Yep. The guest list exists and now the grooms even know about it!
This is shaping up to be a fine wedding indeed!
When Candy'd walked in the Cartwright family home, ready for some high quality company and grub, and instead been greeted by the sight of his beau- his fiancé locked in the tight embrace of another man, a man who'd just pledged his love to Candy's love... well, let's just say the sight hit him.
But when his eyes had finished adjusting to the inside lighting and he'd realized the 'other man' was Joe's big brother Hoss, the spike of shock or maybe even worry or quite possibly fear, left him immediately and he put the ridiculous image out of his mind easily and completely.
At least, after entertaining the entire room with a quip at Hoss's expense. Was the least he could do for the guy, after all.
Then, dinner was phenomenal —Candy knew because the chef stuck around to eat it with them— and the game of checkers he won against Hoss afterward felt like sweet, sweet just deserts and a fine way to top off the night.
The cherry on top came along in the form of Joe following him out as he bid the family fair well for the night and offering him a goodnight kiss. Which he took and exchanged for one of his own quite happily.
It wasn't until after Candy crawled into his bunkhouse bed and the light was extinguished that he again, unbidden as the action may have been, thought of the disturbing image his eyes had stupidly seared into his impressionable brain: Joe in the tender embrace of a stranger, looking content and comforted. By someone who wasn't him. Wasn't Candy.
The suddenly exhausted ranch hand rubbed hard at his face and heaved a sigh, sending up a silent prayer that he didn't turn out to be one of those terrible husbands who was always suspicious of others' intentions. He'd seen enough of them over the years to know that no one could be truly happy in a marriage like that.
Besides, he trusted Joe and, Candy realized as he shifted under his sheet, that was part of why the sight had been such an unexpected shock. He'd never even considered the possibility- the thought had never hinted at occurring to him, that the man he loved... might be taken from him someday.
Be it by someone smarter, more capable, or just plain better than himself; or by some horrid twist of fate that left him bereft and alone. Like the time Joe saving his sorry hide from a drunk's malicious attempt on his life very nearly had.
Candy shuddered and did his best to remind himself that Festus was going away for a very, very long time, and that Joe had made a full recovery and had agreed to be loved, honored, and cherished by this red shirted saddle tramp till kingdom come. And Candy'd agreed he same back.
The anxious groom to be gave another big sigh as he shifted around onto his side and-
"Go to sleep, Canaday!"
And received a wadded up shirt to the face. Which made him and then the entire bunk house laugh. Definitely kept everybody up longer than if that oh so thoughtful someone had just left Candy to his melancholy business. But, that just wasn't the way things worked in a bunkhouse. The way they did work was that Candy was keeping that shirt until morning so he could figure out who'd thrown it and get his grizzly face back. Twice as hard.
The morning after Candy's tiny little pre-marital crisis, which he was pretty sure he'd worked completely through, Pa Cartwright rounded on him soon as breakfast was finished with and set a genial hand on his most accessible shoulder.
"Ready for your final fitting?" The ominous question hit him between the eyes right when his brain decided to take a siesta. On account of being addressed by the head honcho himself. Which, in a disturbing turn of events, was happening more and more frequently these days.
"Uh..." He must have sounded exceedingly intelligent right about then.
"For the suit? For your wedding? Right around the corner?" Asked the senior Cartwright, sounding vaguely like he was attempting to engage in some lighthearted ribbing. Which only nearly didn't terrify the cornered ranch hand further. But at least he now remembered what the older guy was referring to.
"Uh, yep- uh, that is: Yessir! Schedule's cleaner'n a whistle," Candy assured.
"Excellent," the Ben Cartwright said with a clap of his hands. "In that case, I say we saddle up and move out. No time like the present."
"Absolutely! Couldn't agree more," said Candy, happy that his voice was evening out.
"That's the spirit! Now, let's get going before anyone else tries to shirk work and tag along," Pa Cartwright instructed, leading the both of them out the front door and back into town to the little tailor's shop he'd introduced Candy to not ten days previous.
It was only after a goodly while of standing like a statue and occasionally being asked to lift an arm or reach forward that Candy was allowed to exit the textile lined workshop. The tailor ensuring him and his benefactor that he'd need only several minutes for the final adjustments and that he didn't need his subject's body for that part, so the lanky, fidgety guy was welcome to be restless outside if he'd rather.
And boy did Candy rather.
So the Texan snatched his chance at liberation and pushed his way out the creaky front door and breathed in the considerably less fabric-y scents of an early afternoon in town.
Then promptly lost his composure when a knock on wood sound warned him he'd been snuck up on.
"You marryin' the mister who done saved yer life?" The disembodied, familiar voice of a child asked, all bluntness.
Candy glanced beneath his feet, trying to peer through the tiny spaces between boardwalk planks, whence the sound had most certainly come.
"What in Heaven or H-"
"Saw you wearin' somethin' mighty fancy when I peaked through the window. Ol' man in there with ya? Figure he must be the other mister's pa."
"How would you know a lick about any of that?" Candy asked, feeling just a little like his privacy was being infringed upon. By a child hiding under a boardwalk.
"I hear things; see things. Sometimes, I just know things." That last sentence just about gave Candy pause. "But this time, I done heard that Miss Jody, at the gen'ral store plannin' out with her pa fer bein' at yer weddin'. So I know just about e'rythang there is to know 'bout it."
That did give Candy pause. And then an idea of dastardly proportions.
"Well, I bet you don't know nothin' 'bout the giant, delicious chocolate cake that's gonna be served," he said in a self important voice. His own mouth beginning to water at the sumptuous reminder of tasty treats to come.
"Nor the corn that's gonna be boiled and popped, or the whole roasted chickens on platters, or-"
"Buck? Is that you under that filthy boardwalk?" A high voice cut through Candy's food filled daydreams like a hot knife through butter, snapping his head in the direction of a woman taking quick, determined strides as she made her way across the street and right toward him.
He looked down though when the munchkin hiding in the gloom below gasped, the sound followed closely by the pitter patter of an immediate, likely barefooted, retreat.
"You come here this instant! You are missing reading hour and the English teacher is very disappointed in- Ah," the lady broke off in an exasperated huff, just as she reached the walk and bent to peak under it. "There he goes again; never wants to spend a second more indoors than it takes to sleep and sneak some breakfast," the stranger finished as she straightened with a weary shake of her head. More than half sounding as if she was talking to herself.
"Not exaggeratin' just a hair there, Ma'am?" Candy asked, all politeness intact. Feeling some irresistible compulsion to poke his nose exactly where it didn't belong.
"Were it only that I were!" The lady trilled just a tad louder than Candy thought necessary. "That child refuses every attempt that I or the other instructors put forth. I'd be surprised indeed if the poor boy grows to be even passably literate," she ended with a sniff that sounded equal parts frustrated and sad.
"Can't his folks talk some sense into him?" Candy asked. Just in case these 'teachers' had never thought of the possibility.
"Kind sir, I instruct at the orphanage and that half wild child has no parents." She sobered for a moment and smoothed both hands over the front of her black dress before going on. "Unfortunately, I fear that he will continue to unless we can get him to see reason and apply himself. Few prospective parents are interested in a child that won't cooperate." She let out a huff and turned to face Candy fully, offering a polite nod and staying still long enough to say, "I must be back to the children. Good day," before she was off. Heels clicking the opposite boardwalk as she hurried back the way she'd come and disappeared around a corner building.
"Huh. Well I'll be," Candy said to himself. Wondering when it was the town had gone and gotten itself an orphanage.
He thought about it and the fact that it had teachers, of all things, hard enough that he twitched when the shop door opened behind him.
"Well, that went exceptionally, wouldn't you say, Candy?" Asked his boss with a genial clap to one shoulder.
"Uh..."
"Oh, that's right, you've never been fitted before," Ben said as he hiked the paper covered roll that no doubt housed Candy's new 'swanky duds' over one shoulder. "Well, what did you think of the experience?" He asked with an open expression.
"Uh, well, I'm not all that partial to standin' 'round doin' nothin' while somebody eyeballs me for fit-" Candy cut himself off and felt his eyes go wide when he remembered who it was he was talking to. "But I sure am grateful to ya, Mr. Cartwright, for givin' me the opportunity to find it out, a-and fer the fancy new suit," he sputtered, hoping the gratefulness came through alright.
He calmed a little when the man with the silver hair replied with a chuckle.
"Is that so? Well, you're not far off from Joe in that department. He doesn't seem to mind being looked at, but the standing still practically does him in every time," the father said as he began leading them away from the tailor's.
"Heh. Oh, Mr. Cartwright, where're we goin' next? I thought we needed to get back and help with-"
"Oh, they can handle the planning without us for a little longer," the man leading them in a decidedly 'not toward the stables' way reasoned. "I figure, seeing as the fitting went so very smoothly, we have time on our hands for a beer. Wouldn't you agree?"
"Uh- Oh! Yessir, Mr. Cartwright, I couldn't agree more!" The employee being treated to a morning on the town enthused. Meaning every word.
So the two of them pulled up a couple chairs and fresh poured brews and Candy leaned forward to listen carefully as the man who was soon to be his father in-law waxed sentimental about his youngest son. And, though Candy knew it was probably a trick of the indoor lantern light mixing with the sun poring in from outside, it almost looked like Ben's eyes misted up when the tough as nails patriarch mentioned the part where he'd been beginning to think none of his sons was ever going to settle down.
Either way, Candy wouldn't have traded the conversation for anything, because it helped him realize, more so than he already had, just how much the man sitting in front of him truly loved his kids. Regardless the fact that each of them was both feet firmly into the adult portions of their lives.
Candy didn't figure anyone could blame them for the second round they ordered. When you consider one of them would be marrying off a member of their own flesh and blood come Sunday, God willing, and the other would never be a free man all the remaining days of his natural life.
Funny thing though, thought Candy as he licked a little foam off his top lip, he wasn't feeling the nerves some might expect of someone facing down the encroach of their 'big day'. But that made perfect sense, considering that, so long as the person making an honest man out of him was Joseph Cartwright, that was just the way he wanted it.
So Candy raised his refilled stein in a silent toast to the end of his days as the man he'd known and welcomed the soon to be tied down, happier version of himself into the world.
After one more, 'quick' round of whistle wetting beers, of course.
Haha! Guess they can never have just one beer! Not with so momentous an occasion right around the corner anyway! To think of the two of them drinking together, before noon even? Cracks me up!
Nice though that Candy gets a little bonding time with his fiancé's pa!