Whatever Will Be, Will Be
Chapter 11
3591 Paris Pike
Saturday, November 28th, 2020
Lexington, KY
Mercedes was very glad to be able to sleep in her own bed after coming in from her tour. But with only four nights between the last show in San Diego, and Thanksgiving, she didn't get to enjoy the indulgence for long. Wednesday she, Deja, Toni and Tank flew to Nashville where the Jones and Evans families were meeting up to celebrate the holiday together at the Evans family farm. Santana and Kurt were returning to Lima to spend time with their families as was Puck. Toni and Tank had lost most of their family when they were teenagers during Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. The two of them had made it out of the city and never really looked back. However, they had both become members of the Jones family when Mercedes had adopted the cousins almost the moment she selected Antoinette to become her agent. They enjoyed celebrating with the Jones family because with Connie's New Orleans upbringing and her ability to cook and Alfred's ability to make anyone feel like they had known him forever, Toni and Tank felt right at home with the Jones. Connie and Alfred had flown down on Tuesday so that Connie could help Mary with all the cooking. Montravious had arrived early on Wednesday with his newest girlfriend a tall, thin plastic surgeon named Amanda who looked like she enjoyed the services of her business partners and fellow plastic surgeons just a bit too much.
Sam and Slick picked them up at the airport and the four of them stay at Sam's house, driving out to the farm early Thanksgiving morning. As soon as they entered the farm house, Mercedes, Toni and Deja disappeared into the kitchen, joining Stacey, Mary and Connie in cooking the bulk of their dinner. Tank, Sam and Slick wandered around to the back yard where Dwight, Alfred and Trey were 'busy' greeting everything ready to fry the two brined and flavor injected turkeys that would feed the eighteen of them who would share the meal once Simon, Mary's brother Ronnie and Dwight's sister Barbara and her sixteen year old daughter Maggie, joined them that after noon. Simon, who had been an only child and a late in life baby, was always invited to the Evans home for any holiday. After making the mistake of not heeding an invite once, he never missed another one. The women worked like a well-oiled machine and by two o'clock, just an hour after Sam's aunt, cousin and uncle arrived and were introduced to everyone, thanksgiving dinner was on the table.
In addition to the two turkeys, there was a large honey baked ham, macaroni & cheese, collard greens, spinach, jambalaya, green beans, tomatoes and okra, green bean casserole, rice, turkey mushroom gravy, cornbread dressing, both kinds of cranberry sauce, whole and jellied, cornbread and yeast rolls. For dessert the ladies made two German chocolate cakes, two red velvet cakes, a carrot cake and several pecan and sweet potato pies. The family and friends ate and talked and made merry well into the evening. In fact it was after midnight when Sam, Mercedes and their crew headed back to the city loaded down with leftovers. The next morning the women got up to hit the 'Black Friday' sales. The date had once again regained significance after retail chains had stopped opening on Thursday evenings in two thousand and eighteen when there'd been a major stampede at a Target and twenty five shoppers were killed. While the women shopped their excess calories from the day before away, Sam and the rest of the guys headed back out to the farm and helped Dwight and Stevie with all the business of having a farm to get in some exercise.
Dwight and Alfred pulled Sam to the side and explained that the next morning they wanted to take him and Mercedes on a road trip. Sam could do nothing but agree and after spending a day with the mothers who were both in full on WEDDING mode, Mercedes couldn't wait. Alfred had rented a Lincoln Navigator when he and Connie arrived at BNA, so he and Dwight drove into Nashville to pick up Sam and Mercedes. The couple was ready and waiting for them despite the fact that it wasn't even seven o'clock when Dwight texted them to let them know that their fathers were waiting in the driveway. Sam and Mercedes were a little bleary eyed, but thanks to their big ass travel mugs filled with bold Starbucks Sumatra roast coffee, they were awake and ambulatory. It was funny to both Mercedes and Alfred exactly how close to exactly alike Sam and Dwight were dressed despite the fact that neither knew what the other was wearing until well after they were both dressed.
Both Evans men were in dark brown, broken in cowboy boots, well-loved medium wash jeans, thick flannel shirts on top of graphic tees; vintage Star Trek for Dwight and Batman for Sam; with heavy shearling fur hip length coats and cowboy hats. They were both dressed well for the weather as were their companions. Alfred's outfit was just as warm, though not quite as suited to where they were headed as Dwight and Sam's. He was wearing his favorite dark wash, relaxed fit jeans, a white collared polo with a thick cashmere sweater over it and his black leather thigh length 'Nick Fury' coat. Mercedes had been given no instructions other than 'dress warm'. She'd taken that to heart and dressed in warm layers. Her distressed black leather and pointe knit leggings were tucked into a pair of Sam's thick, athletic socks…which were hidden inside her calf high, black weatherproof suede faux-fur lined winter boots. She had on a white silk and lycra tank top on over her blue bra, and over that she wore a black cotton and lace camisole, a heather gray cotton turtleneck and topped that off with a black Merino wool V-neck tunic sweater. Her hair was parted down the middle but pulled back from her face with a black and silver starred head wrap. It was stick straight because morning had come far too soon for her to feel bothered with curling it.
The drive took them a little over three hours and it was filled with laughter as Sam and Mercedes tried to get the dads to tell them where they were going and why, but neither Dwight nor Alfred would budge. Finally they pulled up outside five eighteen E. Main Street, to see Justice Real Estate. "Your Aunt Barb's sister-in-law Alicia works here." Dwight explained before they got out of the car. "A little birdie told me that you two were hoping to find a place between Nashville and Lima. Lexington is just over three hours from Lima and you just saw that it is about the same from Nashville."
"Whoa, Dad…thanks. We'd talked about what we wanted, but with Mercy's tour and everything…we haven't really taken the time to look into doing something about getting it." Sam said as he reached over and took Mercedes hand in his own.
"So did the little birdie…we'll just call her Stacey to save time," Mercedes knew that it had to be her soon to be sister-in-law. During the course of emailing and tweeting with Stacey, Mercedes had shared the dreams she and Sam had for finding somewhere that belonged to both of them and Stacey had been the only one she told. "Did she tell you what we were ultimately looking for?"
Dwight chuckled. "My baby girl is good at a whole lotta things, Mercy, but holding on to a secret sure as hell ain't one of them. She always has to tell somebody. Thank God she usually runs to either me or Stevie…we both know that loose lips sink ships." He shook his head. "Granted, I did bring your daddy in on it, but we'll just chalk that up to fathers-in-laws getting in some bonding time. Now, let's get the lead out, we've got a ten thirty appointment and I sure do hate to be late."
They made their way into the real estate firm quickly and were shown to the office of Alicia Ritter by an efficient receptionist who barely goggled at Sam and Mercedes at all before ushering them to the correct room. Ms. Ritter was a reasonably attractive brunette of a certain age, with a ready smile and a quick grin. She introduced herself and, after telling Sam that the last time she had seen him, he'd been the ring bearer in Barb and her brother Mitch's wedding, she congratulated the young couple on their pending nuptials. "Now, I've heard second or third hand what you two are looking for in your first home together, why don't you tell me, in your own words, what you hope to find."
In a fashion any Potter fan would say was just like the Weasley Twins, Mercedes and Sam laid out their desires for enough land to have a few horses, room for two or three caretakers for the house and animals and so forth and so on. "Ultimately, Sam and I will have a couple of kids and this will be their home. It will need space for our lives, our careers and our families." Mercedes summarized honestly.
Ms. Ritter nodded. "Okay, I have three properties to show you today. One is simply land. One has a few out buildings on the land and the final one is almost fully developed with a house and some of the outbuildings you're hoping to find though you will need to build the others to suit your needs."
They followed her to a seventy acre empty, well, it had been pasture land that was being sold off from another estate. "The good news about this property is that you will be able to build it to be exactly what you want it to be." She told them as they looked around a bit. There wasn't very much to see. The acreage was good real estate, but at two point five million asking price…with all the building they would need to do, neither Sam nor Mercedes were sure how they felt about it.
When they were following Ms. Ritter to the next listing she wanted them to see, Dwight did raise a point in the build from scratch category. "Well, if you guys do decide to get that property, at least you won't have to pay for an architect." He was joking and while Sam knew that he wouldn't take full advantage of his dad, neither would his father accept monetary compensation for taking care of his son and his bride either.
"The next listing is absolutely beautiful a roughly sixty-five acre farm with a horse barn that currently has 8 stalls but could be finished out for a total of sixteen. There is a second barn on site which is a five bent tobacco barn with a wide aisle and poured concrete foundation. The property also boasts a pond surrounded by jumpable plank fencing, a five bay heated and air-conditioned equipment shed, and asphalt driveway." Alicia told them with a smile. "The equipment shed could easily be converted to hold your tour buses." She offered reasonably.
As soon as they were back in the Navigator, Sam looked at Dwight, "guess you'd want to design the house for this one too?"
"Son, my ideas have ideas for either of those properties." Dwight returned honestly.
Mercedes chuckled. "At under six hundred and fifty thousand purchase price, I'd feel a lot more comfortable building on that one than the first. I wonder why the empty property was so much more per acre?"
When they got to the last listing, Mercedes asked Alicia about the difference. "All three properties aren't just in different stages of development, they are in different areas of town. The first is in an area of town near the country club and there for the real estate as a whole is more expensive over there. The second property I showed you is in a far more agricultural area. The land while more cultivated, and definitely great farming land, it just isn't considered 'prime' in the same way. This property is somewhere in the middle. This one is a real jewel of the Bluegrass! This one of a kind seventy five acre property is a magnificent estate that has just undergone an extensive restoration. The centerpiece is a seventeen thousand square foot manor house with six bedrooms, an enormous gourmet kitchen and butler's pantry, expansive master suite, elevator, office wing with three guest apartments. It has a very modern open floor plan with intricately detailed wood work, soaring ceilings, arched doorways, and hardwood floors throughout. You also have quite a lot of unfinished square feet under the house…an unfinished basement runs the whole length and breadth of the house. Even more there is a thirteen thousand square foot pool house which contains a heated twenty-nine x sixty two foot pool, two hot tubs, and huge entertainment area. You will enjoy the 4 car garage with two apartments above for staff or extra guests; a tennis court; and a pond that has a waterfall and three fountain accents. A twenty stall barn completes this fantastic property. Plus with the extra land you can easily build the out buildings that you'd still need."
The last listing took a lot longer to complete the walk through of because there was just so much to see. The house was lovely with all the space they would possibly need. The master suite included his and her dressing rooms and suitably large walk in closets. The master bath wasn't quite to their tastes, the floor was unheated Carrera marble and would not only be unpleasant on cold winter nights but was extremely high maintenance and the flooring wasn't well matched to the rest of the bathroom. Sam and Mercedes found it invaluable to have Dwight and Alfred with them on the walk through. Dwight knew what could and couldn't be changed quickly and Alfred, with his HGTV and DIY Network addiction, was really helpful as well since he was conversant on how long the changes would take and the rough costs. Such as replacing the countertops in the kitchen that Mercedes felt didn't match the light cherry cabinetry at all or completely replacing every fixture in the two, matching, half baths on the first floor, or landscaping the garden which, though nicely large, was just a grassy area when they toured the house.
As they walked through the pool house, Alfred pointed out a real concern for him. The pretty antique silver lever like door openers. "You'd definitely need to replace those door handles with something that a toddler wouldn't be able to open if they have half a second where they can slip away from you." Mercedes noted that the pool house locker rooms were well done and warm despite the chill and snow outside. The barn and paddock were perfect, however, according to both Dwight and Sam. They felt the same way about the equipment 'shed'. Which while too small for the tour buses did have a nearby empty area that was the right size for them to build their 'homes away from home' a home of their own.
Once they saw everything that the property offered, they returned to Ms. Ritter's office. While in the car, the dads helped their children start the number crunching and pro and con analysis of the three properties. They called Nicolette and Sam's accountant Bernice and had them quickly and quietly do the work of applying for a joint mortgage for the duo. Given their investment portfolio and low credit to income ratio, they were prequalified in the time it took them to make the thirty minute drive back to the Justice Real Estate offices. As soon as they arrived back in the office, they were able to quickly hammer out an offer. They went in at half a million under asking price since there were many renovations they felt were needed. Of course they made it contingent upon a ninety percent or above positive evaluation from a home inspector of their choosing.
Whether it was because the house had been viewed more than twenty times but theirs was the first real offer, or just because the sellers were fans, they didn't know…but the offer was accepted as written. Pending the home inspection, Sam and Mercedes had their first home together. They returned to Nashville in high spirits and on Monday morning, before Mercedes and her friends had to catch their flight back to LA, the couple and Toni met in Simon's office and signed the prenuptial agreement they had hammered out with their attorneys while on tour. It was a very equitable arrangement that basically said that all intellectual property, from before or during the marriage was retained as the property of the creator and any joint assets would be liquidated and the proceeds thereof evenly divided in the event of a dissolution of the marriage. Other than actually getting it done, they were ready to be married.
The Ritz Carlton Hotel
Monday, December 7th, 2020
New Orleans, LA
Constance Jones and Mary Evans had really, really had a blast planning the wedding of their children. So much so that they were almost sorry that it was time for all those plans to come to fruition. It was probably even more fun for them because they had only done the planning; all the hard decisions were left to the bride and groom. Budget, colors, theme, how many and exactly who to invite all the hard things were chosen by the kids. Sam and Mercedes even refused to allow them to pay for much of anything…that they knew about. They just got to play.
The wedding was to be very elegant and very, very formal, with their careers, Sam and Mercedes could really do no less. They wanted their wedding reception to reflect the holidays, even though their location would never be a winter wonderland. The colors the couple chose were sapphire and steel, a unique combination that seemed perfect for them. However, both Mary and Connie quickly realized that with two such deep colors they would need a lighter color palette for accent, so they added platinum and silver in little places that would make the main colors pop. Mercedes and Sam had selected the favors that people would take away from the reception with them. But the mothers also knew that with so many of the guests coming in from out of town, they needed to do something a little special and very memorable. So Connie and Mary picked a lovely Harry and David's gourmet picnic basket with wine in each of the guests' hotel rooms. The baskets came with a blanket that could have been personalized, but other than making sure that the blankets were the right shade of blue they avoided the personalization as it would cause them too much work. The bride and groom were very sure that their mothers and entourages could handle everything, not considering the fact that their mothers and entourages were all a major part of the wedding itself, so the mothers hired a 'week of' planner, someone who could make sure that everything ran smoothly during the thick of things.
They researched and hired LuLu Alexander, one of the best in the region, to handle the week of details. The baskets and hotel room arrangements had been delivered to LuLu and it was her staff that would make sure that the baskets would be placed in the rooms on the tenth before the guests arrived. The reception guest list had been dissected into seventy five groups of eight and meticulously and rigorously assigned to tables based on similar interests, jobs or hobbies. Both mothers had assigned that job to Simon, giving him copious notes on their relatives. Simon, in turn, had had two of his assistants dig through his industry 'blackmail' files, and put those together with Toni's, added in the notes on the relatives and made sure that each guest or couple would be with a group of people they could have interesting conversation with and avoided putting any people with a history of conflict or negative interactions together. Mary had researched hotels and found several that would work well for their needs. She reserved blocks of rooms for the bulk of the guests at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside and another at the Ritz Carlton New Orleans. The information for booking at either at the reduced rate for the guests of the Jones-Evans wedding hotels was included in all the wedding invitations. The wedding party would be staying in fifteen rooms at the Ritz Carlton. Connie had looked into smaller, exclusive boutique hotels where Sam and Mercedes would spend their wedding night. LuLu had suggested the Windsor Court and Connie had agreed and booked them a Premium Suite on the Club Level. She'd set the check-out date for the seventeenth to give the kids plenty of time to enjoy newly wedded bliss.
The entire wedding party along with Tank, Pamela and Simon, who were going to act as the ushers since Sam had wanted to make Tank and Simon groomsmen, but Mercedes wasn't able to think of another woman she was 'bridesmaids' close to to join Pamela to even out the numbers, arrived in New Orleans and was escorted from the airport to their hotel by six members of the security firm Simon had hired so that Tank, Puck, Trigger and Slick could relax and be groomsmen and ushers rather than security. Check in was smooth as butter, because no one wanted a bad review from anyone associated with Sam Evans or Mercedes Jones. Since Mary had done the booking, Sam and Mercedes ended up in separate rooms.
Though they had shared a room whenever Sam joined her on tour, the couple had gone no further than Mercedes's comfort zone. The outer limit for them of modified second base, handjobs and fingerbangs as Sam called it…digital manipulations to exceedingly satisfying orgasms as Mercedes preferred to refer to it. While Sam pouted, Mercedes loved the traditionalism of it. She knew that he couldn't see her the night before the wedding or on the day of anyway, so to her the two deluxe rooms were perfect. The bridesmaids, groomsmen and ushers were all in similar rooms except for Stevie and Stacey who Mary put into a double deluxe room in the hopes that Stevie would keep Stacey punctual. However the two sets of parents each had a nice balcony suite. It gave them space to stretch out while making calls, and it also let the men have room to seduce their loves somewhere other than a bed. The younger part of the wedding party would never realize exactly how lucky they were that the parents were four floors away. Santana and Puck and Kurt and Slick were bad enough.
The crews' first day in New Orleans was actually spent making the rounds and checking in with some local vendors and finalizing with others. Sam and Mercedes were the first to head out. They had an appointment at the Orleans' Parish Clerk of court. Santana, Puck and Tank all accompanied them. They had to apply for the marriage license and to do so, they needed certified copies of their birth certificates, their social security cards, their drivers' licenses, and 'a signed affidavit witnessing that there was no genetic relationship nearer than fifth cousin once removed'. Sam made that joke four times before Mercedes finally punched him in the arm and told him to button it. The Clerk of Court seemed to agree and, though she couldn't hit him, she took great pleasure in reminding Sam that he was in Louisiana, not Mississippi.
As the marriage license was being applied for, Kurt and Tina headed to Bee's Wedding and Event Floral Designs. They were to make sure that the florist had all the flowers they had ordered. The first thing they checked was that he had the twenty five blue 'Ocean Breeze' orchids and twenty five gardenia blooms and for Mercedes bouquet plus one of each to be tied together to form Sam's boutonniere. Tina carried with her the steel gray and sapphire satin ribbons that the florist would need to complete their order. Connie had had the thirty five yards of the exact right colors purchased to make sure that the colors utilized would fit the scheme perfectly. In addition to the flowers for the bride and groom, they also checked on the blue anemones for Santana's nosegay and the magnolias for the other five bridesmaids' nosegays. They were also to check to make sure that he had the blue hydrangea and Madagascar jasmine petals that Beth would be throwing on the specially made sapphire blue runner with steel gray edging. Magnus, the florist, also showed them centerpieces; one six inch Nikko blue hydrangea mophead surrounded by enough of the Madagascar jasmine blooms to create a two inch wide ring around the hydrangea presented in seven inch square silver cubed vases. "I've got about a million blue phlox clusters to go in the aisle stoppers. Darryl has the stands all ready to go." Magnus St. John said with a wide grin. He even had Connie's requested the heartleaf crambe to act as filler in the place of baby's breath in all of their arrangements.
Sam, Puck and Tank returned Mercedes and Santana to the hotel and drove to Andrew's Welding and Blacksmith Shop to look over the hundred two foot tall fleur de lis shaped metal flower stands that the blacksmith and master metal worker, Darryl Reeves, had spent several months creating for them. Mercedes, Sam and each member of the wedding party would take one home at the end of the week, but that still left eighty that they were going to donate to the church. Mr. Reeves had also utilized his connections with the Louisiana Master's guild to get the six hundred pewter fleur de lis place card and seventy five taller table card holders for the tables at the reception made at quite a reduced cost. The mothers were determined to keep all of those, though neither Sam nor Mercedes could quite figure out why. Mr. Reeves would be delivering all of his work to the venues the morning of the wedding.
The mothers, Mercedes, and Santana had the job of meeting with the church's wedding director and music coordinator. The four women decided on a divide and conquer approach allowing Mercedes and Santana to work with Colleen Maher, the music coordinator. Mercedes had a list of the songs she hoped to have played or sung at the ceremony. However the church had their rules and wanted the final say. "There was a time, as little as five years ago when no secular music was allowed at all, now we just ask for oversite over the lyrics to be sung in the sanctuary." Mrs. Maher told them with a sweet, but steely, smile. Corinne Bailey Rae was going to serenade her friend's nuptials with her love song,'Like A Star'. That one was easily passed through. There was some back and forth about 'In Love With You' by Erykah Badu and Stephen Marley, that Jake and Marley Puckerman would be singing for them. Mrs. Maher couldn't seem to see past the song's original artists, but when she saw that the lyrics were completely innocent and just spoke of a love that neither singer would give up just to appease others, Ms. Maher finally gave her approval. 'The Prayer', which Shelby would be singing and 'I Found You' which Tamela Mann had agreed to do for the ceremony were both religious songs and thus no brainers. Upon getting their invitation, Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood had asked if they could sing at the ceremony. Mercedes said yes so fast it would have made a head spin. Then when he told them that they wanted to sing 'To Make You Feel My Love' she damn near cried. Mercedes Jones loved that song in almost every incarnation. Tim and Faith were singing to them as well, but since 'I Need You' was less church appropriate, the older couple had offered to serenade the couple during their first dance. The trio of friends also met with the church's organist, Jonathan Szymanski, who agreed that he would have no trouble learning the instrumental version of 'Safe and Sound' as the wedding party entered. Artie and Sam's steel guitar player would be accompanying him on the soft and melodic entrance. He was already well versed with both 'At Last' and 'A Thousand Years' which were songs that they wanted him to play as everyone exited. Wrapping up, Mercedes was very happy that the programs, which had already been printed, would remain as they were.
In another office, Constance DuBois Jones was reigning as queen. "Now, as we agreed upon, here are the required fees and I'm happy to see that you got our donation of the two fully decorated Christmas trees for the front of the church." She started sweetly. They had made the donations so that the church's trees would fit the blue and silver color scheme of the ceremony since the guidelines they had sent her clearly stated they couldn't change any of His Holy Name Jesus' holiday décor.
"We greatly appreciate the gift." Elizabeth Broekman, the Wedding Director, smiled serenely. "This has been the first time that the church has had professionally decorated trees for the season. Dr. Jones, your mother and father have already spoken to Father Ignatius and he is quite looking forward to performing the sacrament for their Little Mercy. They are very proud of both you and your daughter." She said affably. "Now have the bride and groom completed the necessary requirements?"
As she was the one carrying the bulk of the paper work, Mary was the one to answer the bureaucratic woman. She and Dwight had actually fought over using the church since the cathedral was what Mary considered 'stupidly rigid' in their wedding sacrament guidelines. They had been surprised to realize that Connie had been raised Catholic, but Dwight was happy as a clam that Sam would be marrying in a catholic church. Mary didn't disagree with him, but even their parish priest thought the amount of paperwork they required was excessive. "Yes, here are both Sam and Mercedes' baptismal certificates completed at six months old for Sam and at nine years old for Mercedes signed by the performing priest and pastor dated five months ago, Sam and Mercedes' initial interviews with both our parish priest and Mercedes' home church Pastor completed in May. Their completed pre-marital inventory, the certificate of attendance for the qualified online marriage preparation program, pre-marital affidavits, and certification from our parish priest that Sam and Mercedes completed FOCCUS training with him via Skype last month." She handed the woman a whole sheaf of papers. Mary could have emailed all in or delivered it on a flash drive for the woman's ease. But she didn't. Mary really enjoyed the thought of the woman having to scan everything into the church's system…hopefully by hand.
"Oh, and here are the required certified copied of both of their birth certificates as well." Connie added before the officious woman across the desk could even begin to ask.
"Thank you and I received emails from both Father Mulcahy and Pastor Pinckney granting permission to have the ceremony here rather than at either St. Christopher's in Dickson or at St. Paul AME in Lima. " Mrs. Broekman told them with a grin. "I do still need to see the dresses. You received the guidelines for apparel for weddings here, yes, no?"
Connie just nodded. "Oui." She whipped out her iPad and pulled up pictures of all the dresses. The Ines Di Santo, ultra-white Italian como shantung ball gown with off-the-shoulder sleeves and Baroque beaded appliques which boasted a sheer net of Swarovski Crystals across the neckline and corseted bodice that Mercedes would be wearing. The ZAC Zac Posen fitted V-neck satin gown in steel gray, that Santana would be wearing and finally the Theia sleeveless V-neck mermaid gown in lined sapphire silk charmeuse that the rest of the bridesmaids would wear. If the dresses were all shown on the models that the stores' websites used to advertise their wares rather than the more substantially endowed women who would really wear them…that was neither here nor there; Constance had done as the woman requested. The important thing was that Mrs. Broekman signed off on everything before they left her office that afternoon.
Slick and Trigger spent the afternoon at L&R Security, getting everything in place and making sure that the firm knew of the needs inherent with an event that would play host to so many A-list celebrities and their families. Mercedes' record label was paying the company's rather exorbitant fee to handle all the security for the wedding party all week, the security for the Bridal Brunch, the Groom's Luncheon and all of the wedding activities on Saturday and the large DuBois family picnic that was being held the following day, though no one really believed that Mercedes and Sam would actually attend. Simon and Toni headed to the reception venue and walked through the timeline for set up and everything right down to the smallest detail, including having security walking the perimeter for the entire day rather than just during the reception as Dr. Jones had originally arranged. Only then did they sign off on the final contract on behalf of their world famous clients. They also double checked with the car service that was providing shuttles between the airport and the Hilton on Friday when most of the guests were arriving, and then on Saturday the same service was providing all the necessary transportation for the guests; to the wedding, to the reception, back to the hotel…all of it. The company had been recommended by the record label as well, though Sam and Mercedes were paying for that service.
While the two, rather overprotective, managers made mincemeat of the coordinator at Southern Oaks Plantation; she actually had three fingers of whiskey when they finally left they had been that nit-pickingly insane; Tasha DuBois had popped over to the hotel, grabbed up Stevie and Stacey and driven to meet with the DJ Southern Oaks required that they used. New Orleans Party Sound did have good reviews online so they were at least hopeful. The three of them worked together with Marion Percival to create a music list that would please the Evanses, Sherringers, the DuBoises and the Joneses as well as all the friends and industry people that were invited to attend. Tasha asked if there would be a place where Sam and Mercedes' stage musicians could rock out with any of their industry friends who might want to sing or whatever. Mr. Percival assured her that there would be no problem and he it would be no trouble at all to provide microphones and such.
He showed them a slideshow he'd created just pulling images from the net including an image of Sam from the Grammys. "I had the idea because I remember watching the show that night, and the camera panned over the audience to show crowd reactions to Ms. Jones performance and thinking that Mr. Evans looked like he wanted to climb on that stage and propose right then. When Verity called me and told me that your family had booked the plantation for their wedding, it was easy to create this slideshow that showed the development of their whole relationship." Stevie pulled out his phone and gave the man some at home shots of the couple that no one outside the family would have had access to. Of course Tasha made sure that he agreed that nothing but the public shots that were readily available to anyone would be used in the future if he chose to use the slideshow in his promotional materials.
While Connie and Mary had given everyone else their assignments, Alfred and Dwight had decided early that they would handle meeting with the photographer and the videographer. They made the arrangements to meet both together. Christopher and MaryClaire Serio represented Bride Films, the videographer and Sarah Mattix was there representing her photography studio. The dads held their meeting in the M Bistro downstairs in their hotel. As soon as the vendors were seated, Alfred launched right in. "Alright, let's get thing straight right from the get go. We're going to need SEVEN full albums and the digital versions of the videos…plus I personally want a copy of the video in every format you can think of. This is not the usual setup. You do not and will not own the copyright of the pictures. You will not be allowed to retain the negatives or raw footage. Now if you can do that then you are the right people for us. If not then we can and will make an appointment with Studio Vieux Carre and Arte De Vie for this afternoon. Any questions?"
"Umm…just why do you need so may full albums?" Christopher Serio asked confusedly. His bride of six years poked the hell out of him for asking that. She looked even more embarrassed because it wasn't their charge. That directive pertained to Sarah, not them. But in Christopher's mind their directive mad a lot of sense. With the way technology had evolved having the video on multiple medias was just good planning.
Alfred laughed but decided to answer the rather nosy question. "It's a tradition in my wife's family, the DuBois's, to give the grandparents and parents copies of the wedding album. Connie, my wife, decided that we would also give my father a copy as well. Plus the kids are on the road. I want one for each of them to have in their tour buses as well as one for their home."
Mr. Serio looked as if he got it and he turned the question asking over to his wife. "Since there would be nothing for our portfolio from this experience, would Mr. Evans or Ms. Jones be willing to write a letter of recommendation for us to put in the place of the usual screenshot or clip?"
Dwight smiled. "Oh no my dear, the kids will do even better than that. If they are happy with your services, the finished product and you leave their private lives out of your public materials they will utilize your services in the future whenever they have tour stops in the state whenever you're available and they will allow you to take a video letter of recommendation. The same offer extends to you Ms. Mattix."
It was hard to tell who was more excited to jump on that bandwagon and in the end the contracts were signed with the stipulations that the celebrities required. Photography and videography for the bridal brunch, the groom's luncheon, the wedding, the reception… the works were secured with Constance and Mary's preferred vendors and they had had a great lunch. After lunch Dwight got a call from Alicia Ritter to let him know that the kids' house had passed inspection with flying colors, though the inspector did warn that they were about five to seven years out from having to replace the roofs on the main house and the pool house, but the barn roof looked to have been recently replaced. So they had found a great videographer and a great photographer on their first try. Sam and Mercedes' house was one step closer to becoming a home for them. Plus they were done in time to do some sight-seeing before they were expected to get dressed for dinner with Constance's mother and father. All in all the dads were quite happy with how their day had gone.
Deja and Pamela, however, were not. The first part of their assignment had gone off without a hitch. They had seen Tracey of Face by Trace and walked through what would be required of her. Pamela made sure that she was well aware that she would be working with everyone but Mercedes, because the only people who touched that face were Mercedes, her momma and Deja, "we will be supplying everything. All tools and brushes and foundations and palettes. You will supply your time, your talent and your energy, if there is anything special that you'd like to make sure we have on hand, or any types of equipment you are completely uncomfortable using, just text me. The wedding party consists of six women of color including the bride's maternal grandmother and not including the bride; four black women, one Asian and one Latina. Probably Tina will work with the makeup artist from the other firm we are bringing in to do the white members of the family while Santana will want to work with you." Pamela explained. "You come highly recommended by the bride's cousin and her aunt. Will you be able to handle the job, or do you need help?" Tracey wasn't just confident that she could handle the job, she was also very willing to bring along a second pair of hands in her apprentice who was fresh out of cosmetology school but showed a lot of promise and would be able to do a lot of the prep work and set up. They concluded the meeting by signing the contracts and having Tracey sign the non-disclosure agreements. Tracey and her apprentice would handle the makeup not only for the big day, but also for the bridal brunch and the rehearsal dinner so that she would have worked out any kinks or problems before Saturday.
Their second meeting was where the trouble began. The black hairstylist that Tasha's childhood best friend had recommended arrived for their meeting thirty five minutes late. When she finally got there she spent more time texting than actually listening to what Pamela had to say and when she was told that the bride wouldn't be using her services she actually came out the side of her neck with, "that's okay. If I just say I was the hairstylist for the bridal party, everyone will assume that I did her hair any way." Knowing that she was seconds away from snatching the other woman bald, Deja just stood up and walked out of the coffee shop. Pamela followed after telling the unprofessional woman all about herself. By the time Pamela had joined Deja at the rental car, the makeup artist was already on the phone making them another appointment.
Their appointment with Twin Sisters Hair Artistry and Makeup Design was interesting as hell too. The two sisters in question were uncomfortable to the point that Deja finally just stopped talking and stared at them the way they were staring at her and Pam. Finally one of the two women stuttered out an apology, "We're sorry, we just….I guess we were trying to figure out if you were like it." She gestured to Pam.
Pamela rolled her eyes. "Yes. We are both strikingly beautiful women of color. No, Deja is not transgender. Now can we please get to the business of this meeting, or should we go ahead and reach out to Fairytales and Brides."
However across the table, Deja was already packing her things. "Thank you for your time, but I don't see this working out well at all." She was not even for bringing that kind of small minded stupidity around her boss on what was to be the best day of her life.
In the end, Fairytales and Brides was only too happy to handle their three events at the cost they wanted to pay and sign the non-disclosure agreements. It took them less than an hour to work everything out. Gabby proved awesome and even said that she was perfectly capable of giving Tracey a hand if she needed. They had worked a fashion show together and their styles were well known to each other. She gave her a list of the brands that she preferred to work with and was kind enough to put them in contact with a lovely black hairstylist named Miquelle who was ecstatic to be offered the opportunity to work with Gabby's crew and Tracey. By the time Deja and Pamela left they were sure that the three main events of the weekend would go off without a hitch.
That evening, the entire bridal party along with Mercedes Grand'Pere and Grand'Mere, Kenneth and Ophelia DuBois sat down for dinner at Herbsaint on St. Charles Place. Kenneth DuBois was a striking man of average height with deep, rich, mahogany skin and the upright bearing of a man half his age. However, his beautiful wife of sixty three years was very clearly dependent on her cane. Ophelia, despite her infirmity, was still clearly the matriarch of the DuBois clan. Sam had met her during Mercedes' tour stop in the historic city and he swore up and down if Mercedes didn't already have his heart, he'd have tried to steal her away from Mr. Kenneth. The food was great, the company was even better. Connie and Mary got reports from everyone and Toni and Simon updated their information on the hair and makeup service providers. Kurt and Tina had news that they needed to know as well. "Magnus has everything in complete readiness…but there is no outstanding balance, and the deposit will be refunded into your account Dr. Alfred. Apparently Sam, your record label called him and told him that as their gift to you two, they are handling the bill for the flowers."
Connie smiled. "Okay…wow. That is not something that we're going to even think about complaining about. Those 'Ocean Breeze' orchids were not cheap."
Kurt smiled, "I thought you would like hearing that." The rest of the night was fun and they all had a lovely time.
Tuesday saw the women enjoying a lovely day at the Ritz Carlton spa. Then that evening they made sure that everything was in readiness with the favors and all the clothing and everything that they would need for Saturday. They gathered in the living room of the Jones' suite after dinner and went down the checklist that Connie and Mary had given them for apparel, Shelby and Beth were skyped in, they wouldn't be able to be there in person until Friday because school was still in session for Beth and she couldn't miss an entire week. "Alright, last thing, it is supposed to in the mid-forties Saturday and drop even further in the evenings. I am sure that you each brought sweaters or something to wear in the cold, but…" Alfred and Dwight came out with six gift boxes. They handed Mercedes the white wrapped box. Santana happily took the one wrapped in silver paper and the other five were wrapped in blue paper and each of the rest of the bridesmaids received one. "we wanted to thank you for all you have done and are doing to take care of our children and make sure that their lives and their special day are wonderful. So the four of us, the parents of these two extraordinary people, got you these."
Mercedes and Santana quickly had theirs open. Unlike the other women they were straight up paper rippers. Inside their boxes were matching black and white Sofia Cashmere fox fur-trimmed cashmere u-capes. Tina was the first of the bridesmaids to get her box open. The bridesmaids found beautiful black Armani Collezioni genuine rabbit fur collars. Connie and Mary had worried that one of the younger women might object to getting real fur, but not a single girl was anything but happy. "Shelby, we didn't forget about Beth. We got her a jacket made of black fur, but it is faux. It will be in your room when you get here." The thanks were huge. "We started to hold these all back until Friday night, but we know that you will be getting your gifts from Cedes and Sam that night." They had a grand ball playing with their furs that night. It was almost as if they couldn't resist running their fingers through the soft fur.
The next morning the women were all up and dressed and gathered in the lobby by eleven. Tracey, Miquelle, Gabby and her crew arrived at nine and worked in the modified shop that had been set up in Deja's room. The bridal party took turns getting their hair and makeup done and the ladies were all very efficient but they also listened to what the woman wanted and talked them through what would look best with their coloring and hair. As fitting the occasion, Mercedes was in a gorgeous white dress. The Christian Siriano silk dolman gown had a deep V neckline, short dolman sleeves, a V'd draped bodice. It was drawn in at Mercedes' natural waist with inverted pleat ruffles skirt; thigh-high front slit and was finished off with an arched hem slightly extends in back giving it a very flowing silhouette. She had a pretty black and purple pashmina shawl to fend off the December chill. For the brunch, Santana and the bridesmaids had agreed to stick with the wedding colors, but not force the same level of conformity they would exhibit at the ceremony. Santana looked like she was ready for either brunch or the court room in a beautiful cobalt blue La Petite Robe di Chiara Boni Saskia three quarter length sleeve peplum dress. The jersey dress had wide boat neckline, asymmetric peplum waist and was truly form fitting with a pencil skirt with faux-wrap and inset. Toni looked smart and sweetly pretty in a heather gray Halston cashmere off-the-shoulder sweater dress. Tina's dress was in navy blue lace over nude satin Tadashi Shoji lace overlay A-line midi dress.
Deja's dress was a dove gray Maggy London gathered crepe sheath dress that came to her knees and followed her curves nicely. Stacey's dress was the exact same color as Santana's and looked pretty and young, but definitely appropriate for the occasion. She loved the fact that she found the Felicity & Coco midi sheath dress on sale for half off. Tasha's dress was a floor length lace bodice dress that was royal blue with the blue lace over beige lycra showing off her not inconsiderable curves. Both mothers chose to wear simple gray dresses. Connie's was an adorable Nue by Shani faux leather & ponte fit & flare dress that ended at her knees. Mary went with a Vera Wang Asymmetrical Long Sleeve Sheath Dress with ruching to give the dress visual interest and make Mary's subtle curves seem more defined. They stopped by the house Connie had been raised in and picked up Ms. Ophelia and she was wearing a nice navy and ivory Eliza J geo print jersey faux wrap maxi dress.
The restaurant was filled with Dubois women and several of Mercedes old and newer friends who felt like making the trip. The restaurant, Apolline, was actually closed for the morning for the event. Every one ate, drank and made merry. The mimosas were amazing as were the 'shrimp bloodys' and most of them had a new favorite shrimp and grits. Each of the women brought Mercedes a gift of beautiful lingerie or a gift card so that she could pick out her own. The brunch was just about over due to inebriation, as was evidenced by the fact that Lauren, who came down from Baton Rouge where Raw and Smackdown were filming that week, was tipsy enough to treat them all to a reprisal of her 'I Know What Boys Like' performance from high school. It was made completely clear when Faith Hill and Trisha Yearwood got up there and acted as her background singers. That afternoon the ladies took a sight-seeing tour of the city and did some shopping, just all around having fun. They had dinner out before returning to the hotel.
Thursday morning was the men's turn. They got up and got dressed in clothes they could be comfortable in and went to the Lakewood Golf Club to have lunch and play several rounds of golf with the men Sam had elected to share the momentous occasion with. The gifts to Sam were all tech based for either sports or his music. Only Kurt and Slick gave him something Mercedes could enjoy too. The couple gave him a set of silk boxers and matching robes for everyday of the week. While the women relaxed at the hotel, the men made their own fun. Kenneth DuBois had spent his whole life in New Orleans, he took his soon to be grandson-in-law and the other men of the bridal party to his 'club'. An old fashion 'Gentlemen's Club' with a history that stretched back centuries and was much like Whites in London. He watched Sam carefully. The club employed some of the most beautiful women of all races, colors and creeds in the whole state of Louisiana…Kenneth knew that Sam had passed his ultimate test because he didn't pay any attention to any of them. Then again he was fighting for his life as he played Texas hold 'em against Garth Brooks, Tim McGraw, Kenneth's own son, Brandon and Puck. Watching the game, Kenneth could see the closeness and respect all the men at the table had for each other, but it was sure as hell every man for themselves and there was no holding back going on at all.
Friday, everyone slept late. The men had been out late the night before and the women had been up late all of them chilling out in Mercedes room giving her tons of sex advice. Even the mothers chimed in a time or two. The best part was that several of them were taking notes their damn selves. The ladies had enjoyed their girl talk with several bottles of wine and champagne. The gentlemen had enjoyed their poker and blackjack and other card games with whiskey, bourbon or scotch. Even Stacey and Stevie were allowed to partake in the very controlled, family enriched environments. Suffice it to say they were all very, very drunk when they went to sleep and at least a little bit hung the next morning.
Unfortunately for them, Friday morning was a very bad day for sleeping in. Fortunately for the entire group, Kenneth DuBois had connections everywhere, even with the concierge at the Ritz Carlton and that they could not be allowed to be late. Kenneth let the young man know that the Jones-Evans party was due at the church by two. The young, ambitious and efficient concierge had a word with his manager and at ten o'clock each room registered to the party received a call from the switch board to get them started on the path to wakefulness. They were then further awakened by room service delivering a cart with a selection of pain relievers, a pot of Sumatra bold roast coffee, a selection of jin hou tea and several different breakfast teas tea bags, as well as sugars, creamers and milk. Also on the cart were the hotel's signature beignets and croissants. The very intelligent young man even gave every guest in their party an order of bacon to accompany the pastries.
Grand'Pere was a very wise man. It was the perfect start for the day. And the timing gave them the necessary time to pull themselves together so they no longer appeared hung over when they reported to the church for the rehearsal. Mrs. Broekman was quite the capable individual. She introduced everyone to Father Ignatius and gave them the order of the sacrament then they got right to work. If the ladies looked interesting in their comfortable yoga pants and customized blue and silver hoodies that stated their name and 'position' on the front and had the words 'Love Only Once' and Jones Evans Wedding with the date and time and the city encircling Sam and Mercedes decked out like they were on the cover of a bodice ripper on the back. Each woman had paired the comfy clothing with their sparkly high heels. The girls were a little surprised that no one made any comment other than Mrs. Broekman who asked if she could add that to her 'tips for brides' blog. The gentlemen were all similarly in comfortable clothing and dress shoes, but other than Kurt it was rather difficult to even see their shoes with their heavy pants in the way.
The priest talked to them about the order of events for the service and introduced them to the Cantor for the service. The gentleman was actually an old friend of Mercedes' grandparents and had asked Father Ignatius to act as their cantor since he had been invited to the wedding by the family anyway. Mr. Christophe wouldn't accept the cantor's fee either, so that was a nice little gift to the couple. Mercedes and her mother both offered him hugs in thanks and he asked Mercedes if she knew the difference in the two type of services available. "Yes, Ms. Mary explained it to me. Even though I'm not catholic, I am baptized in a Christian faith so I can have the ceremony or I can have the ceremony with the mass. But given that have so many guests of different faiths and a lot of them are agnostic if not outright atheists…well, we talked it over with Father Mulcahey in Dickson and decided that we would just have the ceremony without the mass. He felt that with six hundred guests, the four parents, three grandparents, and sixteen members of the bridal party including me and Sam…communion alone will take forever."
Father Ignatius looked a little relieved. "I must admit that I too felt that the longer service would stretch out far too long given the sheer number of guests. However, I would like to offer you the chance to have a short mass and communion before the ceremony. Miss Jones, while you may not be catholic, many of our young women would be very well served by following your wonderful example of upright living. The fact that you have chosen to do so and remain humble in your pursuit of your relationship with Christ, it should be lauded."
Sam came up behind Mercedes, his hand unerringly finding the small of her back, "thank you very much for that Padre." He accepted with a grin. "Tank just pulled up with the bride's other grandfather and our flower girl so we can get started whenever you're ready."
Beth ran in and jumped into her father's arms, followed at a more sedate pace by her mother and her godmother's body guard. Pamela came in walking with Gerard Jones discussing something that had them both teetering on the edge of amusement and exasperation. Once Beth had finished hugging her daddy and found her god mother and squealed for several long minutes over the ring and the pictures of the dress Mercedes had sent her, she turned to Sam and with a hard glint in her eyes she dropped her voice so the priest nearby wouldn't hear her and calmly said, "When Daddy brought me to meet you, I liked you Sam…really I still do…I think that over all you are real good people. But Cedes is my godmother. She took care of me before I was even born. She has never missed a birthday or holiday calling me or seeing me…even when she was living in a dorm, doing a full course load and working full time as a backup singer she never, ever made me feel anything less than loved and cherished. She would sit on the phone and pray with me for hours when I was so scared that Puck wasn't gonna make it home that all I could do was cry. If you hurt her, I won't kill you, not at first. What I will do is drive you slowly insane until the only thing that breaks through the shell of your psychosis is the pain that I use to make you beg for the release of death."
Mercedes and Sam looked at the pixie pretty, brunette, ten year old in front of them. Both of their chins were resting against their necks in shock. Mercedes' eyes snapped around the church looking for… "That is it, Little Girl, you and Santana cannot converse without supervision ever, never, ever again."
Beth just shrugged as her godmother pulled her into an overprotective hug. "Not Tana…Momma said that you once told her a vague disclaimer is no one's friend…I've been trying to figure out what to say for months." Beth mumbled loudly against the boobs her face was smooshed against.
"See Darlin' you have only yourself to blame. And you, Lil Missy, I will turn myself over to you for whatever damage you end up wreakin' on me if I ever hurt her." Sam promised solemnly.
Beth finally gave him a hug and they drifted behind Mrs. Broekman, who'd been trying to corral the twenty eight of them for a tour of the church. She showed them the chambers where the bride could repair herself after the drive over from their hotel where she and her entourage would be getting dressed. Then she took them into the room where the groom and his groomsmen would wait. She showed them the back areas that contained the restrooms they would be able to use so none of the guests would see them before the ceremony. She showed the women of the wedding party and Alfred the very clean and well lit hallway that would take them from the back to the front of the church unseen. Then the Father took back over and led them through the order of the ceremony three times. Because there was going to be so much music, it would take almost as long as a regular ceremony plus mass, which further cosigned the fact that they had made the right decision as to what kind of ceremony to have.
They ran through the order of service twice, Santana and Puck filling in for Marley and Jake who couldn't make it in time for the rehearsal but were arriving later that night or early the next morning depending on which of them was answering the phone. Corinne, Tamela, Shelby and Garth and Trisha were all present and accounted for as were the church organist and the musicians and Artie who were going to accompany him. They had everything all worked out and were finished by four fifteen. The rush to get back to the Ritz was ridiculous, but they were to meet the makeup artists and hair stylists in the lobby at five, to get prepared for the rehearsal dinner which was scheduled to begin at seven thirty.
The women were all on time, even if the wedding party was a few minutes late. Beth, Shelby and Mary are the fastest done with their showers, so Gabby's team start there. Deja, Pamela and Toni were the first ones to make it to Miquelle's and Tracey's chairs. Ophelia and Kenneth were changing in Constance and Alfred's room, but since Ophelia moved slower than she would have preferred, she forced her daughter and son-in-law to take the first round of showers, despite how they argued. Since she had the time, Constance dressed with care before heading to get her hair and face done. She appeared ready but for her dress as soon as they were done with the first set. She ended up seated next to Tasha and Santana all of them missing only their dresses. Tina and Stacey were done up and released to go throw on their dresses and Tracey sent Santana over to Gabby's hair stylist since Miquelle was still busy. Tracey took care of Ophelia's makeup and the grandmother returned to slip into her dress. Her hair had been done for the weekend early that morning while the rest of the wedding party had still been asleep and she wouldn't need it touched until she went back to her regular hair dresser to have it taken down and put into her normal style on the Monday following the event filled weekend.
Mercedes came in looking amazing in a knee length, navy blue La Petite Robe di Chiara Boni signorina long-sleeve ruched cocktail dress and a pair of matching sky high heels. She had been very specific with everyone, the rehearsal dinner was cocktail dresses and suits without ties. The ultra-formal would be the wedding and reception, not the rehearsal dinner. Dwight and Mary had been very, very, very firm in the fact that they were paying for the rehearsal dinner. They did let Sam help some, but in their minds the dinner was their jobs. Plus, that way Mary got to take the main lead in the planning. She swore that with the engagement gala added in, Constance had had more fun planning stuff than she did, so Mary wanted her night.
With some help from the staff at the Ritz, she got it. Renting the Audubon meeting room and having it set up for a sit down dinner for a hundred was easy. Talking them into letting the florist in after five for a dinner starting at seven thirty was more difficult, but Mary had persevered. She didn't want anyone to see the table scape and décor she had elected to have done. For the rehearsal dinner she'd hired Nola-Flora and they had worked together to create a nice simple table scape. Thankfully even though they were a florist, they were perfectly willing to go nontraditional and avoid floral centerpieces all together. Instead they placed a variety of eleven glass and crystal candle holders of varying heights in a ring around a center silver one. Each held a blue no drip taper.
The place settings were white with alternating silver and blue edging on the different parts of the service. Mary snuck down to the room and let herself in, it took her little time, and a little help from the Ritz Carlton staff but she had a perfect love song playlist going audibly in the background, loud enough that you'd be able to hear the words if you were listening, but hear any conversation you wanted to have at the same time. She looked around the room and decided it was perfect. She had decided that she wanted a buffet style dinner since she flat our refused to do place cards or take orders on who wanted what. The staff was more than willing to serve everything exactly how she wanted it. She thanked them all profusely and snuck back up to her and Dwight's room.
At seven fifteen, Mary, Dwight, Stevie, Stacey and Sam escorted the rest of their family, including all of Mercedes aunts and uncles, a lot of her first cousins, Sam's Uncle Ronnie and Aunt Barb and Cousin Maggie, friends and the priest, wedding director, music coordinator and organist from His Holy Name Jesus Church into the Audubon room. Mary and Dwight welcomed everyone and told them all how happy they and their whole family were for Sam and Mercedes. Then Father Ignatius gave thanks for the wonderful food and they attached the buffet.
Whether due to traveling or late nights and early to them mornings, most of the room was famished. The Buffet offered four choices of displayed hors d'oeuvres; blackened chicken satay with lemon rosemary sauce, mini lump crab cakes and garlic aioli, pulled duck "gumbo" slider with Cajun pickle, or crispy vegetable spring roll with thai chili sauce for dipping. Then there were two large display stations. The artisanal cheese display had a wide variety of assorted artisanal cheese, fresh local jams, mustards, sticky pecan fresh baked focaccia, ciabatta, rice crackers and crostini. The Fruits de Mer where the guests were offered Chilled Seafood like Louisiana oysters on the half shell, boiled gulf shrimps, king crab legs, with their choice of crystal cocktail sauce, remoulade, lemon, tabasco sauce. The 'real food' was next. Mary had forked out for three 'Action stations' where the guests were served their entrée in an interesting or educational way. Her original plan had been just two, one seafood and one not…but then she couldn't make up her mind between two of the seafood ones, and Sam had told her to just get both. Ultimately the wedding party and guests could pick between New Orleans BBQ shrimp & grits which was peeled gulf shrimp cooked in a sauce made with Abita beer, lemon, rosemary, Worcestershire, and butter and served alongside cheese grits and sliced French bread; the Jazz Fest Pasta which offered them Crawfish Monica: fusilli pasta with crawfish, cream, lemon, white wine, green onion or penne primavera with smoked tomato sauce, and spinach, herb roasted seasonal vegetables with shaved parmesan and assorted dinner rolls; or the other seafood choice; Louisiana Crawfish Boil where they had the chance to learn to peel & eat crawfish with the chef attendant…live Louisiana Crawfish and gulf shrimp boiled with creole spice served in a pirogue with andouille sausage, sweet corn on the cob, new potatoes, mushrooms, okra.
Mary sampled everything and so did most of the rest of their party. And that was what it became. Everyone ate drank and made merry. She couldn't have told you what wines the chefs had paired with everything, she asked for moderate priced bottles that were designed to go with the different courses. She also had them offer a full range of Coke products and sweet iced tea. People mingled sometimes conversations began in the buffet line were too good and intense to make it to their seats and instead they just found a spot and stood and ate. Alfred's baby brother, Nate, and his girlfriend, Devlin, and Ronnie Sherringer talked so long that they ended up co-opting a table of their own and Dean, Mercedes' uncle, ended up grabbing one of the younger set to get them things from the buffet. One of her cousins, a tall lanky guy with light skin and hazel eyes, named Vincent, was flirting with Stacey so hard Stevie had ended up having to be distracted by his 'Irish twin' sister Miranda. All over the room people were getting along and building bridges to being more than just people who were there to celebrate a union, they were becoming one great, big, old family.
So many great conversations were happening, Sam and Mercedes almost hated to have to draw things to a close. "Sorry, y'all," Sam pulled everyone's attention to where he and Mercedes stood next to a table full of silver and blue gift bags. "Tradition dictates that we give our bridesmaids and groomsmen their gifts here in front of God and everybody and one of the least traditional people I've ever met made us stick to it. Thanks for that, by the way Santana…" everyone who knew her laughed loudly. Everyone else joined in when she stood took and bow and told them that they were welcome. "Well, while you are up. We can start with you." They presented her with a silver gift bag containing the Tiffany sapphire and diamond Soleste necklace, the sapphire and diamond earrings, and the Burberry watch. Sam had also slipped in a gift card to Mercedes and Santana's favorite LA spa, just because he wanted to get her something too." Beth was called up after Santana sat down. In her bag she had her jewelry from Mercedes and a new tricked out tablet from Sam. The rest of the girls were called up one at a time. Each of them receiving a sapphire blue gift bag that contained the watch, Tiffany diamond and platinum Soleste necklaces and diamond drop earrings, from Mercedes and a five hundred dollar gift card that Sam figured they would appreciate. Well except Stacey, he knew her well enough to know what she liked and what she wanted. So her bag sat on top of a wrapped box containing the very newest MacBook already pre-loaded with every CADD and fashion design software known to man or woman kind.
Then they handled the guys. Each man received a navy blue or steel gray bag containing a men's Burberry watch, and sterling silver cuff links, money clips, tie clips and ball point pens from Tiffany's. They also received a gift card to Neiman Marcus paying them back for the cost of their tuxedos and tailoring. Sam had picked out their gifts, so it was Mercedes' who had gone behind his back and slid in an extra little something. Though she had given them each the same thing. A Delta gift card worth a cool thousand bucks. She figured that would get them a round trip to which ever guys' destination they wanted to have a dude's weekend. She may have also slipped Trey, Kurt, Tank and Puck pretty cashmere sweaters too, but hey she slipped a video game in Stevie's bag and a really nice silk neck tie in Slicks, and tickets to a Titan's football game in Trigger's. So it all evened out.
The parents each got an all-inclusive weekend getaway. Mary got one to a great spa resort outside Chicago for two. Connie got a trip to a Sandals resort of her choice, again for two. Alfred received a Vegas getaway for two, and Dwight also received the choice of weekends at any Sandals resort. The four parents knew exactly what the kids had done. Mary would take Connie to the spa and Dwight would take her to Sandals. Alfred would take Dwight with him to Vegas and Connie and he would have a getaway for the two of them to the Caribbean. The party thought that they could get back to socializing when Brandon DuBois helped his mother to the front of the room. "The women in the DuBois family have a tradition, whenever one marries, she is given her 'something old' to wear. For the last hundred and seventy years, these two diamond hair combs have adorned the hair of the women with DuBois blood flowing in their veins. My mother-in-law was also my godmother, so she bent the rules a little and I wore them myself. Now, Mercedes, the women of the direct DuBois line are down to you and Tasha. But you will have daughters…Sam is a fine man…but Lord have his mercy those girls are gonna be spoiled as all get out, but that DuBois blood, it will give them backbone…and maybe some defense against getting everything they ever bat their little eyes at their Daddy and say they want. It worked just fine for you." The room chuckled. "Oh ma bebe…you are a beautiful young woman…I want you to know as much happiness in your marriage as I have known in mine."
Mercedes was enveloped in the arms of her Grand'Mere and it was strong and giving and loving and perfect. They whispered their 'I love yous' and Ophelia handed her a beautiful rose wood box that contained the antique gold, platinum and diamond combs. Brandon kissed his niece's perfectly coiffed hair and then his mother's beautiful silver locks and escorted her back to where she and Kenneth had held court all night.
"Well," Gerard Jones' booming voice carried to every ear in the room. "Guess it's my turn. Now, HoneyBee, you know how your Grandma loved her some butterflies." He smiled at her as he crossed the banquet hall to join her and Sam.
Mercedes nodded. "She would laugh every time I accidentally called them flutterbyes…so much that even when I was big girl I'd slip it in on her just to make her laugh. I did it the night she passed too…she was so weak it was only a chuckle, but for a little while she was happy again."
"You always made her happy, HoneyBee…you and all your knuckle headed cousins. Anyway, I wanted to give you something that would bring Nadine and you close tomorrow even though she's not physically here. I was at the swap meet, and I overheard a woman telling her daughter that she needed something borrowed and something blue…then I heard a laugh that…let's just say in this world or the next Nadine is still doing all my important shopping because something led me to a booth with estate jewelry…" he pulled out a small white box with a silver bow on top. "I found this. I'm not gonna tell you what I paid for it…oh who am I kidding, that's the second best part of the story…" Mercedes opened the box and found a sapphire and diamond brooch, in the shape of a butterfly. "I paid the guy fifty for it…he had that look on his face like he was getting one over on a stupid old man…then I took it to have it cleaned. Turns out the joke was on him…every stone on that thing is real. Its worth over fifty grand. So, my sweet little HoneyBee, here is your 'something blue'…a gift from your Grandma and me for you to have when you marry your Sam." the big man pulled both of them in for a big hug."
Kenneth DuBois walked forward strong and straight. "I'm sure that everyone wondered why I didn't accompany my beautiful wife up here, and well, it is because I have a gift of my own for one of my beautiful granddaughters. Mercedes, you're My Little Beignet…Oh sorry, I'm not supposed to call you that in public anymore…but Sweet girl, you are loved and a true blessing to this old man. So since you refused to allow this old man to use any of what most of this city is sure are ill-gotten gains of the only black family to have remained free all through slavery," he rolled his eyes. There was nothing illegal in his family's background, well other than some illicit slave freeing, but an unjust law is no law at all… "To pay for your wedding. So I decided that we'd send you and Sam on a trip on us. That lovely little Langlois girl helped us to work around your schedule, so next summer after your world tour is over, you and Sam have a two month stay in Paris courtesy of an old man who loves you more than you will be able to understand until you're a mother and a grandmother yourself."
Mercedes was a crying, hugging, shaking mess…Sam supported her as she loved cried. And helped her to sit while she pulled herself together. The night continued around them as several of her aunts and uncles came up and gave her hugs until she was back smiling and shining and happy. A little before midnight, the party finally wound down, no one wanted to look like they hadn't slept the next day. Sam walked Mercedes to her room door, "In sixteen hours, we're gonna be man and wife, and Mercy Darlin' I'd tell you that no couple in the history of the world has ever loved each other as much as we do…but I heard your grandparents…I've seen your parents and mine…I remember seeing the way my grandparents loved each other. We come from a rich heritage of loving and being loved in ways few people will ever get the chance to know. Thank you for loving me and allowing me to love you."
Here is my Out With A Bang Big Bang Writing Comp Story.
Given the length of the last two chapters, I will post them one at a time until it is fully posted. The story is completely complete and if you want it posted faster, all you have to do is REVIEW!
Si C'est Noel & Les Ames Soeur will be back in the next 2 weeks.
If there is anyone with Beta Experience who is interested in helping me with the Learning French Series, please let me know. I need at least one (though two might be best) more Betas.
Please and Thank you.
Thank you all for your patience.
TTFN,
Anni