He was certainly not the first young man ever to be marrying the literal "girl next door"; over the years, he and Leslie had often compared themselves to George Gibbs and Emily Webb from Thornton Wilder's play Our Town, especially the movie version with William Holden and Martha Scott in which Emily didn't die and her "death" in Act 3 turned out to be a strange dream she'd had after giving birth. Leslie's old copy of the play was back at the apartment near the Eastwood University campus, and Jess hadn't read it in years. He vaguely remembered George sneaking over the morning of the wedding and having a talk with Emily's dad in Act 2 and managing to avoid seeing Emily while doing so. But somehow he didn't think that the Gibbses and Webbs had the same logistical problems the Aarons and Burke families were having, compounded by the fact that the two youngest Aarons girls were part of the bridal party.
With May Belle and Joyce Ann living in Brenda's and Ellie's old rooms just across the hall from the old room they'd shared with him-- especially since he had been banished back there from the guestroom at the Burkes' as the wedding day approached-- everyone had long ago abandoned the idea of keeping him from seeing what the bridesmaids' gowns looked like. He already knew they were ankle-length and strapless with fine lace over the shoulders in Leslie's favorite color of light blue. Focus was now on keeping him from seeing Leslie's gown or even hearing any of the details about it. And as the day itself dawned, great pains were being taken by all involved to prevent the bride and groom from seeing each other before the start of the ceremony. May Belle and Joyce Ann had left for the Burkes' right after breakfast to help the bride. When the three limousines arrived, Jesse's mother made a point of calling Judy Burke to let her know she, her husband and Jesse were leaving for the church so that Leslie could be kept away from the windows until they pulled out.
Jesse sat in the rearmost seat, facing his parents, as the limo turned down the country road toward the church. Nancy Aarons stroked the face of her only son, tears in her eyes. "My Jesse!" she smiled, then turned to her husband. "Jack, wasn't it just yesterday that our little boy first brought home that skinny little blonde-haired girl with the ketchup on her face and all over her jacket?"
"Sure seems that way!" his father laughed.
"Hey!" his mother smiled. "Wasn't it Janice who shot the ketchup packets at her?"
"That's right, Momma!" Jesse chuckled. "Janice claimed I tripped her on the bus and got me thrown off, and then shot ketchup all over Leslie in my absence! Funny how things turn out!"
"I imagine if Leslie hadn't helped Janice out the day the cops arrested her father," Nancy smiled, "Janice might've ended up an alcoholic or drug addict, or would've gotten pregnant at fifteen by some abusive boy or somesuch!"
"Or all of the above," Jack laughed. "Jess, Leslie is an absolute angel. You'd better take good care of her and hang on to her!"
"I will, Dad!" Jesse smiled. That was the last thing he ever needed to be told. In all the years since his supernatural experience of living through Leslie's death and then going backward in time to prevent it, he'd never told his parents a word of it; he and Leslie told her parents and also May Belle on the very evening of the day it happened, and then years later told Joyce Ann although both Leslie and May Belle had cautioned him that she was too young to get it, but he never said a word to his parents or his older sisters. And today wasn't the day to do it.
"Not only has Leslie made you a better man," his father continued, "but she's brought something special to our whole family. Your momma and I love her as if she were our own. You know that!"
"You don't have to tell me that, Dad! Just be sure and tell Leslie that sometime!"
"Joyce Ann's taking care of that!" his mother winked.
They arrived at the church and entered through the side door, and inside found the Best Man and the three ushers waiting inside, all dressed in the same blue-trimmed charcoal gray tuxedos as Jesse and his father. The choice of Best Man had not been easy for Jesse. Apart from the fact that his very best friend in the world was the bride herself-- every bridegroom should have that problem, he'd mused-- he was still very much a loner. Those male classmates at Lark Creek High, even his Track and Field teammates whom he'd considered friends, he had not kept in close touch with after graduation. Although he and Leslie invited the entire Eastwood Track and Field team and both the male and female coaching staffs to the wedding, he still didn't feel close enough to his Eastwood teammates, or comfortable enough to favor one over the other, to bestow that honor on any one of them; he'd compromised by selecting Greg, Keith and Randy, his 4x800 Meter Relay teammates, as his ushers. In the end, it turned out that the man who had been his first choice all along but whom he'd thought would be reluctant to accept, was happy and honored to do it.
"Hi, Brad!" he shook his Best Man's hand, then turned to the man's wife and daughter who had been waiting in a pew with him. "Hi, Candy! Hi, Cory!"
Candice Edmunds Brubaker stood and gave her long-time-ago former student a hug and a kiss on the cheek. She and her six year old daughter Corinna were dressed in the same pale blue lace-trimmed gowns as he knew the rest of the bridal party would be. "Look at you!" she smiled mistily, then smoothed out the faint creases she'd created on his tux jacket.
She had aged well, so that when she and Brad were together with Jesse and Leslie these days, nobody would have guessed that the younger couple had been her students in grade school. Jesse and Leslie had been the only students actually invited to their wedding reception when Bradford Brubaker had left the active Navy and found a job with one of the military electronic components manufacturers in the DC suburbs, the summer after the younger couple had finished Seventh Grade. The Brubakers had insisted on being called "Candy and Brad" as soon as Jesse and Leslie graduated from elementary to high school, and to Jess it came easier than calling his future in-laws "Bill and Judy". Since then, the Brubakers-- who, too, had been childhood sweethearts and soul mates-- had served as role models, mentors, and a yardstick for Jesse and Leslie's own relationship. After Brad had agreed to serve as Best Man, Leslie felt obliged to likewise ask Candy to be Matron of Honor, but Candy insisted that May Belle-- Leslie's actual first choice-- be Maiden of Honor, and on taking what she herself considered an equally important and more appropriate role, a choice that both the bride and groom were actually relieved she had insisted on and wholeheartedly supported. The guitar case sitting on the pew next to her indicated that she was ready for that role.
Author's notes:
Re: Miss Edmunds' first name, I'd forgotten that her first name in the book was Julia, and didn't feel like thumbing through the whole book to find her first name when I wrote Groundhogs at Terabithia. After I stumbled across it, I noticed that there were a disproportionate number of major characters whose first names began with J: Jesse; Jesse Sr. (Jack in the movie!); Joyce Ann; Judy; Janice; Jimmy (older sister Brenda's boyfriend). I figured since this story canonically favors the movie over the book and Miss Edmunds' first name is never mentioned in the movie, it wouldn't hurt to keep it as Candice per Groundhogs. In the original movie credits (the theatrical release) they did spell her surname as Edmonds, and then corrected it to Edmunds on the DVD to match the spelling in the book. I'm following that correction as it's a matter of only one vowel. ;-)
Re: Mrs. Aarons' first name: in the the theatrical release of the movie it's listed as Nancy, but in faint background conversation a couple of times, Jack does call or refer to her as Mary, and it was then corrected to Mary in the credits on the DVD release. I referred to her as Nancy in Groundhogs and am sticking with it for simplicity and continuity.
Comments are, as always, invited and encouraged. Again, no promises as to how soon the next chapter will be up.