Let Your Heart Hold Fast: Bicycles, Weddings, and Kittens
Chapter 3
Warning: There is one instance of cursing in this chapter, not meant to offend anyone.
A month later, Peter was absolutely and completely tired of hearing about the upcoming wedding of Elizabeth's assistant, Yvonne. From the very moment Elizabeth told Neal that he was going to be in the wedding, the boy hadn't stopped asking questions. Elizabeth patiently answered each and every question, but Neal's questions never seemed to end.
One evening, Elizabeth and Peter were sitting out on the patio as Neal played with Satchmo over by the garden shed. Peter was enjoying the fact that the wedding hadn't been mentioned at all that day and he held out hope that Neal's interest in the whole thing had finally tapered off.
After a while, Elizabeth stood up and grabbed her glass of wine. "Hon, I'm going in to refill my glass. Do you want another beer?"
"That would be great, El," Peter answered. "And maybe a few of those cashews, if we have any left."
Once Elizabeth was in the house, Peter turned his attention back to Neal, who was out of his sight and was being awfully quiet. "Neal, what are you doing?" he asked.
"Nothing, Daddy," Neal's voice came from the garden shed. "I'm just pretending."
"What are you pretending?" Peter asked as he tried to see what Neal was doing. When he didn't get an answer right away, he put down his nearly empty beer bottle, prepared to get up and check on Neal. "Neal?"
"Just a minute, Daddy," Neal called. And then, "Satchmo, hold still. Satchmo!"
Peter watched as Satchmo came running from behind the garden shed, wearing what could only be Elizabeth's white gardening shirt. The dog didn't look happy at all. Neither did the six-year-old that followed.
"Satchmo! Get back here," Neal yelled loudly. "You're not ready yet!"
Satchmo scrambled under Peter's chair and eventually came to rest between his feet. Peter watched as a very unhappy little boy made his way over to the patio with a determined look on his face.
"Satchmo! Bad dog!" Neal exclaimed as he knelt down beside the chair.
"Neal," Peter gently interrupted. "I don't think Satchmo wants to play whatever you're playing. And why is he wearing Mommy's gardening shirt?"
"It's not a shirt, Daddy," Neal explained with a roll of his eyes. "It's a wedding dress. I'm trying to practice so I can be the best Ring Bearer ever, but Satchmo's being a son of a bitch!"
"Neal George Caffrey-Burke!" Elizabeth exclaimed, having walked out the back door just in time to hear Neal's profanity. "Where in the world did you hear such a thing?"
Neal looked up at his mother, and knowing that he was in big trouble, he gave her his most convincing look of innocence, complete with pouty lips and impossibly blue eyes. "Sorry, Mommy,' he said. "I didn't know it was a bad word."
Elizabeth glared at Peter, who was trying his best not to laugh. "Peter Burke, you better hope to high heaven that he didn't hear that from you!"
"It wasn't me, El, I swear," Peter laughed, before turning to Neal. "Where did you hear that word, Neal?"
"I don't remember," Neal replied.
Peter could immediately tell that the little boy wasn't telling the truth. "I think you do remember, little man, and I expect you to tell me. If someone is using that kind of language around you, I'll need to talk to him or her. Was it Mozzie?"
"No!" Neal cried. "Mozzie doesn't say bad words like that."
"Okay, then, was it Jones? Diana? Caleb's dad?"
"It wasn't any of them, Daddy. It was someone else."
Neal was obviously reluctant to tell his father who it was, but Peter wasn't going to let it drop. "Neal, I want you to tell me right now or you can go inside, take a bath, and go to bed early."
Neal looked between both of his parents. "If I tell you who it was will he in trouble, Daddy? Will he get a time-out for saying those words in front of me?"
"I'll definitely be talking to whoever it is about the inappropriateness of their language around my six-year-old child," Peter answered. "Now, tell me who it was."
Neal hesitated for only a few seconds before finally blurting out the name of the person. "It was Grandpa Reese."
Now it was Elizabeth's turn to laugh, especially once she got a glimpse of the shock on Peter's face. "Uh oh, it seems like Daddy needs to put Grandpa Reese in a timeout for sure," she laughed.
"Don't tell him I told on him, Daddy. I don't want him to think I'm a stitch."
"I think you mean snitch, sweetie," Elizabeth laughed.
"Is Grandpa Reese in trouble, Daddy? Maybe you can just make him go to bed early or something. I don't think he'll like sitting in the corner."
Peter groaned while Elizabeth laughed hysterically at the idea of Reese Hughes sitting in the corner as punishment. "Don't worry about it, buddy. I'll just have a talk with him tomorrow. Now, I think maybe you should get Mommy's shirt off of Satchmo. He doesn't look like he's enjoying it too much."
The week before the wedding, Elizabeth took Neal in with her for the final fitting of her bridesmaid dress. Neal also needed to have his pants altered after having a bit of a growth spurt. The ladies in the boutique oohed and aahed over the way Neal strutted around in his Ring Bearer outfit. He was wearing charcoal gray pants with a white shirt, gray vest, and a sky blue bow tie. The cutest part of his outfit, though, was the gray fedora perched stylishly on top of his dark brown curls.
"Neal, we need to leave, so you need to give Miss Woodson back the fedora," Elizabeth said.
"But I want to wear it," Neal whined. "I have to wear it!"
"Sweetie, Yvonne didn't say anything about wanting you to wear a hat in the wedding," Elizabeth explained as she took the hat and handed it to the attendant.
"Why does she have to say it?" Neal asked. "Why can't I just wear it?"
"Because it's her wedding," Elizabeth answered. "She's the one that decides what she wants us to wear."
"That's stupid," Neal exclaimed. "I want to wear it!"
Miss Woodson stepped forward, hoping to help out. "Mrs. Burke, Yvonne will be here in just a few minutes. Maybe we could let her see Neal in the fedora since you're here. He does look awfully adorable in it."
Neal rolled his eyes at hearing how adorable he looked. He, of course, thought he looked handsome and sophisticated.
"Okay, we can stay for a few minutes," Elizabeth replied. "But, unless you want to skip the park this afternoon, Neal, I expect you to behave better."
"I was behaving better, Mommy," Neal said.
"I'm pretty sure we've talked before about you using the word stupid, haven't we?" Elizabeth reminded him.
"Yes, mommy, but if I didn't say it was stupid, I would have been telling a lie, and lying is wrong, too, right?"
The two attendants couldn't hold back their laughter at the innocent look on Neal's face. They both were thinking the same thing, too… Elizabeth Burke definitely had her hands full with Neal.
Just as Elizabeth was preparing to answer, the door opened and Yvonne walked in. Neal and Yvonne were good friends, due to the many afternoons he spent at the offices of Burke Premier Events.
"Y-Von," Neal yelled loudly, mispronouncing her name like he had ever since the first day he met her and tried to read her name tag by himself. "Can I wear it? Please?"
"Hold on, Neal," Yvonne said as she sat her purse down and knelt down to give him a hug. "Can you wear what?" she asked once she released him.
"This," Neal said as he picked up the fedora and placed it back on his head. "I look sophissicated, don't I?"
"You sure do, baby! Very sophisticated!" Yvonne declared.
"So, I can wear it in the wedding?"
"Oh, you want to wear it in the wedding…"
"Yeah, Y-Von. I'm the Ring Bearer and Mommy says that's a really important job. Don't you want me to look important?"
"Of course, I do! So, I guess that means you should wear that hat, Neal," Yvonne said with a laugh.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you, Y-Von!" Neal yelled excitedly. "Did you hear that, Mommy? I get to wear the hat."
"I think we all heard that, sweetie. Or, at least your very excited response to it." Turning back to the attendant, Elizabeth pulled out her wallet. "It looks like we're taking the hat, too, Miss Woodson."
The morning of the wedding was very hectic at the Burke house. Elizabeth was trying to get out of the house early, so she could be there to help Yvonne get ready. Unfortunately, nothing seemed to be going right for her.
First, she had only gotten half of her hair dried when her hair dryer stopped working. After sending Peter next door to borrow one from their neighbor, she was finally able to finish. Then, the hem ripped on her dress, so she had to spend precious minutes mending that. Finally, just as she was almost to her car, the heel of her shoe snapped in half, causing her to have to go back inside to find another pair to wear. She left desperately hoping that the rest of the day would go as planned.
Peter's morning wasn't going much better. He had had a rough week at work and really wanted to just stay home and relax, but Elizabeth was adamant that he had to go to the wedding. The last thing he wanted was to have to wear a suit and tie on his day off, but he had no choice. He also had to deal with Neal all on his own and the kid was in a particularly stubborn mood.
It started with him not wanting to get out of bed when Peter woke him up. Neal whined that he was too tired to get up, and when Peter finally lifted him out of bed, he went completely limp. It wasn't until Peter threatened him with no bicycle for the rest of the weekend that the boy finally started to cooperate.
Next, it was the War of the Breakfasts. Peter made eggs and bacon, but Neal wanted pancakes. Peter poured orange juice into their glasses, but Neal wanted chocolate milk. Peter buttered the toast, but Neal wanted it unbuttered. Finally, Peter removed Neal's plate and replaced it with a bowl of cereal. Much to his relief, Neal didn't say another word before digging into his bowl of Frosted Flakes.
Finally, it was time to get ready and Peter had strict instructions from Elizabeth on how to comb Neal's hair. Unfortunately, Neal had other ideas.
"I don't want my hair combed that way, Daddy. I want it to be all up in the air," Neal said as he pulled away from the comb Peter was using.
"Mommy said to comb it this way, buddy," Peter explained.
"But, I don't want it combed like that. I want it to look like the way Caleb's daddy does it."
"Neal, Caleb's daddy practically has a pompadour. You're too little for that."
"No, I'm not!" Neal cried. "I practiced it in the mirror last night and it worked. It made me look more sophissicated, Daddy!"
"Neal, you're going to be wearing your fedora, so it doesn't really matter."
"If it doesn't matter, then why can't I just do it?" Neal asked
"First of all, we don't have the stuff we need to style your hair like that. Second, I wouldn't even know where to start. And third, Mommy says we have to do it this way," Peter explained as he picked up the comb and started combing through Neal's hair again. He almost smiled at the adorable pout on Neal's face, but didn't want to encourage the kid in any way.
Once he was done combing Neal's hair, he lifted the boy down from the bathroom counter.
"Daddy, wait!" Neal cried.
"For what?" Peter asked. "We need to go, kiddo."
"But I'm not ready yet," Neal explained. "I have to shave."
"Neal, we've had this conversation before, buddy. You're too young to shave."
"But, I have to," Neal exclaimed. "I wanna wear the smell-good stuff, but Mommy said it was aftershave."
Peter laughed. "You don't have to shave to wear it, buddy. Come here…."
Neal walked over to the sink and waited patiently as Peter put a little bit of aftershave lotion on his hands, rubbed them together, and then gently patted Neal's face.
"There you go, little man. Now you smell like me."
"Thanks, Daddy," Neal said as he threw his arms around Peter's neck. "We can go now."
They were almost all the way out to Peter's car when Neal suddenly stopped. "Wait, Daddy. I forgot something!"
After Peter unlocked the door again, Neal ran back up the stairs. A few minutes later, he returned with his fedora and a small box in his hand.
"What's that?" Peter asked curiously.
"It's my present for Y-Von," Neal answered. "I made it for her."
"I'm sure she'll love it," Peter said, even though he had no idea what it was. "Now, let's go before they start the wedding without you."
"They can't do that, Daddy. I'm the most important part of the wedding," Neal adamantly stated.
Peter sat in the third row, watching Neal as closely as he could. He had a strange feeling that the kid was up to something, but he had no idea what it could be. Ten minutes before, he had left Neal with the wedding planner, who was to make sure that Neal would do what he was supposed to do. Peter wouldn't admit it, but he was glad that it was out of his hands. If Neal messed anything up from this point on, there was no way anyone could say it was Peter's fault.
Only fifteen minutes later than the scheduled time, the music started playing and a hush fell over the crowd. Peter watched as the mothers of the bride and groom were escorted to their seats by the ushers, followed by the father of the groom. After that, the groom and the clergyman came down and took their positions.
Peter could immediately tell when it was time for the Ring Bearer and the Flower Girl to enter by the sounds of all the oohs and aahs from the guests. Turning in his seat, he saw Neal, looking completely adorable in his fedora, walking stiffly next to a girl who looked to be about a year younger. They were both walking extremely slowly and Peter could tell that there was some tension between the two of them.
The little girl looked anxious and seemed to have forgotten that she was supposed to be spreading the flower petals from her basket. Peter watched as Neal leaned over and said something to the girl, who immediately stopped walking and glared at him. Seconds later, Neal's voice could be heard loudly instructing the little girl on what she was supposed to be doing.
"It's not that hard, Jasmine. All you have to do is take some flowers out and drop them. Like this!"
Everyone laughed as Neal reached his hand into Jasmine's basket, pulled out a handful of flower petals, and threw them up into the air. "See? It's easy."
"I don't want to," Jasmine cried. "You do it!"
"I can't!" Neal said loudly. "I'm the Ring Bearer and my job is really, really important."
By this time, the wedding planner was trying desperately to get the kids to move down the aisle. Peter watched as Neal grabbed Jasmine's hand and tugged her down the aisle. Jasmine, unfortunately, didn't seem to want to go on, so she tried to pull her hand out of Neal's grasp. Just as Neal was pulling as hard as he could, Jasmine was able to pull her hand away, causing both of them to fall backwards. Jasmine immediately started crying, and to everyone's surprise, Neal jumped back to his feet and immediately went over to her.
Peter listened as Neal tried his best to console the now overwhelmed little girl. His heart soared with pride as he listened to his son telling Jasmine that everything was okay and that he would help her with the flowers. Seconds later, Neal helped her back to his feet, grabbed her hand again, and led her back down the aisle.
They were almost at the end, to the wedding planner's great relief, when a strong gust of wind blew the hat off of Neal's head. With a cry of surprise and outrage, Neal scrambled after the hat, knocking into one of the large lanterns that were positioned at the end of the aisle. With a loud clang, the lantern fell over and they all watched as Neal tried desperately to put it back in place. When it was obvious that he wasn't going to be able to lift the large lantern, Neal gave up and went back to chasing his fedora.
Everything seemed to play out in slow motion, but in reality it was only a few minutes. Every single guest was laughing loudly, but they all breathed a sigh of relief when Neal and Jasmine were finally where they were supposed to be. Peter sat back and allowed himself to relax a tiny bit, knowing that Neal was done for a while. If he had really given it much thought, though, he would have realized that there was still so much that could go wrong.
Author's note: First of all, can't you just imagine how adorable Neal was at that wedding? And how frustrating, lol? I don't know about you, but I think Peter was prematurely relieved.
I have an idea of where I'm taking this whole story, but if any of you have any ideas, I'd love to hear them. Maybe I can work one of them into the story in some way…..
Thanks so much for reading. Take care.