Chapter 11: The Wedding

Over the next few days, the band performed perfectly and gave the promoters great bang for their buck. To Melody's relief, she did not see Jesse again for the rest of the gig. Alan had sharpened his watch over her to make sure she didn't have any more outbreaks of emotion behind closed doors. She acted like her normal self, joking around and gossiping like usual.

"Thank you and goodnight!" Elwood and Mack waved to the audience on their last night aboard the ship. Buster waved as well as the band bowed, grinning in the spotlight and accepting the applause bestowed upon them.

It took about 30 minutes for the audience to leave the ship as the band packed up their equipment. The promoters had the equipment shipped back to Calumet City where Willie would store it in his club until it was needed again.

"I hate to see this end," Buster remarked as he coiled up the cable for one of the amps and tied it fast. "I don't wanna go back to school!"

"Come on, kid. The sooner you graduate school, the sooner you can gig with us on a full time basis," Willie tried to cheer him up. "there's plenty of time for that later."

"Well, I guess that's true. I've only got 2 more years of school to go." he reluctantly said.

"If you can, try to graduate a year early," Murph advised. "sometimes they allow that if you have great grades."

"Mine are decent enough," the teenager allowed. "why don't I talk to the school when I get back and see what they have to stay?"

"It'll be a lot of work," Mack warned him, stacking an amp on top of another one. "be sure you're up for it."

"I will, Mack. I'll study all summer if I have to. I just wanna get out of there!"

"Can't say as I blame you on that one." Duck unplugged his bass.

"Right. Anyway, take that as it comes. Tomorrow is a big day!" Tom put his mouthpiece in the trombone case and snapped it shut with a little rattle.

"How is our bride and groom anyway?" Steve inquired to nobody in particular.

"Remarkably composed actually. I've never seen Alan nervous and he really doesn't seem to be now." the spotlights on the stage dimmed as the houselights came on. Neither Melody or Alan could be seen, as both had gone off somewhere.

"True, Matt. Their day to day lives aren't changing, they're just making it official." Elwood agreed. "The ceremony starts at 10 AM. We're all to meet them at breakfast and look presentable at least."

"Are they doing things the old-fashioned way, like not seeing each other beforehand?"

"No. Melody doesn't believe in those old traditions and superstitions." Lou wound a power cord on his arm, tied it tight, then stowed it in the duffel bag. "She told me about that a long time ago. Never thought she'd get married, but whaddya know!"

Buster laughed, wondering if he would ever get married one day, but that was far off into the future and he wasn't going to waste any time speculating. The teen packed up the equipment with the rest of the band and wondered where Melody and Alan had gone off to.

Melody was by the stern of the ship, admiring the view of Long Beach in the dark night. She kneaded the taffrail with her fingers, a bit nervous about the next morning.

"I can't believe it!" she spoke to herself. "Finally the dream is coming true. It's almost like I don't deserve it!" before she met Alan, Melody was long resigned to the fact that she would be a spinster when she got older.

When Melody and Alan were first dating, the two had frequent arguments and their schedules were conflicting. It had taken awhile to get everything settled on a routine of one date a week, then twice a week for several months. Neither one of them were used to the other's personalities, the eccentricities and so forth. Melody learned that Alan was a great guy mostly, but he had a few flaws, as he was not an ideal mate in any way. She thought he was too passive when he was driving, she had to badger him into cleaning, and while he was even-tempered most of the time, when he was stressed, Alan had a few triggers which could throw him into a rage.

Still in her costume from the performance, Melody walked away towards the front of the ship, her high heeled shoes making a sharp clacking sound on the weathered hardwood decking. The lights from the wall sconces danced off of her, every now and then a little flash from her shirt caught the light. Because it had been the last performance of their gig, she had worn a purple shirt that had small rhinestones on the collar. The shirt was sleeveless and instead of a skirt, this time she had worn black pants like the band.

Smiling to herself, Melody remembered that before they moved in together, she and Alan would fight infrequently and one would leave the other, only to realize that they were happier with each other than they thought. On a particular occasion after Melody had dumped him for being too demanding, she had gone to the county fair and entered a wet t-shirt contest. She had just won the challenge and Alan ambushed her off of the stage. The two fought, but eventually made up.

The cabin door was opened and Alan looked out to see Melody approaching from the back of the ship. He eyed her up and down, appreciating her as she gave him a smile and a kiss, entering the room.

"Well well, what have we here?" she trailed her hands down his thighs suggestively, giving him a sly wink.

"Read my mind, did you?"

"It's not hard." Melody leaned into him, nudging the door shut with one foot.

"Um, what are we talking about now?"

Boldly she pushed him into the bed while kicking off her pumps. "You'll see."

At the breakfast that morning, Melody and Alan looked calm enough, both in everyday clothes but they would change later on. They laughed and joked all through breakfast, happy that nobody mentioned the ceremony that would take place.

The bandmembers dressed smart casual, Elwood, Mack and Buster were all in their uniform of black suits as they gathered on the bow of the ship.

Alan turned up wearing his tan chino pants, black shoes, and knowing well Melody's disdain for wearing the color black, he had pulled on a blue short sleeved button up shirt that Melody had bought him years ago. It was a bit chilly outside that morning, so he added his black blazer, leaving it unbuttoned.

Melody came up a few moments later, wearing a white and black pinstriped shirt which had dropped sleeves, and she was wearing her red shorts with flip flops. She had foregone the usual procession, music, and even then was not holding a traditional bouquet. The engineer wore small blue sapphire teardrop shaped earrings Alan had given her, and of course she wore the ring. Even though the earrings and ring had been given to her at different times, it looked like she wore a matched set.

The captain presided over the service, both said their vows perfectly. Before long, the captain pronounced them married. The couple kissed each other as Elwood and Murph took pictures. All of the band cheered and applauded as Melody blushed.

"Oh, by the way," the captain handed Alan a few papers. "a gift from the promotional department."

"What the?" he shuffled through them for a moment. "A stay at the Lido Beach Resort?"

"That place is very popular," Melody looked aghast as she scanned the papers. "plane tickets and everything? That's so generous of them!"

"It sure is! Three nights there, a romance package..." he handed her the documents. Melody found a small envelope with her name on it amongst them. Before she could open it up, Alan took them back. "We've got 20 minutes before we have to be at the airport."

"Oh, OK." receiving their congratulations from the band, Buster kissed Melody on the cheek and gave her the biggest hug he was capable of.

"I'm so happy for you two!" the teenager presented Melody with a single carnation dyed blue, which she put behind her right ear.

Never did Alan think that he would wind up such a lucky man. When he first met Melody, he didn't ever think that he would marry her. It hadn't been love at first sight, as he'd regarded her as someone who had to be tolerated. She had been too boisterous for his taste, too outgoing, but he'd grown to like those facets of her personality among others. As he'd gotten to know her some more, she had grown on him, and he'd protected her the best he could.

"Come on, hon or we'll miss the flight." with a quick round of thanks and goodbyes, they retrieved their baggage from the room and disembarked the ship. Melody gave it a quick glance around as they left in a taxi. She mentally vowed to come back to the ship at some time in the future and go on another ghost hunt. Nobody had been harmed of course, but Melody knew that they were all inwardly relieved to get off the ship.

Once the happy couple was settled on board the plane bound for Florida, Alan nudged Melody and asked her what the small envelope was in the little pile of papers they had been given. She rooted around in her carryon bag, pulled out the documents, and found the envelope.

"OK, let's see what it has in it," she opened it, scanned it, and gasped. "my god."

"What?"

"Look." Melody handed him the paper.

"Dear Melody," Alan started to read. "please find enclosed in this package two tickets to Sarasota for the Lido beach. I signed you both on for the romance package where you'll get all sorts of goodies and spa treatments, enough for 3 nights and 4 days. Charlene, one of the promoters, told me all about you and how you were getting married on board the Queen Mary.

"My apologies I couldn't be there. I'm sure you looked wonderful and that you found a great man from what I remember, though I only met him once. He's a real keeper, he'll be a great husband to you. I seem to remember you two have been together a long time already, so don't second guess yourself, as I know you have a habit of doing.

"The tickets to Sarasota and the rooms with package are to be done on my dime. It's the least I can do after our over 30 year estrangement. I saw you perform one night of the gig and you were amazing! My sister with the golden voice!

"Enjoy yourself and enjoy Alan too if you know what I mean, har har.

"Fondly, your brother Jesse Calloway.

"PS: Mrs. Rubin does sound good, right? I like it."

Alan chuckled, not even thinking about it previously. He folded up the letter and handed it back to Melody who put it in her carryon bag. "You are taking my last name, right?"

"Hell yes." she relaxed back.

"Oh, good. I'm so glad." he teased.

"Attention ladies and gentlemen..." the flight attendant began the preflight lecture.
THE END