The Good Kind of Crazy

“No need to thank me!” Savannah said cheerfully. “I want to help in any way possible. Jason and I were so young when we got married that we couldn’t really plan a grand affair, and I hardly think at my age I’m going to have a daughter. So planning your wedding will be fun!”

A thrill a minute. Neely wasn’t sure how she felt about the unspoken comparison to the daughter Savannah would never have. I’m only younger by eleven months! Yet she supposed she’d be getting Savannah’s “big sister” treatment for the rest of her life. After all, look at the bossy way Beth still treated her sisters, Carol and Josephine, continuing to this day to issue for-your-own-good orders.

Then again, that was pretty much the way Neely’s mom treated everyone.

“I think a church wedding would be lovely,” Beth said now, her latest command masquerading as an opinion. “Robert, you’re not Catholic, by any chance? Cornelia is a staunch Methodist, so I’m afraid a wedding Mass is out of the question.”

“We were going to be staunch Southern Baptists,” Vi said to no one in particular, “until we found out they frown on drinking. Although maybe a Baptist wedding gets you out of the obligatory dancing at the reception?”

Her mother shot her the glare of doom, then turned back just in time to hear Robert explain that his parents were Episcopalian.

Their denomination wasn’t a big issue for Neely. She prayed and managed to get to church at least once a season, but felt hypocritical describing herself as a “staunch” anything. She also thought that if any kind of ceremony was out of the question, she should be the one making that call, not her mother. But Robert, bless him, took all of Beth’s suggestions and Vi’s colorful commentary in stride.

The brief panic Neely had experienced in her office earlier this week had receded. Two people making one life together would be complex, but Robert was definitely the man for her. She hadn’t been given a choice when it came to her family, but Robert was actually opting to align himself with the Masons instead of fleeing in the other direction. That took courage and character.

“So, you have any siblings?” Douglas asked. “Brothers or, God help you, sisters?”

Robert grinned. “Neither. Just me and my parents. My dad has a brother back in Vermont—are you okay, Mrs. Mason?”

“Fine, fine.”

Neely could see how the harrumph her mother made whenever a place north of the Mason-Dixon was mentioned could sound as though the woman was choking.

“I have a handful of relatives left there,” Robert said. “We’re not a big family.”

“And the two of you don’t plan to make it any bigger by having more little Walshes?” Beth asked.

“Uh—” Robert shot Neely his first truly alarmed look of the evening.

She knew how he felt. Her accountant’s brain was already spinning. Even if they hurried and had a baby in the next two years—which they would probably have to do, if she actually wanted to get pregnant before menopause—she would still be in her sixties before the kid could get a driver’s license.

“Cornelia Mason Walsh,” Douglas said absently, changing the subject. Maybe he’d learned some tact from his courtroom experiences, after all. “That’ll take some getting used to. Are you hyphenating, ditching the maiden name altogether or staying as is?”

“What do you mean, as is?” Gerald asked, his expression genuinely befuddled. “She won’t be as is, she’ll be a married lady.”

“Not all women change their last names,” Vi said. “It’s the new millennium, Dad. Why should a woman give up her identity just because of an archaic ceremony? I was reading an article about how some modern couples legalize a completely new married name by combining syllables of their separate last names. You guys could be Mr. and Mrs. Walson.”

Savannah blinked. “That’s insane.”

A scathing denouncement coming from Savannah, Neely thought. Watching her two sisters debate could be interesting, but Beth was already steering the topic to ceremony specifics.

“If Robert comes from a small family and isn’t planning on many groomsmen, maybe we should scale back the number of bridesmaids attending Cornelia.”

“Scale back?” Neely echoed. “From what? I never decided on a number.”

“Three’s good,” her mother pronounced. “Obviously, you’ll want your two sisters and that friend of yours—Lee?”

“Leah. I asked her to be my maid of honor this morning.”

From there, suggestions seemed to fly at her randomly—Vi’s dictates on what she would or most certainly would not be willing to wear at the wedding, Savannah’s advice on a caterer she’d just read about in a local magazine and even Jason, mentioning a remote getaway one of his fellow practitioners had vacationed at, in case they were looking for honeymoon ideas.

Neely was overwhelmed by the “help.” She’d had a long time to grow accustomed to keeping her own counsel. While she normally sought Robert’s and Leah’s opinion on important matters, that was far different than half a dozen people all having ideas on what she should do. Granted, Beth always had an opinion, but until recently, Neely had been able to minimize exposure to her mom to once a month. Now, she felt as if she could barely keep up with the conversation aimed at her.

Robert’s hand found hers under the table, and she sighed, releasing some of the tension in her body. As overwhelming as the evening might be, she didn’t have to deal with it alone. Funny how comforting that thought was for someone so self-sufficient.

We’re living in a world gone mad. That was Vi’s conclusion as everyone adjourned to the parlor after dessert. Beth was still issuing matrimonial orders like a wedding planner on steroids, between asking Savannah to help with the coffee and informing Gerald he’d best take one of the smaller pie pieces. Douglas was still telling anecdotes from some of the ceremonies he’d participated in as best man. All as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

Was it possible no one else noticed how weird tonight had been?

Oh, it had started normally enough—her parents in their usual positions, Jason and Douglas shooting the bull while Savannah dutifully did whatever it was Savannah did in the kitchen. The cooking gene must have skipped Vi, because about the most ambitious dish she prepared was cereal, and even then she had to worry about pouring too much milk and ending up with soggy flakes. Then Neely had shown up with the man who was saving her from Aunt Jo’s predictions of “crazy neighborhood cat lady,” and introductions were made. Vi wasn’t really into older men, but for a guy pushing fifty, Robert wasn’t bad. She could definitely see where someone Neely’s age would be attracted to him. The evening had followed on cue with Douglas making his small, obnoxious jokes, such as ribbing Vi about her name. A definite source of contention.

It wasn’t just the unusual Southern moniker. In a way, Vidalia was pretty, even lyrical. But Savannah, the firstborn, had been named after Georgia’s very first city and Douglas after the city named for the man who challenged Lincoln for the presidency. The city Cornelia honored was famous for its big red apple statue, which wasn’t all that impressive or historically significant, but it was still better than onions, the famed Vidalia produce. She was named for a food that was smelly and known to make people cry.

And they wondered why she seemed bitter compared to Savannah.

Frankly, Vi thought choosing your offspring’s names based on a Georgia map was a little bizarre, but it could have been worse. We could have been Americus, Oglethorpe, Chatsworth and Flowery Branch—try living down those names on the fifth grade playground. Names, however, had nothing to do with why the evening had been strange.

Savannah, Beth’s little debutante, was polished and perfect in almost any social situation, yet she’d been quiet for the first half of the meal. Withdrawn, even. Maybe no one else had noticed because even without Savannah’s input, conversation had been lively. But Vi had already been wondering about her sister’s silence when she caught Savannah’s glances toward her husband. Undisciplined, furtive glances, the kind you shoot at someone even though you’ve told yourself you won’t. Like an ex you’ve vowed not to notice or maybe a man you love from afar. Or was it more like the glares you throw a boyfriend you were fighting with right before the party, even as you don’t want anyone else to know there’s something wrong?

Only Savannah didn’t look angry, just sad. When she’d briefly mentioned her wedding to Jason, the normal cheer was back in her voice, but Vi, alerted to it now, could spot the despair lurking in her sister’s bright gaze. What the hell could possibly be wrong enough in Savannah’s life to cause despair? Her entire life had always been as chipper and well-scripted as one of those syrupy feel-good movies televised around Christmas.

The subtle but abrupt change jolted Vi into mild alarm. Savannah’s being cheerful and flawless was as natural and unquestioned as sunrise.

Vi had cast a look at Neely, trying to catch her eye and see if her sister had noticed anything wrong. But Neely was busy staring in adoration at her husband-to-be. If Vi wasn’t mistaken, they might also have been playing a little innocent footsie under the table.

Then Neely had made a joke later about being glad Vi was in the wedding party because it gave her the chance to make her sister wear something frilly in public. Vi knew better than to buy into the threat—frills were not Neely’s style—and it had dawned on her that Neely was joking.

Footsie and attempted humor? It was enough to make Vi believe in pod people. Neely had always been the most standoffish of the Mason siblings, at least as far back as Vi could remember. Perhaps love was transforming the bride-to-be, but that left the unsolved mystery of what was bothering Savannah. The obvious answer would seem to be something between her and Jason, except his demeanor was totally relaxed. Besides, accepting that their marriage could be in trouble took more imagination than Vi possessed. And she’d always been quite the creative girl.

As she mulled over the situation that apparently only she had noticed, the irony struck her. Though she prided herself on being able to say just about anything, anywhere, without feeling the least self-conscious, she didn’t have the guts to ask her older sister, “Are you okay?”

While the rest of her family said good-night to Robert, Douglas followed Neely to the coat closet. Since she was perfectly capable of retrieving two jackets by herself, she figured this was where he bestowed his brotherly approval.

“He seems like a good guy,” Douglas said, confirming her deduction.

“He is.” Tonight was proof of that.

“I’m glad you found each other.” He shoved his hands in the pockets of his slacks, looking downward. “May you be very happy for many, many years.”

Oh, Douglas. She could tell from the note of regret in his voice that he was thinking about his own failed marriage, about Zoe.

There had never been any question that he loved his wife; it had more been a matter of Douglas being insufferable to live with. Growing up with three sisters had probably screwed him up. He tried to joke and charm his way out of every situation, until Zoe had come to the conclusion that he didn’t take their relationship seriously. Though no one thought Douglas had cheated on his wife, Neely could understand how watching him use that flirtatious charm on every other female who crossed his path could get old fast. At least one infatuated paralegal had gotten the wrong idea, later to be transferred to another branch of the firm while Douglas shrugged off the awkward situation by teasing that even if the young woman had jumped to a bad conclusion, she had good taste in men.

Her brother cleared his throat. “I do hope you’re together till death do you part and all that morbid romantic stuff, but just as a standard precaution, I could recommend someone really top-notch to handle a prenup at a fair price.”

Some brothers would threaten a suitor with “If you ever hurt her, they’ll never find your body,” but Douglas played to his strength, legal advice. Of the two options, his was more useful. “Thanks. It’s a sensible suggestion.” She’d already been tossing it around in her mind, just hadn’t found the perfect way to ask Robert about it. Mostly, she loved his romantic streak and sometimes even envied the emotion that came so easily to him. But to broach this subject, she needed him to be logical, not sentimental.

Douglas grinned. “You always were sensible. I would have even said predictable, until Sunday. Blew us away with your little announcement.”