy and Mollie up at Stapleton Airport by himself. But at some point Monday morning, the bridal party decided they could get more done without the bride.

“It’s not that I don’t trust my girls,” Roni said, “but after months of planning, I just don’t know what’s getting done without me.”

“Probably a lot,” Scott said. “Look, it was either you come with me or they were going to lock you in the barn with Satch. I think you got the right end of this deal.”

“Mmmm…I suppose.”

“You SUPPOSE?”

Roni smiled at him. “Actually, yes. I’ll tell you the truth, it’s kind of nice to get away from it for a little bit. But you’re coming tomorrow by yourself!”

“Understood.”

Naturally, the flight from San Francisco was late. Not too late, but at this point for Roni, every minute counted. But finally, at around 5:50 PM, TWA Flight 132 pulled up to Gate B24 at Stapleton International Airport. About two dozen people deplaned, including a lovely lady with long sun-kissed blonde hair and John Denver glasses, followed by some guy who just had to be in Army intelligence.

“
SCOTTY!” Mollie exclaimed as she ran over and hugged Scott. “Oh, we’ve missed you so much.”

“You look great, Mollie!” Scott said. “Welcome to Colorado.”

“I’m already cold!”

Andy and Roni hugged, but they soon switched.

“Mitch! How the fuck are you?”

“I am the fuck good, Day! Let’s get out of here!”

Scott and Andy sat in the front of Ray’s Jimmy on the way home. He told Scott as much as he could about his work at Fort
Ord, near San Francisco. He intercepted a lot of Soviet and Chinese transmissions and translated them. He’d spent most of his AIT learning both languages.

But they had other news as well.

“Well,” Mollie announced. “We’re getting married in July. Right after the baby!”

Roni hugged her, then pulled back and looked at her.
“The what?”

“I’m
preggers,” she said, with a huge smile.

“I have good swimmers,” Andy said.

“And he got me drunk so I forgot my diaphragm.”

“Whatever works, Mollie, whatever works,” Scott said.

“Footer, a baby,” Roni teased.

“Let them try it first, Cowgirl, let them try it first.”

Scott was back in Denver the next morning to pick up Todd and Amanda on their flight from Wichita. Everyone was assembled now. Other than at night, the girls were off
on their own. Brooke had taken complete command, finally getting her sister to sit back and enjoy the ride. Roni finally realized she could trust the rest of the girls enough to focus on being the bride.

The guys spent Tuesday afternoon blowing up gold and silver balloons;
500 gold and 500 silver. Brooke and Amy brought two air tanks over to Mitchells’ house with orders to have them inflated, stuffed into huge trash bags and ready to be picked up by 5:00, or as Brooke put it, “You guys skip supper.”

“Dad, what did you do the week of you and Mom’s wedding? Well kids, I BLEW!” Scott said as he filled another balloon. The novelty had worn off quickly.

“Do we actually know what these are for?” Donnie asked.

“I flew all the way from California just for this, guys,” Andy said, sarcastically. “This is a fine skill and my guess is that the girls gave us this because they knew we could handle it.”

“Yeah,” Mark said. “That must be it.”

Mark and Amy’s potentially awkward situation worked itself out. Amy was bringing a date to the reception and dance, a guy named Randy she met at CSU. Mark said something about bringing a date to the dance but really hadn’t said who.

But the two of them were thrown together for a week of wedding preparations and appeared to be handling it OK.

Wednesday was another day of wedding busy work for the guys. They assembled 300 plastic champagne glasses,
then stuffed 600 napkins into little plastic wedding rings.

Scott was happy Roni was sleeping better. They were staying at the Mitchells’ since Scott’s old queen-sized bed was still in his room. Andy and Mollie and Amanda and Todd were all staying at the farm, and loved it. The days were ticking down and by Wednesday night, everyone was exhausted.

“I am going to go put my jammies on before ‘Eight Is Enough’ comes on,” Roni said as the family finished dinner.

“Do we really have to hang out with the
Bradfords tonight?” Scott whined. He wanted to watch Grizzly Adams, but he rarely won that argument.

“Yes we do,” she said, leaning up and kissing him on the nose. “I haven’t won an argument all day. I’m winning this one.”

Wayne was already in his Laz-E-Boy, while Amy was curled up in the bentwood rocker. Kimmy was propped up against the couch on the floor with a blanket and pillow. Donna was working on her dress in the basement sewing room. Scott climbed on the couch and leaned back, saving room for Roni. But by the first commercial, there was no sign of her.