Disclaimer: You know the drill! Nothing in this story is mine!
A/n: I got exactly zero reviews for the last chapter. I know you guys can do better! I love getting reviews (constructive reviews, of course!), and they really help inspire me to right more. I like knowing that it's worthwhile for me to be writing this, and I enjoy writing it even more if I know that you, my readers, are enjoying reading it! Now, with that being said, I hope you like this chapter. It may seem a little long at the beginning, but hang in there, I promise it gets a bit better towards the end!
With the announcement of Willy and Ronnie's engagement made, the conversation quickly turned to the wedding (and the food went pretty much ignored, since everyone was too excited to eat!). Willy and Ronnie, of course, were thrilled that the Buckets wanted to help them plan their wedding. They had hoped that would be the case. "So, I know I probably should just mind my own business and not pressure you two, but when is the wedding going to be?" Sylvia inquired. "It's all right, mom. I'm glad you're so eager," Ronnie assured her. "Yeah. Now, to answer your question, Sylvia, we're planning for the wedding to be in July," Willy spoke up. "So that's why you two insisted we wait until August to begin construction on the bakery!" Mrs. Bucket said with a grin. "Yeah, that would be why," Ronnie replied, grinning back.
"You two do realize that July is only three months away. That's not a lot of time to plan a wedding, you know. If you ask me, having the wedding so soon is a very foolish idea. Why in my day..." Grandpa George ranted. Mrs. Bucket, needless to say, was not pleased with her father! But before she could even open her mouth, Dr. Wonka spoke up. "True, getting married three months after getting engaged isn't exactly traditional. But what's wrong with being a little different?" he said (as you might guess, Willy was a bit surprised to hear those words coming from his father's mouth!). "Wilbur is right. If we were all traditional all the time, the world would be a very boring place," Sylvia agreed.
"Well, I never!" grumped Grandpa George. Everyone tactfully ignored him. "Grandpa George is right about one thing. We really don't have that much time to plan the wedding," said Ronnie. "So we'd better get started!" Willy added. Ronnie grinned at him. "Indeed we'd better. So, let's see. We've got the month. Now we need to decide the actual day, the time, and who's going to conduct the service. Not to mention the attendants, food, flowers..." by the time Ronnie cut herself off, she was no longer grinning. In fact, she was looking quite frantic. "Don't worry, Ronnie, we can-" Sylvia tried to reassure her daughter.
But Ronnie interrupted her, exclaiming, "Oh my gosh, I'll need to look for a dress, too! Plus I need to decide how I want to do my hair and all that, and what the attendants should wear. And we need to plan things like what hymns we want sung, what scriptures we want...and all in three months! I know we decided July was when we wanted to do this, and I DO want to get married in July...but, oh, are we insane to think we can plan this thing in only three months?" Feeling completely overwhelmed by this point, Ronnie burst into tears.
Willy (who was, of course, sitting next Ronnie) reached out and put his arms around his fiancée. "Take it easy, starshine. It's going to be 'kay. Three months may not be a lot of time, but we're not going to let that stop us!" he soothed her. "Willy's right, Ronnie, and don't forget, you aren't in this alone. We're all more than willing to help you in any way we possibly can," Sylvia added. Everyone else nodded in agreement. "And so what if we are a little insane to be putting together a wedding in just three months? If we were perfectly sane all the time, that just wouldn't be any fun at all," said Willy. Ronnie couldn't help but smile. "Thanks, you guys. I feel a lot better now," she said.
"I'm glad to hear that. Now, as far as planning the wedding goes, I think the easiest way to do it is to just take one thing at a time," said Mrs. Bucket. "I agree. First off, I'm assuming you guys intend to have the wedding here at the factory," Sylvia said. Willy and Ronnie nodded. "That is indeed what we're planning," Ronnie said. "So, since booking a church or other venue for the wedding isn't an issue, I suggest we not worry about setting an exact date and time right now. I think knowing the wedding will be sometime in July is good enough for now," Sylvia suggested.
Ronnie had to admit that her mom had a point. "Good idea, mom," she said. "All right, then. Now that we've got that out of the way, I'd say we can finally get down to planning," Sylvia said with a grin. Ronnie grinned back. "I'd say we can indeed," she said. "So, what part of the planning would you like to tackle first?" Mrs. Bucket asked. "Maybe the food for the reception. That's the one part I'm still a little worried about. Not only is the wedding only three months away, but June and July are both two of the most popular months for weddings. So our odds of finding a caterer that isn't already booked solid with orders are not good. Not to mention the fact that it would be hard to enlist a caterer without arousing the media's suspicions," Ronnie said.
To her great surprise, Willy responded by breaking out into a big grin, clapping his hands, and giggling with delight. "We don't need a caterer," he said. "Willy, if we don't have a caterer prepare our meal, who will?" Ronnie asked. "The Oompa Loompa women can cook the dinner for us," Willy replied. "I don't want to ask such a big favor of them. I'd feel like I was taking advantage of them," Ronnie said. "Don't worry, they'll be more than thrilled to do it. They love to cook. Really, I think they'd live in the kitchen if they could!" Willy assured her.
Ronnie laughed. "Well, that makes me feel better. It would still be asking a lot of them, though. After all, they may love to cook, but these would much bigger portions than they're used to making," said said. Now it was Willy's turn to chuckle. "Don't let their size fool you! They may be tiny, but they love to eat, and they make large portions of food regularly," he said.
"So at least we've got that settled," Ronnie commented once she had recovered from laughing at the image of the Oompa Loompas eating like pigs. "Yeah. Now, how 'bout location? I agree that setting an exact date for the wedding isn't necessary right now, but we should probably at least decide where in the factory we want the wedding to be," Willy replied. "How about the Chocolate Room? It's beautiful, and its size means that we can easily have both the wedding and the reception there," Ronnie suggested. Willy broke out into a huge grin. "Hey, yeah! You had the same thought about the location of the wedding that I did!" he exclaimed happily.
"That was easy enough!" Ronnie said, wearing a grin to match Willy's. "Okay, what next?" Willy asked eagerly. "I guess the next thing to plan would be our attendants," Ronnie said. Willy nodded his agreement. "And I know exactly who I want my Best Man to be!" he said. "Who?" Mrs. Bucket asked. "Well, a Best Man should be someone that you are very trusting of, and usually it's someone who's a very good friend, right?" Willy inquired. Everyone nodded. Then Willy turned to Charlie. "Charlie, will you please be my Best Man?" he asked. Charlie thought he might faint from happiness. "Really? You really want ME to be your Best Man?" he asked. "'Course I do! No one is better suited for the job than you," Willy told him. "Thank you, Willy. I'm very honored," Charlie said happily.
Willy then turned his attention to Ronnie. "And what about you? Do you have your Maid of Honor picked out?" he asked her. "You bet I do! And actually, it's a Matron of Honor that I've chosen," Ronnie said. "A friend of yours, I suppose," Mrs. Bucket said. "Yes, she is indeed a friend of mine. A very good friend of mine," Ronnie replied. "What's her name?" Mrs. Bucket asked, extremely curious now. Ronnie smiled. "Nora," she answered. "Talk about interesting coincidences! She has the same name as..." Mrs. Bucket stopped in mid-sentence as she finally realized the significance of Ronnie's words.
"You mean me, don't you?" she inquired. Ronnie's smile grew even bigger. "Well, you're the only Nora that I know," she answered. Then she quickly added, "I hope it's all right if I call you Nora." "I would be very honored to be your Matron of Honor, Ronnie, and I'm glad you consider me such a good friend. And of course it's all right if you call me Nora. I'm flattered that you feel comfortable enough to do so," Mrs. Bucket said.
Ronnie grinned at her in response, then flipped back into planning mode. "Now that we've got our Best Man and Matron of honor, the trickier part of planning the attendants begins. Neither Willy nor I know any young kids who could be Ring Bearer or Flower Girl. I also think the Oompa Loompas should be involved in the wedding somehow, but I'm not sure how to go about doing that," she said. Willy clapped his hands with delight. "That's not tricky at all! The Oompa Loompa chief and his wife can be Ring Bearer and Flower Girl...'course we'll actually call her a Flower Lady," he said.
Ronnie wasn't sure what to think. "That's an interesting idea, Willy, but the Flower Girl and Ring Bearer roles are meant for young kids. Wouldn't it be kind of insulting to the chief and his wife to ask them to perform tasks meant for kids?" she pointed out. "Don't worry, they won't be insulted at all! They'll be happy to be part of the wedding, and besides, the Oompa Loompas are pretty much kids at heart," Willy replied.
"All right, then. Let's ask them!" Ronnie said happily. Sylvia looked lovingly at her daughter. She was glad that Ronnie was obviously feeling a lot calmer about the planning process. "I told you we could do this," she said. "And you were right, as usual," Ronnie said, the corners of her lips turning upwards in a smile. "Of course. Aren't mothers always right?" Sylvia teased. Ronnie laughed. "Mom, you are too much!" she chuckled.
"You know, while we're on the subject of attendants, there's a similar subject we haven't discussed yet," Mr. Bucket spoke up. "And what would that be?" Ronnie asked. "Well, traditionally, the bride is walked down the aisle by her..." Mr. Bucket stopped in mid-sentence, horrified at how thoughtless he was being. There had to be a reason why Ronnie had never spoken of her father, as well as why he wasn't present for the engagement announcement and wedding planning (Mr. Bucket had, of course, been about to say that a bride is usually walked down the aisle by her father). And if Ronnie didn't want to talk about that issue, it certainly wasn't right for Mr. Bucket to do so!
Frantically, he tried to figure out a way to take back what he had said. But before he could, Ronnie spoke up. "By her father," she finished his earlier sentence. "Well, yes. But I had no right to bring that up. You've never spoken of your father, so I should have respected your wishes to keep quiet about that subject," Mr. Bucket apologized. "It's okay, Mr. Bucket. You were just trying to help. And you're right, I don't usually talk about my father. But I think you have a right to know the reason why," Ronnie said. "You don't have to tell us if you don't want to," Mr. Bucket assured her. "Really, it's all right. You deserve an explanation. I don't speak about my father because I never knew him. He died before I was born," Ronnie said softly.
A stunned silence fell over the table. Nobody knew quite what to say. The Buckets felt a mixture of shock and sadness for Ronnie and Sylvia. Although it had been quite obvious to all of them that Mr. Wells wasn't in the picture, none of them had ever guessed that it was because he was dead, let alone that he had died before Ronnie was even born! They had figured that either Ronnie's parents were either divorced and her father had nothing to do with her, or that Ronnie's parents never were married to begin with and her father had removed himself from the picture after learning of Sylvia's pregnancy (the possibility of Sylvia having chosen to be a single mother had also crossed their minds, along with a few other, darker possibilities that they preferred not to think about).
For his part, Willy felt sadness, but not so much shock. In fact, what he felt in addition to the shock was a feeling of realization. You see, Ronnie's words had triggered a memory...
It was a Saturday afternoon, and young Willy Wonka as playing at the neighborhood park. It was one of the only places that his father allowed him to go alone, mostly because there was no danger of him getting hold of candy there. Other kids sometimes brought candy, but Dr. Wonka knew that Willy was too shy a boy to ask if he could have some.
On this particular day, the park was fairly quiet. There were only a few other kids there...one of whom was Ronnie Wells. She was sitting on a bench, writing in a notebook. Willy, meanwhile, was on the swings. He watched as Ronnie wrote intently, seemingly unaware that anyone else was in the park with her.
A few minutes later, Ronnie set her notebook down and headed for the drinking fountain. To Willy's horror, as Ronnie was getting her drink, Terrance walked over to the bench where she had been sitting and picked up the notebook she had been writing in. Then he slowly and sneakily walked back to his group of friends, all of whom were just as "friendly" as he was, with it. "Guys, look what I've got!" he said with a sneer, making sure to keep his voice low. "Awww, isn't that cute? A journal all filled with girly thoughts!" one of Terrance's friends replied in a sarcastic tone.
"Well, go on, Terrance, read us a few pages!" another friend said. Unlike the other two, however, he forgot to to keep his voice low, and Ronnie overheard. She turned abruptly from the drinking fountain and stormed over to them, anger written all over her face. "Terrance, you give that back!" she shouted. Terrance ignored her. "The park is one of my favorite places. I love to sit and smell the flowers while I draw or write. And nothing could be better than the breeze in my hair," he quoted from Ronnie's journal in a sing-song voice. "Terrance, I mean it! Give it back!" Ronnie yelled, grabbing for the journal.
Terrance just laughed and pulled it out of her reach. "Make me!" he taunted. Ronnie grabbed for the notebook a second time, but once again, Terrance held it out of her reach. Willy couldn't take this anymore. He may have been shy, but he couldn't let this continue. He jumped out of the swing. "Terrance, that's not yours! You need to give it back to Ronnie," he said, struggling to keep his voice even. "You stay out of this, metal head!" Terrance snapped. Seeing her chance, Ronnie grabbed for the notebook yet again. But for the third time, Terrance held it out of her reach.
"Terrance, you give that back right now!" she shouted. "Or what?" Terrance taunted. "Are you going to have your daddy come and sort things out?" one of Terrance's friends jeered. "Don't you remember? She doesn't have a daddy! He died before she was even born! So it's just her and her mommy!" another one said in a very sarcastic tone. Ronnie looked as though she had just been punched in the gut, and tears sparkled in her eyes. "Crybaby, crybaby, better dry your eyes baby!" Terrance chanted. With that, Ronnie turned on her heels and walked away from the park.
Willy was furious and sad all at the same time. He had known that Ronnie didn't have a father, but he didn't know that was because her father had died. And before she was even born, so Ronnie had never even known him! He knew just how she felt, because he had never known his mother. The thought that Terrance had just teased Ronnie so cruelly made him feel sick. Clutching his stomach, he ran into the men's restroom. Luckily, after sitting in there for a few minutes, the feelings of sickness left him.
When he emerged from the restroom, he noticed that Terrance and his friends were gone. He also noticed that Ronnie's journal was laying on the ground, a dirty shoe mark on its cover. He knew that Terrance had thrown it on the ground and then stomped on it. The thought almost made him have to return to the restroom, but he took a deep breath and let the feeling pass. Then he picked up the notebook and headed home.
Once he was back in his room, Willy cleaned off the cover of Ronnie's journal as best he could. Then, on inspiration, he drew a picture of a chocolate factory on the cover to hide the dirt he hadn't been able to remove. Next he tore a page out of his own notebooks and wrote a quick note to Ronnie (he didn't sign it, knowing that Ronnie would know who it was from.). After placing the page into the journal, he picked up a small, wooden box that sat on his desk.
It had a lock on it, and inside were his most precious things. He called it his Treasure Box, and he had it himself. He lifted his stuff out of the box and then set Ronnie's journal inside it. After closing the lid and locking the box, he carefully taped the key to the lid, then selected some markers (permanent ones that he had taken from his father's office when he wasn't looking.) and used them to draw a picture of Ronnie on the lid. Beside the picture he wrote in his best handwriting "Ronnie's Treasure Box". "Now Ronnie will finally have a safe place for her journal, one where Terrance can't get it!" he thought.
The next morning, he headed over to Ronnie's house and left the box on her doorstep. He rang the doorbell, then ran back across the street to his house. He got inside just in time to see Ronnie open the door, look around, spot the box, and take it inside, looking very happy as she did...
Willy was jolted out of his flashback when Mrs. Bucket broke the silence at the table. "I'm sorry about your father, Ronnie. We had no idea," she said (she and the rest of the Buckets had noticed that Willy had "blanked out" for a couple minutes, but by now they recognized that look as his "flashback" look and left it to Willy to talk about it if he wanted to.). "And believe me, if we HAD had any idea, I never would have opened my big mouth," Mr. Bucket added. "Please, don't beat yourself up about it. I'm not upset about it or anything. After all, you had no way of knowing," Ronnie assured him.
Then Sylvia spoke up. "It's probably mostly my fault that Ronnie doesn't talk about her father much. I've never spoken much about him to her, either," she said. "Don't worry about it, mom. I'm sure it's hard for you talk about him. It must have been awful for you when he died," Ronnie said. "It was hard indeed. But luckily, I had a good friend to help me through it, which made it a bit easier than it otherwise probably would have been," Sylvia said, smiling at Dr. Wonka. Nothing could have prepared the Buckets for the dentist's response.
"We helped each other, really. You see, not more than a few months after Sylvia's loss, my Mina passed on," Dr. Wonka explained, his voice carrying more than a hint of sadness. Mrs. Bucket knew immediately that this Mina that Dr. Wonka was speaking about had to be Willy's mother. She also knew that Willy and Ronnie were the same age, and Ronnie had said that her father had died while her mother was still pregnant. "So if Willy's mom died a few months after that, that means it couldn't have happened all that long after Willy was born. Talk about a bittersweet situation for Dr. Wonka!" she thought.
Once again, she found herself unsure of exactly what to say. She wanted to tell Dr. Wonka that she was sorry about what had happened, and that it must have been hard for him to lose his wife so soon after the birth of their son. She was afraid that might make Willy feel bad, though, not to mention the fact that she had no idea how much Dr. Wonka had told him about his mother and her death.
Finally she settled for saying, "I'll bet she was a lovely person, if her name is any indication. Mina is such a beautiful name." Dr. Wonka smiled sadly at her. "She was a lovely person. Her name was actually Wilhelmina, which is beautiful, just like she was. She was a lot like Willy and..." he trailed off. Then he shook his head and said, "How did we manage to get on such a sad subject anyway!"
Mrs. Bucket knew that was Dr. Wonka's way of saying that talking further about his wife was too painful for him and he wanted to change the subject. So she obliged him. "Dr. Wonka's right. This is supposed to be a happy time, after all! So let's go back to planning the wedding. Ronnie, I don't believe we've discussed your dress yet," she said.
To Mrs. Bucket's (and Dr. Wonka's!) relief, everyone took the hint. "You're right, Mrs. Bucket. I don't even know where to begin looking yet. I mean, I'm not even sure exactly what I want my dress to be like! Not to mention that I can't exactly go looking around for a wedding dress without people getting suspicious. I mean, they probably wouldn't guess that I'm marrying Willy Wonka, but still, the less they know, the better," Ronnie said. Sylvia looked over at her daughter, her blue eyes twinkling.
"I think I have a solution to that problem," she said. "You do? What?" Ronnie asked. "Well, Mrs. Bucket obviously needs to look for a dress, too, and I should probably also look for one. After all, I want to look my best for my daughter's wedding, and I'm way past due for some new dress clothes. So, why don't we all go shopping together sometime at the mall near my place? We could also stop at a few florist's and look at flowers while we're at it," Sylvia suggested.
"That's a great idea, Sylvia! And please, call me Nora," Mrs. Bucket said. Ronnie turned to her mother, beaming. "Mom, you're a genius! I love that idea!" she said. "I thought you might," Sylvia replied. "Believe it or not, I think we've pretty much got all the planning done that we need to for now," Ronnie said, still grinning away. In response, Mrs. Bucket held up her glass of wine. "Here's to a planning session gone extremely well!" she said. The rest of the adults picked up their wine glasses, Charlie picked up his glass of grape juice, and they all clinked them together. "To a good planning session!" they cheered.
A/n: I hope that things didn't get TOO heavy at the end there! I had been planning to talk about the issue of Willy's mother and Ronnie's father for awhile now, but it just didn't feel right until this chapter. As for whether I plan to talk about them further...All I'm going to say is not in THIS particular story (at least not in any detail. I may mention them again once or twice, but I won't be saying anything further about what they were like or how they died or anything.). But you never know what might come down the line! ;) And in more exciting news, I am pleased to let you know that you won't have to wait much longer for the wedding, as it will be in Chapter 20 (which I plan as the last chapter of the story)!
Chapter 19 Preview: Ronnie, Mrs. Bucket, and Sylvia have a girls' day out, during which they have a few rather funny moments, and Sylvia manages to stick her foot in her mouth! We also finally get our answer to the question of who's going to walk Ronnie down the aisle!