Chapter 36
Sunday, September 6, 1987
Not quite two weeks had passed since Lee and Amanda had moved their family into their new house. Amanda had started her new job as head of the Q Bureau, with Mavis Marsden, whose memory for old cases was phenomenal, as her strong right arm; Lee was happy to take some of the administrative load off Billy but insisted that he was still primarily a field operative; James Jeter had blasted through the training program and would be joining Lee as his regular partner after the Labor Day holiday, and the boys would be starting school again on Wednesday the 9th. Leeanne, after some discussion with her parents, had decided to put off returning to college until the Spring Semester 1988, when she'd have turned eighteen; instead, she took a job working as a part-time receptionist for Curt's flying school and began working on getting her private pilot's license.
At three o'clock on a gorgeous autumn afternoon, family and friends who had gathered for Curt and Dotty's wedding and the cookout reception that would follow heard the string quartet the couple had hired to provide wedding music shift from the incidental music they'd been playing to a more formal Bach piece and knew the ceremony was about to begin.
The King boys, both looking very grown-up in new suits, escorted Amanda to the front row and took seats beside her; once Amanda was seated, Curt Weller came in from the side with his son, Tom, who had followed his father into naval aviation and was currently assigned to the air group aboard the USS Carl Vinson as an F-14 Tomcat pilot. At twenty-eight, he was still unmarried, but he'd been seeing a lot of another lieutenant assigned to NAS Alameda, California, where the Vinson was currently berthed, and his father had hopes that she might be 'the one'.
Leeanne came up the aisle next and took her place off to the side, and then the music changed again, Amanda stood up and faced the aisle, and Dotty, dressed in a pink chiffon tea-length gown that dated from the 1940's that she'd found in a vintage clothing shop in Alexandria, came up the aisle on Lee's arm. They reached the archway where Curt waited for his bride, Lee kissed her cheek, and then he stepped back to join Amanda and the boys.
Chaplain Cope began the simple ceremony. He led Curt and Dotty through their vows, pronounced them, and presented them to general applause.
"Now, friends, before the recessional, we have a special treat for you. At Curt and Dotty's request, we have another wedding ceremony to witness today. Most of you know that Lee and Amanda eloped back in February. Since none of their family was present for that ceremony, Dotty has asked that they renew their vows today, and they have agreed. At this time, I am going to ask Lee to step forward with his uncle, Robert Clayton, who will be serving as his honor attendant; Leeanne Stetson will serve as her mother's attendant, and Phillip and James King will escort their mother to the front and remain standing with their mother and stepfather while Lee and Amanda renew their vows."
Curt, Dotty and Tom Weller sat down in the front row seats the Stetson -King family had just vacated, all smiles; at some point Curt passed Dotty a handkerchief when she got a little misty-eyed.
The ceremony was short, and there was no exchanging of rings, since they already wore them, but then Cope said, "Friends, thank you for being here to witness this very special event. You are all very special to Curt and Dotty and Lee and Amanda, and they are very glad that you could be here. Now, before I give Lee permission to kiss his bride, I want every man who is here with the woman he loves to get ready to kiss her when I give the word."
Without hesitation, Clay moved to the row where he'd been seated beside Francine for the first ceremony and put his arm around her.
"Are we ready, gentlemen? Very well. Gentlemen, you may kiss your brides."
As they started down the aisle behind Curt and Dotty, Amanda said, "Did you see Clay and Francine?"
"No, Amanda. I was too busy kissing you."
"If they aren't engaged by Christmas you can have anything you want."
"I never gamble on a sure thing with you, Amanda Stetson; you always win."
"All right, then, if they are engaged by Christmas, you can have anything you want."
"Now that's a bet I can take."
Freeze frame and roll credits. Thank you for your support and encouragement.