With this Ring
Chapter 4
"O month when they who love must love and wed."
Helen Hunt Jackson
After breakfast and Uhura's delicious banana walnut waffles, Jim checked on his mother. She was fast asleep. Jonathon left with promises to see them in the morning with Violet and Davy.
Leonard kept a close eye on the osteo regenerator and turned it off at the appropriate time as Winona slept on. By midafternoon, Winona's ankle had begun to knit well. He ramped down the pain medication for her next dose and when she woke up, she was much more awake and alert. She slept through breakfast and lunch and she woke up hungry. Jim brought her a freshly made grilled cheese sandwich, fresh lemonade and tomato soup on a tray. He sat by her as she ate.
"Feeling better, Ma?" he asked.
She smiled and took a bite of her sandwich. "Much, much better, dear. I think I'll be fine by tomorrow," she told him. "My ankle doesn't hurt at all now."
"We'll see," Jim answered cautiously. "You're not going to walk on that ankle until Bones says it's okay." He looked at her sternly. "If you walk on it too soon, it won't heal and you'll be limping at the wedding and reception, and you don't want that, do you?"
She looked horrified. "Certainly not! I'll be careful, I promise, sweetheart."
"Good. Now what do you want us to do this afternoon. We've been waiting for you to wake up so we can get to work."
She chewed thoughtfully for a minute. "Would you please bring me my padd, dear? My notes are in there."
Jim searched for it and grabbed it from the fireplace mantle. "Here it is."
She opened the padd and checked her to do list. There were only two things that had to be done today.
"If you'll send Uhura to me, we can talk about what kind of flowers would look good in here for the reception. I'd like to order them this afternoon. I'd like the rest of you to get my sewing room ready for Violet and Davy, just like we did at Christmas. Put the shelves, table and sewing machine in the barn and cover them for me, please, Jim. You can put all my sewing and quilting things in the bins I set in there; put them in the barn also, please bring down Davy's bed from the attic, and Violet's big cot. They're pretty clean; I covered them with drop cloths this time, in case we needed them again. They'll probably just need a little dusting. Do you remember how the room looked, dear?"
"I think so. Spock will for sure. He has that eidetic memory you know. If we're not sure about something we'll check with you. Let me go get Uhura for you, and we'll get started on the sewing room." He got up to leave, then came back. "By the way, I'm ordering take out for supper this evening from Mama's. One of us will go pick it up so don't you start fretting about dinner, Ma."
"Alright, son." She grinned up at him, her one dimple prominent. "You know me too, well, James Tiberius Kirk. Don't forget to order something vegetarian for Spock. Mama has several things on the menu."
He grinned back. "I won't. And don't you forget to stop worrying, Winona Marjorie Kirk. You finish eating and behave yourself."
Nyota came in a few minutes later, padd in hand and pulled up a chair. "I'm all yours, Winona," she told her. "You keep on eating while we talk," she said.
"Before you begin," said Leonard's voice from the living room door, "let me examine your ankle." He removed the osteo regenerator and ran the medical tricorder up and down her ankle.
"It's healing nicely, Winona. I'll check it again this evening and tomorrow morning and maybe by the afternoon, I'll let you walk on it, but… and that's a big but," he added, as her eyes lit up. "A lot depends on you, whether you stay totally off of it and we keep the regenerator working on it until late tonight."
"I will stay off of it, Leonard. I promise."
"Alright then. Ladies," he said strapping the regenerator back on, "I'll leave you to your weddin' plans. I'm gonna' go see what else Jim needs for us to do."
"Now," said Winona to Uhura, after Leonard had left, her eyes alight with excitement. "Violet has given me a budget for the flowers for the reception. She hired a florist to do the flowers for the chapel, a local florist who is very familiar with Father Joe's rules for decorating the church and the chapel. He had to set up rules for decorating the church after one particular awful wedding. The bride and her parents went completely over board with wild extravagant and inappropriate decorations and flowers for the church." She paused. "I'm sorry to say that the decorations and flowers were all in very poor taste and Father Joe had to remove some of them. The parents and bride were not happy and they were loud in their outrage, but he remained firm, telling them it was a church, not a night club. Those of us who saw the church were appalled and as you can imagine, Father Joe most of all. Janie, our local florist is wonderful, she'll will keep things simple and in good taste."
Uhura nodded. "That's good. What did you have in mind for the reception flowers?"
Winona opened her padd to her wedding notes. "We can get any kind of flowers from Janie, as long as we give her a few days' notice. That's why I want to order them today or tomorrow at the latest. Here's what I've thought of, Nyota," she said and sent her ideas to Nyota's padd.
"For the main table, the one in the dining room, I plan to push it against the wall and put in the three extra leaves in it so there's plenty of room for the food as well as the main centerpiece. I'll use my antique large cream damask table cloth. I have plenty of containers in the attic, mason jars of all sizes and milk glass which will go with any dishes we use. I have a huge milk glass vase which belonged to my great grandmother. I like the idea of a big mass of purple lilacs, dark pink roses, and white dahlias with greenery. That's simple enough, don't you think, Nyota?" She looked anxiously at her helper.
Nyota looked closely at the picture and nodded. "It's lovely, Winona, and yes it's simple and elegant. That arrangement will look lovely on the main table. What about the rest of the flowers."
Winona frowned. "That's where I'm a little stuck about what to do. There won't be that many people and it's a buffet, so they'll get their food and drinks and wander around the room. I don't want to do too much, just enough so it looks festive and wedding like."
"Hmm." Nyota said, then did a few things on her padd and sent them to Winona. "What do you think?"
They both looked at the pictures of what Nyota had sent; a larger centerpiece for the mantle, and two smaller ones, one for each end table on either side of the two sofas. There was also a smaller arrangement on the small table by the front door.
"Yes, I like this a lot," Winona said. "We can keep the colors complementary with the main centerpiece and use another milk glass vase and order dahlias, scented geraniums, snap dragons and grass for the mantle centerpiece. We'll take everything off the mantle except for the two candle sticks. They'll flank the centerpiece. For the rest, we'll clear off the two end tables and the entry table except for the lamps, and we'll use my medium size mason jars and put a bunch of single type flowers in each Mason jar, either roses of dahlias, with sprigs of Queen Anne's Lace."
"I think the dahlias are more informal," Nyota told her. "We can use lavender, purple and pink dahlias, one color for each bunch in the mason jars, and the Queen Anne's Lace will enhance those colors equally well."
"Perfect." Winona sighed happily. "That will look simple, yet elegant. Thank you so much, Nyota. I'll call Janie and order all the flowers and the Queen Anne's Lace. Tomorrow morning, if I'm still not mobile, if you would go up in the attic and get the milk glass vases and the mason jars I'd appreciate it; we'll give them a good wash and set them aside."
Nyota looked horrified. "You will certainly not be mobile by tomorrow, Winona. Don't even think about it and as for thinking you can go up in the attic, Jim would have a fit! I'll do it first thing tomorrow." She thought of Jim's reaction to his mother trying to go up the attic stairs and shivered at the thought.
They worked on the arrangement pictures tweaking them here and there until they were satisfied, and the afternoon waned. Nyota turned on the table lamps as the sun set outside the living room windows.
Jim walked into the living room. "We've finished arranging the sewing room, Ma. Everything is just like it was at Christmas." He grinned. "Spock confirmed it."
"Thank you, son that relieves my mind. Violet and Davy can arrive at any time now. Nyota and I have also finished with planning the flowers for the reception. I'm calling Janie in a few minutes to have her deliver them two days before the wedding and we'll do the arrangements then."
Jim looked at her happy face and gave Nyota a smile of thanks.
"By the way, dear. Did you bring down Davy's pull toys? He loves to play with them."
"Peter found them all and we brought them down. I put them in a big laundry basket I found upstairs."
"Goodness, Winona," Uhura said. 'Your attic is like a department store, it has everything up there."
Winona laughed. "That comes from having the same house for 5 generations, and getting rid of very little in all that time."
McCoy came in. "Ready to go, Jimbo?" he asked.
Jim nodded. "We're going to pick up the food at Mama's. I ordered it a while ago. Comm me if you think of anything else we might need for tomorrow, we'll pick it up on our way back." He looked at her sternly. "Remember, Ma. You'll still be off your feet tomorrow morning, whether Violet is here or not."
McCoy nodded. "I'll check your ankle in the morning and again at mid-day after a couple of more hours of the osteo regenerator. If it's looking good in the afternoon, I'll put you in a walking cast for a few hours, but you'll have to rest it after that."
Winona nodded. "I understand, Leonard. I won't do anything to set me back, I promise."
"Are we okay for food for Davy, Ma?"
"Violet says he eats everything now, we just have to cut it up in small pieces. His appetite is great."
Jim grinned. "It sure was at Christmas. That baby ate everything in sight. See you in a little while."
Uhura came in with a tray; it had iced sweet tea, napkins, small plates and a couple of cookies. She sat in the easy chair drawn next to the sofa and passed the tea and a cookie to Winona. "Spock and Peter are enjoying the same thing in the kitchen." She smiled at Winona. "I heard Jim talking about Davy's appetite; the same could be said for Peter."
Winona smiled. "It's a full time job keeping that child and his friends filled up; it seems I'm baking all the time. I don't mind, though. I'm happy Peter has made good friends and they're willing to come here to play with him. It was the same for Jim and Sam when they were in school. I encouraged them to bring their friends here, and in a way, I guess it was bribery to always have cookies, cakes, and cold milk for them. I liked all those little boys under my eye. Later when they were older, of course there were after school sports and that kept them away during the week, but on the weekends after the games were played, the boys all came here."
They ate in companionable silence for a few minutes. "What else can I do for you today, Winona?"
"I was going to ask you if you'd like to send your dress along with mine to be pressed, Nyota. For special occasions like this, I like to have my clothes professionally done. I'm also going to ask Jim, Leonard, and Spock if they want their uniforms pressed before I send out mine. I have to remind Jim that he has to take Peter into town to buy him a suit, a dress shirt, and a tie. He needs dress shoes too. He's outgrown his other suit and his dress shoes."
"If Jim is tied up with something, I'll be glad to do it, Winona." Nyota smiled, remembering. "Peter and I have gone shopping together before, in San Francisco.1 We had a very good time too."
"Thank you, dear. I'll check with Jim. I have a feeling he'll want to do it; he and Peter will get some time together alone and they both love that."
Spock and Peter came into the living room. "How are you doing, Noni?" Peter's hazel eyes, so much like her own and Jim's, still looked worried.
"I'm doing just fine, sweetheart. Dr. Bones said maybe tomorrow afternoon I could get up to walk."
Peter's face lightened with relief. "That's great!" He looked at Spock. "Mr. Spock and I are going to play chess. There's a new move he wants to show me. Will it bother you if we play in here, Noni?"
"Absolutely not! I'd love for the two of you to keep Nyota and I company."
Peter and Spock set up the small table and the chess board by the fireplace. Winona could hear their soft murmur of voices; the high treble childish one of Peter's, and the deep baritone of Spock's as he explained the moves and Peter responded. They heard the back door slam.
Jim and Bones came into the living room carrying two big bags from Mama's Restaurant. "Dinner will be on the table in a few minutes. Bones said you could eat at the table, Ma. I'll carry you over there, after we set the table and put out the food."
Winona flashed a delighted smile at Leonard. She had missed being with everyone for meals.
"Mama said to tell you not to worry about a thing. She can come over to help you at any time. Marie said the same. Even Papa offered, and he won't do that for just anyone, Ma."
Winona's comm rang. She looked at the name and said, "It's Violet."
"Violet, dear. How nice to hear from you! We're so happy you and Davy will be here tomorrow. We can't wait to see you both."
Everyone could hear Violet's agitated voice as she responded. Winona's eyes opened wide and her mouth opened and closed, but she couldn't get a word in edgewise to speak to Violet.
Finally there was a pause. "Violet, Violet. It's alright, dear. Don't worry. Gavin will be fine and the wedding will go on without a problem. Everything will be fine. You just get here tomorrow and we'll get on with our plans." She paused as Violet said something else. "All right, I'll tell Jim. You try to get some sleep tonight and we'll see you tomorrow morning. Jonathon will pick you up and bring you here straightaway."
She closed her comm and looked with dismay at everyone staring at her.
Jim cleared his throat. "What's wrong, Ma?"
"Gavin has been given an assignment. Since his leave doesn't start until two days before the wedding, it seems that he's available for an assignment. Violet said that he'll be off the grid until his leave begins."
Jim frowned darkly. "Does Violet know who ordered him on this assignment?"
"She didn't say, dear. Why?"
Jim, Spock, and Bones exchanged glances. "Somehow I see the hand of Admiral Komack behind this," Jim said. "I bet he finagled things so that Gavin's boss had no choice. No one else would be petty enough to send a perspective bridegroom away right before his wedding. I wonder if Admiral Nogura knows about this."
"Even if he did, Jim, I doubt that he would interfere. He wouldn't countermand a routine assignment order of an officer," Spock said.
Jim sighed, knowing that what Spock said was true. The C in C had already gone over Komack's head once by arranging their leave. But Jim was angry; Komack hated him and he wouldn't be surprised if this was his petty way of flexing his command muscles at Violet's and Gavin's expense just to anger Jim. The man had a reputation for abusing his power. It was always petty and venial, so nothing had been done about it, but Jim made up his mind that he wasn't going to let this one go. He would find out for sure who had given the order for Gavin's assignment, and even if the C in C stayed out of it, Jim would make sure he'd know about it. He'd get Bones to tell him, yes, he thought, an irate Bones would be just the one to express his outrage over this to Nogura.
1 See "Hostages"
