Chapter 10

Ducky did a retouch, applied deodorant and cologne, rebrushed his teeth. He chose a short-sleeved light blue shirt, his school tie from Eton and a navy sport coat over tan dress slacks. He had brought three pairs of shoes with him: his army boots, the worn high-tops and a pair of too-dressy black shoes, which won by default. He'd have to do a bit of shopping later.

He trotted down both flights of stairs with a definite spring in his step and entered the living room. Celeste was applying a light, peachy lip gloss in front of the mirror and Alan was pulling his hair into a pony tail.

Alan grinned at Ducky. "I wish I could find a hangover cure like that!"

"Beg pardon?"

"You look mighty chipper for a guy who was having trouble distinguishing cricket from baseball."

"That's what Ollie was talking about? Baseball?"

"Last thing I remember he was talking about the '68 World Series and how the Tigers came back from a three games to one deficit and won it all. You said you thought the Tigers were from South Africa."

"Talking baseball with Oliver would be enough to put out anyone's lights," Celeste remarked. "No wonder you passed out, Al."

Celeste was wearing a conservative light blue shirt-dress with a button-down collar, open but pulled up to at least partially conceal the rather large purple mark on her neck. Her damp hair was pulled into a tooled leather barette and her legs were lightly tanned and bare. She wore her favorite sandals – the strappy little numbers she was wearing the night she and Ducky met.

She looked fresh and beautiful and Ducky took the time to fall in love with her all over again. He walked over to her and slipped his arm around her waist, resting his hand at the small of her back. "You look delicious," he murmured into her ear. He noticed her signature jasmine perfume. "You smell good, too."

"Mmmm. So do you." She planted a light kiss on his lips.

"Yeah. That hangover cure sure works wonders, man," Alan grinned. "But it's a little noisy."

"Alan! If you were eavesdropping I will…"

"Sis, I didn't need to be plastered to the door to hear it. My room is just below the guest room. Not only was the bed thumping around at very regular intervals, I could hear the springs squeak. And, um, those vocalizations you used? Interesting duet."

Ducky turned red and started laughing. Celeste turned red and had murder in her eyes. "One word, Alan! One word and I will tell Mike that you and Carol got it on at the Fourth of July picnic during the fireworks."

"Those were fireworks all right, elder sister. Celeste was really mad, too, Ducky, because I lost mine before she lost hers."

"Alan, I hate to rain on your parade, but I think I've heard more than I want to hear right now," Ducky gently admonished.

Alan nodded. "Right." He glanced at his reflection. "Well, I look presentable anyway. I still feel like crap. But you don't seem to Ducky!"

"Lay off Alan!" Celeste snapped.

"No, Love. He's right. I'm just fine."

Alan shrugged. "Yeah, well next time I'm either sticking with weed or calling Carol."

Celeste rolled her eyes and grabbed both her brother and her lover by the hands. "Let's just go. Ten minutes. You know how Mrs. Althoff gets with her timing. Old biddy. The later we are, the more she complains to everybody in the congregation."

They walked across the lawn, Celeste and Ducky, hand-in-hand in the lead, Alan a few paces behind. Celeste led them to a side door and skipped up a small flight of stairs leading to a somewhat crowded hallway.

"Grummie!" Celeste gave the tiny grey-haired lady a hug.

"Celeste! Oh, Ducky, dear, you're here. How lovely!" She gave him a hug. "I didn't think you boys would make it. Oliver looks a bit under the weather, but he's here with his father."

"That's great. Where'd they go?"

"They were headed for the sanctuary."

"Thanks, Grum." Celeste kissed her grandmother on the cheek.

"You know, dear, some people aren't going to understand that Ducky's been overseas for fourteen months." Grandma Elizabeth opened her purse and took out a blue printed silk scarf which she proceeded to tie artfully around Celeste's neck. She adjusted the collar of the dress and there was no visible evidence of last evening's encounter.

"This is fantastic! I love you loads!" Celeste waved good-by to her grandmother, then took Ducky by the hand and led him into the sanctuary.

"You have the most amazing family," Ducky whispered in her ear as they walked toward the fifth pew from the front. "It's not everyone that has a grandmother that would cover their butts, or in this case, their hickeys."

"Back in the Twenties she used to be a flapper," Celeste whispered back.

"Not surprised."

She waved at Ollie who was seated next to a middle aged man with long, curly, salt-and-pepper hair. She then gave her friend a thumbs-up, to which Oliver clutched his chest and mock-collapsed in the pew.

"You just told him, didn't you?" Ducky whispered.

Celeste grinned and slid gracefully into the pew. Ducky slid in next to her and watched as she pulled out a hymnal, opened it and handed it to him along with the order of service bulletin.

"Follow along the best you can. I'll help you when you get stuck."

"Do you sing the liturgy?"

"We're Lutherans, Ducky. We'd sing the phone book. Loudly."

Alan slid in at Celeste's other side, grabbing another hymnal and a steno pad that was stuck in the hymnal rack. He flipped it open, past pages of rather good artwork – dragons, knights on horseback, castles and such.

Ducky reached over Celeste's lap to touch Alan's arm. "Did you do that? It's good!"

Alan gave a small smile. "Thanks. But I drew it all when I should have been paying attention to other things."

"Read: Daddy's sermons," Celeste whispered to Ducky. She smiled affectionately at her brother. "But seriously, Sweets, you should see some of his stuff. It's beautiful. You'll have to show him later, Al."

"The one of you in the window seat? That's one of my favorites. And Jess and the cat." He pulled a pencil box out of the hymnal rack.

"I take it this is the Porter family pew?"

Celeste nodded. "Yeah. It's just like home…" She pulled out her own steno pad and flipped it open. It was full of little doodles of suns, moons and stars, cats, daisies and hearts – some with a particular set of initials written inside or embellished around them.

"C.P. plus D.M? Which biblical tenet does that address?" Ducky gave Celeste a gentle jab with his elbow. Celeste blushed.

Ducky found the service a bit hard to follow, but he managed not to stand up at the wrong time or otherwise embarrass himself. He watched the Porter siblings with amusement as they jotted notes during the sermon. Pastor Porter was an engaging speaker and illustrated his points with interesting anecdotes and a good bit of background information. A sizable chunk of this week's sermon was on how the youth of today weren't terribly different from the youth of the past. Even the current sexual revolution had historical precedence. Today's youth should be prayed for so the mistakes of the past would not be repeated.

The three occupants of the fifth pew from the front snorted simultaneously. Ducky's stray thought was: "Too late, Daddy." Celeste and Alan kept writing, however.

At the end of the service, people started swarming Celeste and Ducky before they could escape. Countless welcomes – to Atonement, to Clinton Park, to America . Innumerable handshakes and backslaps. A couple of dinner invitations. Names, faces and relationships were flying so fast and thick, Ducky couldn't keep up.

"George!" Ducky smiled, finally recognizing a face.

"Nice to see you, Ducky. This is my wife, Vera. I told her I'd driven you up the Gratiot route."

"Indeed! A pleasure Mrs. Knoff."

Vera Knoff smiled shyly. "Nice to meet you. Doctor." She turned to her husband. "You didn't mention he was so young, George. And that he has such a beautiful speaking voice. A beautiful accent." She sighed.

Celeste looked at him wryly. "Be prepared to get a lot of that from now on. Women will be hanging on your every word just to listen to you speak. British accents can melt the coldest of hearts."

"Oh. That's what it was. Here I thought it was just my natural, irresistible charm and wit."

"There are so many replies I could make to that. None of them would be appropriate to this venue, however."

The sanctuary eventually cleared and Ducky and Celeste were able to make it to the side door where Ollie was waiting with his father.

"Hey, Doc! This is my Dad. Maurice Johnston. Dad, this is Doctor Ducky Mallard."

"Very nice to meet you." Ollie's father mirrored his son's height and grey eyes, but was slimmer and projected a quieter aura. The older man smiled as he shook Ducky's hand. "Oliver always speaks so well of you, Doctor."

"As he does of you, sir. Very pleased to meet you."

Ollie, though he had issues with his father, was far more likely to have problems with his thrice-married mother or his two younger half-sisters. Ducky recalled a couple of heartfelt conversations he and Ollie had in London about the difficulties one could have with parents.

Ducky drew Ollie off to the side, away from Celeste who had started chatting with Mr. Johnston. Ollie was grinning like an idiot. "Congrats, Doc. Really. Couldn't happen to a greater girl than Celeste. And here," he held up the keys to his Mustang, "are the well-earned keys to your chariot."

"Ollie," Ducky said in confidential tones, "I'm wondering if you can help me out a bit here. I really want everything to be perfect when we get there and I wondered if you knew where I could get some yellow roses? I realize that's almost impossible on a Sunday."

"Give me a tough one, Doc. Dad's a florist. And if you want to give me a little time, I can go up first and set things up just the way you'd like them and leave a few surprises for the two of you."

"That would be fantastic! Is there a tea kettle and loose tea there? A record player or stereo?"

"Don't worry, Doc. I know what would work for the two of you. Most of Celly's favorite records are mine too, and I'm pretty sure I have a handle on your favorite snacks and munchies. You'll probably be working up an appetite. Tom Miller's store is just a mile from there and he's got everything, so if I forget something you can just go over there. He's open til eleven every night, including Sunday."

"Great. But what should we do on the way there? Yes, I wanted to take her out for a nice luncheon, but how long will you need?"

Ollie looked at his watch. "It's twelve thirty now. Get there any time after four thirty and you'll be fine. I should be long gone. The best place I know between here and there is Gus' Chop House out on Anchor Bay. It necessitates taking the very long route up to the cottage, but Celeste will be able to get there. She's driven up dozens of times, both the short way and the long. The long route takes you along Lake St Clair and the St Clair River. I suggest a stop at either Fort Gratiot Park or Riverside Walkway so you can look at the lake freighters. They are mind-blowingly big boats! Celeste loves watching them. That will kill an hour easily."

"What's going to kill an hour?" Celeste rejoined them, sipping her arm around Ducky's waist. He automatically reciprocated.

"Look at that. Joined at the hip," remarked Ollie.

"Well, some of us have more interesting hips than others." Celeste giggled.

"Oh, there's nothing wrong with your hips, Celeste." Ducky sipped both arms around hers and pulled her closer to illustrate.

"You know what I mean," she countered. "Mallard."

"Well, guys, I've gotta split. Stuff to do with the Old Man. Y'know." Ollie shrugged. "Fill me in later, Celly. I'm sure there'll be a lot more to tell next time. Though it would be a pretty good conversation right now, I'll bet." He grinned. "Well, kids, don't do anything I wouldn't do. Wait. You're going to be doing a whole lot of stuff I wouldn't do…Enjoy yourselves – like you won't." Ollie trotted off toward his father's truck.

"Did he give you the keys to the Green Machine?" Celeste asked.

Ducky held them up.

She snatched them.

"Hey!"

"Point one: We drive on the right-hand side of the road and our steering columns are on the left-hand side of the car. Point two: Do you have any idea where Lexington is?"

"Well, it was renamed Laxton, but was the namesake of several towns in America during the colonization…then, of course, there's Lexington Street in Soho…remember going down there? And…"

"Honestly!" She stopped him with a kiss.

"Hey there, you two!"

"Daddy!"

Carl Porter had a half amused, half resigned expression on his face. "It was nice seeing you in church this morning, Dr. Mallard. I'm glad Celeste persuaded you to come."

The double meaning almost caused Ducky to explode into laughter. Celeste took a deep breath and buried her face in his shoulder. He knew she couldn't trust herself.

"Yes. Well. Celeste is very persuasive when she sets her mind to something." He patted her back and avoided looking her in the face. She couldn't look at Ducky either.

"Well, we certainly know that by now," Pastor Porter replied. "Have you two decided where you are going to spend the day?"

Celeste drew a deep breath and turned around to face her father. "Well, Ollie said we could go swimming up at his Mom's place in Lexington. So we're headed there."

"I thought we'd stop for a nice luncheon on the way. Oliver told me about a nice place on Anchor Bay. Gus'?"

"Oh yes! A great place. Best fish anywhere around. You must try the pickerel. It's wonderful."

"Absolutely! Gus'? Sweets, that's a glorious place. It's right on the bay and the boaters all come in. Nice and casual but great food! I hope we can get a table by the window."

"How about I call for a reservation for you? I've known Gus for a long time. He might be able to do something for you."

"Oh, Daddy. That's so sweet of you! Thank you. That would be great."

"Nothing's too good for my Little Girl." He reached over and chucked her chin. "Your mother is right. You two look very happy together. She even said you look like you belong together. Not sure I'm ready to go that far yet, but you do look very happy."

"Oh, Daddy, we are. We really are."

"Drive carefully. And your mother says 'no curfew.' I'm not about to argue with her, so there you are." Pastor Porter turned and walked toward the house.

"'I'm glad Celeste persuaded you to come…' Well, yes, Pastor Porter, so am I. Very glad. And I intend to come again and again!" Ducky hugged Celeste and started laughing.

Celeste laughed until tears came to her eyes. "Jeez, Mallard, I'm surprised you lost the poker game to that Marine. That was a great non-reaction." She giggled some more. "Let's go pack our bathing suits and overnight things. No curfew means we are NOT driving home tonight."

"Which means we get to sleep under the same roof without the family poking around."

"Even better. It means we're going to be sleeping under the same blanket."

Ducky grinned wickedly. "Only after we're really, really tired."

Celeste blushed. They slipped their arms around each other's waists and walked toward the house.

7