“Go find Tammy and have her help you with that getup. Have I told you lately just how gorgeous you actually are?”
“Yes, but I love hearing you say it.”
I nuzzled her neck and whispered in her ear, “Maybe sometime you can wear it again, and I can find out if you’re wearing stockings or pantyhose.” That earned me a little shriek and an embarrassed swat from my wife. I headed off to the lounge, where we had already brought in a travel bag.
There was a dichotomy in our travel plans. We were taking a cruise, and at least one night was a formal night, where you were advised to bring a tuxedo if at all possible. My mess dress would certainly work for that. However, Marilyn’s wedding dress might never again see the light of day; it certainly wouldn’t be suitable for the cruise. Tammy had promised to get it back to the house. After we got back from the cruise, and Marilyn had moved into the apartment with me, her family would ship her stuff to us FedEx.
I stripped out of my uniform and folded that up in my travel bag. I would get it cleaned and pressed on the ship. I then changed into some chinos and a sport shirt, and some much more comfortable boat shoes. Marilyn and Tammy came in during this time, so I simply went behind the bar to finish dressing. I also watched Marilyn changing. She was a little embarrassed, and made me turn away, so I watched her by way of the mirror behind the bar, which she also caught me doing. That earned me a one way trip out the side door to the lawn.
Ten minutes later Tammy opened the door and summoned me back inside. Marilyn had on a nice and simple sundress and some flat sandals, and Tammy was helping her fold the wedding dress up. I rearranged a few things in the travel bag and closed it up, and then went out and looked for the limo driver. He was in the kitchen eating a few pastries and drinking some coffee. I tossed him the bag, and he grinned and snagged it, and headed out to his limo. I then went back to the lounge and found Marilyn and we went back to the reception to make our final good-byes.
Predictably, my mother found the entire event quite disagreeable. Having a baby at a wedding reception like that, especially by people who weren’t even married! Shocking! And Marilyn’s family, well, really, couldn’t I have done better? Children shouldn’t be at a wedding reception, and Harriet had her latest baby, Miriam, in a baby seat, along with all the others running around the place. She didn’t say that in front of Marilyn, not quite, at least, but she certainly told me about it, both in a previous life and earlier today. I just kissed her on the cheek and ignored her. Dad, on the other hand, found it all quite amusing. “Nothing like a little excitement, huh?” he asked Marilyn.
“I don’t want any more excitement!” she replied, to which he and I both laughed. Mom just sniffed.
After that, Marilyn and I made a quick circuit of the room, thanking everybody for coming, and making sure to tell Joe and Harlan to get the baby presents to Tusker and Tessa. Then we scooted out the side door to the limo.
Chapter 52: Cruising
Before we climbed into the limo, I spoke to the driver about our plans. First I asked for his business card, and then I looked it over. “Tom Bouchet? That’s you?” I asked.
“That’s me,” he answered pleasantly.
“Nice to meet you, Tom. I’m Carl Buckman and this is my wife Marilyn.”
Tom laughed. “I sort of had that figured out Mr. Buckman.” He glanced at Marilyn, and nodded towards her, “Mrs. Buckman.”
Marilyn grinned. “I like the sound of that.”
I smiled too. “Well, Tom, here’s the deal. Before we head out to the airport, we need to go over to St. Luke’s to see our friends. You heard about that, right?”
Tom laughed again. “Oh, yeah!”
Marilyn and I had to laugh at this as well. Probably half the people in the Mohawk Valley would hear about this by the end of the weekend. “So anyway, we need to go over there and see how they’re doing before we run out to Syracuse. I know this wasn’t part of the deal, but if you can’t run it through the original bill, send it to me directly, all right?” I dug out one of my business cards, with my address in Fayetteville.
“We’ll figure it out at the office,” he assured me.
I thought for a second. “Are you busy tomorrow?” I asked.
Marilyn looked at me and asked, “Tomorrow?”
“Not for us, but for Tusker and Tessa. They’ll need to get back to the hotel.”
“Oooh, yes, and get their presents, too. They’ll need the car seat just to get there!” added my wife.
I got a few cards from Tom and told him that I’d give them to the proud parents. He could run over to the Sheraton on Sunday and get the presents from Joe and Harlan, and then bring them back, and then cart Tusker and his family as needed. If they couldn’t finagle it into Big Bob’s bill, send it to me.
Ten minutes later we were at the hospital. I told Tom we would try to keep it short, but we weren’t sure what was happening. I held my new bride’s hand as we went inside. Marilyn asked me, as we got inside, “You know, we’ve never talked about it. Do you want kids?”
I gave her a curious look. “Sure. I thought you knew that.”
“I wasn’t sure.”
“Don’t you remember that little bit about telling your grandchildren about my duel? You’ve got to have kids to have grandkids. It’s in the rules!”
“You and that duel!” she laughed, giving me a hip bump as we walked.
“Maybe I should have lost!”
“You’re awful!” The next question was, “Well, when did you want them?”
I shrugged. “Not right away.”
“Two years? Five years? Ten years? How many?”
I knew where Marilyn was going with this. She loved kids, and definitely wanted a houseful.
“We are not having 13 kids! I’ll have the damn thing cut off before that happens!” I protested.
That earned me a good laugh. “No way! How about three or four?”
“We’ll see. Tell you what. Let’s be newlyweds for a bit first. Wait until I either make captain or the Army wakes up and throws my ass out. How about that?”
“Deal!”
“Deal!” We sealed it with a quick kiss.
From the reception area, we were sent off to the delivery area, but I wasn’t sure how far that would get us. If the baby was already born, we might get to see him or her through the glass, or not. I hoped to get word to Tusker about the limo for tomorrow. At worst, I could write a note for them and get one of the nurses to slip it to them later.
We looked through the glass wall, but didn’t see any babies with a name tag, so we went up to the desk and asked. The nurse’s face lit up when she saw us. “Oh, yes, Mister Tusk was wondering when you might come by. He was just asking about you.”
“Really?! I wonder why?” I said, half to myself and half to Marilyn. My wife gave me an equally mystified shrug.
“Well, go on into 304.”
“We can go in? You mean, they’ve already had the baby?!”
She laughed. “Just go on in.”
Marilyn had already started up, so I followed her down the hall to the third door and pushed inside. Tessa was in bed, looking like she had been pulled through a knothole. Tusker was in a chair, not looking much better, and with a look of both wonder and terror on his face. And there on the bed with Tessa was a small wrapped up bundle with a powder blue skull cap on.
Marilyn scampered up to the bed. “Oh my God! You had the baby!”
“You came!” cried Tessa happily. Both Tusker and Tessa immediately tried to greet us, and with Marilyn they got into a three-way conversation that got increasingly loud, enough so that the baby woke up and let out a yell. We had been followed in by a nurse, who announced it was time to take the baby off to the nursery.