Chapter Ten: Alexander and the Big News
After graduation, I just pitched into work and tried to hang on until my birthday. I had a birthday party on the fourth of July. It was nice, but Blossom and I knew we had to let the cat out of the bag soon, so we didn't tease each other like we used to, and we didn't get as much pleasure from shooting off fireworks as we usually did. She was three months along now, and nervous as a cat.
"You said you'd make a decision on getting married after your birthday," she told me, as I took her home. "What's it going to be, Alexander? Do you want to marry me or don't you?"
"We can go get the license tomorrow," I told her firmly, giving her a long kiss. "Now that I'm eighteen, there's nothing anyone can do to stop me. I don't' know if my Dad would have tried, or my mother either, but now it's a sure bet."
When I went home, I found my mother and sister cleaning up the last of the party things, while Dad and Lowell enjoyed one last cigar before bedtime. I told them I had something to say, and I wanted them all to come in and hear it. When I said it, I nearly gave my mother a heart attack, just announcing that Blossom and I were going for a marriage license the next day, and would be married over the weekend like that. My mother tried for an hour to convince me to have a church wedding, but I argued her down.
"This isn't like Lucille's wedding to Lowell," I argued. "The bride's family usually does the fussing and Blossom doesn't have any family. Why rub it in? We'd rather save our money to fix up the house. I'm done with school and working full time. I'm sure Blossom is the one for me. I just want to go get married and be done with it."
I looked over at my father. "You can't tell me you want to make a big production out of this. You pert near lost your mind the last time there was a wedding in the works."
He allowed that he could see my point that there wasn't nearly as much cause to fuss since I was the groom and not the bride, and Lucille to my surprise, backed us up. I think she was worried about how she'd handle her family and help my mother plan a wedding at the same time. She was a lot fonder of Blossom than she used to be, but she still had trouble at times adjusting to the fact that Blossom and I were really going to spend the rest of our lives together, in the same orbit as hers. Finally my mother gave up, and Lucille and Lowell took off, after they promised to come to see us get married.
When Blossom came over the next day, my mother started right in on her. Since she wasn't getting the chance to throw a big wedding, my mother insisted on making plans to take us out to eat afterwards. Blossom was overwhelmed when she heard that. She had expected to just go off, get married and go home.
"I just don't see what I've done to deserve a party," she said to me as I took her home.
"Well, I can't tell my mother that. Just let her get what pleasure she can out of this," I said simply.
"When are we going to tell her about the baby?" asked Blossom.
"After the wedding will do," I answered.
When we went to get the license, the clerk was a woman who'd known my dad for years, and she smiled to see me. When I told her what I was there for, however, she got a pained look on her face.
"My land! I know better than any everything you and Blossom have been through together, but how old are you, Alexander? Do you have Mr. Armsworth's permission?"
"I do, but I don't need it. I'm eighteen now, "I said. My mother had given me my birth certificate, and I set it on the counter.
The clerk looked at it, and then looked at Blossom. "Is she eighteen? We have statutes in this state forbidding the marriage of minor children. This is Illinois, not Georgia, you know."
"I'll be eighteen in February. My mama can't give me permission, because she's passed on, and so has my paw, and you know it, Vivian. You're one of the folks who worried about me being on my own when Mama passed. Well, if I marry Alexander, I'll have a family again, and you can quit worrying," Blossom said firmly.
"But I can't issue you a license if you're underage and don't have a parent or a guardian's permission."
I got disgusted. "Vivian, please! We have to get married!"
She blinked at me, shot a quick glance at Blossom, who was digging in her handbag, and turned bright red.
"Did you say…you HAVE to?"
Blossom at that moment came up with several pieces of paper, which she put on the counter.
"When I went to London with Miss Dabney, Mama gave her guardianship of me," said Blossom, pointing out one paper. "I have this one that that Mama signed, and it was witnessed proper. Miss Dabney paid a right sum of money to get it done the correct way, so she wouldn't have any trouble taking me out of the country. I also have this clipping from the Pantagraph that was printed at the time, stating I was Miss Dabney's ward. Now, Miss Dabney is Mrs. W. Altee Birdsall now, but as far as I know, I'm still her ward. I have two letters from her, all the way from war-torn England, that mention me and Alexander. She not only approves of the marriage she's planning on giving us her house as a wedding gift, which she has been letting me use already. So how can you say I don't have permission from a guardian?"
Vivian looked over everything Blossom had piled up, and sighed with relief. "I suppose it will do. I'll make note that your legal guardian is out of the country, but gave you permission in writing." She took down the information for the license, and stamped it to make it legal.
"When are you getting married?" she asked, handing it over.
"Soon," I replied.
"Well, I should hope so! Good luck to the both of you."
Blossom practically hugged that license all the way home.
"I can't believe it's really happening. I can't believe we're getting married!"
"If nothing else goes wrong," I muttered under my breath. We spent the rest of the night driving back and forth between my parent's house and the Fairview house with my things. I only left at home what I would need in the morning. Once we left that wedding ceremony, I wanted to have all of my things at the new house so I could make a clean break and start living with Blossom right away. I was not going to spend the night before the wedding with Blossom. She felt that would be bad luck.
Lucille insisted on picking Blossom up the morning of the wedding, because she said it wasn't proper for me to see the bride before the ceremony.
"Oh, sugar!" I said when she proposed this. "Like I haven't already seen all there is to see of Blossom! And she saw all there was to see of me when we were fourteen!"
This was true, because Blossom and her friend, Daisy-Rae, had once spied on me and my friends swimming in the altogether, out at the old swimming hole. Daisy-Rae's folks were migrant workers, and she and her brother Roderick, had gone off with them picking fruit and never come back. I often wondered what happened to her. My mother didn't know any of this, though, and looked down her nose at me.
"Please, Alexander, I don't want to hear any such things from you. I have had just about all I can take! I am trying to take the high road in this situation, but you are not making it any easier."
I gave up. I had gotten Blossom a bouquet of white roses, which had sort of become our flower, and I gave it to Lucille to give to her, and rode to the courthouse in the Mercer alone. My parents followed me in their Ford. We arrived about ten, which was good, since they were only open until noon on Saturday.
Lowell soon drove up, and when Blossom got out, holding the flowers, she looked beautiful. We went in, and I soon found the right doorway. It said: J. P. Breckenridge and had Justice of the Peace under it. Under that it said Notary Public. We are efficient in Bluff City government without a doubt.
A woman clerk came toward us, and asked us for the license. "The judge will need to see it," she explained. Then she asked us to wait.
I didn't expect any trouble from Mr. Breckenridge, because he and my dad go back a long way together, and he and his wife had come to the engagement party and given Blossom and me a set of silver candlesticks.
After a few minutes, he came in, and after greeting my dad with a cuff on the shoulder, and shaking my hand, he and the clerk got us all lined up. Then Mr. Breckenridge got out his book with the marriage ceremony in it, and turned to the right page. Looking up, he paused and evaluated the grouping, shaking his head, as if something was wrong. He reached out and took Blossom's flowers and asked Lucille to hold onto them for the time being.
"I believe we're ready now." Since no one contradicted him, he told me to take Blossom's hand and I did.
I was in a daze. Nothing he was saying sunk in until he said, "Do you, Alexander Miles Armsworth, take Blossom Lavinia Culp to be your lawful wedded wife?"
I grinned down at her. "I do."
"Do you, Blossom Lavinia Culp, take Alexander Miles Armsworth to be your lawful wedded husband?"
"I do, I do, yes!" said Blossom excitedly. "I better!"
That made us all laugh. The rings slid on just as easily as they had done at the jewelry store in Chicago, and when it came time to kiss the bride, I really laid one memorable kiss on her. Lowell whistled and I heard Lucille huff.
"Honestly, Alexander!"
When I looked up, however, she was smiling.
"Shoot, Lucille, you were there for the first one, weren't you? I just wanted to show you how much I'd improved."
Blossom cuffed me on the arm, and my mother turned red again.
"I think we had better get over to the hotel for lunch," she said uncertainly.
"Oh, not yet," I said. "We're going to Ledbetter's. Blossom and I want wedding pictures made, and we want them of everyone."
While Blossom and I signed the marriage certificate, and Lucille and Lowell were signing as the witnesses, my dad paid the clerk the two dollars for the ceremony, which was decent of him. We had a good time at Ledbetter's Studio, getting enough pictures to fill a whole album. Blossom took the plainest book they had there and I started to object, until she said she had to have that one because she was going to tat a lace cover for it.
We got a picture of all of us, a picture of us with my mother and dad, a picture of us with Lucille and Lowell, a couple of different pictures of us alone, a picture of Mother and Dad alone…you name it.
Blossom was thrilled. "I've never had a family photograph album before."
Mr. Ledbetter was thrilled to have the business. Most people just got one picture and that was it. While we were there, he let slip that his son, Collis, who had gone to school with us, was now engaged to Maisie Markham.
"Oh, my!" said Blossom. "Congratulations!"
On the way over to the Abraham Lincoln Hotel, where we were going to eat lunch, we discussed the news. Since Collis Ledbetter has always been the smallest kid in our class, and Maisie Markham was a hefty girl, we had a lot of comments to make that my mother didn't exactly appreciate.
"I'd hate to drop by after the wedding night," I said. "They'll probably have to dig poor Collis out of the cellar."
"To tell you the truth," Lucille said, almost whispering, "I didn't think he liked girls, if you know what I mean."
My father said that was enough, that he wished the happy couple well, and that we should do the same, and could we please change the subject?
At the hotel we had a nice luncheon, with everyone picking anything they wanted off the menu. We also had champagne, which went straight to my head. After lunch, my parents asked if they could see how the Fairview house had turned out. They hadn't seen it since the painters had left, and Lucille and Lowell were curious, too. So we all went there.
To our amazement, when we walked into the parlor, we found an iced wedding cake and a pot of fresh coffee waiting for us, with fresh cream and a sugar bowl on the side. There were six cups, saucers, forks, and small plates all laid out, ready to use. It was small, round cake, and instead of writing or little figures on the top, there was a hole cut into the top of the cake, with a glass sitting in it. The glass held white roses like the ones in Blossom's bouquet. We all agreed that we'd never seen the like.
"Oh, Alexander, this is just lovely! Who did this?" my mother exclaimed. "I can't believe you'd think of such a thing!"
Blossom could tell by my face that I'd had nothing to do with it.
"He didn't. It was a friend who was just glad to see us get married," she said quickly, and I didn't contradict her. Obviously Minerva was relieved that I'd kept my promise to make an honest woman out of Blossom. It was one of the better cakes I've ever had, and I would have given almost anything to figure out how she managed to make it. As nervous as my second sight made me, if we had to have a ghost in the house, I did think that a baking ghost was the most tolerable.