Page 21 of Bernadette
“Huh?”
“You’ll see,” Chuck said. He looked at her and nodded with a smile. “Instead of having plain roasted pork, though we stuff the inside with apples and pineapple, and all kinds of spices, we like a little BBQ sauce on our pork. Once it’s stripped off the bones, Justin and I throw it on the grill and glaze it with our homemade sauce.”
“It’s not so saucy that it drips down your chin, is it?”
“Oh, no,” Chuck scowled as he looked at Bernie. “It’s just enough to give it some flavor. I myself don’t like it when it’s doused in so much sauce you can’t taste the meat, this enhances the pork flavor.”
“I’ll have to take your word for it. What about you, Hanson? You ever have their pork?”
Ava smirked as she reached out and took Justin’s hand in hers, and laughed when she caught Bernie shaking her head, and rolling her eyes at the couple. “Not the roasted pork.” She answered, tongue-in-cheek. Bernie sat back and watched as more people began to show, and it wasn’t long before the ladies she’d known in the past started bringing several dishes over from the house. As much as she wanted to help, she ended up opening the door for them when they went in and out. Using a cane prevented her from carrying a dish, and she didn’t want to embarrass herself if she ended up dropping it.
CHAPTER9
Bernie lookedup and smiled as she saw a horse-drawn wagon pull into what she had been told was a barnyard, seeing the wedding party had arrived. The men all jumped down, then reached up and helped the women down. At that small gesture of thoughtfulness, Bernie’s heart melted. She had no clue why, but she looked over and saw Chuck staring at her, and her heart did a little jolt in her chest. Without saying a word, he came across the room and stood close to her, close enough that their shoulders touched.
"Are you okay?”
“Yeah, it’s just that,” she couldn’t say anything else, so she pointed, and watched Chuck as he looked up and then he too had a sappy smile on his face. Bernie looked out in time to see all the couples, even Morgan’s parents, and the people she had been told were standing in as Wyatt’s parents, and the reason why, stood there in each other’s arms, while gazing at one another.
The wedding party quickly broke up, the intimate gestures were brief, but it was poignant. Hand in hand, the couples started toward the barn, and Bernie felt her face break out in a gigantic grin when she saw the look of pure happiness in Morgan and Wyatt’s face.
“Did you have fun?”
“We did,” Morgan said, and rushed forward. “Thank you so much for being here. I have to say I expected you to turn me down.”
“Why would I do that?”
“Because I had heard that Hank Patterson from the Brotherhood Protection Agency offered you a job.”
“I did,” the man in question said as he joined them, carrying a little girl in his arms. “Apparently, I couldn’t offer her what you could.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I couldn’t offer her the opportunity to go out into the field, not while wearing that knee brace, but I also couldn’t offer her to do what I do, because well, that’s my job.”
“Ah, and I can turn over the running of Boswell to her, so I can go out in the field,” Morgan laughed and covered her mouth quickly when the little girl in Hank’s arms jerked awake. He only had to lay his hand on her back, and whisper to her for her to settle back down on his large shoulder.
“Exactly, besides, I think she would rather be around people like herself rather than old salty former SEALs.” He grinned and they all shared a laugh. That was how the J’s and A’s found them.
“Band is all set up,” Alex said. “All we have to do is introduce you, then we can get this party started.”
“How many do you suspect are here?” Wyatt asked as he tried to look into the barn, but the others wouldn’t let him, because they wanted to do it proper with the introductions and all.
“Last count, seven hundred and seventy-two.”
“Wow,” Wyatt said and looked around. That was the first time he realized the field they had reserved for parking was full, and someone had directed traffic into another one. Luckily, it had been discussed last week where they would direct everyone to park.
“Before you tell the band to introduce us,” Morgan said as she picked up Wyatt’s hand and turned to Bernie.
“Bernadette Cromwell, I would like to formally introduce you to my husband, Wyatt Erwin. Wyatt, this is Bernie, the woman I told you about.”
“The commander?”
“Yes. It’s nice to meet you.”
“You too, what would you like me to call you? Bernie? Bernadette? Commander?”
“Bernie’s fine.”
