We left Ravenswood Manor the following day. All four of us. Jack and Melanie talked about wedding preparations the whole ride, but Michael and I didn't mind; we were just glad they were finally back together after so long.
"Jack, I don't know what I want to do anymore," Melanie complained. "What we were going to do before seems so old-fashioned. Times have changed and I want something more modern."
I spoke up from the backseat. "You could ask my Aunt Vickie. She's the big party planner at home, and she could make up something so memorable you wouldn't believe it. And, she's natively French, so if you wanted that kind of flavor, she could go that way too."
Melanie twisted around and smiled at me. "I think that's wonderful. I'll talk to her the second we get to your house."
And when we got home, she did just that. Melanie and Aunt Vickie bonded right away and spent days making preparations. They decided that the wedding would be in the town square of Thunder Mesa, but we would have the reception at her house. In between their meetings, Melanie got a taste of some of Gracey Manor's flavor. Aunt Vickie threw her and Jack a pre-wedding party in the cemetery, and our bands, vocal as well as instrumental, performed.
"Jack, I think the Mallow Men should perform at our reception. They are very talented, and Christine's father seems to hold them in very high regard."
Jack nodded, smiling. This was the first wedding plan they both agreed on. I was at the party, but too busy doing damage control for various mansion residents to enjoy it much. This time, it was the Jones Family, a group of very talented opera singers that my father had hired when I was young to help cure my mother's depression.
"But Miss Christine, how can you play that noise at a party when everyone knows that opera, not jazz, is a true form of music?"
I sighed. We had been having this conversation for hours. "Look Giovanni," I said to the man who had been giving me the most trouble, "I see where you're coming from; it's just that this is a casual affair, and opera is more a black-tie kind of music. It's of a higher class then jazz and meant for fancy parties and champagne in flutes."
He smiled and nodded. I had just made that up on the spot. The real truth was that Daddy hadn't wanted them to perform at this party. He said that opera gave him migraines, and unless they made their tunes easier to dance to, they'd keep performing for themselves.
And, of course, there was also the ever-present problem of Lettie's husband. I'd come to get him for the party a few hours before and found Lettie in the room trying to do the same thing.
"Jamie, come on," she urged. "Come with Christy and me to the party. It will be fun."
The lid to the coffin went up and down once to indicate that Jamie wasn't going anywhere.
"I can't go," he confirmed. "It's almost time for the sun to come up, and you know what that means for vampires."
She sighed and turned to face me. "Christy, what am I going to do? He's driving me crazy."
"I know," I told her. "You can go see Dr. Bright. He was my doctor during the years I was in therapy, and he works wonders." Then, something occurred to me. Dr. Bright only saw patients one day a week now that he was dead. He saw them on Tuesdays, and the next Tuesday was Jack and Melanie's wedding where Lettie was supposed to be the flower girl. And we'd already ordered her dress. But this was urgent, and I'd think of something. I left the room and made Jamie an appointment. Then, I went to the boundaries of the mansion where hardly anyone went. Cousin Gus was there.
"Gus, I need to ask you a favor. Remember how you wanted to go to Jack and Melanie's wedding but Daddy wouldn't let you? Well, you can go now."
He rubbed his hands together. "I'm listening."
"I need you to put on Lettie's dress and be the flower guy."
His eyes popped open. That obviously wasn't what he'd expected me to say.
"Why me?"
"Because Lettie and Jamie have to make an urgent visit to my therapist on the day of the wedding, and you're the only one small enough to fit in her dress."
He nodded again. "All right, I'll do it. It'll be just like that one time in Las Vegas. But Ezra and Phineas get to come too."
I nodded. It seemed only fair. Then, I went back to the party where Michael and Aunt Vickie were talking.
"And Michael, you only need to do one thing for this wedding: Call the town minister on the phone, okay?"
Michael nodded. "Yes ma'am."
The days went by and before I knew it, it was the day of the wedding. I woke up late and called for Prudence who brought my dress in. I looked at it and gasped at its size. I wondered how Prudence had fit it through the door. It was an off-the-shoulder peach silk gown with a ruffled skirt. And hoops and a corset. Melanie had forgotten to mention that part. It took a good part of two hours to get on everything and the dress and another two hours to do my hair, but by the time Prudence was finished, I had to admit that I looked beautiful.
"You look lovely, Miss Christine."
"Thank you Prudence."
"Yes she does. As lovely as a blooming rose." Michael was standing at the door with one hand braced against the doorframe. I blushed.
"Is it time to go now?"
Michael nodded. "Yes." He held out an arm to me and I took it. Then, he led me out to the car where Mama and Daddy were waiting. Daddy gasped slightly when he saw me.
"Chrissy, you look wonderful."
"Thank you Daddy."
Then, we began to drive, and got to Thunder Mesa much quicker then usual. It seemed like everyone in town had been invited, but there was one person I didn't see.
"Michael," I whispered, "did you call the minister like Aunt Vickie asked you to?"
His eyes dropped. "Peach, I barely know how to use a phone."
I rolled my eyes and tried to stay calm. "So you're telling me that we have a whole town full of people here for a wedding, and there's no minister to marry the happy couple because you don't know how to use a phone? Why didn't you say something!"
But corsets leave no room for anger and pretty soon, all I saw was black. I passed out.
I woke up a little while later with water in my eyes and Michael and Gus standing over me looking worried. I sat up.
"A minister!" I said. "We need a minister!"
Michael and Gus looked at each other and then at me. Michael spoke first.
"Peach, why is Gus wearing Lettie's flower girl dress?"
"Because Lettie took Jamie to therapy and I was the only other person small enough to fit into it." Gus informed him. I looked at Gus, taking him in and couldn't help smiling. He looked funny, especially since he hadn't shaved before they'd put the dress on him.
"Now," Gus continued, "what's this about needing a minister?"
"Michael forgot to call one, and so now we're kind of minister-less."
Gus looked at me. "I can do it."
Michael and I looked at him.
"What!"
"I'm serious, Christine. Remember what I told you about Las Vegas? Well, at the time, I had a girlfriend, and we went to one of those wedding chapels on the Strip, but they wouldn't marry us because I was a felon so the next day, I shaved off my beard and pretended to be the chapel flower girl. And when I got close enough to the minister, I shrank him down to Gus size, bashed his head in, and took his license."
I shuddered. "No wonder you don't want to leave here."
Then, I looked at Michael. He was flashing me 'no' signals with his eyes. But Gus was all we had at this point.
"All right Gus," I said, "You're on."
Despite everything, it really was a beautiful wedding. Gus was a wonderful flower guy, and if Jack and Melanie were surprised at that, or the fact that he married them as well, they kept it to themselves. Henry walked Melanie down the aisle, and he brought her mother to the wedding with him. The Ravenswoods, it seemed, were reconciled. There was only a slight interruption when the Phantom showed up, but Henry banished him forever. I sang Jack and Melanie's wedding song "Unchained Melody" at the reception and, thanks to Jack's urging, Michael and I got our first dance as a couple. And still one more surprise happened before the wedding was over.
During the dancing, I spotted my grandmother sitting alone at a table looking sad and wistful. I went over to her and asked her what was wrong.
"Couples' dances always make me miss your grandfather," she told me. "He knew how to dance if not much else."
Just then, I heard a voice behind her, and a tall man stepped out of the shadows and held out his hand so she could take it."
"May I have this dance?"
Grandma smiled. "Yes, but before we go, this is your son's daughter Christine. George, you're a grandfather."
Finally, after all the guests left, Dad motioned to Michael and me. It seemed like he and my mother wanted to talk to us.
"Chrissy," he said, "you deserve a vacation. How long has it been since you've seen Granny and Granddaddy?"
"A long time," I admitted.
"And I'm sure Michael wants to see Georgia again," Mama added.
Michael nodded. "I do."
"Well, you should probably leave now," Mama said. "Your grandparents are throwing a party in your honor, and they'll just die if you're late."
"Ha ha." I said. "Daddy, if I go, do you promise you won't do anything strange or unusual to the house while I'm gone?"
He nodded. "I promise."
Michael took my hand and started to lead me to the car. Then, thunder and lightning flashed and it began to rain.
"Oh, and one more thing I forgot to mention Chrissy," Daddy said, sounding paternal, "Beware of hitchhiking ghosts. You never know who they were in life."
I smiled. "Okay Daddy, we will."
Then, we got in the car, and just before we drove away, I looked at my house just as lightning flashed above it. I thought I felt a chill in my heart, but then I convinced myself that it was just my imagination.
