He cut her off. “No, I wasn’t talking about that. I have something I’ve got to tell you before we get married. When I was younger and stupid, I made some mistakes…”
They hadn’t known each other but a couple of months. Her mind was racing ahead of him. Did he have AIDS? Was he not legally divorced? Did he have ten kids that she didn’t know about?
“I ran into a little trouble,” he said. “I got into debt and wrote some hot checks…It was more than just one check…It was…” he paused and looked at her. “Now my credit is ruined.”
Well, if that’s the worst thing about him…I didn’t dare tell him about the time I miscalculated my checkbook and bounced seven hundred dollars worth of checks. I had never been more embarrassed than calling all those people and trying to convince them it had been an honest mistake.
She could see the concern in his eyes. Isn’t it sweet? He wants to start our life together with a clean ledger. “Glen, we all make mistakes,” she said. “I wish it hadn’t happened, but over time you can get your credit back. I’ll help you.”
He picked her up and twirled her around. “I love you. You just made me the happiest man in the world.”
They kissed and Brenda was certain she could forgive him just about anything—she loved him so much. Maybe even too much if there was such a thing. A loud lion’s roar parted them.
“What was that?” Glen asked.
“That was Katula, my mountain lion. Remember I told you I take in abused animals and raise others for zoos?”
“Oh, right. I forgot,” Glen said. The mantle clock chimed a sweet tune. He looked at it. “It’s getting late. I’d better change clothes. Where’s the bathroom?”
“Would you like to tour the place first?” Brenda asked.
Glen nodded. “But we’d better hurry,” he said, then stuffed his hands in his pockets and nervously jingled his change.
She showed him the kitchen area. Old farm implements hung around the ceiling—a cotton scale, sickle, horse shoe, ice tongs, a wagon wheel. The walls were painted a cheerful yellow and white eyelet curtains adorned the windows. The room was cozy and rustic.
“Would you like something to drink?”
“Iced tea, if you have it.”
“Peach or lemon?”
“Peach or lemon what?”
“Tea.”
“I’ve never had either. I’ll take what you’re having,” he said.
She made them each a glass of peach tea. Glen took a sip and grinned. “It’s good.”
Brenda swallowed some of hers. The sweet, fruity bouquet drifted up from the glass and added to the flavor.
An antique curio cabinet in the corner housed her salt and pepper shaker collection. Glen bent down. “I’ve never seen so many salt and pepper shakers in my life.”
“I have almost four hundred pairs,” Brenda said with pride. “I started collecting them when I was eight years old. These were my first,” she said, pointing to a pair of pink pumpkin-shaped porcelain ones with hand-painted roses on the sides.
They continued on the tour and the last place she took him was her bedroom.
The walls were papered in a tan palmetto pattern. To give the feel of the tropics, gauzy curtains covered the windows and filtered the sunlight. Centered on one wall sat a wrought iron bed, encased by a sheer canopy.
Glen looked away. She offered an embarrassed smile and quickly changed the subject. “Do you like our bedroom?”
He shrugged. “Kind of frilly, isn’t it?” Glen fingered the sheer netting draped over the bed.
Brenda glanced at the alarm clock that sat on her nightstand. “The Justice of the Peace will be arriving any minute. You can change in here and then I’ll show you the backyard.”
“The backyard?”
“Remember we’re going to make our vows out there as the sun goes down. If that’s still okay with you.”
“Sure,” he said.
She left him alone to change into his tuxedo and went into the bathroom to touch up her lipstick. Somehow, his disclosure about his bad credit nagged at her. After all, if it didn’t matter, why hadn’t he told her from the start? Still, she truly loved him. She told herself the credit thing didn’t really matter. Their love was the most important thing in the world. They would make their marriage work.
When she turned around, he was standing in the doorway staring at her.
“I can’t believe, you wonderful woman, that you are going to be my wife,” Glen said, a bashful smile playing about his lips.
“Wow! You look great in that tuxedo!” she said, and ran her hand through his silky brown hair to smooth out a wayward strand. “Perfect.” Glen was lean, athletic. His expensive watch and clothes made him look like a model. Only, he didn’t have the conceit of such an attractive man. He was caring and a little shy. That’s what she liked about him.
He took her hand in his and rubbed it. “God, your skin is soft.”
Smiling, she led him through the house and out the back door to the patio.
“Surprise!” her father and mother, who were ensconced in two beribboned seats set near the flowered canopy, and a host of people shouted. Manny was among them, smiling.
Glen’s shocked face had a dazed look. Brenda reassuringly wrapped her arm around his slim waist.
“I wanted to have my family and some friends come to our wedding.”
Glen paled and broke away, bolting back inside the house.
The wedding guests stopped talking and gawked at each other in an uncomfortable silence.
“Go ahead and please help yourself to the hors d’oeuvres. I’ll be right back,” Brenda told her guests and followed Glen inside.
She found him pacing in the kitchen like a caged leopard. She tried to wrap her arms around him to reassure him, but he shrugged her off. She felt helpless.
“Glen, what’s wrong?”
“You should have told me all those people were
